#United Cities and Local Governments

[worldcitiesday]

(Part 2) Action and Leadership from the Ground Up: Towards the Rescue Plan for People and the Planet.

The Local and Regional Governments Forum will therefore bring together local, regional, and national governments as well as representatives from the United Nations and other stakeholders to announce strong commitments, present coalitions for policy change, and illustrate high-impact localization policies. The Forum will also reflect on the importance of Voluntary Local and Voluntary Subnational Reviews in the acceleration of the implementation of the SDGs as reporting tools but also policy tools. The Forum will provide reflections on the constituency's priorities and aspirations for the UN Summit of the Future in 2024 and the World Social Summit in 2025.

[psilactis]

just saw a post talking about how good libraries are and that they are like, the last free thing people have access to. I'm so so so glad to be brazilian. Truly a hellish experience sometimes but mostly it's so good

[timogsilangan]

i rlly do not think white global northerners understand how fucking bad the anti sinovac psyop was in context of the philippines and other targeted countries being from the global south, with a history of economic and military intervention and destabilization by the usa specifically.

i live in the philippines and sinovac was the only available vaccine for MONTHS of the pandemic. people were fucking dying and we had no pfizer, no j&j, no astrazeneca, no moderna. sinovac was the ONLY vaccine supply we had. and the supply wasnt even enough for even my small city. we do not have the infrastructure to manufacture our own vaccines and tests. we were entirely reliant on imports from other countries who Did have the capacity to manufacture such things

i got up early for several days straight to go to a pop up walk in vaccination site (were talking there by 7:30am) set up in a fucking public basketball court because it was the only way to get vaccinated, and 3 times i had to go back empty handed so to speak after exposing myself to this massive opportunity for transmission because they fucking ran out of shots and prioritized the elderly and disabled and i didnt have my legal pwd (person with disability) card yet. i had to go to a different barangay (local unit of government) to get my shot MONTHS LATER and only got mine because one of my family was in the local govt and reserved some shots for us.

many filipinos use facebook which is where some of the psyop was conducted because you can use it for free on your phone and it is often where news is disseminated. i know we have that joke about People Believing Anything They See On Facebook but i cannot stress enough that people here get local news from fb the same way you (used to) get news from twitter about shit like localized emergencies and whatnot.

because we are third world, you know that the state of our education system is nothing compared to the states. media and news literacy here is dangerously low and the population is sensitive to mis/disinformation, as can be seen during the 2022 presidential elections where the usa Also interfered lol. i cannot stress enough how much of the population was susceptible to this psyop, especially those in poverty who couldnt afford proper education. hell, even educated people fell for this shit. do you think jhunjhun who didnt finish grade 6 would be able to identify disguised foreign intervention that was in his own language?

we were already recovering from public scrutiny of a different vaccine, a dengue vaccine, which lowered public trust in inoculation. and then the usa goes and does THIS??? i cannot emphasize enough that they are directly responsible for the tens and thousands of unvaccinated covid deaths. they are responsible for my friends having to bury their unvaxxed parents and grandparents at the age of 19. they are responsible for mass death and disability.

but were just a country in the periphery. so who cares about us? our lives are worthless to the usa, which is why they admitted that they did this when they would otherwise "never" to their own population. third worlders arent real people to your government. we are merely statistics and a petri dish for experimentation. so who cares if we die? the real important thing isnt our lives, its that the usa has more control over us than china.

[gnc-tits]

i have no problem with striking and whatnot and of course i donate when i can but so so much of usamerican political action (aside from the heroes who do direct action but lets be real, not everyone is the person to do that) is like. follow the strike. call your reps. which is important! its super important to do that! but this country is so so divided from state to state like i really did not feel it until spending some time away from home but we all live so so differently and it sucks in different ways thats vaguely united but. to give a personal example: i have no idea what its like to be a trans person in a red state. i just have no idea. i imagine its pretty fucking bad, and where i live isnt even that great but a 16 year old got killed IN SCHOOL in oklahoma the other day like the sheer difference in how we live is insane. i only know what it’s like to be a trans person in this state. and thats just one of the ways we’re divided! and soooo much usamerican political action is this broad fucking country wide thing we’re all supposed to be doing and it does matter, it is important, but more and more people in gaza are dying and we need a ceasefire now. we’re divided as fuck and on all different ends of the working class spectrum and something like a strike (which, again, cannot stress this enough, does matter) i genuinely believe isnt going to get to a ceasefire fast enough

yknow what we can do though? organize with our local community. like i cant speak for more rural areas unfortunately but cmon if you live in a city you have to know at least someone who is generally progressive and doesnt have to worry as much about being killed for it. there are people out there who want a better world, you just have to find them and yall! if you organize and enough people get together and put a fire under politicians asses you CAN call for a ceasefire in your city it IS possible it is so possible and even if it doesnt pass you can still get together and make noise. and if you take that energy and apply it to other cities in your state and connect with them and influence them then like. its a lot fuckin harder to ignore! as of right now around 70 us cities have called for a ceasefire and it is largely divided and there are like. none in red states where we need them to be. and lets be real none of the blue ones are lookin that great either. but if you get like, i dont know, as many as possible but even like, 10 is still significant, if you get that many cities in one state calling for a ceasefire then its a lot harder for your state reps to ignore you. and absolutely keep calling and emailing but. i dunno. 5 months of genocide and theyre still largely ignoring us, so maybe we need to do something a little bit more that’s actually feasible for the way we’re living

[carlocarrasco]

Global Handwashing Day celebrated in Las Piñas City

Recently in the City of Las Piñas, the City Government commemorated Global Handwashing Day with special activities at an elementary school in Barangay Talon Uno, according to the LGU’s social media post of October 23, 2023. Present during the event were Vice Mayor April Aguilar and Maynilad officials. To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the City Government’s social…

[developmentinformationday]

Youth and Adolescent Girls Driving the 2030 Agenda: Building Collective Power, Securing Sustainable Funding, and Demanding Accountability.

Looking at the impact of the GEF as an innovative, multi-stakeholder approach to multilateralism and the crucial role of young feminist leadership to accelerate the achievement of the SDG agenda. 

Side Event at the SDG Action Weekend organized by Young Feminist Europe, Young Feminist Caucus, GEF Action Coalition on Feminist Movements and Leadership, Canada, Malawi, UN Women, Plan International, Adolescent Girl Investment Plan (AGIP), Alliance for Feminist Movements, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), CREA.

To maximize the SDG Summit's impact, the Secretary General is convening an SDG Action Weekend, which will generate opportunities for stakeholders, UN entities, and Member States to convene inside the United Nations Headquarters and set out specific commitments and contributions to drive SDG transformation between now and 2030.

