#Violations

[agentfascinateur]

Israel violating 1979 Peace Accord and slanders now Egypt

The corridor is part of a larger demilitarized zone along the entire Israel-Egypt border. Under the peace accord, each side is allowed to deploy only a small number of troops or border guards in the zone, though those numbers can be modified by mutual agreement. At the time of the accord, Israeli troops controlled Gaza, until Israel withdrew its forces and settlers in 2005.

Tunnels! Like the non-existing ones of Al Shifa Hospital where instead very real mass graves were found once Israeli forces evacuated...

[countesspetofi]

[taigasrandomshit]

i don't know how to explain this, but a Very Bad Thing Happened.

the door knocked about 8:30 in the morning. cops. lots of cops. and a search warrant. and three vans from the state police digital forensics lab. they tore my apartment up and took every piece of electronics they found.

someone was on our wifi downloading very illegal things, and now my sons and i are on the line for it.

there were like twenty cops. they all had GUNS. some had TWO GUNS. and they all had BACKUP AMMO. and i don't know about you, but cops swarming my house carrying deadly weapons scares the shit out of me.

when i figure out who is responsible, i will have a strong reaction.

i have a long receipt for everything they took, which i MAY or MAY NOT receive back. IF i get everything back, it won't be for at least four (4) months. after they run all the analysis and whatnot.

items taken included all cell phones, laptops, desktops, and any thumb drives they happened to find laying around. they even took two old huge cpu's i had buried in the closet. so i'm in a fucking situation right now. this is only being sent via an old laptop of my sister's.

they didn't let me save any phone numbers or appointments from my phone, so there's some people who are going to think i died or something. i can't access my email, bc none of the passwords i remember actually work, and where is my recovery link sent to? MY PHONE. i can't recover passwords on some other sites, bc they are sent to MY EMAIL, which i can't recover, bc i need MY PHONE.

and they were all so fucking polite. this is just another day for them. they appreciated me not screaming and making a scene. i appreciated they didn't beat the shit out of me and steal my cash.

i could rant on forever, i may never be not angry again, and i feel the most violated i have ever felt in my 44 years on this plane of existence.

ALSO IF YOU TAKE AWAY ONE THING FROM THIS PLEASE CHANGE YOUR WIFI PASSWORD REGULARLY.

[maturemenoftvandfilms]

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Series) S5/E12 ’Violations’ (1992) - David Sage

I had a brief lust period for Mr. Sage after seeing him in a show called Campus Cops (1995–1996) that lasted one season. And the only reason it was brief was I didn't see more stuff with him in it.

Note To Self: Find more stuff with David Sage.

On A Side Note: Monte Markham was kinda hot on Campus Cops too.

[photoset #2 of 2]

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Keiko O’Brien

By Ames

Ring ring ring. Take your seats. The first period school bell just rang, and that means we’ve got to talk about Star Trek’s botanist-turned-school-marm: Keiko Ishikawa O’Brien. She’s another character that bridges both TNG and DS9, the former cementing her mostly in the role of Miles’s wife and the latter taking every opportunity to give her the week off. Keiko never really gets a fair shake on either show, which is a shame because she has so much potential. So A Star to Steer Her By is going to give her some time in the sun this week to see how she grows! Like a plant… because she’s a botanist… Moving on.

Amusingly, even though last week we joked that all of Garak’s moments should go on BOTH his Best and Worst Moments lists, it’s actually Keiko for whom we’re seeing the most simultaneously good and bad arguments! So grab your pruning shears and ring your school bell with us as you read on below and listen to us argue with Miles on the promenade on this week’s podcast episode (jump to 59:28), or else you’ll have to stay late for detention!

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Try to touch the cup Introduced halfway through The Next Generation, Keiko mostly seems to be around to support other characters. So in “Violations,” she’s there to help with the investigation into the mind-probing Ullians. She doesn’t do much, but she’s there. And we’ve got to admit that her scene remembering her childhood with her grandmother is rather sweet.

I would die to save the life of my child Keiko shows some badassery in “Power Play” when Miles is possessed by a being who seems to relish the idea of tormenting its host’s significant other, really twisting the knife and making things personal. Keiko bravely demands that the being let baby Molly go and even expresses she would rather die than let this thing survive. This all to the face of the man she loves!

