#which is basically impossible in healthcare

[seancosy]

It feels like there is a huge shortage of vital jobs that tangibly keep society going, such as plumbers, engineers, doctors, electricians, psychologists, teachers, nurses, etc.

But there is an overabundance of useless jobs that do not influence the world at all. Brand representatives, advertising agents, social media managers, middle managers, etc.

The obvious reason is capitalism. It costs time and money to train people in specific roles, and the jobs that improve society do not necessarily earn a profit. Healthcare should cost money! Education should cost money! We need to steer away from viewing profit as a useful measure for a job’s worth. A nurse achieves more good in a day than an influencer will in a lifetime, but that will never be reflected by their financial situations.

[thethief1996]

For the past 100 days, Israel has been waging a genocide campaign in Gaza without any sort of reprieve from western countries. Palestinians are suffering from a human-made famine, surpassing the scale and speed of any other famine enforced in the past 75 years. Healthcare professionals are being cornered into Rafah by constant airstrikes, sniper attacks and bombardments at hospitals, forced to leave patients and medical supplies behind. Unmaned quadcopters opened fire on the maternity and ICU unities of Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital and killed 8 civilians. Yesterday, the hospital ran out of fuel and the babies in incubators might die anytime soon. Only 127 aid trucks are being allowed into Gaza of the 500 allowed before the war, under "normal" blockade conditions. The distribution of food and water is made basically impossible by the destruction of communications and the looming threat of executions against people gathered to receive it. Just today snipers killed 3 people in line to receive food in Gaza City and Israel officials have the gall to say the problem is that humanitarian organizations, whose volunteers are being executed at unprecedent rates, aren't putting in enough effort. The IDF drops leaflets telling desperate refugees to flee and then station tanks on the roads or bombs the safe zones.

Ever since I read South Africa's submission to the ICJ I can't stop thinking about how they label it as the demication of Gaza and its people. On every sphere of the government, there are statements calling for the anihilation of the people of Gaza (pages 59 to 67). The Prime Minister has directly adressed the army telling them to wipe off the amalekites (page 60), and South Africa showed tiktoks of the soldiers repeating his speech word for word before committing massacres. And yet they have the gall to come to the world and say they haven't targeted hospitals, they haven't withheld aid and that the statements are "random assertions." To prove that Netanyahu isn't a blood thirsty pig, they pasted a statement he made ONE DAY before the hearing started, which is frankly ridiculous we're supposed to believe isn't a PR stunt (page 34).

No western outlet streamed the highest stake court hearing in the 21st century, but you can rest assured they streamed Israel's pathetic defense. And Canada, Germany, the UK and the US, countries which have in no way reckoned with their own genocidal pasts, have come forward in defense of Israel like they have any moral high ground to patronize the world about genocide.

Take action, for their sake. Motaz has said "Don't call yourself a free person if you can't make changes. If you can't stop a genocide that is still ongoing". We need to fight in any way we can to stop their massacre.

Keep yourself updated and share Palestinian voices. Muna El-Kurd said every tweet is like a treasure to them, because their voices are repressed on social media and even on this very app. Make it your action item to share something about the Palestinian plight everyday. Here are some resources:

Al Jazeera, Anadolu Agency, Mondoweiss

Boycott Divest Sanction Movement

Palestinian Youth Movement is organizing protests and direct action against weapons factories across the US

Mohammed El-Kurd (twitter / instagram)

Muhammad Shehada (twitter)

Motaz Azaiza (instagram) - reporting directly from Gaza.

Hind Khudary - reporting directly from Gaza. Her husband and daughter moved South to run from the tanks but she stayed behind to record the genocide. The least we can do is not let her calls fall on deaf ears.

You can participate in boycotts wherever you are in the world, through BDS guidelines. Don't be overwhelmed by gigantic boycott lists. BDS explicitly targets only a few brands which have bigger impact. Right now, they are focusing on boycotting the following:

Carrefour, HP, Puma, Sabra, Sodastream, Ahava cosmetics, McDonalds, Disney and Israeli fruits and vegetables

Push for a cultural boycott - pressure your favorite artist to speak out on Palestine and cancel any upcoming performances on occupied territory (Lorde cancelled her gig in Israel because of this. It works.)

If you can, participate in direct action or donate.

Palestine Action works to shut down Israeli weapons factories in the UK and USA, and have successfully shut down one of their firms in London.Some of the activists are going on trial and are calling for mobilizing on court.

Palestinian Youth Movement is organizing direct actions to stop the shipping of wars to Israel. Follow them.

Educate yourself. Read into Palestinian history and the occupation. You can't common sense people out of decades of propaganda. If your arguments crumble when a zionist brings up the "disengagement of Gaza", you have to learn more.

Read Decolonize Palestine. They have 15 minute reads that concisely explain the occupation (and its colonial roots) and debunk popular myths, including pinkwashing.

Read on Palestine. Here's an amazing masterpost.

Verso Book Club is giving out free books on Palestine (I personally downloaded Ten Myths about Israel by Ilan Pappe. If you still believe in the two states solution, this book by an Israeli professor debunks it).

Call your representatives. The Labour Party in the UK had an emergency meeting after several councilors threatened to resign if they didn't condemn Israeli war crimes. Calling to show your complaints works, even more if you live in a country that funds genocide.

FOR PEOPLE IN THE USA: USCPR has developed this toolkit for calls, here's a document that autosends emails to your representatives and here's a toolkit by Ceasefire in Gaza NOW!

FOR PEOPLE IN EUROPE: Here's a toolkit by Voices in Europe for Peace targeting the European Parliament and one specific for almost all countries in Europe, including Germany, Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Greece, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Finland, Austria, Belgium Romania and Ukraine

FOR PEOPLE IN THE UK: Friends of Al-Aqsa UK and Palestine Solidarity UK have made toolkits for calls and emails

FOR PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA: Here's a toolkit by Stand With Palestine

FOR PEOPLE IN CANADA: Here's a toolkit by Indepent Jewish Voices for Canada

Join a protest. Here's a constantly updating list of protests:

Global calendar

Another global calendar (go to the instragram of the organizers to confirm your protest)

USA calendar

Australia calendar

Feel free to add more.

[enbycrip]

The Cass Report demonstrates a truly ridiculous ignorance of literally *anything* to do with not only trans lives, but basic medical treatment protocols.

You *cannot* do double-blind tests where an intervention very clearly has distinct observable effects. Medicine also frequently does not do double-blind tests when doing so would be a) basically impossible, and b) inhumane. It’s particularly common to measure efficacy of an intervention by follow-up and statistical analysis where children and young people are concerned because experimenting on kids is so fucking unethical.

The report is treating reports following established medical protocols as though they are some kind of pseudoscience. Literally the only reasons for this are either a) an ignorance of basic medical and research procedures so profound as to show an utter unsuitability to be involved in reporting on anything to do with healthcare or b) blatant disingenuousness to find an excuse to discard the results they don’t want to acknowledge. Which also renders them deeply unsuitable to report on anything to do with healthcare.