The SDG Action Weekend will consist of the SDG Mobilization Day on Saturday, 16 September, and the SDG Acceleration Day on Sunday, 17 September at UNHQ in New York.

The SDG Action Weekend includes a select number of high-level side-events identified through an open call that concluded in August. They are jointly organized by coalitions of Member States, UN agencies and other international organizations, and global stakeholder networks.

[onenettvchannel]

NEW THIS MORNING: Cash Prizes in all Local Contestants of the 1st Mr. and Ms. PWD 2023 have gradually paid and released at the City Hall of Dumaguete [#OneNETnewsEXCLUSIVE]

(FILE PHOTO and SCREENGRAB COURTESY: RSC via FB VIDEO & Google Images)

DUMAGUETE, NEGROS ORIENTAL -- After a month of its local pageant event at Mr. and Ms. PWD 2023 late-last July 2023 in Pantawan People’s Park… The Local Government Units (LGUs) of Dumaguete and Persons with Disabilities’ Affairs Office (PWDAO) have announced that all local participants and contestants across the selected barangays are now fully distributing and to disburse cash prizes in person at the City Treasurer's Office in Burgos Street, Brgy. 4, Dumaguete, Negros Oriental; beside the City Hall in Santa Catalina Street.

(PHOTO COURTESY: OK Photo Supply via Brgy. Pulantubig Activities and Developments / FB PHOTO)

Individuals of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) including a Freelance Journalist, News Reporter and Presenter (Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong), whose one with a Best Speaker & 1st Runner Up win in Men Category at Brgy. Pulantubig; along with Best in Play Wear, Formal Wear and Photogenic named Jhun Mae Somoza Vilos of Brgy. Motong in Women Category, whose also a contestant win in the aforesaid 1st Runner Ups.

(FILE PHOTO and SCREENGRAB COURTESY: Dumaguete.com website / RSC via FB PHOTO)

The winners will receive major cash prizes worth PHP5,000 (U$D90) as a Grand Champion, followed by 1st Runner Up pays PHP3,000 (USD53) and 2nd Runner Up ends with PHP2,000 (U$D36). Special prizes including Best Speaker individuals as an example will also to be paid in full. We recently spoke to Ms. Ester, City Treasurer's Office (CTO) in charge to receive cash prizes to be paid in person on our news team to OneNETnews.

LGU officials and PWDAO said that they were fully acknowledged to participate as contestants after joining a first local pageant here in the City of Gentle People.

Mr. and Ms. PWD opens a potential 2nd year in 2024 for those if you're an eligible PWD individual and a resident in the specific barangay of Dumaguete for whatever past reasons of its autistic and/or mental health problems.

SCREENGRAB COURTESY: Rhayniel Saldasal Calimpong via FB Video (Freelanced Photojournalist & News Reporter and Presenter of OneNETnews)

-- OneNETnews Team

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #27

July 12-19 2024

President Biden announced the cancellation of $1.2 billion dollars worth of student loan debt. This will cancel the debt of 35,000 public service workers, such as teachers, nurses, and firefighters. This brings the total number of people who've had their student debt relived under the Biden Administration to 4.8 million or one out of every ten people with student loan debt, for a total of $168.5 billion in debt forgiven. This came after the Supreme Court threw out an earlier more wide ranging student debt relief plan forcing the administration to undertake a slower more piecemeal process for forgiving debt. President Biden announced a new plan in the spring that will hopefully be finalized by fall that will forgive an additional 30 million people's student loan debt.

President Biden announced actions to lower housing coasts, make more housing available and called on Congress to prevent rent hikes. President Biden's plan calls for landlords who raise the rent by more than 5% a year to face losing major important tax befits, the average rent has gone up by 21% since 2021. The President has also instructed the federal government, the largest land owner in the country, to examine how unused property can be used for housing. The Bureau of Land Management plans on building 15,000 affordable housing units on public land in southern Nevada, the USPS is examining 8,500 unused properties across America to be repurposed for housing, HHS is finalizing a new rule to make it easier to use federal property to house the homeless, and the Administration is calling on state, local, and tribal governments to use their own unused property for housing, which could create approximately 1.9 million units nationwide.

The Department of Transportation announced $5 billion to replace or restore major bridges across the country. The money will go to 13 significant bridges in 16 states. Some bridges are suffering from years of neglect others are nearly 100 years old and no longer fit for modern demands. Some of the projects include the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River which connects Portland Oregon to Vancouver Washington, replacing the Sagamore Bridge which connects Cape Cod to the mainland built in 1933, replacing the I- 83 South Bridge in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Cape Fear Memorial Bridge Replacement Project in Wilmington, North Carolina, among others.

President Biden signed an Executive Order aimed at boosting Latino college attendance. The order established the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) are defined as colleges with 25% or above Hispanic/Latino enrollment, currently 55% of Hispanic college students are enrolled in an HSI. The initiative seeks to stream line the relationship between the federal government and HSIs to allow them to more easily take advantage of federal programs and expand their reach to better serve students and boost Hispanic enrollment nationwide.

HUD announced $325 million in grants for housing and community development in 7 cities. the cities in Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Nevada, New York and New Jersey, have collectively pledged to develop over 6,500 new mixed-income units, including the one-for-one replacement of 2,677 severely distressed public housing units. The 7 collectively will invest $2.65 billion in additional resources within the Choice Neighborhood area – so that every $1 in HUD funds will generate $8.65 in additional resources.

President Biden took extensive new actions on immigration. On June 18th The President announced a new policy that would allow the foreign born spouses and step children of American citizens who don't have legal status to apply for it without having to leave the country, this would effect about half a million spouses and 50,000 children. This week Biden announced that people can start applying on August 19, 2024. Also in June President Biden announced an easing of Visa rules that will allow Dreamers, Americans brought to the country as children without legal status, to finally get work visas to give them legal status and a path way to citizenship. This week the Biden Administration announced a new rule to expand the federal TRIO program to cover Dreamers. TRIO is a program that aims to support low income students and those who would be the first in their families to go to college transition from high school to college, the change would support 50,000 more students each year. The Administration also plans to double the number of free immigration lawyers available to those going through immigration court.

The EPA announced $160 million in grants to support Clean U.S. Manufacturing of Steel and Other Construction Materials. The EPA estimates that the manufacturing of construction materials, such as concrete, asphalt, steel, and glass, accounts for 15% of the  annual global greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA is supporting 38 projects aimed at measuring and combatting the environmental impact of construction materials.