So easy a child could do it I shit on “Rascals” a lot (and rightly so), but one thing it actually succeeds in is giving Keiko something to do. Even if it is the child form of Keiko, and not that great a child actor to boot. But she does get to help foil the Ferengi takeover of the ship, which somehow the adults on the ship are unable to do. So, uh, low bar but she and the other kid-crew leap over that sucker.

Children are the future By the time Miles and Keiko have moved over to Deep Space Nine, the little missus is looking for some way to contribute now that her botanying is basically on pause, and she leaps feet first into taking on the education of all the children on the station in “A Man Alone.” It’s a commendable endeavor since, even in the future, teaching is drastically underappreciated.

Separation of religion and station We also have to stand up and applaud Keiko for standing up to Vedek Winn in “In the Hands of the Prophets” when the Bajoran leader wants her to stop teaching the science of the wormhole and instead enforce their backwards religion. Keiko’s spot-on response “I don't teach Bajoran spiritual beliefs; that's your job” is the secular philosophy Star Trek is all about.

You know, that was a very ugly thing you just said We give Miles shit for his anti-Cardassian racism, so it’s refreshing to see Keiko do the same and call him in on his dog whistling in “Cardassians.” Miles tries to insinuate that Cardassians had gentleness bred out of them, and Keiko won’t hear it. She lets Rugal stay with them, she encourages him to play with Molly, and she even tries (and fails) to feed him like she would any kid.

It keeps him up all night! Keiko later foils the Kelleruns’ plan in “Armageddon Game” when she sees through their doctored recording of the harvester-deactivation team getting wiped out by some failsafe or other. The whole thing, of course, is a lie. Without Keiko insisting that the thing is a forgery because Miles wouldn’t be drinking coffee ends up saving the lives of Bashir and O’Brien.

We call it Voight-Kampff for short Viewers at home don’t even realize it until the end, but Keiko does a great job not rumbling the game for Miles’s replicant in “Whispers.” The twist at the end reveals that she’s been hiding from him that everyone on the station knows he’s not the real Miles, but she manages to keep him from fulfilling whatever his directive and treats him like the actual deal as much as she can.

I have no intention of testifying against my husband Even while cemented into the limiting role of “Miles’s wife,” Keiko gets some moments to shine. Ostensibly, she attends Miles’s trial in “Tribunal” just to be the face of the defendant’s family (and to give Miles the chance to blame domestic abuse if he wants), but Keiko never gives the corrupt judiciaries what they want, pushing back against their legal system the whole time.

Be the best damned botanist in the galaxy When Keiko is forced to close down the school when the Bajoran kiddos leave the station in “The House of Quark,” she’s back to where she started in the premiere. So it’s great to have her go back to her roots and agree to join the agrobiology expedition on Bajor rather than wallow in despair. Was it just to write her out of episodes? A little, but at least it’s in character.

Cheer him up a little This one probably belongs on Miles’s Worst Moments list, so let’s cover it now. Miles spends “Accession” moping that he can’t hang out with Bashir anymore now that Keiko’s back from her botany assignment, even though she never once gives him any indication he can’t still have fun. So she tricks him into going to play with his friend like setting up a toddler playdate.

You’re family now More on this in the Worst Moments section, but first let’s praise Keiko for how she treats Kira, who is surrogating Yoshi after the events of “Body Parts.” The O’Briens have Kira move in with them during the pregnancy, and Keiko is super progressive during “Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places” about how Miles takes care of the Major. It’s sweet, right? Right…?

—

Worst moments

Runabout Bride I griped about this in both Data’s and Miles’s spotlight posts as well, but really Keiko is the one who started it! In her series debut “Data’s Day,” she continuously tries to call off her own wedding on the day. And even worse than that: she makes poor Data (of all people!) do it for her! The franchise really starts off this character as demonstrably unlikeable. But don’t worry, there’s more!

Plankton loaf du jour Chris put this on our Miles list as well, but it bears repeating. In “The Wounded,” immediately after their marriage, Keiko makes them breakfast of kelp buds, plankton loaf, and sea berries, which to my Western palette sounds awful. And then turns up her nose at Miles’s food culture. Did you two never eat together before this or did you go straight to the “I do”s with a stranger?

