#pershing

[bopinion]

2025 / 17

Aperçu of the Week

"I'd like to be pope. That would be my No. 1 choice."

(Guess who on what topic...)

Bad News of the Week

My daughter, probably like her father, really has an opinion on everything and everyone. And she fights for them, sometimes like an activist. After years of campaigning for education in the Third World - the first item on her Christmas wish list for many years was a donation to UNICEF - she is now campaigning for women's rights. Which she is (again) absolutely right about. Because as long as there are Taliban in Afghanistan and a gender pay gap in Germany, there is still a lot to be done in this area.

One important point is, of course, the field of self-determination. And in this complex, the issue of sexual self-determination. From “Only yes means yes” to the right to abortion. I'll never forget how my daughter managed to get the right to a presentation on the topic of “pro-choice” at school - in Catholic religious education! Even in Germany, abortion is still a punishable offense for doctors (§ 218 of the Criminal Code), but is not prosecuted. A legal gray area that an enlightened society should actually be ashamed of.

Speaking of lack of self-determination and being ashamed of something: Turkey and Erdogan. He has imposed a ban on planned caesarean births without medical necessity in private clinics. The Ministry of Health published a corresponding decree in the official gazette, which is intended to help the country achieve increased population growth. This is because while women can become pregnant again quite quickly after a vaginal birth, a longer recovery period is often recommended after a caesarean section.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had declared 2025 the “Year of the Family”. His government's Ministry of Health therefore launched a campaign against caesarean sections a few months ago. The aim is to “promote normal births and keep population growth at a sustainable level”. Naturally, the autocrat does not like the fact that, according to the World Population Review, 584 out of 1000 live births in Turkey are carried out by caesarean section. Incidentally, of the 19 members of the current “Erdogan V” cabinet, only one is a woman. Why I'm not surprised.

Good News of the Week

For me, nuclear weapons are the epitome of irrational madness. A technology designed to deliver the ultimate destructive strike. Not only has it defined completely new standards of explosive power, but it also contaminates the target area with long-term radioactivity - mission "rebuilding" impossible. And it has led to the paradox of nuclear deterrence. Acquiring weapons and more and more weapons to make oneself unassailable. Because the opponent has not enough to put against the counter strike. An expensive tool that was created never to be used.

Two memories shaped my youth (in the 1980s) in a nuclear way. In 1983, the first US Pershing 2 missiles were stationed in Germany in accordance with the NATO Double-Track Decision and the so-called “nuclear sharing” began. I took to the streets to protest against this, but in vain. In 1986, there were multiple meltdowns at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl and the uncontrollability of the matter became apparent. Unfortunately, I was on the streets - we Central Europeans only found out later that the rain those days had elevated Becquerel levels.

In the meantime, we watched the rather documentary-like movie “The day after” at school. And learned that in an emergency (yes, that was still the Cold War, which threatened a divided Germany in particular) you should get under a table. Even better, in a subway tunnel. Then you would live a few days longer before perishing in a mixture of fallout, food shortages and incipient anarchy. Back then, we agreed among our friends that we'd rather watch the apocalypse from the roof: then we'd be treated to an incredible show before we died quickly and painlessly.

Later, I refused to do military service and got involved as a youth cultural ambassador for international understanding. Then the iron curtain fell down and reason seemed to have won. I was on the right side. But then came various turning points, an increasing social divide, media and power abuse, and suddenly there it was: the new normality. Or perhaps better: the absence of any norms that we were actually used to, that we believed in. There are no more certainties to rely on. Only interests. Which, as we all know, can change, often faster than we expect.

In this new unstable framework, I find it difficult to maintain my pacifism. I welcome it if Putin can be deterred from attacking other former Soviet republics. I think it's good that a compulsory “social year” is being discussed, which you can do in a social institution, in environmental protection, in development aid or even in the military. I think it is right to define a new security architecture on a European scale. I think it makes sense not to be dependent on third countries for weapons systems and ammunition. And I am pleased that the French, of all people, are reaching out to us when the Americans question our nuclear umbrella. I don't know whether I'm on the right side this time. But I do know that cohesion is still a good worth striving for.

Personal happy moment of the week

Speaking of French: My son got a D in an important French exam. That's remarkably good for him. Because usually the goal is not to get an F - he hates the subject and struggles to show any shade of effort or even diligence. As he wasn't feeling well in the run-up to the test and was excused from school immediately afterwards, I had already mentally prepared myself for an F-ailed. This would even have jeopardized his promotion at the end of the school year. In this respect, I'm now very relieved - because a D isn't enough to be proud of, of course.