The US announced $203 million in humanitarian assistance for the people of Sudan. Sudan's out of control civil war has caused the largest refugee crisis in the world with 11 million Sudanese having fled their homes in the face of violence. The war is also causing the gravest food crisis in the world, with a record setting 25 million people facing acute food insecurity, and fears that nearly a million will face famine in the next months. This aid brings the total aid the US has given Sudan since September 2023 to $1.6 billion, making America the single largest donor to Sudan.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau put forward a new rule that would better regulate popular paycheck advance products. 2/3rds of workers are payed every two weeks or once a month and since 2020 the number of short term loans that allow employees to receive their paycheck days before it’s scheduled to hit their account has grown by 90%. the CFPB says that many of these programs are decided with employers not employees and millions of Americans are paying fees they didn't know about before signing up. The new rule would require lenders to tell costumers up front about any and all fees and charges, as well as cracking down on deceptive "tipping" options.

[the-twentieth-man]

Deep State Nepotism and DNA - A Position Paper

Nepotism is a common and recurring practice throughout history. For instance: Genghis Khan appointed his relatives to generalships regardless of skills. Historians tell us it was the Chinese who invented the Civil Service Test. But, sadly, they also invented ways to circumvent such tests and appointments. In my youth I took several Civil Service Tests; some of which I maxed; that is, I got a…

[bet-on-me-13]

Captive AU

So, the GIW has been around for a while.

Ghosts have been a problem for centuries, the US Government wouldn't have waited until the 21st Century to figure out a way to deal with them, so the GIW has been around for years. And the general Public knows about them, it's a common household name like the FBI or the CIA. They are simply seen as another government organization doing its job, no need to care about the Ghosts they capture, they're Non-Sentient anyways.

Over the years of their existence, they have acquired their own little prison full of Ghosts. And among that collection of Ghosts, 4 stand out.

Because they are somehow Ghost-Human Hybrids.

The first was captured a while before the others. A College Student studying Ectology had been admitted to the Hospital after a Lab Accident, where he had been diagnosed with an, as of yet, unknown and incurable Disease. He had Green Boils popping up all over his Face, and he was in excruciating Pain.

The GIW had sent a team to investigate, and they had found that the College Student was slowly transforming into some type of abomination. He was still partially human, but he was also partially a Ghost. They had him declared Dead and shipped him off to a Blacksite Facility to be experimented on.

...

The Second One came about 10 years later. Coincidentally, it was very similar circumstances. The very same pair of scientists who had been acquainted with their previous subject had just admitted their 5 Yr old son into a local Hospital. He had been in a Lab Accident that had stopped his Heart for a few minutes, and out of curiosity the GIW had sent a Team to investigate.

And what did they find, but a perfect recreation of their favorite Test Subject.

They declared the Child Dead, and sent him off to the same Facility they kept the other one in.

...

The 3rd of the Hybrids was actually created in a GIW Lab, 3 Years Later. In an experiment to see if the Hybrids condition could be recreated, a GIW Scientist had taken the DNA of the 2 existing Hybrids and had cloned them.

Of the Test Batch of 15, only 1 Subject survived. It was deemed only a Partial Success, because while they did manage to create a New Hybrid, it was Unstable and prone to melting if overexerted.

They placed it in the same Containment Unit as the other 2, and left it at that. No more Cloning Experiments had been conducted afterwards since the project was deemed an overall Failure.

...

The 4th and Final Hybrid was found in Gotham City of all places, 2 years later.

A GIW Operative had been visiting Family when their Van's Ecto-Detector had gone off. Soon after that they found the Subject in an Alleyway, seemingly disoriented from its recent awakening.

DNA testing had revealed the Hybrid to be deceased Jason Peter Todd, the adopted Son of Bruce Wayne who had been killed 6 Months Prior while studying in Ethiopia. By the Scientists Best Guess, an Anomoly in Space-Time had caused a Natural Portal to open right on top of the Teenagers Corpse, fusing his Deceased Body and nearly formed Ghost into One.

They shipped the Teen off to the Blacksite, and placed him in the same Containment Unit as the others.

...

So now the GIW have 4 Hybrids, all created from different circumstances, all different ages.

One was formed from the Slow Death of a College Age Student, after a Lab Accident had flooded his system with Pure Ectoplasm.

One was form from the Instant Death of a 5 yr old Boy, after a Lab Accident had flooded his Body with a dimensions worth of Ectoplasm.

One was created in a GIW Lab in a Cloning Experiment. She was created to be 3 Yrs Old upon Birth, and was Unstable as a Result.

One was created from the Fusion of a Long Dead Teenage Corpse and a nearly formed Ghost, in a random Space Time Event that forced both together.

...

All the Halfas are basically a Family together. Vlad is the oldest, at around 35, and takes the Paternal Role.

Danny and Ellie are the Kids, and are 10 and 5 respectively.

Jason is the Oldest Child, and takes his Older Brother role very seriously. He is 15 when he is brought in.

They all take care of eachother, through all the experiments and tests the GIW force them through.

One of the most common experiments is to have them battle the other Ghosts in Captivity. Although that is just a thinly veiled dog fighting ring that the GIW scientists like to Bet on. Sometimes they are put up against eachother, but they refuse to fight until they are electrocuted into submission.

They were also forced to Push all of their Powers to their Limits every day, just so the Scientist can see how they are growing. This had drained them, since they only got the absolute minimum amount of Ecto to survive off of, and they were forced to use it all up every day.

This goes on for 3 more years.

...

Until the day when the GIW messed up.

During one of their Constant Dog Fights, they had made the mistake of putting two Electricity Core Ghosts against eachother. The resulting battle had created an Electromagnetic Wave that fried all systems in the entire Facility.

It was a Disaster. Dozens of Scientists were killed when the Door Locks failed to contain the captive Ghosts, and even more were injured when a few of the Ghosts managed to break into the Armory on Base.

It was only hours after the whole ordeal was Finally quelled that they realized that their most Valuable Test Subjects were missing.

Vlad, Danny, Jason, and Ellie had taken the chance to run away during the commotion. Vlad had unfortunately been injured during the escape, and Ellie had been forced to use her powers causing her to destabilize a little, but all in all they had managed to escape on one piece.

But now they were fugitives on the run from the Government, with an injured adult and a sick child.

Jason had an Idea though. While he didn't have very clear memories of his life, a side effect of his late resurrection, he did remember that he used to live in Gotham. And they all remember researchers grumbling about how their scanners always malfunction when they passed nearby Gotham.

So, Jason led his little Family to the most Familiar place in the city he could think of.

Crime Alley.

[worldcitiesday]

(Part 1) Action and Leadership from the Ground Up: Towards the Rescue Plan for People and the Planet.

Local and regional governments have been at the forefront of policies supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, caring for people and the planet, through public service provision, local policy fostering social inclusion, ecological transformation and the creation of alliances and partnerships.

