#but with three units and no loot. it's not

[kathlare]

sparks fly

Lando Norris x Amelie Dayman

Summary: Lando and Amelie find themselves unexpectedly alone during a late-night gaming session with their usual crew.

Wordcount: 2.1 k

Warnings: none

full masterlist // request over here!

April 2nd, 2020 - London, United Kingdom

Lando adjusted his headset for the third time and tried not to stare at his Discord screen like a fucking idiot.

She was gonna join any second now.

The boys had sworn they’d be on too. “Usual squad night,” George had said. “7PM sharp, don’t be late,” Charles had texted. Alex even sent a meme five minutes ago in their group chat like nothing was off.

But Lando had this weird feeling—tight in his chest, crawling up his neck like heat—that something was very off.

And then the Discord voice channel pinged.

Amelie joined.

Her mic clicked on before she even spoke, and the first thing Lando heard was her laugh—soft, almost breathy, and she said, —Why the fuck am I the only one here?—

Lando scrambled to unmute.

—Hey,— he said, way too fast. Way too eager. He cleared his throat. Chill, mate, Jesus. —Uh, yeah, I’m here too. Guess the others are running late or something?—

—Running late or ghosting us?— Amelie replied, and Lando could hear the smirk in her voice. —Should we be offended?—

Lando laughed, nervous as hell. He leaned back in his chair, legs kicking slightly under his desk like they always did when he was fidgety. He prayed to every possible god that his voice wouldn’t crack.

—Honestly, probably. George owes me like three matches after yesterday. This feels personal.—

She snorted. —Right? And Charles said “7 sharp” like it was a blood oath. Traitors.—

The call settled into a weird, crackling kind of silence after that—comfortable but charged. Like they were both waiting for something to happen. For the others to pop in and save them from… whatever this was.

But no one came.

Lando glanced again at the player list.

Still just her. Just Amelie.

And him.

He tugged the sleeve of his hoodie over his palm and muttered a soft —fuck— under his breath, not into the mic. This was the first time—ever—they’d been alone in a call together. No Charles to interrupt with some stupid soundboard. No George yelling over everyone. No Alex cackling at his own jokes. Just him. And her.

And his heartbeat was absolutely pounding.

—So...— she said slowly, drawing the word out with a teasing lilt. —You gonna carry me, Norris, or should I just log off and go read a book or something boring?—

He huffed a laugh. Jesus Christ. She made it sound so easy, like they hadn’t just been abandoned on purpose. Not that either of them knew that yet.

—Depends,— he said, grabbing his controller, hands slightly clammy. —Do you actually plan to shoot people this time, or are you still just running around looking for clothes and snacks?—

Amelie gasped. Actually gasped.

—Excuse me, I loot with style. That’s called strategy, thank you very much.—

He smiled. That kind of crooked, embarrassed smile he only ever got when she was teasing him like that. Like she saw through all the bullshit and didn’t care.

—Yeah, okay. Strategy. Sure. You gonna wear that strategy while I get shot in the ass again?—

—You’re being dramatic.—

—You left me for a purple leather jacket last night!— he said, voice pitching, mock offended. —You just watched me bleed out on the street while you were like, “Ooh shiny trench coat!”—

She broke into laughter. Full, unfiltered, soft as hell. He grinned like a fucking idiot.

God, he thought. I’m so screwed.

Because now that it was just the two of them, Lando realized something terrifying: it was better without the others. Quieter. Sharper. Every word, every little laugh she made—it hit harder. Landed deeper. Her attention was just on him. And that was... dangerous.

And also addictive.

They launched into a match, the screen full of rapid movement and noise, but the air between them stayed threaded with that same strange tension. Comfortable, and sparking with something unspoken.

Somewhere halfway through the game, she muttered, —Lan, behind you.—

It wasn’t the first time she’d called him that. But this time it felt different. Like he’d earned it. Like it meant something.

—You okay?— she asked after he got shot, her voice softer now, headphones catching the edge of her concern.

He swallowed. —Yeah. You were watching my back?—

—Always.—

Fuck.

He didn’t respond for a beat too long. She must’ve noticed, because he heard her laugh again, this time quieter. Nervous maybe. Or shy.

Neither of them mentioned it.

They kept playing. Kept talking. Until the game ended and neither one of them logged off.

At some point, Lando glanced at the clock. Nearly midnight for him. She had to be tired too—Mexico time and all—but neither of them moved.

Instead, Amelie said, —Hey...—

He perked up. —Yeah?—

—You’re actually fun when you're not yelling at George.—

He chuckled. —You’re actually nice when you’re not stealing jackets off dead bodies.—

She giggled. —Touché.—

And then it happened again. That silence. But it wasn’t awkward this time. It was thick. Like static. Like something just beneath the surface was waiting to be said—but neither of them dared to say it.

They both knew something had shifted.

Not that they would admit it.

Not tonight.

But when she finally said, —Alright, I should probably go to sleep,— he almost said Don’t go.

Instead, he said, —Yeah. Sleep well, Ames.—

Her voice was sleepy, soft. —You too, Lan.—

And just before she left the call, he thought he heard her sigh. Just a little. Like she didn’t really want to hang up either.

The channel went quiet.

Lando sat there, alone in the dim blue light of his screen, heart racing like he’d just finished a quali lap.

He grinned, cheeks warm.

—Fuck,— he whispered to himself.

The boys were so gonna make fun of him.

And he didn’t even care.

-------------

-------------

The next evening, Lando clicked into Discord with the same buzz of nervous energy fizzing in his chest.

This time, though, the voice channel was already alive.

—Oi, lover boy’s here!— George’s voice exploded through his headset before Lando could even adjust his mic.

Lando groaned audibly. —Oh, fuck off...—

—Did you sleep at all last night or were you too busy dreaming about her?— Alex chimed in, voice smug and syrupy. —Bet he slept with his headset on. Whispered her name into his pillow.—

—“Ames… oh Ames… revive me again, baby,”— Charles mocked in a falsetto so bad it looped around into hilarious. —“Loot me some love, please.”—

Lando slapped his palm over his face. —You’re all actual children.—

—Awww, he’s blushing!— George cackled. —Look at him! Turn your camera on, coward. Let us see those pink cheeks.—

—Not a chance,— Lando grumbled, sinking further into his chair like he could physically disappear from the embarrassment vibrating through his entire body.

The boys were relentless.

—So…— Charles drawled, his accent somehow making it sound more dramatic. —What did happen, hmm? You guys were alone for over two hours. No interruptions. No Charles-shaped third wheel. Sparks must’ve flown, non?—

—We strategically didn’t join,— Alex added smugly. —You’re welcome, by the way.—

Lando groaned louder, dragging both hands down his face this time. —You planned that? You absolute pricks.—

—Uh, duh,— George said. —We’re not subtle. We’ve been trying to get you two to admit your hopeless crushes for, like, years. Last night was just our most genius plan yet.—

—And it worked beautifully,— Alex said with a satisfied sigh, like he’d just nailed the final move in a chess match. —Honestly, I should write a book. How to Third-Wheel Your Friends Into a Relationship by Alex Albon.—

—You're all so unbelievably annoying,— Lando muttered, but he couldn’t even be mad. Not really. His cheeks were still warm, and yeah, maybe he had replayed her laugh in his head last night like a complete simp. Maybe her saying “always” had kept him up longer than he’d admit.

George, predictably, wasn’t done. —What’d you talk about, huh? Did she say you were her favorite? Did she confess her undying love while shooting zombies and looting jackets? Tell us everything, lover boy.—

Lando threw his head back in exasperation. —Nothing happened! We just played the game. Talked a bit. That’s it.—

—That’s it? You’re telling me two beautiful idiots with unresolved tension get left alone on purpose and nothing happened? I don’t believe you.—

—George,— Charles whispered dramatically, —He’s lying. He’s protecting the sacred flirt session. Respect.—

And then—

Ping.

A new icon popped up in the channel.

Amelie joined.

And just like that, dead silence.

The call went so quiet Lando could hear someone’s chair creak. Probably Alex. The boys had frozen instantly, like they'd all been hit with a stun grenade.

Lando’s spine straightened like he’d been electrocuted.

Her mic clicked on.

—Hey, nerds,— Amelie said casually, completely unaware of the landmine she’d just stepped on. —Why are you all so quiet? Did someone die?—

A strangled noise came from George that might’ve been a cough—or a panicked wheeze. Charles smacked something, probably trying to mute his laughter.

—Nope! All good here!— Alex said way too fast. —Just, uh… updating drivers. Tech stuff. Boring.—

Lando was going to murder them all.

Amelie paused. There was something suspicious in the pause. Like she knew.

Because of course she did.

Her tone shifted, just slightly. Less amused. More... curious.

—Uh huh,— she said. —So you weren’t just talking about me, or anything. Right?—

Lando winced. He knew she knew.

George made the most unconvincing noise of denial ever uttered by a human being. —What? No. You? Never. We were talking about… uh… Charles’s baguette addiction.—

—He eats like three a day,— Alex added. —It’s actually alarming.—

Charles, affronted, gasped. —Baguettes are culturally essential, thank you very much.—

Amelie laughed. It was soft but pointed.

—Mmm. Sure. Baguettes. Got it.—

And then—because she was evil—she said sweetly, —Nice to know you boys are still full of shit.—

Lando couldn’t help it—he barked a laugh.

—God, you're insufferable,— she said, clearly fighting a grin, probably imagining the panic she’d just caused. Then, smoothly, she added, —You gonna carry me tonight too, Lan? Or are you still traumatized from the trench coat incident?—

The boys exploded.

—Lan?! Again?!—

—Oh my god, kill me. I’m actually deceased.—

—Just bury me now. They’ve got nicknames.—

Lando leaned back in his chair and let it wash over him, the teasing, the chaos, her voice mixing with theirs like she belonged there. Because she did. She always had.

And yeah, they were all absolute menaces—but he didn’t mind.

Not when she was here. Not when she was laughing.

He smiled to himself, eyes flicking toward her icon on the screen.

So screwed.

And maybe… maybe okay with it.

[felikatze]

oh wow i do NOT like conquest chapter 15. this map in revelations is much better for sure

[blueiscoool]

Naples Welcomes Exhibition of Ancient Stolen and Looted Artifacts

The National Archaeological Museum of Naples is showcasing 600 recovered objects, which date to between the Archaic period and the Middle Ages.

For more than half a century, a specialized Italian police unit has been confiscating valuable artifacts from the black market. Some 15,000 recovered items are housed at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples—and now, the museum is displaying 600 of them for the first time.

Titled “Treasures Rediscovered: Stories of Crime and Stolen Artifacts,” the exhibition focuses not only on ancient artworks, but also on the “often complex dynamic” of illegal trafficking that brought these items to the museum, according to a statement.

“It is a beautiful exhibition that tells a beautiful story, a story also of redemption for our stolen archaeological artifacts, which often find their way into private property or even international museums,” exhibition co-curator Massimo Osanna, director of national museums at Italy’s culture ministry, tells the Associated Press’ Francesco Sportelli. “Thanks to the work of the public prosecutor’s office and the police, together with the ministry, [these artifacts] are finally coming home and to light.”

Strict laws govern the ownership of archaeological artifacts in Italy. Looting has been happening for centuries, but today’s criminals have turned to advanced technologies—including sonar, drones and underwater metal detectors—to pluck treasure from shipwrecks and other ancient sites beneath the Mediterranean Sea, per the AP.