They have used to existence of nonbinary people as an excuse to deny under-25s transition care, treating our entire identity as some sort of adolescent identity crisis. As a 40-year old nonbinary person, I can only say how *utterly* this betrays a profound ignorance of trans culture and identity and/or a commitment to patriarchal and colonial gender norms so profound they are utterly unwilling to dive into the easily-available evidence of adults all over the world with nonbibary identities today, and the anthropological and historical evidence of cultures all over the world with an understanding of gender outside the binary.

And the recommendation that transition should be forbidden to people with mental illness or neurodivergence only betrays how deeply and profoundly transphobia is entwined with disableism. There is a line which literally says “transition did not affect manifestation of symptoms of autism spectrum disorder”. As if this was remotely relevant to anything other than pathologising both transness and neurodivergence.

It of course also attempts to ignore the reality that millions of British adults are seeking neurodivergence diagnoses through the NHS and being turned down or stuck on waiting lists that can easily be *seven* years long.

I am sick with fury and fear, and trying to mute my own reactions because I have a dissertation draft due in tomorrow I *need* to work on.

[workersolidarity]

[ 📸 A child named Jana Ayyad, who was displaced into Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, suffers from extremely poor health caused by malnutrition resulting from the continued closure of the southern border crossings. In a report published by the UN-affiliated agency that classifies famines, northern Gaza has been determined to not yet to be in famine, a result of an unexpected increase in aid, while Gaza on the whole remains on the brink of famine and catastrophe. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

WAR IN GAZA, DAY 263: DESTRUCTION OF INFRASTRUCTURE PRESENTS DANGERS TO CIVILIANS IN GAZA, ISRAELI OCCUPATION TO DRAFT ULTRA-ORTHODOX JEWS FOR MILITARY SERVICE, "INTENSE" PHASE OF GAZA WAR TO END, BOMBING RAIDS CONTINUE AS MASS MURDER OF PALESTINIANS GOES ON ANOTHER DAY

On 263rd day of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 3 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 32 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, while another 139 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

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

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

Following weeks of Israeli ground incursions into the northern Gaza Strip, as well as Rafah to the south, large portions of Gaza's Palestinian population have been displaced into central Gaza, into cities such as Deir al-Balah, the Al-Mawasi area, and the Bureij Camp.

Following their displacement, the Israeli occupation army began heavily bombing the local public infrastructure, leaving central Gaza, in particular targeting public infrastructure, including wells and sewage lines, spilling sewage while trash collection has ceased. All of this directly nearby areas where tens of thousands of Palestinian families are forced to reside in tent cities.

Speaking with the local media, resident Umm al-Abd Baalousha and her family live in a small tent erected near the sea water desalinization plant in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, an area where previous Israeli bombing has led sewage to overflow into the streets where piles of garbage grow ever larger as basic services are now impossible due to the ongoing genocidal war.

Baalousha told the local media she is a refugee from the Jabalia Camp, in Gaza's north, where the Israeli occupation forces recently launched a deadly invasion, destroying or damaging nearly every building and forcing her family to seek shelter in Rafah.

Soon after, they were displaced again by the Israeli invasion into Rafah beginning several weeks ago. The family was forced to seek shelter once again, now a refugee living in a tent in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza.

“We did not find another place to flee to from the city of Rafah in the far south, with the occupation beginning its ground military operation, other than this area (in Deir al-Balah), which is characterized by its proximity to the water desalination plant, but the disaster began to unfold with the overflow of sewage," Baalousha told the local media.

"Children in the area cannot move easily, unless accompanied by an adult, due to the high level of wastewater in the place and the matter not being addressed by the responsible authorities," she added.

The same can be said for countless other residents of Gaza, many of whom have been forced into unsafe, or sometimes outright dangerous living conditions, surrounded by garbage, sewage, sickness and death, often being starved.

According to a report published today, June 25th, by the UN-affiliated IPC Global Famine Review Committee, although the amount of food going into the northern Gaza Strip has increased, the food situation in the Palestinian enclave is "catastrophic", while there remains a "high and sustained risk of Famine across the whole Gaza Strip."

"The prolonged nature of the crises means that this risk remains at least as high as at any time during the past few months," the report says.

"The FRC encourages all stakeholders who use the IPC for high-level decision-making to understand that whether a Famine classification is confirmed or not does not in any manner change the fact that extreme human suffering is without a doubt currently ongoing in the Gaza Strip, and does not change the immediate humanitarian imperative to address this civilian suffering by enabling complete, safe, unhindered, and sustained humanitarian access into and throughout the Gaza Strip, including through ceasing hostilities. All actors should not wait until a Famine classification is made to act accordingly," the report concluded.

In more news, the Israeli entity's High Court of Justice has ruled today the occupation army must draft Ultra-Orthodox men into the Israeli military.

According to the Occupation media, due to there no longer being a legal framework for the exclusion of Haredi men from the Israeli draft, the Israeli High Court has ordered the military to begin drafting the Ultra-Orthodox immediately.

Though the High Court did not determine a rate at which they must be drafted, it instead told the government it could draft Yeshiva students gradually or quickly, but that it must begin actively working to conscript the Ultra-Orthodox.

The Court ruling concluded that a June, 2023 government order instructing the army not to begin drafting Ultra-Orthodox men was illegal because the law exempting them from conscription had expired and was not renewed by the Israeli Knesset.

The Israeli media states that some 63'000 exemptions for Ultra-Orthodox men were reported by the Court's documentation.

The Israeli High Court writes that, “In these days, in the midst of a severe war, the burden of inequality is more acute than ever — and requires the promotion of a sustainable solution to this issue.”

“Non-enforcement of the provisions of the Security Service Law creates severe discrimination between those who are required to serve," the Court is quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, gave interview with the Hebrew media in which he said that the "period of intense fighting in Gaza is about to end," adding that "This does not mean that the war is about to end, but rather its intense phase is about to end."

Trending news analysis of Netanyahu's recent comments suggest that, with the risk of Netanyahu's position crumbling if the war comes to an end.

Analysis suggests that at the conclusion of the Rafah operation, the bulk of the Israeli occupation's military violence is likely to shift north towards Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, just rinse the Gaza operation and repeat south of Lebanon.

In the meantime, in the Gaza Strip, the slaughter continued, albeit at a slower pace in recent days as the Zionist entity begins refocusing its attention north. Still, dozens of civilians were killed and more than one hundred wounded over the last 24-hours.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, an Israeli warplane bombed a gathering of civilians on Al-Wahda Street near Al-Shifa Hospital, west of Gaza City, killing five Palestinian civilians, including two children, and resulting in a number of others wounded to varying degrees. The wounded were taken to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the city.

Soon after, the Israeli occupation forces bombed two UNRWA shelter schools in a series of raids that killed 16 civilians, with most of the victims being women and children.

The Israeli bombardment targeted several areas of Khan Yunis, in Gaza's south, along with the Al-Maghazi and Al-Shati Refugee Camps in the central and northern Gaza Strip, respectively.