Lead Facilitators:

Global Task Force of Local and Regional Governments

United Cities and Local Governments

UNDESA

UN-Habitat

UNDP

Local2030 Coalition

The Local and Regional Government Forum (LRGF) will highlight the commitments of the local and regional government constituency towards the 2030 Agenda. A special focus will be placed on local acceleration and local accountability through the lenses of the 12 transitions and crosscutting enablers of the High Impact Initiatives and their relationship with action taking place at sub-national level. High-impact localization policies and partnerships for the goals currently in place and new innovative commitments will also be announced as well as the specific localization needs and aspirations of local and regional governments to bring SDG implementation back on track.

The Local and Regional Governments Forum will therefore bring together local, regional, and national governments as well as representatives from the United Nations and other stakeholders to announce strong commitments, present coalitions for policy change, and illustrate high-impact localization policies. The Forum will also reflect on the importance of Voluntary Local and Voluntary Subnational Reviews in the acceleration of the implementation of the SDGs as reporting tools but also policy tools. The Forum will provide reflections on the constituency's priorities and aspirations for the UN Summit of the Future in 2024 and the World Social Summit in 2025.

[covidsafecosplay]

The People’s CDC COVID-19 Weather Report: September 16, 2024

The People's CDC has released another updated report on COVID-19 data and action items for the United States of America.

Highlights:

According to the Wastewater COVID-19 National and Regional Trends dashboard, COVID wastewater levels have plateaued, remaining between high and very high in all regions except for the West, which is having a slight increase. The highest levels remain in the West as of 9/7/2024 (data captured on 9/13/2024). 

As of September 10, 2024, COVID levels are “likely growing” in 3 states and territories according to the CDC Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics dashboard. Thirteen states have reached “stable or uncertain” levels, and 31 states are seeing “declining” or “likely declining”, while levels are “not estimated” in 4 states. 

According to the CDC's COVID Data Tracker, there has been an increase to nearly 1,000 deaths and slightly more than 1,000 deaths per week from COVID during the entire month of August 2024. The last time this occurred was during the winter months of 2024. This total count of weekly COVID deaths is likely to be an underestimate due to limited COVID testing and reporting. The loss of these lives could have been prevented if layers of protections were consistently implemented in preventing infections. 

Although the Bridge Access Program, covering the updated vaccines for uninsured and underinsured adults, has ended, several states including California’s Bridge Access Program and other departments of health have taken steps to partially address this major gap by either providing funding for no-cost access to COVID vaccines or using budgets to acquire a limited supply for their residents. Ultimately, the federal government must contribute resources to ensure no-cost access for all who are uninsured or underinsured. We continue to demand from the federal government to provide continued funding for the Bridge Access Program as well as the Vaccines for Adults Program. As people access the updated COVID vaccines, it is notable that a longer 1.5 inch needle may be needed for adults with higher body weights, in order to pass through subcutaneous tissue into muscle. Complete guidelines for vaccine administration in consideration of age, weight, and injection site can be found on the CDC's website.

This is a reminder that another batch of no-cost COVID rapid antigen tests can be ordered and sent to your home address at the end of   September 2024. Through the CDC’s Increasing Community Access to Testing (ICATT) program, no-cost access to COVID testing access is limited to those who are uninsured or underinsured at places including CVS, Walgreens, eTrueNorth, and other local sites as well as in New York City, which is supported by the NY Department of Public Health.

Read the rest of the report here:

Please note that the CovidSafeCosplay blog and its admin are unaffiliated with the People's CDC or its management, and are simply sharing the resource.

Via the People's CDC About page:

The People’s CDC is a coalition of public health practitioners, scientists, healthcare workers, educators, advocates and people from all walks of life working to reduce the harmful impacts of COVID-19.  We provide guidance and policy recommendations to governments and the public on COVID-19, disseminating evidence-based updates that are grounded in equity, public health principles, and the latest scientific literature. Working alongside community organizations, we are building collective power and centering equity as we work together to end the pandemic. The People’s CDC is volunteer-run and independent of partisan political and corporate interests and includes anonymous local health department and other government employees. The People’s CDC is completely volunteer run with infrastructure support being provided by the People’s Science Network

[zvaigzdelasas]

[BBC is UK State Media]

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has funded politically-motivated assassinations in Yemen, a BBC investigation has found, exacerbating a conflict involving the Yemeni government and warring factions which has recently returned to the international spotlight following attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

Counter-terrorism training provided by American mercenaries to Emirati officers in Yemen has been used to train locals who can work under a lower profile - sparking a major uptick in political assassinations, a whistleblower told BBC Arabic Investigations.

The BBC has also found that despite the American mercenaries' stated aim to eliminate the jihadist groups al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) in southern Yemen, in fact the UAE has gone on to recruit former al-Qaeda members for a security force it has created on the ground in Yemen to fight the Houthi rebel movement and other armed factions.

The UAE government has denied the allegations in our investigation - that it had assassinated those without links to terrorism - saying they were "false and without merit".

These are largely between the two parts of the "real" "legitimate" "internationally recognized" coalition govt of Yemen you've been scolded so much about over the last month btw [22 Jan 24]

Continued after the cut

The killing spree in Yemen - more than 100 assassinations in a three-year period - is just one element of an ongoing bitter internecine conflict pitting several international powers against each other in the Middle East's poorest country.[...]

In 2015, the US and the UK supported a coalition of mostly Arab states led by Saudi Arabia - with the UAE as a key partner - to fight back. The coalition invaded Yemen with the aim of reinstating the exiled Yemeni government and fighting terrorism. The UAE was given charge of security in the south, and became the US's key ally on counter-terrorism in the region - al-Qaeda had long been a presence in the south and was now gaining territory.[...]

Under international law, any killing of civilians without due process would be counted as extra-judicial.

The majority of those assassinated were members of Islah - the Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. It [...] has never been classified by the US as a terror organisation, but is banned in several Arab countries - including the UAE where its political activism and support for elections is seen by the country's royal family as a threat to their rule.

Leaked drone footage of the first assassination mission gave me a starting point from which to investigate these mysterious killings. It was dated December 2015 and was traced to members of a private US security company called Spear Operations Group.[...]

Isaac Gilmore, a former US Navy Seal who later became chief operating officer of Spear, was one of several Americans who say they were hired to carry out assassinations in Yemen by the UAE.

He refused to talk about anyone who was on the "kill list" provided to Spear by the UAE - other than the target of their first mission: Ansaf Mayo, a Yemeni MP who is the leader of Islah in the southern port city of Aden, the government's temporary capital since 2015.[...]

Mr Gilmore, and another Spear employee in Yemen at the time - Dale Comstock - told me that the mission they conducted ended in 2016. But the assassinations in southern Yemen continued. In fact they became more frequent, according to investigators from the human rights group Reprieve.

They investigated 160 killings carried out in Yemen between 2015 and 2018. They said the majority happened from 2016 and only 23 of the 160 people killed had links to terrorism. All the killings had been carried out using the same tactics that Spear had employed - the detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED) as a distraction, followed by a targeted shooting. The most recent political assassination in Yemen, according to Yemeni human rights lawyer Huda al-Sarari, happened just last month - of an imam killed in Lahj by the same method.[...]