The exhibition begins with a history of collecting, which has long fueled illegal excavations and trafficking. Visitors learn about international markets and law enforcement, important court cases and the stories of looted items that haven’t yet been recovered.

Artifacts on view include coins, marbles, bronzes, weapons, armor and pottery. They come from all over southern Italy, and they date to between the Archaic period (roughly 650 to 480 B.C.E.) and the Middle Ages.

The show highlights several stories of illegal exchange: In one case, a man from Naples used archaeological finds to pay his pharmacist. In another, a French archaeologist bought sculptures from the ancient city of Pompeii off a local farmer for the equivalent of about $28. Three frescoed slabs from a fourth-century B.C.E. tomb were found in the private collection of 20th-century opera singer Maria Callas.

Also on display are “the classic tools of grave robbers, spilloni [soil probes] through which gravediggers pierce the ground,” says Pierpaolo Filippelli, deputy prosecutor of the Naples prosecutor’s office, in an AP video, per a translation by Euronews. “But today, art traffickers operate on a more advanced level, using tools like the dark web to sell stolen works.”

According to the statement, the exhibition is a “journey of collective memory” that highlights the importance of protecting cultural heritage. The Italian police’s cultural heritage protection command recovered over 100,000 artifacts in 2023 (the most recent year with available documentation), as the AP reports. Officials estimate that the haul is worth about $299 million.

By Sonja Anderson.

[liatkolink]

For people still in denial whether Israel has committed war crimes, here is a comprehensive list of war crimes Israel has committed both before and after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the list being taken from the Wikipedia article of war crimes with some notable missing examples being the usage of chemical weapons, famine, disease and apartheid. The 7th of October attack did not occur in a vacuum, but is the product of decades of Israel not being held accountable for its war crimes.

Killing civilians:

Israel/Palestine: Unlawful Israeli Airstrikes Kill Civilians by Human Rights Watch on 15/Jul/2014

‘Not a normal war’: doctors say children have been targeted by Israeli snipers in Gaza – The Guardian on 2/Apr/2024

Israeli attack on Rafah tent camp kills 45, prompts international outcry by Reuters on 27/May/2024

Intentionally killing PoWs:

Israel’s Hush-Up Machine in Action: Denying Story Israel Executed Egyptian Prisoners by Washington Report on Middle East Affairs on 8/Apr/2010

Torture:

Israeli government report admits systematic torture of Palestinians by The Guardian on 10/Feb/2000

Israel/OPT: Horrifying cases of torture and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees amid spike in arbitrary arrests by Amnesty International on 8/Nov/2023

Israel: Palestinian Healthcare Workers Tortured by Human Rights Watch on 26/Aug/2024

Taking hostages:

Infographic: How many Palestinians are imprisoned by Israel? by AlJazeera on 17/Apr/2022

The thousands of Palestinians Israel arrests, tortures, holds even in death by AlJazeera on 17/Apr/2024

UN report: Palestinian detainees held arbitrarily and secretly, subjected to torture and mistreatment by the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner on 31/Jul/2024

Unnecessarily destroying civilian property:

Israel destroys Gaza tower housing AP and Al Jazeera offices by Reuters on 15/May/2021

Israel targets infrastructure in Gaza to ramp up civilian pressure on Hamas, report claims by PBS News on 11/Dec/2023

Widespread destruction by Israeli Defence Forces of civilian infrastructure in Gaza by the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner on 8/Feb/2024

Deception by perfidy:

Israeli soldier gives 74-year-old Palestinian woman water then shoots her in the head by Middle East Monitor on 20/Jan/2015

Israeli special forces disguised as doctors kill three militants at West Bank hospital by The Guardian on 30/Jan/2024

NBC News investigation reveals Israel strikes on Gaza areas it said were safe by NBC News on 26/Apr/2024

Wartime sexual violence:

Stripped, beaten and blindfolded: new research reveals ongoing violence and abuse of Palestinian children detained by Israeli military by Save the Children on 10/Jul/2023

Israel/oPt: UN experts appalled by reported human rights violations against Palestinian women and girls by the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner on 19/Feb/2024

‘Everything is legitimate’: Israeli leaders defend soldiers accused of rape by AlJazeera on 9/Aug/2024

Pillaging:

The Biblical Pseudo-Archeologists Pillaging the West Bank by The Atlantic on 28/Feb/2013

Jewish Soldiers and Civilians Looted Arab Neighbors' Property en Masse in '48. The Authorities Turned a Blind Eye by Haaretz on 3/Oct/2020

Israeli soldiers boast about looting from Gaza by AlJazeera on 14/Feb/2024

Any individual that is part of the command structure who orders any attempt to committing mass killings:

Netanyahu incites violence by casting protesters as clear and present danger by Middle East Eye on 30/Jul/2020

Israeli minister's call to 'erase' Palestinian village an incitement to violence, US says by Reuters on 1/Mar/2023

Netanyahu cites 'Amalek' Theory to justify Gaza Killings by Times of India on 29/Oct/2023

Database exposes 500 instances of Israeli incitement to genocide in Gaza by TRT World 4/Jan/2024

Genocide:

The Genocide of the Palestinian People: An International Law and Human Rights Perspective by Center for Constitutional Rights on 25/Aug/2016

Genocide Warning: Israel & Palestine by Genocide Watch on 21/May/2021

A top U.N. court says Gaza genocide is 'plausible' but does not order cease-fire by npr on 26/Jan/2024

‘Reasonable grounds’ to believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, UN rights expert says by CNN on 27/Mar/2024

Is Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza? New Report from BU School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic Lays Out Case from Boston University Today on 5/Jun/2024

Ethnic cleansing:

UN Human Rights Council: ‘Israel engaging in ethnic cleansing’ by the European Union Parliament on 23/Mar/2011

Israel's ethnic cleansing in Palestine is not history - it's still happening by Middle East Eye on 22/May/2019

UN expert warns of new instance of mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, calls for immediate ceasefire by the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner on 14/Oct/2023

‘Plan for ethnic cleansing’: Israel’s north Gaza siege sets off alarms by AlJazeera on 22/Oct/2024

Granting of no quarter despite surrender:

White Flag Deaths Killings of Palestinian Civilians during Operation Cast Lead by Human Rights Watch on 13/Aug/2009

Investigators: Israel fired on Gaza civilians carrying white flags by The Electronic Intifada on 28/Jan/2015

3 hostages killed by Israeli soldier in Gaza were waving a white flag, Israel says by npr on 16/Dec/2023

A group of Palestinian men waving a white flag is shot at, killing 1 by NBC News on 24/Jan/2024

She was fleeing with her grandson, who was holding a white flag. Then she was shot by CNN on 26/Jan/2024

Two brothers shot by Israeli forces in Khan Younis, white flag ignored by AlJazeera on 29/Jan/2024

Conscription of children in the military: First one where I couldn't find anything. Way to go, Israel!

Flouting the legal distinctions of proportionality and military necessity:

Israel violates the principles of necessity, proportionality in its attacks on Gaza by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor on 13/May/2023

Enough: Self-Defense and Proportionality in the Israel-Hamas Conflict by Just Security on 6/Nov/2023

War Crimes and Accountability: The Case Against Israel’s Military Operations in Gaza by JURIST News on 5/Jul/2024

[city-of-ladies]

Endowed with a martial temperament, Catherine Meurdrac de la Guette (1613–c.1681) showed her courage by defending her holdings during troubled times. Her Memoirs offer a unique testimony to the life and responsibilities of a strong-willed woman.

The education of a lady

Catherine was born in 1613 in Mandres to Vincent Meurdrac and Elizabeth Dovet, members of the local nobility. She had an older sister, Marie, who would later write a chemistry treatise for women. From an early age, Catherine’s mother involved her in the management of the household. Catherine remembered her fondly and always found in her a supportive presence.

At age 12, she was sent to Paris to live with her maternal uncle and receive the education of a proper lady of the capital. Once her education was complete, Catherine returned to her family. She then asked her father for permission to study with a master-at-arms, which he granted.

Catherine became skilled with a sword, training against her cousins, and adept in the use of firearms. She was also an accomplished horsewoman. Witty and assertive, she had a strong martial temperament and considered herself ill-suited to traditionally feminine pursuits.

As she recalled: "I have always been of a temper more given to war than tranquil endeavors. My liking is only for the beat of drums and the fanfare of trumpets”.

Secret marriage

In 1635, Catherine met an officer, Jean Marius de la Guette. The pair fell in love, but her father opposed the match. With the help of her mother, they married in secret, and Catherine went to live with her husband. Her father was furious when he learned the news, but eventually reconciled with his daughter.

Catherine and her husband were close—they hunted and rode together. But war loomed on the horizon.

A lady in charge

Catherine’s life was marked by conflict, first during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), then during the Fronde (1648–1653), a revolt by parts of the nobility against the royal house.

With her husband frequently away in battle, Catherine defended their estates with poise and energy. Loyal to the king, she faced down looting and marauding soldiers—whether Frondeurs or royalists.

She rode out with a small guard to maintain order and earned widespread respect, with some comparing her to the warrior Madame de Saint-Baslemont. On one occasion, she confronted a group of soldiers who were stealing her grain. When they saw her arrive, armed and resolute, they swore they would only pillage neighboring lands. She also sheltered girls and women on her estates to protect them from rape.

In 1653, Catherine travelled to Bordeaux dressed in male attire and accompanied by a small escort, to negotiate with rebel princes on behalf of Queen Mother Anne of Austria. To do so, she had to cross enemy lines twice.

A mother’s grief

Catherine’s husband died in 1655, a loss that greatly affected her. In 1672, she followed her two sons to Holland, where they had gone to fight for the United Provinces. Her eldest son died in 1676 at the siege of Maastricht.

Catherine’s Memoirs end with the terrible grief she experienced on learning of his death. It was after this event that she decided to write the story of her life. Her memoirs were published in Holland. She likely died there in 1681.

Catherine’s Memoirs

Aside from her martial deeds, Catherine is remembered for her Memoirs, in which she recounts her life from childhood to the death of her son. She begins by noting that many men had the chance to tell their stories—and that she would be one of the few women to tell hers.

Though later forgotten, her Memoirs were rediscovered, prompting some doubts about their authenticity. Was Madame de la Guette a real person? Careful verification confirmed not only her existence, but also the truth of the events she described. Catherine’s story thus stands as a unique and precious historical testimony.

In 1841, a novelist invented an ending for her, imagining her dying in a duel against three men. This, however, is pure fiction.

If you enjoy this blog, consider supporting me on Ko-fi!

Further reading:

De Musset Paul, Madame de la Guette 

Freudmann Felix Raymond, The Memoirs of Madame de la Guette : a Study

Lalaguë-Guilhemsans Marie-Thérèse,  “La Guette, Madame De”, in: Higham Robin, Pennington Reina (eds.), Amazons to fighter pilots, biographical dictionary of military women, vol.1

Meurdrac de la Guette Catherine, Mémoires de Madame de la Guette

[tikkunolamresistance]

A Torah scroll that survived desecration by British troops during the American Revolution is now on display at the New-York Historical Society, part of an exhibit connected to the society’s three-year, $65 million reopening.

The scroll from the Shearith Israel synagogue, the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States and New York’s only Judaic house of worship for nearly a century, still has burn marks on it from the British ransacking of the city in 1776.