According to Palestinian sources, the Zionist army bombed two UNRWA shelter schools housing displaced families in the Al-Shati Camp and in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza city.

The Civil Defense reported the recovery of five Palestinians who were killed, including children, and several others wounded as a result of the bombing of the "Asmaa" School housing displaced civilians in the Al-Shati Camp, west of Gaza City.

Similarly, local Civil Defense crews said they'd recovered the bodies 6 Palestinians as a result of the occupation army's bombing of the Abdel Fattah Hamoud School,in the Jaffa area of central Gaza City.

In further raids, occupation fighter jets bombarded a home belonging to the Al-Zamili family in the Al-Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

Meanwhile, the systematic destruction of neighborhoods such as the Saudi and Tal al-Sultan neighborhoods, west of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, continued as well. With near constant bombings, artillery shelling and tank fire being reported, as well as the death of a man who was killed as a result of Israeli bombing in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood.

As Tuesday went on, the Zionist entity renewed its attacks, and further bombed into the night.

At midnight, Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the city of Beit Lahiya, north of Gaza, killing at least 3 Palestinians, and wounding a dozen others, while the Zionist army also bombed several homes in Gaza City and Rafah.

The Israeli occupation forces bombed several homes in southwestern Gaza City, including the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, in northern Gaza, while in Gaza's south, the Israeli occupation bombed the Saudi neighborhood, west of Rafah.

Further Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling hammered neighborhoods northeast of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, while airstrikes also hit the Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza.

As a result of the Zionist entity's ongoing war of extermination against the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip, the current death toll now exceeds 37'658 killed, including over 15'000 children and at least 10'000 women, while another 86'237 others have been wounded since October 7th, 2023.

June 25th, 2024.

#source1

#source2

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#photosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[fatliberation]

Set weight theory is interesting but I find hard to believe that anyone's set weight is going to be 600lbs. And it's dangerous to ignore that being extremely heavy won't make your life harder or more succetible to some health issues.

Genetics play a big role in determining your set point, which is the place where our natural weight falls and where our bodies experience homeostasis. And sometimes that point starts out fat! I'm not sure how common it is to start out very fat, and I don't think it's impossible, but it's likely that many folks in the 600+ club have experienced changes in their set point. Set point actually increases the more depravation your body experiences. Let's say you're dieting and your weight dips below your set point. Your body basically enters starvation mode and fights for survival (slowing your metabolism, changing hormone levels to reduce fullness and increase hunger) and doing what it can to hold onto that energy deposit. Now you've regained that weight and then some, and the extra weight sort of acts as an "insurance policy" to prepare for another period of depravation. So now your set point rests at a higher weight than before. You try another diet, lose weight, and the cycle continues. According to theory, someone who has a long history of dieting, disordered eating, restriction, periods where food was inaccessible, or anything that led to weight cycling could very well have a set point of 600lbs or above.

[ID: A graph labeled "The Set Point Theory" by Beth Rosen, MS, RD, CDN, showing a straight-sized body at a starting set point. The graph descends in a staircase-like fashion, and at the lowest point in the graph, the body is thinner. The graph climbs up to a bar higher than the original, labeled "New Set Point." The body at the new set point is wider than the body at the original set point. The graph repeats once more, and the body gradually gets wider. End ID.]

All this to say - weight loss doesn't work. No one is saying that there aren't any adverse effects that come with being that size. I have no idea where you're coming from with that but it really sounds like anti-HAES fear-mongering crap. (Health at Every Size doesn't mean "everyone is healthy at every size." It means everyone has a right to pursue healthcare without weight loss.) No one is "ignoring" the challenges that superfat and infinifat people face. What we are saying is that the alternative (weight loss) does nothing but cause harm. So just let fat people be fat, dude.

[fatphobiabusters]

I hear a lot about how fatness is a "risk factor" for certain illnesses and diseases. I don't hear much about how so are age, socioeconomic status, experiences of abuse, starvation, sex, race, queerness, and so many other aspects of a person's life. And that's because the world already for the most part accepts that a lot of these factors cannot be changed and that many of these factors are not what actually causes an illness or disease.

You don't develop a medical condition because your bank account suddenly shows a different, smaller number. You developed that medical condition because poverty means unbearable stress every day, less access to healthcare, worse housing, inability to clothe yourself for protection from the elements, having to overwork yourself to be able to afford your basic necessities, going without food, and so many other aspects of oppression. You don't weigh your wallet to measure your health because the amount of money you have is not what actually causes a medical condition.

But no one wants to look at the studies with legitimate methodology and admit that fatness is also in this category—that fatness is not something that we can just choose and will away, that fat people face immense systemic oppression just like any other oppressed group, that the correlation of fatness and illness is not some simple relationship of causation. And that's because doing so would mean no longer making hundreds of billions of dollars off of fat people's oppression and having to admit it's not actually okay to treat fat people as an acceptable punching bag.

When I look at medical information for whatever illnesses, see the risk factors laid out, and the only risk factor the website says to change is fatness? I think about all of the research I've read that shows actual permanent weight loss is as likely as finding Atlantis. The amount of hypocrisy at not telling someone to drink a youth potion as a form of treatment at the same time as they lose weight becomes so palpable that I can taste the dirty money being made off of this website telling people to "just lose weight, fatty." It's as cruel as selling an ill person a random crystal that you tell them will fix their health, which they then rely on instead of actual medical care, causing them to get worse and even die. And if you think that comparison is a stretch, you do not realize how many people die every day because they were told weight loss was the answer or were forced to lose weight before the doctor would actually respect them enough to run tests or so much as touch their fat body.

We live in a world where people with PCOS are told to "just lose weight" to solve their infertility, where that is the very first bullet point listed on a website about a medical condition that makes weight loss even more impossible than the already 95% failure rate for the general population. A world where fat people have to stick their own fat bodies with needles during a doctor's appointment because the doctor is too disgusted by fat rolls to even look at the person's body to give them a shot. A world where fat people with eating disorders are encouraged, applauded, and told to keep going while the thin person with an eating disorder has the "luxury" of receiving help, compassion, and a diagnosis that isn't separated in the DSM with the word "atypical." A world where a fat person accidentally given chemotherapy is told by the doctor "At least it helped you lose weight!" A world where weight loss corporations are making the exact same promises they did in advertisements from 1910, yet somehow over 100 years later we have an "ob*sity epidemic" because diets, weight loss products, and exercise regimens "Really work!!!"

If this single "solution" to ill health has not worked despite well over a century of desperate, constant attempts, maybe we should stop trying to jam a triangle into a square hole.

-Mod Worthy

[covid-safer-hotties]

Get ready for some grade-A bullshit

How can they claim that these masks cause "facial ulcers" and "Breathing problems" when miners can wear P100 elastomeric masks underground for 4 to 8 hours at a time with no similar complaints?

Filed under 'ugly' on our archive (we also have a 'good' and a 'bad')

By Jim Reed

There is only “weak evidence” that high-grade face masks better protected health workers than surgical ones in the pandemic, the Covid inquiry has been told.