Mr Gilmore, Mr Comstock, and two other mercenaries from Spear who asked not to be named, said that Spear had been involved in training Emirati officers in the UAE military base in Aden. A journalist who asked to remain anonymous also told us he had seen footage of such training.

As the mercenaries' profile had made them conspicuous in Aden and vulnerable to exposure, their brief had been changed to training Emirati officers, "who in turn trained local Yemenis to do the targeting", the Yemeni military officer told me.

Through the course of the investigation, we also spoke to more than a dozen other Yemeni sources who said this had been the case. They included two men who said they had carried out assassinations which were not terror-related, after being trained to do so by Emirati soldiers - and one man who said he had been offered release from a UAE prison in exchange for the assassination of a senior Yemeni political figure, a mission he did not accept.

Getting Yemenis to conduct the assassinations meant it was harder for the killings to be traced back to the UAE.

By 2017, the UAE had helped build a paramilitary force, part of the Emirati-funded Southern Transitional Council (STC), a security organisation that runs a network of armed groups across southern Yemen.

The force operated in southern Yemen independently of the Yemeni government, and would only take orders from the UAE. The fighters were not just trained to fight on active front lines. One particular unit, the elite Counter Terrorism Unit, was trained to conduct assassinations, our whistleblower told us.

The whistleblower sent a document with 11 names of former al-Qaeda members now working in the STC, some of whose identities we were able to verify ourselves.

During our investigation we also came across the name Nasser al-Shiba. Once a high-ranking al-Qaeda operative, he was jailed for terrorism but later released. A Yemeni government minister we spoke to told us al-Shiba was a known suspect in the attack on the US warship USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors in October 2000. Multiple sources told us that he is now the commander of one of the STC military units. Lawyer Huda al-Sarari has been investigating human rights abuses committed by these UAE-backed forces on the ground. As a result of her work, she would frequently receive death threats. But it was her 18-year-old son Mohsen who paid the ultimate price.

He was shot in the chest in March 2019 while on a trip to a local petrol station, and died a month later.[...]

A subsequent investigation by Aden's public prosecutor found that Mohsen was killed by a member of the UAE-backed Counter Terrorism Unit, but the authorities have never pursued a prosecution.

Members of the prosecutor's office - who we cannot name for safety reasons - told us that the widespread assassinations have created a climate of fear that means even they are too afraid to pursue justice in cases involving forces backed by the UAE.

Reprieve has received a leaked UAE document that shows Spear was still being paid in 2020, though it is not clear in what capacity.

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Scenes of panicked civilians rushing out of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, after the Israeli occupation army targeted the reception hall of the medical center with artillery shells, damaging the entrance to the hospital in what can only be a blatant violation of international humanitarian law. 📈 The current death toll now exceeds 35'647 Palestinians killed and over 79'852 others have been wounded since Oct. 7th. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

DAY 228: US OKAYS "LIMITED" OPERATION IN RAFAH, OVER 900'000 PALESTINIANS DISPLACED, AL-AWDA HOSPITAL UNDER SIEGE, MASS MURDER CONTINUES UNABATED

On 228th day of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 5 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 85 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, while another 200 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

It should be noted that as a result of the constant Israeli bombardment of Gaza's healthcare system, infrastructure, residential and commercial buildings, local paramedic and civil defense crews are unable to recover countless hundreds, even thousands of victims who remain trapped under the rubble, or who's bodies remain strewn across the streets of Gaza.

This leaves the official death toll vastly undercounted, as Gaza's healthcare officials are unable to accurately tally those killed and maimed in this genocide, which must be kept in mind when considering the scale of the mass murder.

The authorities of the Israeli occupation have agreed to put aside plans for a full-scale assault on the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, for a more "limited" operation in the city, with the approval of the United States.

In an article published by David Ignatius in the Washington Post, Ignatius writes that "Israeli leaders have reached a consensus about a final assault on Hamas’s four remaining battalions in Rafah."

"Instead of the heavy attack with two divisions that Israel contemplated several weeks ago, government and military leaders foresee a more limited assault that U.S. officials think will result in fewer civilian casualties and, for that reason, Biden won’t oppose," Ignatius added.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation army says it has displaced approximately 950'000 Palestinians in the Rafah area, where more than 1.5 million civilians had gathered to seek shelter from the occupation's ongoing violent bombardment of Gaza.

According to the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), some 300'000 to 400'000 Palestinians remain in the city, whose population was less than 172'000 prior to the start of "Israel's" ongoing genocide of Palestinians.

Previously, the IOF ordered the evacuation of the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah, dropping leaflets over the city that demanded Palestinians uproot themselves and their belongings for the umpteenth time and move their families to the already obliterated city of Khan Yunis, as well as the equally destroyed Al-Mawasi area.

The Israeli media claims the occupation army never ordered the rest of the population leave the city, and that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have "chosen" to leave Rafah of their own volition.

Although IOF soldiers and armored vehicles have stopped short of entering central Rafah, their bombing and shelling has NOT remained contained within the easternmost neighborhoods, but has repeatedly hammered central and northern Rafah as well.

In other news, the humanitarian aid organization ActionAid International has issued an urgent appeal to the international community to intervene on behalf of the Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, which has been besieged by the Israeli occupation army for several days.

"Al-Awda Hospital, one of our vital partners, is currently under siege by the Israeli army, resulting in the complete blockade of access to and from the facility. This blockade severely impedes the hospital's ability to provide essential medical services to the most vulnerable populations in the north of Gaza," ActionAid warned on Tuesday.

Previously, the Israeli occupation forces laid siege to Al-Awda Hospital for 18 days in December, 2023, during which, three medical staff were shot by Israeli snipers.

According to ActionAid International, whose headquarters is based in Johannesburg, South Africa, the hospital is "struggling to meet the urgent medical needs of the community, with 80% of injuries requiring immediate orthopaedic intervention."

"The capacity of Al-Awda Hospital has been severely compromised due to the bombing of its accommodation floors, resulting in the deaths of three doctors and the loss of 48 beds. Despite these challenges, 93 medical personnel continue to work tirelessly under extremely difficult conditions," the appeal said of the conditions at the hospital.

According to the acting Director of Al-Awda Hospital, Dr. Mohammed Salha, the hospital remains "under siege again by the Israeli military, with shooting and shelling in its vicinity, ambulances unable to leave the hospital and injured people unable to enter."

"We were surprised today by the siege of Al-Awda Hospital. [There was] shooting fired in the vicinity of the hospital and many shells," Dr. Salha is quoted as saying.