In August of that year, shortly after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, George Washington and his troops retreated to Manhattan Island after being routed by the British on Long Island.

Washington wanted desperately to hold onto whatever small scrap of New York he could, but by November his army had been booted from Manhattan. The British would occupy the area for the remainder of the war, according to The Jewish Week.

During the occupation, thousands of rebel sympathizers fled the city as British troops looted and pillaged, setting fire to homes, bridges and even Congregation Shearith Israel, which was built in 1729.

The synagogue had bought two Torah scrolls when it was built, one Sephardic and one Ashkenazi, since the community was split.

And during the Revolution, the British attacked both scrolls, though it is the Ashkenazi one that is now on display, according to The Jewish Week.

“They set one on fire, and they slashed the other with a sword,” said Rabbi Hayyim Angel, the current rabbi at Temple Shearith Israel.

Jewish law requires that desecrated holy texts be buried, but Angel and other scholars speculate that the community realized the historic value of the damaged scrolls and kept them instead, according to the publication. 

It’s not clear where the scrolls were kept during the seven years of the British occupation. Most of the Shearith Israel congregants fled the city, since they were rebel sympathizers and some believe they may have taken the scrolls with them.

Another possibility is that the British forces protected them. The British employed Hessian soldiers, troops hired out by German rulers to the British to help fight the war, and at least one of them in the city was Jewish, said Debra Schmidt Bach, a curator at the society.

Whatever the case, the attack on the scrolls was probably not an anti-Semitic attack, according to Bach.

“It was part and parcel of the vandalism that was going on throughout the city,” she said.

Moreover, British commanders harshly punished the two British soldiers who attacked the synagogue. “One was lashed so severely he died from his wounds,” Bach added.

Other items on display during the exhibition include features Sabbath candle holders and a Chanukah menorah by famed Colonial silversmith Myer Myers; two portraits of Jews who fought in the War of 1812; and a book of poems by Emma Lazarus, a congregation member whose poem, “The New Colossus,” adorns the Statue of Liberty.

The exhibition opened Nov. 11 at the New-York Historical Society, and will be on view for about four months. The museum is located at 170 Central Park West.

(Above: The Shearith Israel Torah scroll that was burned by British troops in 1776. Photo by The Jewish Week.)

[theresattrpgforthat]

So, I went to a game store, and I asked if there were any good beginner games for someone who tried the DnD Essentials Kit and found it too complicated, and you'll never guess what one singular game they suggested!

THEME: Simpler Games than DND.

My friend, I’m not a very good guesser, but I hope that I am able to present you with some games that will give you what you’re looking for.

24XX: Chaos Unit, by polyhedralmice

Deep under the busy streets of Sapien City is the headquarters of the Vermin Squad, the espionage wing of a secret organization of urban animals known as the CHAOS Unit. They capitalize on the fact that vermin are virtually invisible human inhabitants of the city and use they use their street smarts to run vital missions for the unit. Raccoons, opossums, pigeons and squirrels each play specific roles and together form teams that take on the most vital of missions. From intercepting life-saving pizza orders to rescuing their colleagues from the dastardly Animal Control, there is no task too daunting for the brave animals of the Vermin Squad. Every night teams are sent out on their missions, and this is the story of one of those teams. Nothing will stop these brave agents from successfully completing their tasks (except maybe a humane trap baited with peanut butter). 

CHAOS Unit is a spy themed hack based on Jason Tocci’s 24XX.

24XX games are great for groups that love different-sided dice. In general, you only have a few skills for your character that are outside the normal parameters (upgraded to d8 - d12), and the success threshold is the same for pretty much every roll. The challenges and situations of any given scenario are typically presented as roll tables, allowing the GM to come up with an adventure just by rolling a few dice.

CHAOS Unit has just a few character options, some simple gear options, and a comparatively light-hearted premise. It’s a great introduction to the system, and learning how to play one 24XX game makes every other 24XX game a piece of cake to learn, even if they include new rules.

Loot, by Gila RPGs.

LOOT is a fantasy TTRPG by Gila RPGs that combines looter shooter mechanics with west marches vibes. When a rebellion toppled a lich overlord and torn down his city, the people were left with a lot of loot, and a lot of problems. That's where you come in.

Get some friends together, fight some monsters, deck your characters out in cool loot. Do it all over again.

Even though LUMEN uses grid-based combat, your character’s stats are simplified, reduced to a few things: health, armour, and three action types: force, flow & focus. Your stats themselves come from the items that your carry - your loot.

Your loot is organized through slots on your character sheet: you can only carry so much, so you’ll have to think carefully about what kind of stat bonuses and abilities you want. I find that a visual inventory can make it easier to keep track of everything you have, and can help some players learn how to think strategically. If you like the fantasy and strategy that exists in D&D but don’t want to do nearly as much math, you might be interested in LOOT - although the lack of dice is certainly a big change.

Slugblaster, by Wilkie’s Candy Lab.

In the small town of Hillview, teenage hoverboarders sneak into other dimensions to explore, film tricks, go viral, and get away from the problems at home. It’s dangerous. It’s stupid. It’s got parent groups in a panic. And it’s the coolest thing ever.

This is Slugblaster. A table-top rpg about teenagehood, giant bugs, circuit-bent rayguns, and trying to be cool.

Forged in the Dark games can be tricky to introduce to a new table, but Slugblaster is one of a few that I think can do the job. It’s a streamlined version of the system, that takes away a lot of the crunch that comes from Stats, Position, and Effect, and boils it all down to Kick and Boost. It also streamlines harm into 2 levels of slams, and keeps stress and downtime to a procedure that you can follow step-by-step when you finish a run. Finally character creation is very easy: you only make few choices in terms of abilities, and many of these choices are descriptive, rather than mechanical.

One thing I’ve noticed about games with “simpler” rules systems is that they typically do require a bunch of improv, which can be scary for new GMs. Slugblaster isn’t that different in this regard, but it does have a few things you as a GM can prepare beforehand if you want to make things easier for yourself. For example, you can set up your map of the different dimensions beforehand, including the doorways that the teens can get through. If you know that the teens get back to your home dimension without going through Operablum, then you can prepare a few location - specific threats to confound the teens as they try to get back in time for dinner.

Another strength of these games is that typically, if a player wants to do something, they just have to be able to describe how they’d do it - you can then work backwards using the gear & resources on your sheet to give you some dice to roll, as well as the logic of the game world, to figure out what happens next.

Lady Blackbird, by John Harper

Lady Blackbird is on the run from an arranged marriage to Count Carlowe. She hired a smuggler skyship, The Owl, to take her from her palace on the Imperial world of Ilysium to the far reaches of the Remnants, so she could be with her once secret lover: the pirate king Uriah Flint.

Lady Blackbird is the first game I ever played, and it’s a game I fell for - hard. It involves rolling pools of dice that you pull from descriptive collections of tags assigned to pre-generated characters. It simplifies game-play by taking away the step of character creation, and gives the group a pretty solid story to pick up and follow wherever your heart may lead.

While the rules of the game are fairly simple, I think that as a GM, you’re going to need to be comfortable with a fair bit of improv to make this work. The game has some excellent pieces of advice on how to come up with scenes for the characters, and even includes some example complications to throw at the party. I’m really glad this was my first game because from the beginning, it affirmed that roleplaying games are a communal experience, and even if the characters and the starting scenario are already written for the group, the players have a lot of freedom to decide who their characters are, and what they’re going to value.

Liminal Horror, by Goblin Archives.

There’s a strange comfort to ambiguity. To stand at the threshold between states of what was and what’s next, to inhabit the places of transition. But you’re never truly alone here. There are things that hunger within the dark places. Strange creatures and mysteries lie in wait and tumbling into the wrong place at the wrong time may put you on the path towards doom.

Grab your flashlights and blood splattered jackets as you try to make it through the night. Beware, snapping bone and rending flesh are often the simplest outcome. While there may be great power within these places… not all mysteries can be solved and not everyone can be saved. Above all, there are fates far worse than death.

LIMINAL HORROR is a rules-lite, adaptable Survival-Horror roleplaying game about normal characters and their struggles against the things that go bump in the night. The game focuses on surviving the weird and Investigating horrors while blending simple, old-school inspired rules with modern, narrative first principles. Survival is not guaranteed and those that do make it through the night are often forever changed.

In Liminal Horror, character creation is rather quick, often easily generated using a few dice rolls. For most tasks, your characters will roll a d20 and try to get a number lower than one of their three stats, so when you get started, teaching the game should be pretty simple. Of course, since it’s a horror game, there’s more than just trying to roll under a stat: characters will find themselves subject to the consequences of being exposed to horrors that are far beyond the limits of human experience. As a result, characters will find themselves dealing with two different kinds of harm: stress & fallout. These two harm systems will make the stakes feel real, and they’ll also inflict changes on your characters as you play.

Liminal Horror has a few things going for it. The basic rules are fairly straightforward, but they’re also free. The game is meant to be paired with pre-written adventures, which often include place descriptions, NPCs, and adventure-specific consequences to torture the characters with. A lot of the adventures available come with a price tag, but if you want to try out the system, there’s a couple of free ones out there - I recommend Messenger National Park, by capacityforwonder.

For the Ship And Its Crew, by Adeline Fowl Games.

We've crewed this Ship for years together. We've seen wondrous sights, gotten ourselves into seemingly insurmountable trouble, and have owed our fair share of creds to the wrong people. And yet, still, we fly. But after all these years, our past may be catching up with us. As the missiles tear across starlit space, we'll be forced to ask ourselves: What will we do, for the Ship and its Crew?

This is a hack of For the Queen, which mostly involves answering prompts, using something like a card deck, or in this case, a digital hosting service. Your group is telling a story by taking turns answering questions, which makes the game fairly easy to teach, even to people who don’t have a lot of roleplaying experience.

These kinds of games can also be played very quickly, which might also make it easier to introduce to folks who aren’t used to sitting around a grid and calculating resources for 2+ hours.

Other Recommendation Posts To Check Out…

Easy To Teach Recommendation Post

First Time GMs Recommendation Post

Little Reading or Writing Required Recommendation Post

[mariacallous]

Until she fled Bangladesh on Monday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina governed as if she still had full legitimacy, even as students and protesters had been on the streets for days asking her to resign. The trigger for the demonstrations—civil service job quotas for Bangladeshi freedom fighters and their families—had become a distant memory. Collective anger about years of human rights abuses, corruption, and rigged elections had coalesced into an uprising.

In a conversation over the weekend, Zonayed Saki, the left-leaning leader of the Ganosamhati Andolan party—himself a student activist against military rule in the 1990s—said, “The people’s sentiment is that she has to go first. The government had lost moral and political legitimacy.”

Hasina believed that she was elected democratically. She won an unprecedented fourth term in a flawed vote in January, which most of the major opposition parties had boycotted and the United States, the United Kingdom, and human rights groups criticized for not being free or fair. Still, other major governments congratulated Hasina on the victory. The bureaucracy, the media, the police, and the army were on her side. What could go wrong?

Over the weekend, Hasina declared a curfew again, cut off the internet, and encouraged the youth wing of the ruling Awami League party to take to the streets. Trigger-happy security forces, who were blamed for the deaths of more than 200 people as the protests turned violent in mid-July, were out in full force. Nearly 100 more people died over the weekend, including 14 police officers; video emerged showing security forces shooting point-blank at nonviolent protesters.