Prof Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said respirator masks – known as FFP3s – may have performed no better than thin surgical masks in real-life situations.

She said there could be “significant harms” from wearing tight-fitting FFP3s, including blisters and breathing difficulties.

“If the evidence was strong that FFP3s really protected people, and we saw a definitive reduction [in infections], they would have been recommended,” she said.

'Life and death' Not all scientists agree on what has become a controversial issue.

The BBC has previously reported on research which appears to show a significant real-world benefit from wearing higher-grade masks on hospital wards.

Throughout the first two years of the pandemic, groups representing doctors, nurses and other health workers repeatedly called for urgent improvements to personal protective equipment (PPE), including the wider use of respirators.

FFP3s are tight-fitting masks with a built-in air filter designed to block out tiny aerosol particles which can carry the virus.

Before they can be used, each wearer must undergo a fit test, to make sure the mask is properly sealed to the face.

For most of the pandemic, national guidance across the whole UK said that healthcare workers should wear basic surgical masks rather than FFP3s, except in intensive care or a small number of medical situations.

The decision was heavily criticised by some staff with the doctors’ union, the BMA, calling it a "matter of life and death".

National guidance on face masks from April 2020 was drawn up by a group of experts from across the United Kingdom known as the IP (Infection Prevention) Cell.

Its membership included representatives from the NHS, government departments and health bodies, including Public Health England (PHE), the organisation replaced by UKHSA in 2021 in a shake-up ordered by then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

The inquiry was shown minutes from an IP Cell meeting on 22 December 2020, just after the new Alpha variant of Covid had been detected, which appeared to show disagreement about the use of higher-grade FFP3 masks.

The records quote Dr Colin Brown, now the deputy director of clinical and emerging infections at UKHSA but at the time with PHE, as saying: "Our understanding of aerosol transmission has changed. A precautionary approach to move to FFP3 masks [in all healthcare settings] whilst we are awaiting evidence should be advised."

However, the wider IP Cell decided that no upgrading of the guidance was warranted at the time, and NHS trusts were told to continue to supply staff with standard surgical masks in almost all cases outside intensive care.

It was not until January 2022 that the advice changed, saying that FFP3 respirators "must be worn" by all staff if they are caring for patients with a virus such as Covid, and should be offered to other staff depending on a risk assessment.

By that point, the World Health Organization, and other health bodies, had recognised Covid could be spread in tiny airborne particles over distances longer than 6.5ft (2m), something officials said was impossible at the start of the pandemic.

Prof Hopkins, who served as PHE’s chief Covid adviser before moving across to UKHSA, told the inquiry that FFP3 masks offered a high degree of protection in laboratory studies, but the real-world benefits were less clear-cut.

“Where we looked at it, and repeatedly looked at it and are still looking at it, the evidence is weak that FFP3s protected more than fluid-resistant surgical masks,” she said.

“At the outset, in March 2020, the risks were that we had never asked people to wear FFP3 masks for prolonged periods.

“We saw them get ulcers on their faces and having challenges breathing and challenges in being hydrated.”

'Groupthink' Asked about the December 2020 IP Cell minutes, which suggested PHE was pushing behind-the-scenes for the wider use of respirator masks in healthcare, Prof Hopkins said that was a "really challenging time" in the pandemic with the UK about to enter a third wave of the virus.

“The fact that PHE was giving and airing a different view is an example of [us] not being involved in groupthink,” she said.

The Covid inquiry is currently taking evidence about the impact on the NHS and healthcare systems across all four nations of the UK.

More than 50 witnesses are expected to appear in this third section or "module", which runs until the end of November.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum at Popular Information:

In 2024, reliable access to high-speed internet is no longer a luxury; it is a basic necessity. From job applications to managing personal finances and completing school work, internet access is an essential part of daily life. Without an internet connection, individuals are effectively cut off from basic societal activities. 

But the reality is that many people — particularly those living around the poverty line — can not afford internet access. Without internet access, the difficult task of working your way from the American economy's bottom rung becomes virtually impossible.   On November 21, 2021, President Biden signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The new law included the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provided up to $30 per month to individuals or families with income up to 200% of the federal poverty line to help pay for high-speed internet. (For a family of four, the poverty line is currently $31,200.) On Tribal lands, where internet access is generally more expensive, the ACP offers subsidies up to $75 per month.  The concept started during the Trump administration. The last budget enacted by Trump included $3.2 billion to help families afford internet access. The FCC made the money available as a subsidy to low-income individuals and families through a program known as the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. The legislation signed by Biden extended and formalized the program.  It has been a smashing success.

Today, the ACP is "helping 23 million households – 1 in 6 households across America." The program has particularly benefited "rural communities, veterans, and older Americans where the lack of affordable, reliable high-speed internet contributes to significant economic, health and other disparities." According to an FCC survey, two-thirds of beneficiaries "reported they had inconsistent internet service or no internet service at all prior to ACP." These households report using their high-speed internet to "schedule or attend healthcare appointments (72%), apply for jobs or complete work (48%), do schoolwork (75% for ACP subscribers 18-24 years old)." Tomorrow, the program will abruptly end.  In October 2023, the White House sent a supplemental budget request to Congress, which included $6 billion to extend the program through the end of 2024. There is also a bipartisan bill, the Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act, which would extend the program with $7 billion in funding. The benefits of the program have shown to be far greater than the costs. An academic study published in February 2024 found that "for every dollar spent on the ACP, the nation’s GDP increases by $3.89." The program will lapse tomorrow because Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) refuses to bring either the bill (or the supplemental funding request) to a vote. The Affordable Connectivity Program Extension Act has 225 co-sponsors which means that, if Johnson held a vote, it would pass. 

[...]

The Republican attack on affordable internet

Why will Johnson not even allow a vote to extend the ACP? He is not commenting. But there are hints in the federal budget produced by the Republican Study Committee (RSC). The RSC is the "conservative caucus" of the House GOP, and counts 179 of the 217 Republicans in the House as members. Johnson served as the chair of the RSC in 2019 and 2020. He is currently a member of the group's executive committee.  The RSC's latest budget says it "stands against" the ACP and labels it a "government handout[] that disincentivize[s] prosperity." The RSC claims the program is unnecessary because "80 percent" of beneficiaries had internet access before the program went into effect. For that statistic, the RSC cites a report from a right-wing think tank, the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC), which opposes the ACP. EPIC, in turn, cites an FCC survey to support its contention that 80% of ACP beneficiaries already had internet access. The survey actually found that "over two-thirds of survey respondents (68%) reported they had inconsistent internet service or no internet service at all prior to ACP."

[...] The RSC also falsely claims that funding for the precursor to the ACP, the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBB), "was signed into law at the end of President Biden’s first year in office." This is false. Former President Trump signed the funding into law in December 2020. The RSC's position is not popular. A December 2023 poll found that 79% of voters support "continuing the ACP, including 62% of Republicans, 78% of Independents, and 96% of Democrats."

In 2024, access to the internet is a necessity and not just a luxury, and the Republicans are set to end the Affordable Connectivity Program if no action is taken. The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) provided subsidies to low-income people and families to obtain internet access.