ActionAid goes on to emphasize that "the crisis unfolding at Al-Awda Hospital demands immediate attention and action. We urge leaders and governments across the world to leverage their diplomatic influence and take actions to address this urgent crisis."

"Specifically, we call on you to demand an immediate end to the siege imposed on the hospital by the Israeli government, allowing for the free movement of patients, medical staff, and essential medical supplies and fuel. Furthermore, we implore you to ensure the protection of civilians and medical staff both at Al-Awda Hospital and across Gaza. Swift and decisive action is imperative to alleviate the suffering of those affected by this humanitarian crisis," the appeal concludes.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation army continues massively bombing and shelling various axis of the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding many scores of Palestinians and their families, while destroying the little remaining infrastructure and the few residential buildings still standing in the enclave following nearly 8 months of non-stop bombardment.

Today also marks the 15th consecutive day the Israeli occupation authorities have closed the Rafah and Karm Abu Salem border crossings, south of Rafah, preventing the passage of humanitarian and medical aid convoys, compounding the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza.

The occupation army forces holding the two crossings have prevented more than 3'000 aid trucks from entering the Gaza Strip, while also preventing around 700 sick and wounded Palestinians from leaving Gaza for treatment abroad.

At the same time, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continued their assault on Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, pummeling the city and camp with constant airstrikes and artillery shelling, while also hammering various other areas of northern Gaza.

On Tuesday morning, occupation warplanes bombed a residential building belonging to the Al-Kahlot family in the Beit Lahiya project, in Gaza's north, killing at least 12 civilians, while another 14 martyrs and 42 wounded resulting from IOF raids in the city were transported to Kamal Adwan Hospital over the previous 24-hours.

Several casualties were also recorded following the bombing of IOF fighter jets on a house belonging to the Al-Kahtib family, also in Beit Lahiya.

Simultaneously, Zionist military forces closed the entrance to the town of Beit Hanoun, also in northern Gaza, besieging the town and a nearby school filled with displaced Palestinian families.

In the meantime, occupation aircraft bombed the Zaharna family home, in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, murdering three Palestinians and wounding a number of others.

Occupation fighter jets also bombed a civilian residence belonging to the Qandil family in the Al-Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City, resulting in the deaths of four civilians who were transported to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the city.

Occupation artillery shelling also hammered the eastern areas of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.

Elsewhere in Gaza, occupation Merkava tanks advanced beyond the Salah al-Din Gate along the border south of Rafah, while also demolishing several residential buildings using intense artillery shelling in the Brazil neighborhood, east of the city.

Tanks and armored vehicles were also stationed in the vicinity of Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah.

Meanwhile, IOF warplanes bombed and destroyed several entire residential squares in the Yabna Camp, in central Rafah, while occupation forces targeted a group of people near the Awadallah Junction in the same camp, killing at least 5 civilians.

Zionist air forces went on to bombard several neighborhoods east of the Khan Yunis governate.

Previously, on Monday night, Israeli occupation forces bombed a Palestinian home belonging to the Abu Azoum family in central Rafah, massacreing three civilians and wounding several others, while yet another bombing targeting the Tabasi family home, which resulted in a number of casualties.

In further atrocities, occupation aircraft bombed a residential house belonging to the Abu Tair family in Abasan Al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, resulting in the deaths of three Palestinians, while many others were wounded or remain missing under the rubble.

Military gunboats with the Israeli occupation army also fire machine guns towards the coast of Khan Yunis, while an Israeli quadcopter opened fire on a gathering of civilians behind the Association for the Disabled near the border with Egypt.

In central Gaza, the slaughter continued when occupation raids targeted the Bureij Camp, while Zionist soldiers killed two young men with gunfire in the Netzarim military axis, north of the Nuseirat Camp.

As a result of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the current death toll now exceeds 35'647 Palestinians killed, including at least 15'000 children and over 10'000 women, while another 79'852 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

May 21st, 2024.

#source1

#source2

#source3

#source4

#source5

#source6

#source7

#source8

#source9

#source10

#graphicsource

#videosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[monstersdownthepath]

Homebrew Horror: Vodani, Nascent Demon Lord of Intoxication and Anger

(Art by the amazing @stranger-chads!)

First mentioned here, Vodani is one of the least ambitious yet most active among the Nascent Lords, never truly vying for territory but viciously holding what power and reach he stumbles into with a ferocity and determination that cause most others to simply leave him to his own devices. His primary concerns in his day to day life are acquiring alcohol to drink and people to drink it around (specifically around, and uncommonly with), and though he can conjure seemingly bottomless amounts of it and convert even pond scum into a palatable beverage, he's always hounding for a flavor of spirit he's never tasted before, which is one of his motivators for venturing into the world of mortals.

The primary motivator, however, is only barely more complex than that of most demons: chaos, mayhem, destruction, and the corruption of innocents. Vodani takes on the appearance of a common human vagrant or wanderer to inveigle himself in established populations of the destitute and downtrodden. With endless gifts of cheap drink and drugs woven between sob stories he's collected from hundreds of past victims, Vodani establishes himself as a strange but beloved member of the community, where he works to ignite the fires of hatred within them.

Vodani uses inflammatory rhetoric to gradually unite the societies he infiltrates against specific targets, most of them nobles or government officials, or members of an organization with considerable power over the poor (such as bankers, guards, and local guild members), preferring to pick whomever would cause the largest power vacuum if they were removed from their position and/or cause the largest breakdown of societal order (his least favorite type of order). This habit causes many to call him the Prince of Paupers, believing him a figure of hope and unity, but this is false hope at best; Vodani is not driven out of a sincere desire to help, but a demonic desire to destroy. He intentionally steers people away from any solution that does not lead to violent revolution and utilizes drugs, social and societal pressures, and his magic to prevent anyone from speaking against him or offering relief to his "friends," victims of his toxic influence who quickly find themselves with few choices but to continue wallowing in his lifestyle of violence, indulgence, and hate.

Were the Lord of Gin truly a bringer of rebellion and freedom, he would actually stay to help the reconstruction once the dust settled, or even help at all. As it is, the targets of ire he chooses often serve as convenient scapegoats for the actual reason inequality runs rampant; he may target a guard captain enforcing unjust laws while treating the council who made the laws as an afterthought, or call for the death of a king who is unaware that his advisors have been wringing areas of the city dry behind his back. Vodani gets his fill of destruction quickly once he's gotten a whole riot going, wading into the fray to kill and destroy with savage impunity, often felling friend and foe alike. Whether or not his assembled "freedom fighters" actually succeed in destroying their perceived "oppressors" and "enemies" or if they themselves are routed is of little true consequence to him, with the fiend vanishing from the world once his cruel work is done to let everyone else shoulder the consequences. Any actual good that may emerge in the wake of his riot is purely accidental, and hearing that he has bettered a city sends him into a frothing fury which takes him days to calm down from. He often goes out of his way to either send his followers into the same city or slither back in himself to make it burn down 'for good this time,' and this is one of the only things in creation which can give him actual focus and motivation to plan things over the course of the long term... provided he doesn't completely forget about why he was so angry in the first place during days of senseless rage and endless drinking.