I couldn't care less...

...that Prince Andrew's “punishment” for sexually abusing minors is merely that he is no longer allowed to wear a military uniform of honor or be in the Windsor family photo. His then victim in the bizarre pedophile cosmos surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the 17-year-old Australian Virginia Giuffre, never recovered from this and has now committed suicide. Prince Andrew Albert Christian Edward, Duke of York, has always denied his actions, but nevertheless paid millions for an out-of-court settlement. Innocence looks different to me. I sincerely hope he is now at least tormented by nightmares about how he is burning in hell.

It's fine with me...

...that former US Congressman George Santos has been sentenced to prison for fraud and identity theft. Although the 36-year-old former member of the House of Representatives had presented himself - of course, he is a Republican after all - as the victim of an overreaching, politicized public prosecutor's office, he did not get away with it. His web of lies, bizarre appearances and forgeries ultimately contained enough criminal elements to send him to prison for seven years in addition to a fine of around 580,000 US dollars.

As I write this...

...I'm looking forward to what my “Happy Moment of the Week” will be next week. Because my wife and I will be spending a long weekend at one of my personal “happy places”, a resort in the Austrian mountains. With a constellation of triple enjoyment: food, spa and reading.

Post Scriptum

Over 1.3 billion believers currently have no head. If you want to look at it that way, because the head of the Catholics is actually God himself, in whatever variety. So let's rather talk about the leading manager of the earthly faith organization called Church. Because after the pope is before the pope. “Apostolica sedes vacans" (Vacancy of the Apostolic See) is the name given to the time when there is no pope in the Vatican. Even with his own coat of arms. But soon the conclave convenes.

This is when the cardinals entitled to vote gather in the Sistine Chapel - which is anything but a cute chapel, but rather an impressively magnificent hall - to elect the next pope from their ranks. All cardinals who had not reached the age of 80 at the time of Pope Francis' death are eligible to vote. Of the current 252 cardinals, this applies to 135 men. That alone says quite a lot. Because this completely outdated body should actually abolish itself. Won't happen.

[cosmickeymaker]

Miniature action

1/16 scale Sherman 105 and Pershing with the Volantex P51 Red Tail flyover.

[postcard-from-the-past]

General Pershing on a vintage postcard

[revelstein]

🆕 Jak wszyscy to wszyscy

Jakoś tak w miarę bezkolizyjnie udało się przeżyć i przetrwać wczorajszy dzień, będący dla pewnej części Wolaków tak zwanym dniem żołnierzy wyklętych (nie chce napisać „świętem”, żeby nie zdewaluować w ten sposób znaczenia dla nich tego dnia, bo świąt to u nas przecież więcej niż u Kowalskiego kur w kurniku), nie mniej nie oznacza to, że nie obyło się bez ekscesów. Niestety, tu i ówdzie element…

[primepaginequotidiani]

PRIMA PAGINA Financial Times di Oggi venerdì, 30 agosto 2024

[worldsportsboats]

Pershing GTX80

The Pershing GTX range has doubled in size with the annoucement of its new GTX80. Pershing design has focused on seamless connections between the internal and external spaces, creating engaging and innovative features for a yacht of this size. The GTX80 follows in the wake of the GTX range’s flagship, launched in spring 2023. The WSB team take a closer look at the GTX80 credentials. Continue…

[mceproductions]

Best of 2023 TV Shows #7: The Mandalorian (Disney+)

It hasn’t been easy for Disney this year. 100 Years and a centennial going by with a whimper.

That even applied to the 3rd Chapter of its signature streaming series, while not as great as its first 2 outings still manages to have enjoyable enough moments.

Life goes on for Mando, after Grogu rejoins him and his smaller Naboo N1, they set out on a return trip to Mandalore.

Having been told to bathe in the waters by the armorer, he ends up being joined by Bo Karan after she loses her squad.

Together the two would use the darksaber to seek the clans and return to their ancestral homeland, all the while a familiar shadow and a slowly forming different one would begin to emerge.

To get this out of the way, this season was really not good.

Don’t know if it’s cause part of it was put Into another series, the lack of Pedro Pascal besides VA. Or the shark jumping moment of Jack Black and Lizzo as married couple ruling a planet.

But other than the finale and Bo Katans whole season arc this just feels like it was only spinning the wheels of what looked already concluded.