Hasina spoke darkly of Islamists spreading terrorism by co-opting the protests, but the students remained undeterred. A long march was announced for Aug. 5 to demand her resignation. Hasina declared a three-day public holiday in response. But by midday Monday, she had resigned, fleeing the country in a helicopter. The first stop would be India and after that an unknown destination.

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground has turned volatile amid the power vacuum. Thousands of demonstrators rushed to the Ganabhaban, the prime minister’s official residence in Dhaka, looting souvenirs and frolicking on the premises. People have also reportedly attacked the home of Bangladesh’s chief justice. There are also reports of the toppling of a statue of Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh’s independence movement and then ruled the country until he was assassinated in 1975. Mujib’s family home, now a museum, went up in flames in an act of grotesque retribution. These incidents stand in contrast to the disciplined and peaceful demonstrations led by students, who have urged for calm and were seen appealing to the looters to return stolen property.

Bangladesh’s army has called for calm, but it has not yet intervened. The country’s armed forces overthrew elected governments in the 1970s and 1980s and attempted coups in later years. But now, the generals would naturally want to play it safe: They cannot afford to lose the confidence of Bangladeshis and are aware of the deep distrust that Bangladeshis have developed for the armed forces because their political interventions have weakened the country’s democracy.

There is another calculation at play, too: Bangladesh is among the largest suppliers of soldiers to the United Nations peacekeeping forces, and it won’t antagonize the international community by letting its soldiers act at will. (Those peacekeeping arrangements mean the armed forces are less reliant on Bangladesh’s state budget.) In mid-July, when military vehicles with U.N. insignia were deployed on Dhaka’s streets, foreign diplomats rightly complained; Bangladeshi officials gave weak excuses and promised not to use U.N. equipment to settle domestic unrest.

Hasina seemed to have two options: to seek a graceful exit or to dig her heels in and let the troops take all necessary means to protect her regime. In the end, she fled. Where she will settle is unclear. India would pose problems for Prime Minister Narendra Modi; ruling party politicians have routinely criticized undocumented Bangladeshis in India, even creating legislation to identify and possibly deport them. The United Kingdom may be risky for Hasina because while it hosts many Bangladeshi immigrants, they include dissidents forced into exile during her 15-year rule as well as supporters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Had Hasina dug in, there would have been bloody consequences. Even if the army had shown restraint toward the protesters, there is no telling if Bangladesh’s notorious border guards or the Rapid Action Battalion—which has faced criticism from human rights groups—would have acted responsibly. There has been violence on both sides, but it has come primarily from the Bangladeshi state. As of Monday, as many as 32 children had died, according to UNICEF.

By stepping aside disgracefully, Hasina leaves chaos in her wake. It is crucial that any interim administration restore order quickly, but it can only do so if it has the backing of the army. A list of bureaucrats, civil society veterans, and others who might form the nucleus of such a government has been released, but the situation is too fluid to consider such lists final. In the early 2000s, Bangladesh had an unelected but legitimate caretaker government to help assist its transition to democracy after a military intervention—which it did, paving the way for Hasina’s election in December 2008.

Hasina has long demonized Bangladesh’s Islamist political forces. But Islamic fundamentalist parties have secured more than 10 percent of the vote only once, in 1991; in all subsequent elections, their vote share has been closer to 5 to 6 percent. Most Bangladeshis are Muslims, but they aren’t extremists; in Bangladeshi American poet Tarfia Faizullah’s famous words, when a Pakistani soldier assaulted a Bengali woman in 1971 and asked her if she was Muslim or Bengali, she defiantly said, “Both.”

The song accompanying many videos of the protests last week was from the pre-Partition poet Dwijendralal Ray, a Hindu, celebrating the golden land of Bengal. To see Bangladesh in binary terms—of Muslim or not Muslim—shows a profound misreading of a complex society. It reveals the myopia of external observers, notably analysts close to the current Indian government, who had invested hugely in Hasina and irrationally fear that an Islamic republic is the only alternative to her rule. In so doing, they frittered away some of the goodwill that India had earned in Bangladesh over the years, particularly for its support during the liberation war.

As a result, the current situation in Bangladesh will complicate things for Modi, Hasina’s close friend. His government had invested hugely in their relationship, aiming to build a trade corridor across Bangladesh and seeking Bangladeshi support to curb separatism in northeastern India. This alienated India from Bangladeshis, who expected New Delhi to defend democratic forces in Dhaka. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, whom Hasina condemned and called a “bloodsucker of the poor,” chided India for not doing enough: South Asia is a family, he said in a recent interview, and when a house is burning, brothers should come and help.

With Hasina fleeing, India has lost an ally it thought it could rely on. The road ahead for Bangladesh will be difficult. Expectations will be high, and the people will want early elections. If those are free and fair, a different Bangladesh can emerge. Whether it will be consistent with the liberal, secular, democratic ethos that Bangladesh’s founders fought for remains to be seen.

[abdalhadiaburass]

Based on recent reports and data, the newly implemented aid distribution mechanism in Gaza appears to be critically flawed and insufficient to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the population.

Key Issues:

Insufficient Aid Volume:

The United Nations estimates that Gaza requires 500 to 600 aid trucks daily to meet basic needs. However, since the partial lifting of the blockade, only about 305 trucks have entered Gaza, which is significantly below the required amount. The Guardian+3Reuters+3BBC+3

Limited Coverage:

The new distribution plan involves establishing four centers (three in Rafah and one in central Gaza), each capable of serving 300,000 people per week, totaling 1.2 million people. Given Gaza's population of approximately 2.1 million, nearly 900,000 individuals, primarily in northern Gaza, are excluded from this system.

Strategic Displacement:

Reports suggest that the aid distribution centers are intentionally located in southern Gaza to prevent the return of Palestinians to the north, effectively turning northern Gaza into a depopulated area. Anadolu Ajansı+2Anadolu Ajansı+2Middle East Monitor+2

Lack of Security Measures:

Contrary to initial plans, there will be no inspections for individuals entering the distribution centers. This raises concerns about the potential for aid diversion and undermines the stated goal of preventing aid from reaching militant groups.

Humanitarian Crisis:

The ongoing conflict has resulted in over 53,000 Palestinian deaths, widespread destruction of infrastructure, and a near-total collapse of essential services. Medical facilities are overwhelmed, with 40% of essential treatments unavailable, and increasing cases of malnutrition, disease, and injury. The Guardian

Conclusion:

The current aid distribution mechanism in Gaza is inadequate and appears to be strategically designed to control and limit the movement of the population, rather than to provide effective humanitarian relief. The exclusion of nearly half the population, combined with insufficient aid volumes and lack of security measures, exacerbates the humanitarian crisis and raises serious ethical and legal concerns.

Sources:

Reuters: UN says more food needed in Gaza as looting hampers deliveries

The Guardian: 'The world does not care if we all die': hunger and despair in the ruins of Gaza City

Anadolu Agency: Israel’s aid distribution plan aims to turn northern Gaza into ‘depopulated area’ReutersThe GuardianAnadolu Ajansı+1Anadolu Ajansı+1

[writeforfandoms]

Fast Car 2

Find my Simon Riley masterlist

Two years after the end of the world, you have a choice to make, and potentially a new life to settle into. One thing you definitely now have: a nemesis.

Warnings: Swearing, lots of grumbling, gentle interrogation, don't forget these guys are a trained very effective unit, dick-ish behavior, reference to cannibalism, reference to the wider zombie au.

Word count: 1k

You approached the meeting place carefully, slowly. Sure, you were planning to go with them. But that didn't mean you had to trust them. 

It wasn't terribly hard to spot three people, standing exactly where hat guy said they'd be. You didn't see tall and scary, but that was just fine with you. 

Maybe you'd get lucky and he'd been eaten overnight. 

“Took your time getting here.” 

Spoke too soon. Grimacing, you half-turned to see him emerge from his hiding spot, gun in hand but aimed away from the two of you. Small mercies. 

“I'm on time,” you defended yourself, planting your hands on your hips. It wasn't as effective given the large pack on your back, but still. 

“Means you're late.” He turned and strode off back to the others, clearly expecting you to follow him. You grit your teeth, momentarily tempted to just walk away. You didn't need a town. You were fine on your own. You could do it, keep on going on your own.

Except the empty windows and yawning doorframes of this town reminded you how hard it was to come across supplies. 

So you grit your teeth and followed him, footsteps light. 

You stepped directly in one of his boot prints, out of curiosity. His feet were much larger than yours. 

You walked a little faster. Just in case. 

Hat guy eyed you and nodded once. “We're taking the truck back,” he said. “You're in back.” 

You almost wanted to object to that, mildly outraged, but, well… all four of these guys was pretty big, in the beefy military esque kind of way. They probably needed the space. 

Still. Jerk. 

“So you're the mechanic, eh? I'm Gaz.” He held out a hand to you, and it took you a moment to remember what a handshake was. 

“Call me Soap.” He was next, quick to fall in on your other side so he and Gaz escorted you to the car. “Ye good with cars?”

“Dunno, you good with that thing?” You nodded to the big gun slung over his shoulder. 

He laughed, grinning at you. “Aye,” he confirmed. “Ye'll do just fine. In ye go.” He opened the back seat to the car you'd almost looted yesterday, ushering you in. Gaz slipped around the other side. 

Not only were they making you sit in the back, but in the middle. It had been a solid year since you'd been on a car, but you remembered how awful it was to sit in the middle seat. 

The only big plus was that the big unfriendly guy was in the front. 

“That's Price,” Gaz told you. “And Ghost.” 

So the big mean guy was Ghost. Easier to avoid him when you knew his name. 

“I'd say nice to meet you but I generally don't say that to people who almost dislocate my shoulder,” you snarked. 

“Shouldn't have messed with the car.” Ghost didn't sound the least bit apologetic. Not that you expected him to. 

Big asshole, for sure. 

“Ye traveled a lot?” Soap interrupted, breaking Some of the tension. 

“Eh. As needed.” You shrugged, uncomfortable as your shoulders rubbed his and Gaz's. “More than I really wanted to. Hard to stay in one place with cannibals around.” 

“Cannibals? Really?” Gaz sounded mildly dubious. 

“Really. Not like food is aplenty out there. Lots of canned goods are gone.” 

“We grow a lot,” Gaz said, glancing at you. 

“Not us,” Soap added with a cheeky grin. “Cannae grow shite, us. But the rest of the town, aye. Got a good lot of skills between us all.” 

“But not a mechanic,” Price interjected. 

“Least I'll have job security,” you joked, leaning back in your seat, refusing to show how uncomfortable you really were with the two men pressed close like this. “At least until everything quits working.” 

“We'll find work for ye,” Soap assured you, grinning. “Plenty to go ‘round.” 

That was not as reassuring as he intended it to be, but you didn't say so. That would just be fucking stupid, and you liked to think you weren't fucking stupid. 

“How'd you end up here?” Gaz asked, expression open, hands relaxed in his lap. Oh, he was good. Could've gone into acting, this one. 

Sure, he was acting all nice, but that was absolutely an interrogation question. 

At least he was being nice, and not threatening to break anything. 

So you told him. The short version. How you'd traveled for a bit with people, ran into cannibals, escaped with your life, and had been running from zombies ever since. 

The end of the world had made most people absolutely bonkers.