[box4brains]

Headcanons incoming!

Mostly concerning Trafalgar Law, but also the world of One Piece as a whole and the Heart Pirates, so…. Spoiler warning?

Law has perfected the art of being both simple and easy to understand while being so complicated and complex about it he’s almost incomprehensible and impossible to figure out. Mostly due to the fact that he gets insanely impacted and influenced by his past. Example;

His favorite food is rice and fried fish, because rice was his favorite food as a kid and his mom would always make a new, delicious rice dish on his birthday (he would request this instead of cake).

Which while it makes sense that rice is a favorite food, grilled/fried fish is less so, because it became a favorite of Laws while Cora-san was dragging him from hospital to hospital. They would often fish and eat it, often slightly burnt and without any seasoning. Still Law loves it, and if he had a sappy bone in his body, he’d probably say “it tastes like love” or something.

Basically, both rice and fish is his favorite food because they are his comfort foods. He’s not aware of that however and would probably never eat it again if he figured it out.

Laws love for comic books heroes (specifically Sora) and his love for medicine stems from the same place. An admiration for people who saves the lives of others. He no longer remembers, but he used to look at his parents with pride and love because in his eyes “they (were) superheroes”.

Flevance was extremely rich and flourishing, and healthcare was free, the notion that someone could die because they couldn’t afford healthcare was a terrible chock for Law and further cemented the idea that the world was a terrible place and didn’t deserve to exist once he escaped after the purge of his homeland.

In fact, a lot of Laws revulsion towards the marines and the government stems from the fact that they “pretend to be Sora but they are Germa”. In other words, he hates any and all pretenses (which is hilarious considering he often plays up how much of a bad guy he is) and will not sugarcoat anything even if his life depended on it.

The creation and sustaining of false fate is the worst crime in his eyes. And while he loves a bunch of people who have done this to him, he doesn’t fully forgive them for it, though he understands. (The nun, his parents and Cora-san are people who hurt him irreparably with their actions and he can’t forgive them for it, but he loves them and understands regardless)

Submarines are forbidden by the world government, that’s why you see so few of them in the one piece world. They were originally made for transport across the calm belt but because they could only be made so big before they became a liability, they are/were extremely expensive to make, they were eventually deemed “not profitable”. And with the discovery of how to build ships that could safely cross the calm belt, submarines were eventually scrapped as a profitable venture by the government, but they are still heavily scrutinized and outlawed in the world as a whole.

It’s ban is so complete that in the original, first copy of “SORA - warrior of the sea”, Sora originally had a yellow submarine, but the copy was later re-released where the sub had been replaced with a yacht-looking ship because the government got their panties in a twist because the “hero” was using an illegal vessel and they didn’t want the public to have any idea about submarines, least of all a favorable impression on them.

Yes, Law painting the Polar Tang yellow is a wink and a nod to the submarine Sora had, and a middle finger to the government. Because the man can not help himself. XD

Law still reads the Sora comic, it releases a new chapter once a month and Law will read it with/to the crew. Think of it as a miniature comic-con, only with your favorite comic and closest friends. They make a whole day out of it, with reenactment of favorite sence and general tomfoolery and partying.

Any member of the crew who isn’t a Sora (or comic)-fan, will become one, it’s inevitable. The entire crew are not all as diehard fans as Law, but they all love and look forward to their monthly little geek-out regardless.

If or when someone on the crew gets seriously hurt, to the point where they are bedridden and passed out in the med bay, Law will generally refuse to leave their side (only exceptions are if they’re still fighting and he’s needed elsewhere, because they won’t make it otherwise).

If Law is tired enough, and nobody else is around, Law will start humming or singing softly to a patient (as long as they aren’t awake at the time). It’s also a subconscious thing that he picked up from his mother, who would sing softly to him and Lami and stoke their hair when they were sick.

The birth of Lami is what made Law decide that he wanted to be a doctor. Nothing traumatic happened, he just thought it was neat.

Law’s father was a genius surgeon, he practically revolutionized the field of heart surgery and more or less invented a surgical technique that saved the lives of hundreds yearly. Law makes sure to keep track of just how many lives it saves, he doesn’t let his crew know why he’s interested in that for specifically this one surgery but they indulge him nonetheless.

White/Amber lead disease kinda makes no sense to me, so I HC it so it makes more sense to me, it’s possibly a bit different from canon, but I figure you can hand wave it away with faulty information because of the limitations of most of the op world not being terribly advanced scientifically.

Basically, what do we know? Flevance got extremely rich from mining a rare metal. Specifically by exporting (selling) it to other countries. The metal was used in practically everything; makeup, jewelry, food. So why did only the people in Flevance get sick? Why didn’t they rest of the world realize it was a case of poisoning and not an actual illness? Why did it take so long for it to take effect? How was it genetic?

Basically, (and I’m not a expert) I HC it as the metal, the ore, is slightly radioactive or something similar. It breaks down the dna of people who come in (prolonged) contact with it and mutates it and from then on, exposure to the metal itself is highly toxic, and someone who has been mutated in this way (or who has at least one biological parent that is at the time of conception) the metal itself stay in their body permanently.

So the metal is not showing any signs of being dangerous to the outside world, the government knows but has given the statement that it’s safe to mine, and people believe that and swallow the propaganda that it’s a dangerous disease wholeheartedly.

It’s why the government helped in the cleanup and destruction of the bodies, because they were only one autopsy away from being exposed.

Law is probably one of the very few people who understands perfectly how the ‘disease’ works and that’s because his devil fruit gives him the information. He knows he’s muted and the only way for him to stay healthy is to make sure that he has little to no contact with the metal and in case he gets it in him, remove it immediately.

There’s no real cure, short of df intervention, and it’s why Law has no interest in fathering children. (As far as Laws concerned, he already has his crew xD)

Law lives vicariously through his crew, in the sense that seeing them happy and healthy is what makes him feel all happy inside. That doesn’t stop him from moaning about them like an angsty teenager with embarrassing parents.

Break, doggo demands walk 😅

[cripple-woe]

My specialist physiotherapist said she thinks I don’t have HSD (hypermobility spectrum disorder) and instead have hEDS (which shares some common traits, but also has a lot of other issues and connections, etc.) however, the closest place to get a diagnosis of hEDS pretty far away and basically IMPOSSIBLE TO REFER TO.

She suspects a significant number of her HSD patients are actually hEDS patients, but just aren’t anywhere near a place that can diagnose any of us.

Next week she’s taking a trip to London (out of her own pocket) to attend the only conference about EDS in Europe (out of her own free time / paid holiday days) in order to both learn more and also to see if she can secure help, funding, or anything else to help me and other patients.

She’s literally a fucking angel in the form of a healthcare worker. I love her so much.

[reasonandempathy]

I am reminded to tell everyone that the Private Sector is not the primary driver, or basis of, basically anything in the healthcare sector in the US. And that is a good thing.