Is our marriage over? So Keiko and the kids outsmarting the Ferengi in “Rascals” made the good list, but the rest of her behavior while a child is just WEIRD. As a twelve-year-old, she tries to act like her relationship with Miles should remain the same. Excuse me? It’s one thing for him to be supportive of you in a crisis, but your life is entirely upended. Do not put this man in this position.

This garden transplant didn’t take Another element of the Keiko character that we brought up before in the Miles post comes when they transfer together to DS9 and Keiko effectively loses her job as botanist. How this wasn’t a conversation between the two of them is beyond me, as they spend all of “A Man Alone” publicly fighting at Quark’s and on the promenade about their terrible life choices.

School is now in session The writers strangely decide to make Keiko a school teacher in “A Man Alone” just to keep her character relevant to the new show. It’s a good thing for someone to do, as we mentioned in our Best Moments list, but frankly it feels like a disservice to her character, who already had a life before this. It just didn’t fit the Frontier Station™ setting, so Keiko gets a personality overwrite.

No more pencils, no more books Standing up to Vedek Winn in “In the Hands of the Prophets,” it turns out, is a terrible idea, as Keiko essentially stirs up racial tensions all across the station, resulting in most of the students pulling out of school, which ends up getting blown up. Coincidence? Oh definitely not. And shame on the writers for not giving Keiko another line after the destruction. Boo.

The best part of waking up… We’re still not sure what we think of the reveal that Miles does indeed drink coffee whenever the hell he pleases in “Armageddon Game,” as it negates the insight that Keiko had earlier brought to the episode (and to this blogpost!) when she saves the day. It feels like the writers are saying “nyah nyah!” because it turns out Keiko doesn’t know her husband as well as she thinks.

I don’t even want to sit at the same table with you More fighting in public with Miles. We loved Keiko getting back to her botany roots, but springing on her husband in “Fascination” that her survey expedition was going to take seven months longer than planned is an argument that should not have been happening at Quark’s in the Gratitude Festival. The writers made any excuse they could to not have her on the show!

So you wish Keiko was a man? Keiko is upset at Miles at the top of “Hippocratic Oath” for putting a workshop in the bedroom during one of the myriad times she’s away, and clearly there was another argument about it in which Keiko accuses him of living like a bachelor again. Bitch, you’re not even there 90% of the time. No wonder Miles admits to Julian he wishes she were more like a man.

I think she’s actually enjoying it, Miles We talked in both Kira’s and Miles’s posts about how ridiculous their B-plot was in “Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places,” but Keiko is so naive that she keeps forcing them together by accident. What’s even worse: this whole surrogacy plot was a fabulous opportunity to have Keiko and Kira bond instead, as two women who rarely have scenes together. What a ripoff.

Where’re Baloo and Bagheera when you need them? I will never stop giving Miles and Keiko (and to some extent Odo!) grief about how they send feral Molly back into her cave in “Time’s Orphan.” How anyone can neglect their child this blatantly and then be rewarded for it by the episode’s intent is just terrible. Keiko doesn’t even resist the idea when Miles shares it, but is onboard immediately to give up on their child rather than get her actual help.

But the cat came back the very next day A smaller detail in “Time’s Orphan” hints at how Keiko doesn’t like Chester, the cat that O’Brien takes in after he absolutely gets Bilby killed in “Honor Among Thieves.” Keiko strongly insinuates that she’d be happy if Chester ran away, never to return, if they brought him on their picnic. How this woman cannot love this poor orphaned cat is beyond me and deserves some hate.

—

Aaaaand we’re all suspended for setting off stink bombs on the promenade. We’ll be back next week though to highlight Keiko’s arch nemesis. No, not Miles. Kai Winn Adami! Look forward to that, keep up with our trip through the Delphic Expance with us on our Enterprise watchalong on SoundCloud (and the other podcast places), pass notes in class to us on Facebook and Twitter, and no fighting on the promenade!