The only saving factors belongs with Katee Sackhoff elevating her character with greater depth than we even saw with Clone Wars and Rebels.

Along with redemption for one of Star Wars most infamous fandom attacks before the sequel trilogy.

But for setup this still was enhancing.

SUM 22: Mando Season 3 ended up being a little less than what we’re expecting, but is good thanks to Bo Katan and Kelleran Beq.

[ghostconch]

I think you are so anointed,

that's why you get so disappointed.

I swear you are so important.

Nothing you do is pointless, yeah.

Listen/download: Modern Mystery by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin

[captain-price-unofficially]

Pershing production line, 1945

[venhydey]

Lazy redraw while leaning how to use HiPaint on a phone. The interface it pretty inconvenient ugh.

[winguontheweb]

little headshots of everyone in the MF crew so I can put them on funny alignment chart templates n stuff!

[justanotherbadbatchfan]

Imagine these four meeting at a conference and bonding over their shared interest in completely ethical and not fucked up scientific pursuits.

[lightwise]

Project Necromancer

Alright, I think we all get the gist of what's going on with Project Necromancer, the cloning efforts on Tantiss, why Omega's blood is so important, and how it all ties in to the Mandoverse and Palpatine's return in the Rise of Skywalker. But, I wanted to make a bit of a reference post with posts I've seen going into detail on each aspect of this and also combining some screenshots.

Necromancer is Palpatine's goal all along, to create endless bodies for himself that he can transfer his life force and Force sensitivity into, so that he never dies and can rule forever. And he is starting those ambitions in The Bad Batch. Unfortunately for him, transferring Force sensitivity successfully to another body long term is almost impossible, which has led to this same project, and the exact same efforts, STILL being just out of reach by the time of The Mandalorian, which is after he has supposedly been killed off by Vader in RoTJ.

Now, the specimens are not actually the clones. The clones are the receivers, the experiments. The donors are yet to be revealed, but I would bet a lot of money that they are using the bodies of the Jedi killed in Order 66 (maybe some captured younglings as well--potentially Grogu?) As the M-count donors. This seems to be confirmed by the similar amber pods seen in the Inquisitorius in Kenobi.

However, they are obviously having difficulty, and we know that Nala Se has sworn that this might be impossible, mostly to protect Omega, who as we learn, has already successfully (accidentally or on purpose we don't know yet) shown to have this capability to receive midichlorian-saturated blood without decay or complication.

So, we know that Hemlock now knows that Omega is actually the key to this project. And we know that Palpatine does eventually succeed in cloning himself. However, what happens in between now and then? Something is going to happen this season that sets back this project, or Palpatine would have completed it long before the Original Trilogy, AND they wouldn't be scrounging for scraps and trying to recreate the results by hunting down Grogu in The Mandalorian, a full 25 years after TBB. (Is Pershing already involved in this effort? When and why did Pershing get caught up in Moff Gideon's schemes, and how did those branch off from Palpatine's efforts?)

Finally, in Rogue One, Jyn Erso mentions a Mark Omega Imperial project that was housed alongside Project Stardust (which was begun around the same time as TBB), and Krennic has appeared in TBB and is already working for the Empire. Is it possible that Omega's name is the aspect of the project being referenced here? If so, is she captured again and experimented on? Will her blood end up being used to help further Palpatine's goals? And how much will the clones be able to succeed and push back this project by the end of the season?

[wanderingmind867]

Well, I was bored. So I did something boring but quick. Namely, I tried to find the heights of some of the b:tas voice actors, and then I mapped it all out on a height chart. So now we can really see that Richard Moll was a giant. If Harvey Dent was the same height as his actor, Batman and Killer Croc both would only come up to his shoulder. And Paul Williams and Diane Pershing just seem so short compared to everyone else. They reach shoulder length with Kevin Conroy and Aron Kincaid, but they only reach up to Richard Moll's chest. I mean...he was 6'8. I don't how many people could reach eye level with Richard Moll (or by extension, his characters).

I was shocked Mark Hamill was shorter than most of the people on this list, though. He's taller than Paul Williams and Diane Pershing, but that's it. He's slightly smaller than Kevin Conroy and Aron Kincaid, which i never figured would be true. But then again, i never really thought of it much before.

[thirdwheelravi]

With all the respect in the world :) They can’t exactly hide a giant funeral like that?

then film it somewhere else? like on an outdoor set on the fox lot??? where they have total control of who's around????

[istandonsnowpiles]

Dog. Italian