All in all, it was a pretty gentle questioning. And you couldn't blame them, not if they really were taking you to a whole town full of people. 

Price finally parked the car about mid-afternoon, and you got out gingerly, stiff from sitting still for so long. You stretched out, groaning softly as your shoulders and upper back popped. 

Ghost stood to one side, watching you. You ignored him, even as you noted yet again just how fucking big he was.

Price invited you inside, leading the way to the house. It looked well kept, at least, windows all intact, a pile of wood just visible to one side. You stepped up into the house, not sure what to expect.

The mouth-watering smell of bread and some kind of stew was not it. 

You swallowed back the obscene sound you wanted to make at just the smell of real cooked food, and wandered further in. A woman in the kitchen turned to greet everyone, smile wide and warm. 

You hadn't seen anywhere so homey, so warm, since… Well. Before the zombies, for sure.

It rather astounded you how fast they folded you into the routine, showing you where to wash up, offering spare clothes, assigning you a seat at the table. Truth be told, it left you a little wrong footed, and you kept quiet through dinner. 

So did Ghost. 

Ghost was the one that showed you to the couch, told you you'd be staying there a few days. You didn't object, still too full and happy from a hot meal. 

If they ended up being cannibals… Well, you'd die full. That wouldn't be so terrible.

[no2ticonderoga]

Well, the first part went over so well, I guess you can have another chunk.

1948

“Heads up!” 

Annabeth ducked under the swinging lumber as she hurried across the stage toward the house. “Leo!” she called. “Leo! Where are you?” she called out.

“Up here, Princess.” His muffled voice came from somewhere above her. 

She squinted up toward the balcony, and finally spotted him among the lighting grid. “I need to talk to you.”

“It’s going to have to wait until I come down,” he called back. “I’m a bit busy at present.”

“How long are you going to be?” Annabeth asked. “I really need to talk to you before…”

“No! No!” a new voice called, and Annabeth winced. “Where is that set designer?”

Annabeth jerked, and scrambled off the stage into the wings, hoping to avoid being seen. No luck.

“Ah, there you are, Annibelle,” Mr. D, the director said. “I wanted to talk to you about changes to the design for the second act. 

“Yes, Mr. D,” Annabeth said. 

“It needs to be more…grandiose. It should take the audience away, immerse them!”

Three days ago, Mr. D had told her that the design needed to be minimal, to draw the focus to the actors. Annabeth took a deep breath and gritted her teeth. “Yes, Mr. D,” she replied.

The pudgy man sighed. “You know, Ainsley, I just don’t know if you have the vision for this kind of work.”

“I’m sure I can work out something,” Annabeth replied through her clenched smile. “I’ve got some sketches already. I thought that you might like to see options, so I did more than one design.” They were the designs she’d already shown. him, that he’d rejected in favor of his minimalist approach. But he wouldn’t remember anyway. Annabeth had been working for him for over a year now, and she knew how to deal with him. 

“Oh, very good, very forward thinking. Yes, please bring them to me as soon as you can,” Mr. D breezed. “Now, where is that technician?” 

Annabeth escaped, while Mr. D went in search of Leo. 

“He’s in a mood, isn’t he?” Reyna asked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it….stay out of his line of sight, or he might decide he wants you to redo the choreography for the whole first act.”

“I might pour rat poison in his coffee,” Reyna deadpanned. Annabeth laughed, and continued backstage. 

She found Piper’s dressing room and let herself in. Piper wasn’t there, but Annabeth sat at the small desk that Piper let her use and started sorting through the set designs that Mr. D had already rejected so she could give him a new one.

She sighed and leaned back in the chair, rubbing her temples. 

She had never expected to get a real architect’s job out of college, not at first. But she’d needed to get out of New York. When her father had offered to let her join him in Europe, after the war ended, she’d jumped at the chance. She’d spent almost a year helping him with his work on the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives unit. Given a colonel’s commission in the Army, her dad had been in charge of the Greek and Roman section, working to recover and repatriate artifacts looted by the Germans and Italians. She’d enjoyed working with him, but she’d kept looking for a job.

But the firm in San Francisco had seemed so promising, at least at first. She’d returned to the states with her father when his group had been disbanded, and then moved to the West Coast.  She’d been given a ‘Junior Architect’ title, though her actual job had been little better than a secretary. She’d met Luke, and they’d gone on some dates…dinner, dancing, picnics in the park. She thought maybe she could see a future with him. Sure, he was bit older, but he was well established. 

And then she saw the plans for the building he was working on. 

It had been her design. Done up after hours, she’s been quietly saving it to show to her boss when she thought the time was right. She’d shown it to Luke, and he had liked it.

And then he’d stolen it.

She confronted him about it, and he’d laughed. He told her she should be grateful, because it was the only way her designs would ever get built. 

She’d been so mad, she’d thrown her drink in his face, and then she’d slapped him, for good measure. She’d gone back to her apartment, written her letter of resignation, packed her meager belongings in her valise and bought a ticket for the next eastbound train leaving the station. Her phone had started ringing while she was packing, so she’d ripped the cord from the wall. She didn’t want to talk to Luke, she hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone. 

She mailed her resignation, and her notice of departure to her landlord on the way to the train station, and boarded a train that would take her as far as St. Louis. She’d had to spend the night in the train station before getting another train to New York the following morning. She’d called her father from St. Louis, and thank God he hadn’t asked too many questions, only agreed to make sure anything she’d left behind was collected, and to get the San Francisco bank to close her account and wire her money to New York. 

She’d only gone home to her father’s long enough to get in touch with Piper. Piper, who had just been cast in High Button Shoes, had made room in her apartment for Annabeth, and was honestly glad to have someone to share rent with. She’d also helped Annabeth find a job. The closest thing to what she’d trained to do: set design. 

At first, it had been a challenge. She’d not really designed interior spaces before, but she found it interesting. Particular when she’d had to design spaces to create the illusion of more space. She’d worked on several plays, including A Streetcar Named Desire. Piper’s star had been rising for years, getting her start in the chorus of Annie Get Your Gun, then being asked to audition for Brigadoon, and finally moving on to High Button Shoes. But when Piper had been asked to join the original cast of this new show as the headliner, she’d suggested Annabeth as set designer and the producers had agreed. It should have been a triumph.

Except, so far, it somehow wasn’t. 

Annabeth gave a little jump when the dressing room door opened, but it was only Piper. “Hi,” Annabeth called.

“You look awful,” Piper said, shutting the door behind her and locking it. She began to change out of her dress into rehearsal wear. She must have gone out for lunch. 

“Thanks,” Annabeth said dryly. 

“What happened?” she asked.

“Oh, the usual. Mr. D being his typical, charming self.”

“Oh God,” Piper groaned. “THat’s not what I want to hear today. He’s supposed to be coming to rehearsal this afternoon to see how the duet is coming. Between him and my co-star, I’m not sure I can take it.”

“Where did you go for lunch?” Annabeth asked.

“Just around the corner, nothing fancy. I just needed to get out of here. I looked for you before I left.”

“It’s okay. I should get something, though. Did you have to eat alone?”

“No,” Piper grinned. “I ran into Jason.”

Annabeth snorted. “I’m glad I wasn’t there, then,” she said.

If Piper had a leg up because her dad had been a vaudeville star, Jason Grace, son of film actress Beryl Grace, was even better connected. Possessed of strong good looks, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a stirling war record as a fighter pilot, he was absolutely on his way to the top. And he probably had more talent than most. The fact that he hadn’t been cast as the lead in this show was only because Octavian still had more name draw. So he was second billing, playing Octavian’s friend.

The trouble was, that he and Piper had more chemistry both on and off stage than Piper had with Octavian at all, a fact which had not escaped Octavian’s notice. Not that he was interested in Piper romantically, but he was jealous of their easy rapport. He’d tried to get Jason fired, Annabeth had heard, but the producers had smacked his hand over it. Which hadn’t helped his feelings for him either.

Annabeth liked him. But that didn’t mean she wanted to sit through a whole lunch with Piper and Jason flirting. 

“We were fine,” Piper protested. She came over to lean on the back of Annabeth’s chair. “We would have behaved ourselves for you.”

Annabeth gave Piper a look. She was pretty sure Piper hadn’t taken Jason to bed yet, though it was probably only a matter of time. Piper had had many partners in the time they’d known each other, both men and women. Annabeth had been shocked at first, but she’d grown accustomed to it. Annabeth supposed it was Piper’s upbringing in the freer, wilder world of the theatres. Annabeth was still a virgin, and never more grateful that she was. Luke had tried it on a couple of times, but she’d resisted. There hadn’t been any other men she’d been close to. 

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. But..

No, she wasn’t going there. No. Not going to think about it.

She sighed. “Maybe I’ll try and save you by distracting Mr. D with new set sketches, and he won’t make it to your practice.” 

“I’ll buy you dinner if you do,” Piper promised. “And maybe I’ll see if Jason has any friends he can introduce you to.” 

“No, Piper,” Annabeth said firmly. 

“Annabeth, you’re 25, going on 26. You should find someone.”

“You don’t have anyone,” Annabeth pointed out.

Piper shrugged. “But I like being single, and besides, I have Jason right now.”

“Is he the one?” Annabeth asked.

Piper shrugged. “We’ll see. I like him And stop changing the subject. We’re talking about how you’re going to mend your broken heart.”

“I am not broken hearted about Luke the ass.”

“Not who I was talking about,” Piper said in a sing-song voice.

“Stop,” Annabeth demanded. It came out more harshly than she intended. 

Piper’s expression and voice softened. “Oh, sweetie,” she brushed Annabeth’s hair. “I’m sorry.”

Annabeth resolutely took a deep breath and rose. “I’m fine.” She gathered up her sketches, and turned to go.

“Hey,” Piper called as she reached the door. 

Annabeth hesitated. “Yeah?” she turned to look at her best friend. 

Piper’s face clearly warred with what she was going to say, but finally she just said. “Do you want to get dinner later?”

Annabeth nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“I’ll see you later, then,” Piper said. 

Annabeth left. 

The corridor outside the dressing rooms was deserted, so Annabeth stood there for a long minute, taking deep breaths.

She was always of two minds. On one hand she got angry. Angry that she’d been taken in by pretty words and dazzling smile, and gorgeous green eyes, and been nothing more than an afternoon’s diversion for a man who probably had a girlfriend in every port. A way to pass the time before he’d shipped out. 

On the other, there was a broken place in her soul where she believed that her one true love, the man she should have been fated to marry, had left New York that night and gone overseas, and been killed before he’d even had a chance to write to her.  

She wasn’t sure which was worse, honestly. 

She took a final deep breath to steady herself, and then headed back toward the stage. Maybe this time, Mr. D wouldn’t change his mind again. 

[justinspoliticalcorner]

S.V. Dáte at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Wednesday gave America its largest tax increase in at least three decades — more than $2 trillion over 10 years — by imposing an across-the-board 10% levy on all imports, with higher rates on dozens more countries and a further 25% tax on all foreign cars. “Foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories, and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful American dream,” Trump said at a chilly, overcast ceremony in the White House Rose Garden attended by most of his Cabinet and hundreds of invited guests. “Our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” he said. The 10% rate is half of the 20% Trump had spoken about on the campaign trail, but nevertheless will cost American importers about $2.1 trillion in additional taxes over the next decade, costs that are passed along to consumers, according to a Tax Foundation estimate. Erica York, the group’s vice president of federal tax policy, said the total will be greater than that because of the higher tariffs charged to some countries.