[proverbialschoolmarm]

[baylardo]

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[rosalie-starfall]

Doctor Beverly Crusher

Star Trek: The Next Generation - Violations

[iuvm-press]

The Red Wolf: Unveiling Automated Apartheid and Violations of Human Rights in Palestine

In Hebron and East Bayt al-Muqaddas [Jerusalem], the Arab citizens have become accustomed to the constant surveillance carried out by these digital eyes. Surveillance cameras positioned on every street corner keep a watchful eye on the Palestinian population. For nearly a year, the Zionist regime has been utilising facial recognition technology known as Red Wolf. This advanced technology, powered by artificial intelligence, identifies and records the faces of Palestinians at various checkpoints, instituting a new method of automated control. Amnesty International, in an extensive 80-page report, has labelled this practise by the Zionists as automated apartheid. It involves scanning individuals' faces without their consent and storing their personal information in large databases. Consequently, every movement made by Palestinians is meticulously monitored and controlled, all without their knowledge. With the presence of one to two cameras every five metres, Palestinians have become the most watched population in the world. Amnesty International strongly condemns the Red Wolf system, viewing it as a means of institutionalising cruelty and a flagrant violation of human rights.

[jobaaj]

BIZARRE: Pakistani officials abused human rights! And the government did nothing about it!? The '2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices' from the US exposed a myriad of problems within Pakistan, including but not limited to kidnappings, enforced disappearances, targeted assaults on minority groups, instances of domestic and sexual violence, and numerous other infringements of human rights. Additionally, the report asserted that the Pakistani government seldom initiated efforts to apprehend and penalize the responsible officials.

It's worth noting that such reports concerning Pakistan have been published before, indicating a recurring pattern.

Amnesty International’s 2022 report included several accounts of gender and religious discrimination and violence, enforced disappearances, lack of freedom of assembly, media censorship, and inhumane torture. Furthermore, the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights recently published a release on the lack of protection for young women and girls belonging to minority communities. These girls were vulnerable to forced religious conversions, abduction, trafficking, domestic servitude, and sexual violence!! What do you think? Was Pakistan letting its officials commit crimes? Was PM Modi’s CAA drafted with this in mind?? Follow Jobaaj Stories (the media arm of Jobaaj.com Group) for more.

[agentfascinateur]

Israelis using weapons in Gaza that melt body parts...WT*!?!?

Whenever you think it can't get any lower.

[synsick]

tumblr: *flags artistic nude photo post*

me: *reads guidelines* weird my work isn't sexually explicit

*scrolls through tumblr*

tumblr: *spam bot porn blogs with phishing links*

me: 👀 Ayo! WTF?!

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Deanna Troi

By Ames

I’m sensing excitement for our new character spotlight blogpost. That can only mean one thing: the Enterprise’s resident Betazoid is here to do her empath thing, and frequently not much else. We’re big defenders of Marina Sirtis here on A Star to Steer Her By, though we don’t always feel the same way about how the writers developed her character – or more frequently, how they failed to do so at any given opportunity.

When you give Deanna Troi something to do, she super nails it, and we’ve got the examples to prove it! On the flip side, we’ve also got plenty of times she missed the mark by a few lightyears. It’s like people in the 90s had no idea how to write about mental health. Or write for women in something other than some kind of sexual peril. Or sometimes just write for women at all. So plop down on the counselor’s couch as you read our best and worst Troi moments below and sense our emotions about them over on this week’s podcast episode (discussion starts at 1:09:34). Tell us how that makes you feel…

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

You can’t hide the emptiness from me Let’s start things off with Troi actually doing her job as a counselor as she occasionally does throughout the series, and she even uses some of her Betazoid empathy when she psychoanalyzes Armus in “Skin of Evil.” It’s compelling to watch her deduce his whole deal, and use her skills to find a way to distract him with his own rage and allow for her escape.

What’s under the words is what’s important We also remember shipping her and Riva from “Loud as a Whisper” like whoa. The two had natural chemistry and he kicked off a whole string of random mediators whom Troi got down with. But Riva definitely proved to be the best as he and Troi showed us that finding ways to communicate form the basis of any kind of relationship – personal, cultural, or otherwise.

Can I borrow a feeling? Here’s one more great example of Troi actually using her empathy to some purpose. Now don’t get me wrong, “Shades of Grey” is a pretty pointless and boring episode for the most part, but even I have to admit that watching Troi sensing Riker’s emotions was a good touch for her character, and her connection with her imzadi was pretty palpable in this sloggy clipshow.