It is not the primary funder or organizer of hospitals. It is not the primary funder or conductor of medical device research. It is not the primary funder or organizer of training for medical professionals. Government insurance programs paid out 50% more in 2021 than private insurance companies spent on healthcare.

It is functionally and financially impossible for private insurance to actually function and be fit-for-purpose in the US without it living off of the public funding that trains and pays doctors, that conducts medical research.

There is a trick that the pharmaceutical industry pulls to present themselves as doing cutting-edge research as well, but even much of that is done using public universities and colleges, utilizing the massive amount of public (both federal and at the individual level with tuition payments) investment as the direct undergirding for the research being done.

Even when the private sector does invest more in healthcare, as they do in research (which is the only area in which they spend more as public funding has slowed repeatedly under Bush and Trump), it famously can end up in the suppression of significant medical research and breakthroughs because it wouldn't be a permanent, sustainable money-machine.

The entire system is already paid for by us. We just allow there to be a few industries (pharmacological + insurance) industries to figure out how to turn the gears to make money for themselves by bilking us.

[tomboyfriends]

hey, do you have any advice for women trying to build muscle? I'm specifically looking to build some muscle in my chest.

Ok, so I'm going to be completely honest with you and tell you that I am less than one year into seriously weight training. I am by no means an expert nor am I a health professional. With that in mind, I'll tell you what I know. :) You are free to message me as well if there's anything more you would like to know. It's impossible to cover everything in one post but I will do my best to be helpful. There is quite frankly SO MUCH to learn about growing muscle, but it is doable. If you have a curious and open mind and love to research then those are amazing assets to have because there are always ways to refine your technique and improve diet and rest. These might seem pretty basic so maybe you already know a lot of this (I don't know your experience level so I'm gonna talk as if speaking to a total newbie) but I'll cover what I think is important. Eat lots of protein. Shoot for 0.7-0.8g of protein per pound of lean body mass. If you are already pretty lean you can use your normal weight but if you are obese then you should try to figure out how much of your weight is fat and calculate your lean body mass from there. Protein powders such as whey protein and pea protein are very helpful and can be more affordable than other sources. Some people will say 1g of protein per pound of body weight but honestly it may be a bit overkill. Try to eat your protein not all in one sitting otherwise your body will convert a bunch of it into energy instead of muscle. Have some of your daily protein with each meal instead, you can break it into snacks as well. Train hard, REST HARDER. If you don't rest your body will not be able to create more muscle. Get at least 8 hours nightly, more is probably better. After working out, do not exercise the same muscles you trained for a minimum of 48 hours. Use this time to exercise different muscle groups, or rest. Technique/form >>> lifting heavy. Form is important for safety and to also ensure you are stimulating the targeted muscles instead of inadvertently using other parts of the body to get the work done. Control the eccentric (lengthening the muscle) phase of an exercise by performing it slowly for 1-3 seconds. Concentric (shortening/contracting the muscle) phases can be done explosively and quickly but you must always be in control of the weight and not use momentum to move the weight around. Rest 1-3 minutes (some people say minimum 2 minutes, you can also rest longer if needed) between sets to make both your muscles AND nervous system enough time to recover. STOP THE WORKOUT IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING PAIN/NAUSEA/LIGHTHEADEDNESS/FEELING FAINT/ANYTHING ELSE YOU'RE CONCERNED ABOUT. Some discomfort is okay, but as soon as you feel pain in your muscles or joints or anything else that is serious you have to stop or you may seriously harm yourself. It is important to be in contact with your primary healthcare provider and adapt your workouts to your own specific health needs. BE PATIENT. Women can expect to gain about one pound of muscle per month through weight training. You should not weight train solely for muscle gain, but also for the health benefits in improved cardiovascular health, improved mental health, increased energy and strength, better sleeping habits, and good diet (lots of proteins and veggies). Record the types of exercises you do, how many sets and reps you did, and how much weight you used for those sets and reps. Weight training is built upon the concept of progressive overload, which means increasing training volume (weights * sets * reps) over time, by increasing one (or more) of those variables (so upping the weight, sets, and/or reps). In order to utilize progressive overload effectively, you MUST record your progress so that you are not guessing how much you lifted the last session and end up potentially stunting your progress. When you're putting in this much time and effort you do not want to wing it and waste a workout session. --

Now, you want to build chest muscle. I personally work more on leg and arm muscles but I do work out my entire body. I'm saying this to convey that I am not the most experienced. However, this is what I know. You should try to get around 10 sets of chest exercises weekly to stimulate muscle growth (standard across the board for muscular hypertrophy in any muscle group). You can do more (I do bc I have a lot of free time) but don't burn yourself out, because consistency is arguably the most important factor when it comes to muscle growth. You have to commit for several months and then years. 10 sets of 5-8 reps (repetitions) weekly should cause muscular hypertrophy (muscle growth). You can do all ten sets in one session, or break it down into two sessions where you do five sets each. It all depends on your personal schedule. Start light in order to get accustomed to whichever chest exercises you choose first, and then lift the heaviest you can without breaking form/cheating the rep. It is completely possible to work out your chest muscles without doing bench presses. HOWEVER, in the event that you do bench presses, here are some safety tips. NEVER use clips to secure weights on either side of the barbell when you are performing bench presses without a spotter, otherwise you may become stuck when failing a bench press and will be unable to free yourself because the weights are unable to slide off onto the floor, lightening the bar. Bench pressing without a QUALIFIED spotter (not some gym rando you don't know) is not ideal, however it can be hard to get a spotter so that's why I'm giving you this tip in case you decide to solo bench press anyway. Personally I almost never bench press and opt to use the machines which are much safer to use solo. Personally I use pec/chest fly machines and chest press machines to work out my chest, along with shoulder presses to stimulate part of the upper chest (but of course those are mostly for my shoulders). On youtube there are a bunch of demonstration videos (including by women) so you can look at those if you need more guidance than the instructional stickers on the sides of exercise machines. Remember to get good stretches of the chest muscles under tension on chest fly machines (cable machines are good too) bc that stimulates the muscles a bunch and results in good growth. Incline chest presses are good too. You can use pushups to stimulate muscle growth in the chest, HOWEVER it is not possible to utilize progressive overload using calisthenics (exercises with (little to) no external weights/objects) unless you like... idfk wear a backpack with weight on it or something. So you can use this to grow chest muscle initially, however your growth would end up plateauing after a certain point. If you have any more questions just let me know, again I'm not a pro but I'm glad to help in any way I can. There is so much more I could have added but I hope this post has helped you at least even a little bit. Edit: This ask refused to publish a few times because of how damn long my post was lmao

[colorisbyshe]

aces face medical discrimination that allos don’t.

I'm only answering this discourse ask because this is like... really... really harmful rhetoric.

If we're talking about HSDD (Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder), I have a tag to debunk any point you want to bring up. It's an older tag, so it might not be incredibly up to date but it covers a lot.

But in the broader sense... no, y'all don't. I'm sure individual doctors can be discriminatory or not understanding but... that's true of anything. There are licensed fucking doctors who think vaccines are fake and filled with trackers. Some doctors jsut fucking suck.