That would make Trump’s tax hikes larger than the three that have been perennial targets of Republican wrath through the years: Republican George H.W. Bush’s increases of 1990, Democrat Bill Clinton’s in 1993, and Democrat Barack Obama’s in 2010 to pay for the Affordable Care Act. Trump, by invoking emergency powers, is going around Congress to impose the tariffs. He has created a base 10% tariff but is taxing imports from many countries more, based on how those countries tax American imports. For example, imports from European Union nations will be taxed at a 20% rate because Trump’s advisers claim its tariffs and “currency manipulation and trade barriers” amount to a 39% tax on American goods going into the EU. But while Trump and his aides claimed these tariffs were “reciprocal” ― merely matching the tariffs charged on U.S. imports by the country in question ― in reality, the rates were an arbitrary calculation of a country’s balance of trade with the United States. “The trade deficit that we have with any given country is the sum of all trade practices, the sum of all cheating,” a Trump aide told reporters on condition of anonymity on a conference call just before Trump’s speech. It’s unclear how precisely imports from Canada and Mexico — the two other signatories in the United States’ biggest free trade agreement — will be treated. Trump had imposed 25% tariffs on goods from those nations, supposedly to punish them for allowing fentanyl to be smuggled into the U.S., but then delayed implementation for a month. The order Trump signed Wednesday says that it excludes products “compliant” with the trade agreement but did not offer definitions.

[...] In reality, tariffs are merely taxes imposed on imported products. When goods arrive at a U.S. port of entry, the importer — sometimes a private individual but more often a manufacturer, a wholesaler or a retailer — is required to pay to U.S. Customs the import tax due before the goods are released into the country. That expense is then added into the production cost of the goods, which is ultimately paid by the American consumer in the form of higher prices. Whether Trump understands how this works is unclear, even though his businesses often purchased both raw material and finished goods from other countries, including China.

Wednesday afternoon on "Liberation Day", Donald Trump imposes an economy-crushing tax hike by declaring a 10% tariff rate minimum for all nations besides Mexico and Canada (with several countries getting slapped with much higher rates).

See Also:

PoliticusUSA: Complete And Total Incompetence As Trump Slaps Tariffs On Penguins

The Left Hook (Wajahat Ali): Everyone Gets Tariffs, Trade Wars, and Turmoil on Bizarro Trump’s “Liberation Day.”

Daily Kos: Trump marks ‘Liberation Day’ with bizarre rant, conspiracies—and lame props

The Guardian: Trump announces sweeping new tariffs, upending decades of US trade policy

[blueiscoool]

Who Looted an Ancient Roman Shrine? A Village Finally Tells

Investigators say they have figured out how bronze statues from a shrine built 2,000 years ago in Asia Minor to venerate the emperors of Rome ended up in museums around the world.

One towering ancient bronze was found last year in the Sutton Place apartment of a notable New York philanthropist. Another this year in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A third bronze, the head of a young Roman boy, was seized from Fordham University in March.

Each of these ancient artifacts, and a half dozen more like them, are believed to have once graced an elaborate shrine in a region that is now part of Turkey. Erected by locals to honor the Roman Empire at a time when it ruled that part of the world, the shrine in the ancient city of Bubon featured a pantheon of emperors, experts say.

So Lucius Verus, it’s thought, stood next to Marcus Aurelius, his adoptive brother with whom he ruled. The statue of Septimius Severus was beside those of his wife and children. The emperors Valerian and Commodus once stood on their own plinths nearby.

In 1994, a Turkish archaeologist, Jale Inan, published a book, “Latest Research on the Sebasteion of Bubon and Its Statues,” in which she plotted the location of the bronzes as they appeared in ancient times.

But just decades ago, according to investigators from the Turkish government and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, this set of rare, larger-than-life bronzes came to be scattered around the world. Individual statues ended up in a variety of affluent homes and prestigious museums.

Now, relying on newly discovered records and interviews with regretful, at times tearful, farmers now in their 70s, the investigators say they have been able to reconstruct what happened. They say men from a nearby village found the bronzes buried on a hillside, beginning in the late 1950s and, acting in tandem over a period of years, dug up the statues, often working in large groups to facilitate their excavation. Many were then sold to an antiquities dealer they knew as “American Bob.”

His real name, investigators say, was Robert Hecht and he would become famous — and later infamous — as one of the world’s great dealers of antiquities, both looted and unlooted. Although it had been illegal under Turkish law since 1906 to sell antiquities without official permission, Hecht and others brought the bronzes to market, the investigators say.

VALERIAN Roman emperor, A.D. 253 to 260 Headless torso is in the Burdur Archaeological Museum in Turkey. Head location is unknown.

Authorities now have begun to seize the bronzes, one by one. Two have already been returned to Turkey. Three more have been seized, and are yet to be sent back. Another four are being sought, according to the district attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit.

Some experts, and at least one museum that holds a statue being sought, have questioned whether the evidence placing these particular artifacts in Bubon is as strong as the authorities have suggested. But Matthew Bogdanos, who leads the unit, said he is undeterred.

“Everybody fights Bubon,” he said of the naysayers. “But if there were ever a case we wanted to get into a courtroom, Bubon is it.”

The story of the Bubon bronzes, though, is more than just a tale of looters’ remorse, investigative zeal, art market intrigue and antiquities repatriation. It’s also a lesson in history, one that presents a more nuanced view of ancient Rome than that popularized by Hollywood epics. Those films often depicted an empire that relied almost exclusively on the spear, the whip and the executioner’s sword to keep the conquered in line. The truth was more complicated.

Some of the men who rose to lead Rome were, in fact, born in conquered lands. Severus was from modern-day Libya; the emperor Trajan from modern-day Spain. Rome allowed a measure of self-government and promoted the promise of citizenship as potent tools to keep the peace. And there was often local buy-in, evident in the shrines built by invaded peoples to show respect for their conquerors.

Known as shrines to the “imperial cult,” only a handful of them survive today in any form. One is the excavation at Bubon, according to archaeologists. From the time of Augustus, Roman emperors were venerated as gods, sometimes alongside the deities themselves. The shrine at Bubon, in what was then known as Asia Minor, is believed to have been built by local gentry as a sign of fealty to Rome. Started around A.D. 50, it is thought to have been in use for perhaps two centuries before it was buried in earthquakes.

The calamity, fortuitously, protected the bronze statuary at a time when discarded metal was routinely recycled into armaments. The Bubon bronzes, instead, remained underground, intact, for almost 2,000 years.

Until the farmers found them.

The stone plinths that made up the shrine bore the names of the Roman emperors, inscribed in Greek, with some of their imperial titles. This one once held a statue of the emperor Gordian.

Asia Minor Under the Empire

Though life under Roman rule would ultimately prove prosperous and pleasant for many of the people of Bubon, it took time and bloodshed.

Before the Roman conquest, parts of Asia Minor, also known as Anatolia, had embraced the Greek language and way of life and the region was largely under the dominion of Greek rulers for two centuries, starting with Alexander the Great in 330 B.C. But when Rome, after much warfare, ultimately took power in the first century B.C., the empire used its well-honed tactics to convert the region into a stable and passive province.

The Romans built paved roads and large public amenities like baths and markets. They integrated Roman tradesmen, soldiers and administrators into local life, and dangled the possibility of Roman citizenship, which conferred political rights on people from conquered lands.

“For much of Anatolia, the Roman Imperial period was the high point of classical antiquity,” said Peter Talloen, an archaeology professor from the University of Leuven in Belgium who is excavating in the region. “The vast road network built and maintained by Rome,” he added, “would result in Anatolian goods such as textile, pottery, wine and olive oil being profitably exported to all different areas of the Roman Empire.”

The Roman Empire, A.D. 200

In the period when the shrine at Bubon was active, the Roman Empire had spread through large parts of the world, as far west as modern day Britain and as far south as what is now Algeria, Libya and Egypt.

The Roman Empire, A.D. 200

In the period when the shrine at Bubon was active, the Roman Empire had spread through large parts of the world, as far west as modern day Britain and as far south as what is now Algeria, Libya and Egypt.

Bubon itself was a small and relatively wealthy agrarian hilltop community that, under Rome, featured central markets, a theater, low battlements and a small stadium for athletic contests. Its residents, perhaps a few thousand people, archaeologists estimate, would likely have enjoyed self-governance so long as they showed loyalty and paid tribute to the Roman prefect in charge of their province.

Amid the ruins of the theater, there is an inscription relating how the emperor Commodus (A.D. 177-192) commended the city for crushing a band of brigands. Bubon, as a result, the inscription reports, was rewarded with an extra vote at the provincial assembly.

Many monuments would have been erected, Talloen said, some to the local elites who financed the public buildings and activities like religious festivals, others to the Roman officials who authorized the local leaders to tax things like the ownership of land or the sale of produce.

The shrine, or sebasteion (suh-BASS-tay-ohn), at Bubon was one such monument, built to proclaim the populace’s devotion to Rome. Sakir Demirok, an archaeologist with the Burdur Museum in Turkey, said the shrine, a U-shaped courtyard that was probably covered, would have likely been a site for animal sacrifices, incense burning, and communal prayers and vows, led by a local priest.

Romans were keenly religious and worshiped multiple mythological deities, like Jupiter or Juno, whose favor or disfavor were thought to influence daily life.

“Rome was the safeguard of the peace and welfare,” Demirok said. “It was a system that provisioned grain for the citizens’ good and secured the trade routes. Cities were expected to demonstrate their gratitude for the stability provided by that system.”

“MARCUS AURELIUS” Roman emperor, A.D. 161 to 180 Headless torso at the Cleveland Museum of Art, under seizure order. Head location is unknown.

The Bubon shrine was begun, experts think, during the reign of Nero, between A.D. 54 and 68, and initially featured statues of the emperor and his wife Poppaea Sabina. Nero was popular in the Greek-speaking provinces because he embraced Greek culture and song. During its life span, at least 14 individuals were represented by statues — 11 emperors and three empresses — Demirok said, the last being Gallienus, who ruled from A.D. 260 to 268. As rulers were unseated, their statues were sometimes replaced, so Nero’s, for example, was removed and his name erased from the statue’s plinth, which later was used for Marcus Aurelius, experts said.

Experts credit the survival of the bronzes to a series of earthquakes that occurred in the decades after Gallienus was enshrined, burying the sebasteion in protective layers of soil and stone as the Roman Empire began its long decline.

The restitution of the statues now, as a group, serves to highlight, experts said, the central role they played in binding the people of a remote province like Bubon, spiritually and politically, to their counterparts in far-off Rome.

“They want to show their allegiance to Rome,” said Christina Kokkinia, an expert at the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Greece who has visited and written about Bubon. “They were proud to be Roman.”

Archaeologists and excavation site workers recreate the position of ancient bronzes of Roman emperors that once filled a shrine at Bubon in what is now modern Turkey.

Some Finds in the Fields

The looting of Bubon indeed took a village, investigators say.

The farmers from Ibecik, a small community a mile and a half from the shrine site, told interviewers that they had known about the ancient ruins for years before they began digging up the bronzes sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s. As young men, they said, their teachers had led them up to a deep hole in the stony hillside that some came to call the “Museum.” One villager recalled some of the bronzes were piled up there, like logs in a fireplace, investigators said.