Eyes in the dark Oh boy, another pretty terrible episode that actually has some quality Troi moments. It’s no wonder her character doesn’t usually get the credit she deserves: whenever she’s actually doing something noteworthy it’s in the lousy episodes that people just want to forget. But in “Night Terrors” she saves the day by figuring out the nightmare puzzle and getting a much deserved nap.

Why do you have to be so nice? Upsettingly, in the same style as the sexy characters like Seven of Nine and T’Pol, Deanna seems to mostly get used on the show to get mindraped a lot or otherwise treated as a plaything for men (and that includes men in the audience for whom her terrible jumpsuit was definitely crafted). So it makes me shout for joy when she beats the hell out of Jev in “Violations” because both he and the writers deserved that.

You will take orders from me and no one else The tippy top of anyone’s Troi list should be her amazing performance in “Face of the Enemy.” This was one of our highlights of all of TNG since everyone and their second foremother has been underestimating Troi this whole dang time. So to watch her infiltrate a Romulan ship, pass herself off as a Tal Shiar operative, and save the defectors without blowing her cover was as surprising as it was engrossing. It makes you wish they had written her like this all along.

Bad thoughts, they hurt her We’ll talk more fully about Lwaxana another day (definitely make sure you’re following this page for that!), but Deanna’s relationship with her mother is still one of love and admiration despite how much their personalities clash. Which is why it’s so lovely in “Dark Page” for us to see Deanna go into her mother’s mind to help her through reliving the trauma of losing her first child, Kestra Troi.

I’d read two chapters Another good gal relationship we don’t see nearly enough of in the show is the Troi-Crusher friendship. It’s always nice to see the two lady characters of the show interacting and [sometimes] passing the Bechdel test, but specifically we actually have to shout out to the progressive moments of “Sub Rosa” that actually discuss female pleasure in a positive way. Get it, girls!

Everyone orders Geordi to his death eventually A couple more from season seven, when Troi finally seems to have hit some kind of stride and developed as a character, even going so far as to take the command test! It’s in “Thine Own Self” that she proves she has what it takes to officially be put into the command rotation when she orders a simulation of Geordi to his death. After our La Forge spotlight, we all kinda wanted it.

I’m sensing horniness Caitlin also wanted to make sure to appease the Troi-Worf shippers out there. There may not be many of you, but you’ve got some solid foundation after we saw this unusual couple give it the old college try starting in “Eye of the Beholder.” We’ve got to admit: it was an interesting pairing of the Klingon who had a lot of emotions and the Betazoid who could sense them.

I’m a leaf on the wind Many people would put crashing the Enterprise in Generations on their Worst Moments list, but not us! Frankly, that thing was going down no matter who was in charge, and we’ve got to give Troi a lot of credit that she landed that saucer as safely as anyone could. Normally, splatting into a planet surface would yield no survivors, but pretty much everyone walked away thanks to her!

Have you tried plexing? We see Troi do the impossible and actually help Barclay through therapy in episodes like “Hollow Pursuits” and “Realm of Fear” even though she has every right to not work with someone who was diddling her likeness in the holodeck. But she stuck with it, even into Voyager episodes like “Pathfinder” and “Inside Man.” Give it up for the Goddess of Empathy.

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Worst moments

Wouldn’t you rather be alone with me? With me in your mind? Another week, another “The Naked Now” reference. We’ve said it before: it’s so disgusting for all the female characters to just get horny while they’re spacedrunk, while all the male characters have a variety of drunken behaviors. Sadly, Troi is relegated to swooning all over Riker while she’s infected with the polywater virus, and we’re pretty done with it.

When I snap my fingers, you will bark like an Antican So frequently I can’t tell if Troi is practicing legitimate psychiatry, some made-up future psychiatry, or just what writers from the 90s thought psychiatry entailed. But episodes like “Lonely Among Us” give me the impression it’s the latter when suddenly Troi is doing some kind of hypnosis thing on Worf and Crusher after they’d been possessed by some random entity. Cluck cluck cluck.