Vodani appears to be a humanoid with an extremely severe case of jaundice and lengthy fingers that end in sharpened, bony points. He wears shabby local clothing and is always clutching a bottle of spirits he takes frequent drinks from. His head is his most startling feature, taking the shape of a tapering pillar of flesh that swirls as though it were smoke in a vortex, solid yellow eyes and a mouth filled with shark-like teeth emerging and disappearing at random in the twister. He has a strange amount of control over his malleable head, able to shape it into distorted faces and exaggerated expressions at will, or even lash his head out like a tentacle to deliver bites to distant foes.

Even when magically disguised, his pure yellow eyes or sharpened teeth randomly peek through to reveal his true nature, forcing him to take pains to hide them with long hair, facemasks, tall collars, or other coverings. His commonalities with the Ginever are noted by most who know of both him and the strange, alcoholic carnivores; many believe him to either be their progenitor, or a member of their kind who ascended to demonhood. He gives contradicting reports, alternatively calling them his children, his kin, his subjects, or his parasites, seemingly just to annoy anyone trying to find a concrete truth. What is known is that any mortal who drinks themselves to death with alcohol he's interacted with in some way has a chance of returning to life as a Ginever. When asked of this phenomenon, he is curiously quiet.

Vodani, the Demon at the Bottom of the Bottle CR 23 Chaotic Evil Medium Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Demon, Extraplanar) Init: +7; Senses: darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Detect Good, Detect Law, True Seeing; Perception +37 Aura: Unholy Aura (DC 29) ------- Defense ------ AC 44, touch 31, flat-footed 36 (+7 Dex, +13 natural, +14 luck) HP 530 (26d10+364), Regeneration 15 (Good) Fort +23, Ref +29, Will +23 Defensive Abilities: Freedom of Movement; DR 15/Cold Iron and Good; Immune: Charm and compulsion effects, cold, death effects, electricity, disease, poison; Resist: Acid 30, Fire 30; SR: 35 ------ Offense ------ Speed: 60ft, climb 20ft; Air Walk Melee +3 Improvised Weapon +38/+33/+28/+23 (1d8+10/19-20), claw +28 (1d6+4 plus Intoxicant), bite +33 (1d8+7 plus Intoxicant), OR two claws +33 (1d6+7 plus Intoxicant), bite +33 (1d8+7 plus Intoxicant) Ranged +3 Thrown Improvised Weapon +38/+33/+28/+23 (1d8+10) Space 5ft, Reach 5ft (10ft with bite) Special Attacks: Cloak and Dagger Tactics (DC 28), Intoxicant, Jaundiced Gaze, Sneak Attack +2d6, Whatever's At Hand Spell-like Abilities (CL 20th; concentration +31) Constant--Air Walk, Freedom of Movement, Detect Good, Detect Law, True Seeing, Unholy Aura (DC 29) At-will--Charm Person (DC 22), Greater Dispel Magic, Greater Teleport (self plus 50lbs only), Invisibility (self only), Suggestion (DC 24) 3/day--Create Drugs, Crime Wave (DC 27), Mass Suggestion (DC 27), Song of Discord (DC 26) 1/day--Dominate Monster (DC 30), Life of Crime (DC 29), Summon Demons or Ginever, Time Stop ------ Statistics ------ Str 24 Dex 25 Con 38 Int 20 Wis 27 Cha 33 Base Atk +26; CMB +33 (+4 when performing Dirty Trick); CMD 66 (+4 vs Dirty Tricks) Feats Catch Off-Guard(B), Cloak and Dagger Style, Cloak and Dagger Subterfuge, Cloak and Dagger Tactics, Dirty Fighting, Dirty Trick Master, Grab and Go, Greater Dirty Trick, Improved Dirty Trick, Improvisational Focus, Improvised Weapon Mastery, Multiattack, Quick Dirty Trick, Throw Anything(B), Vital Strike Skills Appraise +15, Bluff +40, Craft (Alchemy) +34, Disable Device +26, Disguise +17, Escape Artist +21, Intimidate +40, Knowledge (Local) +34, Knowledge (Nobility) +15, Knowledge (Planes) +16, Perception +37, Perform (Comedy) +21, Perform (Oratory) +31, Sense Motive +37, Sleight of Hand +26, Stealth +30 Languages Abyssal, Common, Dwarvish, Draconic, Orcish; telepathy 300ft, Tongues SQ Change Shape (Any humanoid or monstrous humanoid; Alter Self or Monstrous Physique I), Drunken Demagogue, Happy Hour, Nascent Demon Lord traits ------ Ecology ------ Environment: Any urban Organization: Solitary, hellions (self plus 3~10 Ginever plus 10~30 humanoids), riot (self plus 10~20 Ginever plus 30+ humanoids). Treasure: Triple standard

------

Combat: While preferring to never battle any foe with a reasonable chance of fighting back, Vodani is a bewildering foe to battle on even terms and will utilize his feats to hamper his foes via rapidly-delivered Dirty Trick maneuvers before beating them down with whatever he has available as the negative conditions mount. Capable of turning anything into a deadly weapon, Vodani is never truly unarmed and will utilize any lull in the combat (or rounds in Time Stop) to customize his held item with enchantments he feels would best harm his foes; he usually begins each day having a single bottle opener or corkscrew he keeps loaded with Anarchic, Human-Bane, and Unholy already on his person. If his foes are intoxicated, he will attempt to use his spell-likes to convince them to either fight on his side, fight with each other, or not fight at all.

Morale: The Lord of Gin turns invisible and flees any fight that is no longer "fun" for him, typically meaning fights in which his foes take no damage from his attacks, cannot be meaningfully impaired with Dirty Trick, and any combat where he is reduced to 200 or less HP. If prevented from fleeing, he flies into an indignant rage and fights to the death.

------ Special Abilities ------

Drunken Demagogue (Ex): Vodani's drunken swaying allows him supernatural grace when avoiding danger, granting him a luck bonus equal to his Constitution modifier to his AC, his CMD, and to his Reflex saving throws. In addition, inebriated creatures have a significantly harder time resisting his words. When communicating with inebriated creatures--even one unwillingly rendered drunk by Vodani's own abilities--Vodani gains a +5 profane bonus to Charisma-based skill checks against those creatures, and those creatures have a -5 penalty to saving throws against Vodani's mind-affecting spells and abilities. If a creature is normally immune to mind-affecting effects, Drunken Demagogue allows his spells and abilities to pierce this immunity, but the spell or effect ends instantly when the creature is no longer drunk.