At first, just a few villagers were involved in selling off artifacts to local smugglers. But soon the local farmers joined in groups of 20 to 30 — sometimes cooperating, sometimes competing — to excavate and carry away the heavy, large bronzes, now filled with several centuries of settled dirt. Some statues were broken into pieces to make them easier to transport, the farmers recalled. Investigators say pickax marks are still visible on the bronze of Lucius Verus.

When the money came in, many of the families shared in the proceeds.

“It was seen as the property of the village,” said Zeynep Boz, a Turkish official responsible for the return of her country’s antiquities.

The illegal excavations ebbed after 1967 when the Turkish police found a headless bronze torso hidden in the local woods. That statue of Valerian, who ruled from A.D. 253 until his capture in battle with the Persians in A.D. 260, now stands in a museum in the nearby town of Burdur.

CARACALLA Roman emperor, A.D. 198 to 217 Head seized from the Met and in storage in New York. Torso is thought to be with a Greek collector.

But other bronzes, investigators say, had already entered the art market. Villagers recently recalled for investigators how a pair of local smugglers ferried the artifacts in a pickup truck to the port town of Izmir, about four hours away. There, in the souk, or bazaar, some were sold to a dealer they called American Bob. Investigators say that, based on the evidence they have collected, the dealer was Hecht.

The evidence includes shipping and sales invoices that show Hecht in possession of remarkable 2,000-year-old Roman bronzes that had never been seen before. In the late 1960s, he sold five — four torsos and a head — to a Boston collector called Charles Lipson, who exhibited them at several museums before consigning them to a New York gallery, from which they were resold. Investigators say Hecht sold other bronzes to a second gallery in New York.

At the time, the paper trail did not identify where the bronzes had come from and some of the statues had yet to carry the names of emperors. The bronze that was later identified as a depiction of Marcus Aurelius was just referred to as a large-scale Roman bronze in a 1974 museum exhibition, and there was a debate about where it and others had originated.

But a Turkish archaeologist, Jale Inan, came to be convinced they had all come from Bubon, which she visited in 1973, drawn by reports of the looting. In 1979, she traveled to Denmark, where a museum owned a bronze head that had been purchased from Hecht. She and a curator at the Danish museum agreed that it was likely a match for a headless torso in the United States that Lipson had owned and identified as that of Septimius Severus.

A line drawing featuring multiple boxes that depict the bases of statues that once stood in an ancient shrine. In her book, Jale Inan, the archaeologist, included schematic drawings of the site that depicted the scale of the shrine and were helpful in plotting the location of the bronzes.

In 1990, Inan returned to the hillside in Bubon to dig at the site. She spoke to local farmers who acknowledged they had taken part in illicit digging. She found a journal in which one of the looters had reconstructed what had occurred 30 years earlier. Through interviews and excavation, she plotted the positions of the statues using the stone bases that remained, the names of the emperors still inscribed on them in Greek.

In a paper and in a 1994 book, she cataloged her research, including sketches that showed how she thought some of the statues, now held by various parties around the world, would have fit onto the plinths at Bubon. She died in 2001, before she could realize the fruition of her efforts, but investigators today have built their work atop the research she started decades ago. “It was her life’s work,” said Elizabeth Marlowe, a professor at Colgate University in New York who has closely tracked the Bubon statues. “She began drawing attention to this problem shortly after the looting occurred and never gave up. She’s the one who connected the dots. This is all her work.”

A man walks on a road toward a rural town. In Ibecik, investigators are working with people from the village to reconstruct what happened decades ago when the bronzes were dug up.

The Farmers Came Forward

One summer afternoon in 2021, Zeynep Boz, the Turkish official, sat outside the village cafe in Ibecik’s main square and addressed some 90 farmers gathered at tables under the trees.

She described how, once Turkey adopted its antiquity law in 1906, there was no such thing as private ownership of buried antiquities. She assured the villagers they would not be prosecuted for events 60 years earlier and asked them for any old letters, photos or other evidence that could help get the statues back.

“Your village has been robbed to its bones,” she said. “It harms the country’s reputation. Please help me here.” “In the beginning they were like, ‘We don’t want to. The people have all died,’” Boz said in an interview. “But then slowly, slowly they understood our only purpose was making things good and they started talking to us.”

Boz and officials from the museum at Burdur eventually found 10 men who recalled the looting. Their testimony is crucial to Turkey’s repatriation claim, one now supported by New York investigators and other experts.

But not all experts agree that each of the statues was looted from Bubon. Some argue that Bubon was too much of a backwater to have housed such monumental bronzes or that the evidence is inconclusive.

Kokkinia of the National Hellenic Research Foundation said that, while she appreciates Inan’s research, she questions whether her archaeological techniques were sufficiently rigorous to have decided the question. She suggests further investigation at the site before every statue is shipped to Turkey.

“I love Bubon,” she said. “Let it have all the statues in the world. But it’s not necessarily scientifically correct in all cases.”

The Danish museum that for years said its bronze head belonged to the headless torso of Septimius Severus from Bubon has more recently said this is not certain. The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen said more research was required.

“SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS” Roman emperor, A.D. 193 to 211 Headless body seized from the Met museum. Returned to Turkey. Some experts say the head is at a Copenhagen museum, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where the headless “Severus” statue had been on loan, turned it over to the New York investigators for repatriation. But the museum said it was not established that it definitely depicted the emperor or had come from Bubon. While it had the bronze on display, the Met referred to it as simply “Statue of a Nude Male Figure.”

The Cleveland Museum of Art, which holds a headless statue that investigators say is the Marcus Aurelius that once stood in Bubon, has gone to court to block its seizure. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which served seizure papers on the museum in August, said it has interviews and detailed forensic evidence that support Turkey’s claim. The museum has described the evidence as “conjecture,” though until recently it had said the bronze “likely represents Marcus Aurelius.” In recent months, curators have retitled the statue “Draped Male Figure.”

Some worry additionally that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government may be aggressively exploiting the return of cultural property for political purposes, boosting a nostalgic Turkish nationalism and a reassertion of its historical greatness at a time when there are questions about its commitment to human rights and democracy. “Why is the U.S. rewarding Erdogan, a demagogue acting daily against U.S. interests in the region, for this bad action?” wrote Kate Fitz Gibbon of the Committee for Cultural Policy, in 2020.

But the New York investigators say they have recovered additional evidence that illustrates the scope of the looting at the shrine, including the Hecht invoices, the testimony of the villagers from Ibecik and arms and legs from bronze statues that may also be tied to the shrine. (Hecht, who died in 2012, was accused several times of antiquities trafficking but was never convicted.)

Several of the villagers have correctly identified the statues now being targeted as looted from a lineup of other ancient bronzes. Some have mimicked the poses of the bronzes for investigators to show they remembered what they looked like, investigators said.

“There is this unbelievable heartening thing happening where people are coming forward in their 70s and saying, I have been living with this for 55 years,” Bogdanos of the district attorney’s office said.

Earlier this year, when the statues of Septimius Severus and Lucius Verus were returned, two of the looters, now in their 70s, were invited to see them.

“They were very emotional,” Boz said. “They really regret it. You can see it in their eyes.”

By Graham Bowley and Tom Mashberg.

[girlactionfigure]

1948 as the original sin

MAY 21, 2024

1948 AS THE ORIGINAL SIN

There is only one country in the world whose right to exist is persistently cast into question: the State of Israel. It’s no coincidence that it is the world’s only Jewish state that is subjected to this delegitimization, not only in private conversations, but in university lecture halls, the top newsrooms in the world, and the General Assembly of the United Nations. For centuries, the right of Jewish people to live — the “Jewish Question” — was cast into doubt. Today, the Jewish state is subjected to the very same rhetoric. How is “does Israel have a right to exist?” even considered a legitimate question? Why are we even entertaining it, instead of flagging it for what it is — blatant xenophobia, at best?

The anti-Israel crowd justifies its flagrant bigotry by depicting Israel’s founding as illegitimate, thereby delegitimizing the country in perpetuity. This, of course, is a blatant double standard from the get-go, as hundreds of countries across the globe had bloody establishments. What’s worse, though, is that to delegitimize Israel’s founding, these people push a blatantly false narrative. According to their story, European settler-colonizers with the backing of the European empires, America, and/or the United Nations violently came to Palestine, seized lands, and, in 1948, massacred and displaced Palestinians to establish the Jewish state. Except this is not what happened.

To be sure, Palestinians were massacred and displaced in 1948, with 750,000 fleeing or being expelled from their homes. The displacement of Palestinians completely fractured Palestinian society, and it remains an open wound to this day. 

But the very real suffering of Palestinians should not be used to fuel an ahistorical narrative with the purpose of delegitimizing the Jewish state, and, by extension, the lives of nine million people in it. 

SO WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?

The outbreak of the 1948 war was the culmination of almost three decades of Arab-Jewish violence in Palestine. The first of these violent incidents took place in 1920, during the Nebi Musa festival, when Arab rioters descended upon the ancient Jewish population of Jerusalem, murdering, pillaging, looting, and shouting “Palestine is our land and the Jews are our dogs!” and “death to the Jews!”

It was this event that first prompted the Jewish community in Palestine to organize a paramilitary. Arab antisemitic violence continued to escalate, with massacres in 1929, 1936, and 1938. In 1936, the right-wing Jewish paramilitary, the Irgun, began carrying out retaliatory attacks against Arabs. 

Given the rapid escalation of violence, in 1937, the British first proposed partitioning Palestine into one Jewish and one Arab state. The Jews accepted the plan reluctantly — to quote future first president of Israel, Chaim Weizmann, the Zionist movement was prepared to accept a state “even if it’s the size of a tablecloth” — but the Arabs rejected it, so the plan was scrapped. But it wasn’t only partition that the Arabs were opposed to, seeing that two years later, the British offered the Arabs an entirely Arab state, so long as they could guarantee the rights of a tiny Jewish minority. The Arabs rejected the proposal — they wanted no Jews, period — and would continue to reject such proposals well into 1947. 

In 1947, the British handed the problem over to the United Nations, which voted in favor of partitioning the land. The Jews accepted the plan, while the Arabs infamously rejected it. For months, the Arab states had been threatening genocide of Jews should partition come to pass. After the partition vote, the Arab leadership in Palestine issued a leaflet quite explicitly threatening a second Holocaust in the Middle East, writing, “The Arabs have taken into their own hands the Final Solution of the Jewish problem. The problem will be solved only in blood and fire. The Jews will soon be driven out.” 

It wasn’t just threats. The morning after partition, Arab mobs in Palestine attacked Jewish buses, marking the start of the Palestine Civil War, which later turned into the 1948 war, after five Arab states invaded immediately following Israel’s Declaration of Independence on May 14. 

THE JEWS OF 1948

Contrary to the ahistorical depiction of European settler-colonizers with the backing of European empires, the Jews fighting in 1948 were largely refugees and Holocaust survivors. An international arms embargo had been placed on Palestine, affecting both Jews and Arabs, but the Arabs already had established militaries and even the unofficial support of the British, whereas the Jews had nothing and had to go through incredibly risky lengths to obtain the necessary arms and equipment. 