Turn off your beam into my soul A small factor that I have to give Troi a little bit of guff about is when she tries to force counseling onto Stubbs in “Evolution.” An allegedly trained counselor should know that it can be harmful and even dangerous to therapize someone who does not consent to it, and it actually made me a little uncomfortable to watch. Leave this man to his mental baseball games, lady.

You’re unusually limber this morning In a reminder that the writers of this show have no idea how to write for women, we get this utterly embarrassing aerobics scene from “The Price.” Sure, the ladies can talk about boys if they want to if that’s what they’re into, but it’s so obvious that they’re in these skimpy leotards just to appeal to the adolescent boys in the audience and for absolutely no other reason. Gross.

It’s more than just letting them cry on your shoulder Troi spends most of  “The Loss” literally going through the stages of grief over her empath powers, and I guess her favorite stage was pissiness since she just camped out there and bitched at everyone she interacted with. And then Guinan so smoothly schools her on counseling that Troi hits rock bottom hard enough to come around the other side again somehow.

The chain of command is the chain I go get and beat you with... “Disaster” could have gone on both lists because Troi does end up being right in the end, but it’s going here partly to make room for other examples above and partly because Troi was so out of her depth trying to lead during a crisis. In reality, her move was the wrong move, as she learns later in the afore-mentioned “Thine Own Self” which teaches her the correct move was to kill Geordi!

I never met a chocolate I didn’t like For some strange reason, the writers decided that one of very few character traits that define Deanna Troi other than being an empath (in case you forgot) is that she’s obsessed with chocolate. And in “The Game” we practically get to watch her orgasm over a chocolate sundae in a fully out-of-place scene that just reminds us that the writers rarely knew what to do with her.

If it looks like an android and quacks like an android… The writers also frequently had no idea how to write for Troi when she was supposed to be doing her counselor job too! In fact, in “Hero Worship” she pawns off a kid clearly suffering from post-traumatic stress on an entirely unqualified and ill-suited Data, whose ability to relate to people is questionable at best. There’s a reason we never hear from Timothy again…

Sign here, here, and here More terrible counseling comes in “Cost of Living.” I have to give Worf credit for going to Troi for help with his brat son, but the advice Troi gives them to write up a parent-child contract is perplexing! Alexander is a child, somewhere between two and twelve years old (who can tell with Klingons?). Treating him like a contractor is so impersonal that it surprised me coming out of her.

But forward we look and forward we go The will-they-won’t-they thing between Troi and Riker was always frustrating, since they need to both remain single so they can woohoo random aliens. So it actually seems like the perfect answer to Troiker shippers (is that the right portmanteau?) when Tom Riker shows up in “Second Chances” and Troi blows it. How she said no to that man I’ll never understand.

And have you noticed how your boobs have started to firm up As we’ve said a bunch of times now in these character spotlight posts, the attempts at comedy in Insurrection very rarely land. And one of the most groan-inducing moments is when Troi remarks on her newly perky tits because of the effects of the Ba’ku planet, which just goes to remind us that she was first and foremost meant to be a sexual object for the fans to ogle.

I never kissed you with a beard before On the subject of dumb jokes from Insurrection, we have to complain again, even though we already covered it in the Riker spotlight, about Troi shaving off his beard because they were suddenly acting like horny teenagers again. And shame on her for acting like kissing a man with a beard is yucky! I can tell you from experience it’s the way to go.

—

Our therapy session is now over, so make sure you’re keeping up with our weekly appointments as we have more TNG crewmembers to analyze next time! We hope you’re also slogging through Enterprise with us over on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast, telling us how you feel over on Facebook and Twitter, and doing your plexing exercises whenever you’re stressed out.

[bl3ssed-cursxd]

compilation of the comments in viral hit

no words just ✨ iconic ✨

SNAPPER VIOLATED THAT LAST GUY HELP ALTKANFKEJFK

[eric-sadahire]

To be totally fair to Willy Wonka, at least a couple of those candy factory casualties involved kids deliberately circumventing reasonable safeguards, sometimes aided by the parents who were supposed to be supervising them. What happened is at most 60% his fault.

Oompa loompa doopity dare, the courts find you breached your duty of care. Oompa loompa doopity disk, that's what the court calls assumption of risk.