Happy Hour (Su/Sp): Thirteen times a day as a swift, standard, and/or move action, Vodani can conjure a bottle or flask of any common, nonmagical alcoholic drink he desires, or which is desired by someone he is speaking to (even if they don't know the specific name). This power is often used when he is attempting to lay low and appear as a mundane citizen, but when wishing to appear miraculous, he is also capable of using Rotgut or Enhance Water as spell-like abilities at will on any liquid he can touch even a small portion of, and Tears to Wine as a spell-like ability up to five times a day.

Vodani can consume single servings of alcohol (the bottles/flasks he summons contain three servings each), as well as potions, tinctures, and similar items as a swift action without provoking an attack of opportunity. Each time he drinks a serving of alcohol, a potion, or a tincture, he recovers 1d8+5 hitpoints and may make another saving throw against any ongoing effect on himself.

Intoxicant (Su): Vodani may, as a free action once per round when successfully damaging a creature with his claw or bite attack, threaten to convert a portion of the liquids in that creature's body into alcohol. That creature must succeed a DC 35 Fortitude save or take 1d4 points of Dexterity and Constitution damage and become sickened as though they had drank too much (alternately, a failure raises the victim's level of inebriation by 1, if using the alternate rules present in Inner Sea Taverns). A creature that fails their saving throw against this ability while already inebriated takes 1 additional point of Dexterity and Constitution damage. A creature suffering any amount of damage from this ability becomes vulnerable to Jaundiced Gaze and Drunken Demagogue via the alcoholic infusion. This is a poison effect.

Jaundiced Gaze (Su): While his mundane alcohol is typically enough to get what he wants, Vodani can dramatically enhance the effects of nearby alcohol with nothing but his gaze in a 60ft cone. Any alcoholic beverage in this cone is converted into a ferocious brew; one serving counts as four to any creature not immune to poison, and creatures normally immune to poison can be affected by the drink, though they treat it as only one serving. Alchemical and magical liquids almost always contain at least traces of alcohol in them which is enhanced by this ability, rendering the substance useless; such items can resist this infusion with a DC 35 Fortitude save. Inebriated creatures who meet his gaze while this ability is active must succeed a DC 35 Fortitude save or become confused, fascinated, or prone (his choice) for 1d8 rounds. He may activate or suppress this ability at will as a free action.

Nascent Demon Lord Traits: A nascent demon lord is a powerful demon that has not yet made the full transition from unique demon to full demon lord of an Abyssal realm. They have several traits, as summarized here:

Immunity to charm and compulsion effects, death effects, electricity, and poison.

Resistance to acid 30, cold 30, and fire 30.

Summon (Sp) Once per day, Vodani can summon any demon or combination of demons whose total combined CR is 20 or lower. He can instead choose to summon two Fiendish Ginever with up to 12 levels of any one class each. This ability always works, and is equivalent to a 9th-level spell.

Telepathy 300 feet.

Vodani’s natural weapons, as well as any weapon he wields, are treated as chaotic, epic, and evil for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Vodani can grant spells to his worshipers. He grants access to the domains of Chaos, Community, Evil, and Trickery. His favored weapon is improvised weapons.

Whatever's At Hand (Ex/Su): Vodani is a master of bar brawls and improvisation. He gains Catch Off-Guard and Throw Anything as bonus feats. Any item he uses as an improvised weapon is treated as if it were a +3 magic weapon (dropped or thrown weapons lose these qualities at the end of the turn). As a standard action, Vodani can further empower anything he is wielding--even a weapon that is already enchanted--with up to +3 worth of additional enchantments selected from the following list: Anarchic, Bane (the Bane type is chosen each time this ability is used), Cruel, Deadly, Flaming, Frost, Keen, Throwing, Shock and/or Unholy. These enchantments last until Vodani uses this ability again, or if the improvised weapon leaves his grasp for longer than 1 minute (which allows him to temporarily lend out enchanted armaments). He cannot use this ability to bring a weapon's total combined enchantments above +8.

[readytoescalate]

"EMORY IS EVERYWHERE": AN OPEN INVITATION FROM PROTESTORS OCCUPYING EMORY UNIVERSITY

As the Palestine Solidarity movement rips across college campuses, college administrators and government bureaucrats are rushing to denounce anyone taking action as an “outside agitator”. Those who grease the gears of the war machine think that this rhetoric will erode public support for bold actions at Emory. They are wrong. 45 years after the Camp David Accords - an infamously botched, imperialist plan for peace between Israel and Egypt with no input from Palestinians - was orchestrated by an Emory faculty alum President Carter, we observe that there is nowhere on Earth “outside” of Emory University. We want to say as clearly as possible - we welcome “outside agitators” to our struggle against the ruthless genocide of Palestinians. Emory University has the highest tuition, the lowest acceptance rate, and by far the highest endowment of any institution in Georgia. Economic barriers, infamously racist standardized testing, and nepotism have barred many from studying at Emory. To students in Atlanta and beyond - we invite you to struggle with us. Local high school students dream of attending Emory, and many teachers encourage them to study hard and take up extracurriculars to increase their chance acceptance, knowing their chance of admission is slim. To local high school students and teachers, we invite you to struggle with us. Just down the street from Emory Hospital Midtown is the site of the former Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter. In a bid to gentrify the city and evict its houseless population, the City closed the shelter and did not replace it, displacing hundreds and cutting off a last line of support for thousands of poor people in the city. Emory University purchased this building, just one example of Emory’s contribution to gentrification in Atlanta. To those without homes, or those displaced by gentrification, we invite you to struggle with us. Emory’s $11 billion endowment, the 11th highest in the country, is an outsized influence in Atlanta’s economy. While economic inequality widens in the city, Emory remains a bastion of the rich. To the restaurant workers, house cleaners, gig workers, and all proletarians - we invite you to struggle with us. In 2020, Emory University laied off or furloughed over 1500 employees. To those who are no longer affiliated with the university - we invite you to struggle with us. 4 out of 5 students at Emory are not from Georgia. While the Freedom Riders were heading down to Georgia in the 1960’s to fight for Black people’s right to vote, segregationist governors cast them as “outside agitators”. To those from outside Atlanta and Georgia, we invite you to struggle with us. 1 in 5 students at Emory are from outside of the United States. The Palestinian students murdered by American weapons under Biden will never be one of those students. To those from outside of the country, we invite you to struggle with us. In April 2023, Emory admin called the police to break up a protest led by students against Cop City on the quad. None of the pigs were Emory students. To all of those who struggle against police brutality, we invite you to struggle with us. EMORY IS EVERYWHERE. THE PLACE FOR DIVISION IS NOWHERE. WE INVITE YOU TO STRUGGLE WITH US.