It’s really important to remember that all this took place less than three years after the end of the Holocaust, which eradicated nearly 70 percent of Europe’s Jewish population. For the Jews of 1948, the Arab threats of extermination felt very much existential. For example, prior to the partition vote, the General Secretary of the Arab League had threatened, “Personally I hope the Jews do not force us into this war because it will be a dangerous massacre which history will record similarly to the Mongol massacre or the wars of the Crusades…We will sweep [the Jews] into the sea.”

Imagine this for a second: before World War II, the Jewish population around the world stood at 16 million (to this day, our population still hasn’t recovered). Just six years later, the global Jewish population had dwindled to 10 million. Three years later, the Arabs, outnumbering Jews about a million to one, were threatening to carry out another genocide against the very same people.

Of the Israeli casualties during the 1948, about one third were Holocaust survivors. Many were also Jewish refugees from elsewhere in the Middle East, as the Arab countries expelled some 850,000 Jews from their homes in retaliation for the 1948 war. No country in history has ever had to absorb as many refugees proportional to its total population as Israel did, in such a short amount of time. Because of this, conditions in Israel were dire, with an economy on the brink of collapse and food shortages. This picture is the opposite of that of a powerful foreign empire coming to conquer.

THE SIN OF MORAL EQUIVALENCE

Both the Jews and Arabs — including, yes, Palestinian Arabs — were responsible for expulsions and massacres during the 1948 war. In many cases, events described as “massacres” were actually battles between the two opposing parties. All of this, of course, happened within the context of a war. Framing it otherwise is a blatant distortion of the facts of history. 

Palestinians were not expelled from their homes because of their identities as Arabs or Palestinians; in the cases in which they were expelled, this occurred within the context of the Jewish paramilitaries and later the Israeli army battling with a hostile village, though, of course, innocents were caught in the crossfire and suffered the consequences. Any attempt to frame it as persecution of Palestinians on the basis of them being Palestinian is to try to draw a moral equivalence to the Holocaust, a crime which was entirely unrelated to the German war effort during World War II; in fact, the Nazi extermination campaign of Jews at times hindered the war objectives. The Nazis persecuted Jews because they were Jews, not because they were members of a hostile nation during wartime. 

“Nakba,” just like “Shoah,” the Hebrew word for Holocaust, means “catastrophe.” Constantin Zureiq, the Syrian intellectual who coined the term “Nakba,” described the Nakba not as the tragedy of the displacement of Palestinians, but rather, as the tragedy that “seven Arab states declare[d] war in an attempt to subdue Zionism, then stop[ped] impotent before it, and return[ed] on their heels.” 

The catastrophe, according to Zureiq himself, was notthat innocent people had been displaced from their homes, but that the Arabs had lost the war that they started. 

ERASURE OF ARAB ATROCITIES IN 1948

The anti-Israel crowd depicts the 1948 war as a case of an oppressor (Israel) versus the oppressed (Palestine). In reality, there was was a victor (Israel) and a loser (Palestine), with both sides committing war crimes. As far as who started the war, there is absolutely no question that the Arabs were the aggressors. As always, the true victims of the war were the innocent civilians.

The anti-Israel narrative consistently ignores the Arab atrocities that very much shaped Zionist morale during the 1948 war. The Arabs besieged 100,000 Jews in Jerusalem, depriving them of food and water, and destroying all relief trucks en route to the city. In fact, it was this siege that, four months into the war, prompted the Zionists to go from the defensive to the offensive, and subsequently led to the expulsions and massacres of Palestinians. 

Though the Arabs ended up conquering few Jewish communities, those communities that they did conquer suffered from expulsions and massacres. For example, on December 30, 1947, Arab mobs lynched 39 Jews in Haifa. On April 13, 1948, the Arabs attacked a Hadassah Hospital medical convoy, killing 79 people, mostly patients, doctors, and nurses, and burning most of them beyond recognition. On May 13, 1948, 157-220 Jews were murdered, many execution-style, by the Jordanian and Palestinian Arab forces in Kfar Etzion, with at least one attempted rape documented. When Jordan expelled the entire Jewish population of East Jerusalem, 600 Jews were murdered. The Arab forces also decapitated and paraded the heads of Jewish soldiers, disemboweled pregnant Jewish women, mutilated and dismembered Jewish women and prisoners of war, and more. 

The Palestinian Arabs were not the pure innocent victims of the war. They were the losers of the war. Those are two different things. 

Notably, while Israel has declassified many of its 1948 archives, the Arab countries have not and probably never will. As such, the historiography of 1948 is inherently biased, and the true extent of the atrocities the Arabs committed against the Jews might never be known.

THE EVOLUTION OF NAKBA MEMORY

About 750,000 Palestinians were displaced in 1948. Of these 750,000 refugees, 100,000 or so of wealthy means left Palestine before any documented expulsions. The majority of Palestinian refugees of the war, as is usual during wartime, fled out of fear, with many fleeing their villages before the Jewish forces even captured them. About 5 percent of Palestinians were actively forcibly expelled by the Jewish forces, while some 10 percent were evacuated or encouraged to leave by the Arab forces and/or the British. 

Without downplaying the pain of displacement, it’s really important to note that, unfortunately, every war produces refugees. What happened to Palestinians was sadly not unique. Yet Israel-detractors frame it as such to characterize Israel’s founding, and therefore, its entire existence, as uniquely evil and unjustifiable. If Israel was born out of sin, then Israel’s entire existence is a sin, and therefore, the moral thing to do would be to destroy it. 

As mentioned, the originator of the term “Nakba,” Constantin Zureiq, was describing the Arab military defeat, not a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people. 

Since then, however, the story of the Nakba has been distorted to completely de-emphasize the actual circumstances of the displacement, the genocidal war that the Arabs started.

The allusions to the Holocaust are intentional, beginning with the choice to use the word “Nakba,” a direct translation of the Hebrew word for “Holocaust,”  “Shoah.” In reality, the Nakba and the Holocaust have absolutely nothing in common; a more apt comparison would be the Greek-Turkish population exchange of 1923 or the Hindu-Muslim population exchange during the Partition of India in 1947. But nothing could possibly delegitimize the Jewish state more than comparing the Jewish state to the Jews’ worst historic oppressors. In fact, many Palestinian writers, such as Edward Said, even depicted themselves as the ultimate victims of the Nazis (despite the Palestinian leadership’s alliance with Nazi Germany). 

rootsmetals

let me tattoo this onto my forehead because people love putting words in my mouth: not a single word in this post is excusing, justifying, denying, or supporting any atrocities committed in 1948. Read that sentence again, please. groups like Hamas attack Israel because they believe that Israel is an illegitimate entity that must be wiped from the map at all costs. This idea rests on the premise that the State of Israel could only come into being through an act so egregious, so inhumane, that it has rendered Israel’s entire foundation, and thus, its entire existence, unacceptable. THAT’s why it’s important to address this distortion and weaponization of history. I’m not writing this to minimize the suffering of Palestinians.

[bisexualmcqueen]

The Cars Apocalypse AU

little masterpost!

APOC AU BLOG TAG

Ao3 SERIES

spotify playlist

--***----***----***----***--

Summary:

Main story takes place over a 30ish year period between 2018 and 2048.

Story starts a few months after the ending of Cars 3, partway thru the epilogue. (~mid 2018)

Cruz is a road-car turned racer, a rookie a few months into her first Piston Cup season. Her life has turned around, and she's finally living her dream, and as her true self.

Lightning nearly died in his wreck about 8 months ago now, and has paused his racing career to train Cruz. He’s spent the past few months acting as her crew chief.

Chick still hosts his talk show on RSN. Between everyone's busy schedules, he finally makes time to visit Radiator Springs to catch up with his old pal Lightning, and to meet his new protege…

Chick and Lightning are already an established casual-relationship at this point. They've been together on-and-off since 2005. Sally is still Lightning's life partner. Chick is his weird boyfriend.

Lightning, Cruz, and Chick (+ RS residents) are all in Radiator Springs, Arizona, when the blast goes out. Instantly, most of the entire town and all the tourists are killed. After the last stragglers pass away, the only survivors in the region are our three main protagonists.

This is Lightning’s home, his family. The most important thing in the world to him, ripped away in a few seconds, visceral and right in front of his eyes. Emotionally, he’s out of commission for a bit. Chick doesn't mind picking up the pieces. 

Chick and Cruz are forced to bond, grating as Chick can be, as there is literally no one else left to talk to. They're both of the belief that there are survivors out there, that the world truly isn't over. The three stay in town as long as they can… until they start to deplete any fuel left nearby.

They have to pack anything they can carry, and set out into the world, out of isolation. 

The trio find themselves in the crosshairs of other roving groups of desperate cars, terrified and fighting over whatever resources are left in the world. Through this, Lightning gets a leg up on his grief when he realizes he still has Cruz and Chick to live for.

They bond, hone their survival skills, and narrowly escape trouble, again and again. The three are a family unit now, protecting each other with their lives. But time starts to pass, and there are only so many gas stations and stores to loot. Resources start to run out, start to go bad. Tensions amongst the various factions rise to a boiling point...

Eventually, when the dust settles, several groups of racers have bound together to work at an oil field and oil refinery. They get it working again, and begin to rebuild infrastructure in the area. A small city forms, and civilization (sort of) returns.

Of course, this is when other factions strengthen too. New allies emerge… and new wars. (this is the part where you picture Mad Max)

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Current Collaborators: Twerk, Non, (planes offshoot by BAVV) inspo: Mad Max Fury Road, The Walking Dead, Warrior Cats Warnings: major character death blanket warning, graphic depictions of violence, various mature themes.

[uchudishe]

(This joke has gone too far)

A little sketch-y story of Stalker Team Snakemouth below.

"Aye, Radsnake Team were quite a rag-tag bunch. So, count: you have a runaway bee, who abandoned her home hive outside the Zone, snuck into and almost immediately joined Freedom - for thrill and money. She didn't cared much about ideology, bit she needed somewhere to drop by, to sell loot and enjoy scarce comforts. That made her some troubles, tho - in her chase after riches, she made a few questionable deeds and had lotta contacts with shady reputation. Yet in her defense - she despised banditry and mercs, and never shyed away from help - just be sure to repay her for help; next, a beetle, former Duty soldier, part ways with em after his whole unit was torn apart by centimera. No, he didn't blamed superiors for that - that was more accident, and yet he refused to serve alongside, assumingly because was burdened by shame. He spent most of his time helping fellow stalkers, hunting mutants and participating in raids against bandits and renegades; last, moth, previously known as "another Monolith loony" - many of those guys scattered around Zone after psi-veil fell, and he was not an exception. With little to no memories about past life and with an intent to know what happened, sporting pretty supernatural ability to feel and use artifacts, he still remains the most mysterious team member. Also, rumor said they layer with a help of a scientist tamed a pseudochomper, but they never showed up on bases with it - for obvious reasons.

Former two met when Vi ventured after a whisper of a legendary artifact. Place where it allegedly was were overrun by nasty mutants, so she needed someone to get rid of them. Kabbu by then was low on money and work, and since Vi paid him some in advance, joined her. Since no one technically were following their ideology, while a bit awkward, but functionable enough, duo ventured to the old lab, just to get ambushed by pseudoGiant inside. Luckily enough, a said monolith moth helped them out - even if got severly wounded in process. They found the artifact, sure, but question arose - what to do with an unconscious fanatic? I don't know what Kabbu thinked and how managed to get his point across to Vi, but they dragged that guy out.

Considering that later those three managed to do in a few months things that factions tried to accomplish in years, this proven to be a correct choice."