What you need to understand is, doctors expressing concern that your lack of sexual desire is connected to either mental health or physical health isn't discrimination but rather a legitimate medical concern.

Being gay can't be caused by cancer. Being straight can't be caused by depression. There is no state of being that can really alter which gender you prefer. There mgiht be extreme cases of trauma where maybe someone stops pursuing relationships with a specific gender or whatever but that's VERY fringe AND would STILL be something you should talk to about with a professional. Not to "fix" necessarily but to better understand and process.

But... lack of libido, which has HEAVY HEAVY HEAVY fuckign overlap with lack of sexual attraction (or even just lack of perceived sexual attraction), can absolutely be caused by cancer or trauma or depression or a hormonal disorder or internalized homophobia or internalzied fatphobia. There are conditions where some people are SOOOO shamed for sexuality that it is literally impossible to penetrate theri vagina without extreme pain. Reactions to sexual desire and attraction and behaviour can affect your perception of said things (and vise versa).

Most of the time, a doctor will not care if you tell them this has just how you felt your entire life. HSDD already has a little annotation saying "Hey! Some people just don't feel sexual desires, that's fine! No treatment needed :)"

But sometimes... they need to know if this is a symptom, especially if this a new/sudden revelation.

Framing doctors doing basic work to figure out if you are experiencing a health problem as "aphobia" is going to prevent a LOT of vulnerable people from getting the healthcare they deserve and nEED.

And I've seen some of y'all fucking weirdos saying that if you're ace/celibate you don't need pap smears, which is fucking insane.

Asexuals and people who mistakenly think they are asexuals because of health conditions--which are not the majority but certainly do exist--need full check ups just liek the rest of us.

There are bad doctors out there. There are doctors who haven't heard of asexuality before. I am not denying that. Again, there are doctors who think vaccines are fake, who won't believe you when you say you're having allergy symptoms, and who will try to diagnose your chest pain as heartburn and send you on your way.

But a doctor meeting your "I'm ace" with, "Hey, will you consent to a hormone work up?" or "Hey, are you doing alright? Do you have any history of trauma" is not an aphobic assault on your sensibilities. It is not comparable to converion therapy or a doctor telling a gay person they are lying or need to be fixed.

And I've said ti before--a doctor is MUCH MUCH MUCH more likely to prescribe you something that KILLS your sex drive, makes you wholly disinterested in sex, makes it nearly impossible to even tell if you are experiencing sexual attraction, than they are to be invested in making sure every random patient wants to fuck and is attracted to random people on the street.

Most doctors do not care if the life saving/changing shit they prescribe you alters your sex drive at all. Won't even fucking tell you if it's a side effect. It's not on their mind. Your sex life is not on their mind unless it is affecting your health.

Anyways, last ask I am touching on the matter. Buy me something, prove you bought me something, and maybe I'll consider talking more

[iamyelling]

ranting about the state of the "job market" and "the economy" to my dad over text today, here's what i said basically:

so i remembered seeing that a bunch more people got laid off in the games industry and i looked it up today and found that 8,100+ people have been laid off just in 2024 so far.

what are these 8100 people going to do? that’s a lot of people! like lol are there other industries that are willing to hire people with totally different experience backgrounds? no, because every job has hundreds of applicants, so they can pick someone who does have experience in whatever that hiring company does. i mean, i don’t know that much about games world, but it seems like .. bad !

like are these unity engineers going to fix the hiring and staffing crisis in healthcare and education and childcare??? that’s the way people talk about things, the job market, “the economy”. they’re like oh well layoffs are ok bc there are sectors that can’t find anyone to work! and it’s like… you’re going way to vague. these are totally different people with completely different education and career history and experience and resumes!

do the Big People In Charge seriously think it’s all the same workers? like that it’s totally interchangeable exchangeable? it feels like.. on a whole other level of out of touch to me. i just. the degree of complete overhaul of how the entire system works, from education to hiring practices and norms to training would need to be. so out there as to be unthinkable and impossible

i saw a headline recently that was saying that "underemployment is good news for staffing shortages", or something very similar to that. it made me so mad when i saw it a few days ago i scrolled away without clicking. i can't find the article now, which is a bummer.

When an industry is ~strong or growing, layoffs or shutdown in a portion aren’t as rough - there are other jobs. But it seems today nobody is hiring so this is different than other eras.

i’m like oh i’d be happy to do all sorts of work! but i have the wrong experience so im not even gonna apply. they’re desperate for workers, but they need someone with very particular experience and qualifications and certifications and education and the pay is low and the working conditions very unpleasant. it’s a huge disconnect. Many companies have no idea how to find, recruit and hire people. They are so unsure that they don’t make decisions or make bad decisions.

like, there’s no “childcare certification bootcamps” lol. no “education cert courses” or if there are it’s not public knowledge. but they’re not getting people trained to get into the field, they’re just asking magical perfect workers to pop up into their inboxes out of nowhere. and all for $20/hr! lol!

it’s apples to oranges. there’s hella tech workers! soooo many! lots of office workers! but how are we going to get these people to fill all the vacancies in totally different industries? is it even realistic to expect people to shift like that? the expectations and standards are extremely high and there’s no room for error or imperfection. the trades and blue collar is staaarting to do training and certs and education courses

all the companies are cutting their workforce. there is now a pool of thousands of extra workers with no openings for them in their field but! there are openings in different fields

my question is how do people expect that gap to be bridged? people need work, desperately. certain industries are in crisis. essential industries! but the pool of unemployed is not matched to those jobs there’s thousands probably a million other people like me. with office job experience and education and qualifications, looking for office jobs. and there’s a million job openings for completely different work. like in schools, hospitals, construction and trades, childcare, food and dining, infrastructure. plus the money isn’t there, so those positions are lower pay, less cushy, also require certain certifications and education and qualifications and abilities, and they’ve been in crisis and understaffed for ages so the shifts are long, the schedules are chaotic, and management is toxic.

i guess my hot take is, if these places really want workers, they should hire laid off office workers and just set up on-the-job training. it’s that simple. people need to eat and pay rent and pay for their kids and things. just do paid training. not free, not scholarship, not low-cost. just hire and train for the first couple months or however long

[satellitebroadcast]

Senior Hamas leader Osama Hamdan in a speech addressed to Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, Egypt:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. In light of the brutal aggression and war of genocide being waged by the occupation against our steadfast people in the Gaza Strip, and the daily massacres it commits, the latest being the massacre that took place at dawn today, where enemy aircraft targeted displaced people's tents in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis, which had been declared a safe zone, with heavy bombs. Amidst what our people in Gaza are enduring from siege, hunger, and deprivation, especially in the northern part of the Strip where people lack the basic necessities of life such as food, water, clothing, and shelter, deadly diseases are spreading while the healthcare system is incapacitated due to the continuous targeting by the occupation of its facilities and staff. As a result of the procrastination by the occupation government and its obstruction of mediators' efforts to cease fire and end the war of genocide in Gaza, as well as the exchange of prisoners, they hinder all these efforts by committing more massacres and imposing more impossible conditions. In light of the blatant violations by the extremist settler government, which threatens to change the status quo in the West Bank and Al-Quds, and directly supports settlement activities and the Judaization of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and in light of the killing and destruction carried out by the occupation forces, especially in the northern West Bank, with the aim of repeating the crime of genocide in our occupied West Bank. In the face of all these crimes and violations, we place our Arab brothers, the foreign ministers, before their genuine Arab responsibilities, and we emphasize that the continuation of the occupation and aggression poses a danger not only to Palestinians but also to the collective Arab national security. In this context, we remind the esteemed foreign ministers of Arab states and His Excellency the Secretary-General of the Arab League of the outcomes of the joint summit between the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation last November, which was held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. The summit emphasized the need to work towards an immediate halt to the aggression, provide relief to the Palestinian people, and lift the siege. At this critical moment in the history of our people and the region, we look forward to your meeting producing the following: - First, immediate and direct action to pressure the occupation and its supporters to halt the aggression and war of genocide in the Gaza Strip. - Second, providing relief to our steadfast people in Gaza by opening the crossings and directing urgent aid in the form of food, medicine, clothing, and shelter supplies. - Third, we look forward to a clear condemnation of the occupation’s practices and its ongoing crimes in Palestine, and the pursuit of legal and judicial accountability for the occupation state and its leaders in all international forums. - Fourth, we expect the exposure of the occupation's intransigence and its stalling of mediators' proposals, and holding it fully responsible for the failure of efforts to achieve a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, especially since Hamas and the resistance agreed to the latest proposal presented by mediators on the 2nd of July. - Fifth, taking all necessary measures to protect Al-Quds and the sanctities, and preventing the zionist enemy from continuing its plans to change the status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque and Judaize the holy city. - Sixth and finally, we look forward to the immediate severance of political, diplomatic, and economic relations with the zionist entity, which persists in killing our people and committing genocide. We ask Allah, the Exalted, to guide us towards what is good. It is a jihad of victory or martyrdom.

[senstrike]

— BASICS.

▸ IS YOUR MUSE TALL / SHORT / AVERAGE? 6’ or thereabouts. ▸ ARE THEY OKAY WITH THEIR HEIGHT? he wouldn’t mind an extra inch or two. ▸ WHAT’S THEIR HAIR LIKE? sandy brown, with a bit of a curl when it starts to grow out. it’s thick + can get quite fluffy. usually he keeps it cut short, + styled carefully. he’s not above lessening the appearance of grey hairs. a barber is an essential expense no matter what stage of life one is in. ▸ DO THEY SPEND A LOT OF TIME ON THEIR HAIR / GROOMING? more than you might think, yes. it’s part vanity, part … ▸ DOES YOUR MUSE CARE ABOUT THEIR APPEARANCE / WHAT OTHERS THINK? he is very aware of how appearance affects perception. it’s not so much that he cares what others think of him — for better or worse, he’s gotten to where he is in life because he doesn’t give a shit what people think of him — but he presents himself the way he wants to be seen: what he considers masculine, attractive, in control, etc.

— PREFERENCES.

▸ INDOORS OR OUTDOORS? outdoors. ▸ RAIN OR SUNSHINE? sunshine. ▸ FOREST OR BEACH? beach. ▸ PRECIOUS METALS OR GEMS? metal. ▸ FLOWERS OR PERFUMES? perfume. ▸ PERSONALITY OR APPEARANCE? personality. he himself is fairly domineering ( understatement ) + will only able to properly bond with, or even truly respect, someone with a strong personality who will push back. ▸ BEING ALONE OR BEING IN A CROWD? in a crowd, but apart from it. ▸ ORDER OR ANARCHY? order. 🫡 ▸ PAINFUL TRUTHS OR WHITE LIES? painful truths. ▸ SCIENCE OR MAGIC? science. ▸ PEACE OR CONFLICT? conflict. he doesn’t know what to do with peace. ▸ NIGHT OR DAY? day. ▸ DUSK OR DAWN? dawn. ▸ WARMTH OR COLD? warmth. ▸ MANY ACQUAINTANCES OR A FEW CLOSE FRIENDS? few close friends. ▸ READING OR PLAYING A GAME? playing a game, but it depends on the game. ( he does like to read. )

— QUESTIONNAIRE.

▸ WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR MUSE’S BAD HABITS? LOL. um well. general arrogance and selfishness. a disinclination to listen to anyone’s advice, as mentioned. he refuses to acknowledge in any real way that he’s mentally ill + needs help, so he’ll often spiral. he’s such a schemer, too. he ruins pretty much every relationship ( romantic + otherwise ) that he has bc of these things. he’s overly comfortable with resorting to violence to “solve” problems. + he smokes cigars fairly frequently. ok who wants him? ▸ HAS YOUR MUSE LOST ANYONE CLOSE TO THEM? HOW HAS IT AFFECTED THEM? his mother took her own life when he was eighteen, which set his views on mental illness / healthcare for the rest of his life. he feels a sense of abandonment + anger, justified or not, although in later life he’s come to better understand what she was going through. when he was in vietnam, he watched many of the men he considered his friends die violently, but the death that affected him the most was betsy’s, the woman he loved back home. it’s impossible to succinctly convey just how fundamentally her loss, + the traumatic circumstances in which he found out, affected him. fifty or so years on, he is homesick for an idealised version of the past he cannot ever return to. ▸ WHAT ARE SOME FOND MEMORIES YOUR MUSE HAS? playing outside as a kid. classes in high school with a teacher who really believed in him. his relationship with betsy, rose-tinted as it is. earning his black belt. winning. winning. winning. getting to be fully insane + fully understood with his best friend ( shoutout terry ). the success of cobra kai. getting to know johnny. getting to know tory. ▸ IS IT EASY FOR YOUR MUSE TO KILL? when he believes it’s justified, yes. an enemy deserves no mercy. ▸ WHAT’S IT LIKE WHEN YOUR MUSE BREAKS DOWN? it’s ugly + you know it. he lashes out + isolates himself. ▸ IS YOUR MUSE CAPABLE OF TRUSTING SOMEONE WITH THEIR LIFE? he’s a solider; yes, although now there is no one left he trusts. ▸ WHAT’S YOUR MUSE LIKE WHEN THEY’RE IN LOVE? fiercely protective of his partner; dedicated almost to the point of obsession. love for john is a very you-and-me-vs-the-world thing. with his capital-p person, he can be softer + more vulnerable than you might expect — more romantic, too. BUT. instead of communicating his need for attention + affection, he has a tendency to withdraw, becoming cold + distant until his partner has “worked hard enough” to earn him. ( so … who wants him? ) he’s only fallen in love twice — once if you ask him — + being obsessive + unable-to-let-go-of-anything-ever as he is, he’s never fallen out of it.

TAGGED BY: dick handler @detectivechandler TAGGING: @asprinkle @defenseonly @lovehurried @hailsaved (ur choice) @dumbthink @becoach