#Day Five: Cyber-Citizens

[knightmareaceblue]

Cyberweek 2023 Day Five: Cyber-Citizens

There are dozens of Cyber-Citizens shown in the show. I choose Creech and Slider, because I haven’t really drawn them yet this year. The mechanic and the racer... I don’t remember if they’d interacted in the show, but I feel like they’d be friends.

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

Two independent terrorist attacks against Israelis took place over the last 24 hours. Yesterday, a Hamas terrorist stabbed in the back a 49 years old Israeli reserves soldier, who stopped to buy something at a shop in a gas station, on his way home. The soldier turned around and, despite being injured, pursued the terrorist, shot and wounded him. The terrorist was later arrested, he had a permit to work in Israel. In the second one, a terrorist started shooting at civilian vehicles passing by, and ended up injuring a 27 years old woman. Thankfully, a baby who is 1.5 months old, who was in the car with her, was not injured, despite at least 10 bullets being retrieved from her vehicle. The IDF is searching for the terrorist.

Israeli soldiers have found and confiscated suitcases with 5 million shekels in cash from the home of a senior Hamas terrorist in Gaza. I want everyone to understand that this sum is currently 1,369,507 $ (yes, I checked with professor Google), and that most Israelis will never see that kind of money. I imagine a majority of "privileged" westerners never will, either. And this kind of money was just lying around in this terrorist's home...

The IDF has exposed and is now in control of what is likely the biggest Hamas terror tunnel. It is about 4 kilometers long (roughly 2.5 miles), and it is wide enough for vehicles to comfortably drive through it. Israeli soldiers have also found footage showing Muhammad Sinwar, the brother of Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, doing exactly that, in addition to footage showing the construction of this terror tunnel...

I don't post every single day about the Israeli soldiers injured and killed in Gaza, because the truth is that it has become technically difficult and emotionally painful to keep track. Yesterday, five more soldiers were confirmed as killed, one of them having been injured last week, and he has now succumbed to his wounds. So far, 128 soldiers were killed in Gaza.

Last month, there was a cyber attack on Israeli hospital Ziv, trying to derail its medical activity. Israel has confirmed today that it has traced Iran and Hezbollah as responsible for the attack. If we count the cyber war (and in terms of requiring manpower and resources, as well as in terms of the potential loss in human life, there is no reason not to count it), then Israel has been defending its citizens on no less than six fronts.

The Iran-funded terrorist Houthis in Yemen have been attacking ships unconnected to Israel, for simply passing through territory close to Yemen. A lot of shipment companies from around the world have announced they will not be sailing through this area for at least a time, which means they would have to sail all around Africa, to pass goods between the far east and the western world. This will hurt the entire world's economy, as shipment prices are expected to rise (think of the Evergreen ship blockade of the Suez Canal... these ships will not be trying to get anywhere near the canal. Symbolically, Evergreen is one of the companies announcing they will no longer sail through the Red Sea due to the threat of the Houthis). This will financially hurt so many countries, including Egypt (which operates the Suez Canal), the US and China (this means Iran's move has created a rare moment when American and Chinese financial interests align). The biggest question is, when will the world fully take in the fact that the biggest threat to world peace is the Islamist regime in Iran, and start acting accordingly?

This is Haj Amin al-Husseini.

Out of all of the people who helped shape the Israeli-Arab conflict, he's probably the most influential one, an antisemite, a Nazi collaborator, and a believer in pan-Arab nationalism (he didn't want to fight Jews to establish a Palestinian state, he wanted to exterminate the Jews and establish a greater Arab Islamic state, a new chaliphate, if you will. There is a FASCINATING docu series in Israel, dedicated to the Arab and Muslim leaders who have fought Jews and Israel, interviewing intelligence agents from many countries. The ep dedicated to al-Husseini is unbelievable, and I wish everyone could watch it. It's available online, but sadly, only in Hebrew. The truth is, I don't think anyone can understand the Israeli-Arab conflict without understanding the role of al-Husseini in it, and how different things could have been, if only the more moderate Arab leaders in the Land of Israel at the time had managed to squash his influence, or if the British hadn't tried to "tame" him by appointing him to the position of Jerusalem's grand mufti.

This is the Belchassan family, 31 years old Yuval and Ofir, and their two years old son Tai.

On Oct 7, Yuval left Ofir and Tai to hide in the bomb shelter, and went out to fight off the Hamas terrorists. He and his friends saved their kibbutz, but now, as Ofir is due to give birth to a daughter, they have no home to bring her back to.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[mrbexwrites]

OC Kiss Week- Morgana & West

A snippet from Memento Mori for OCKiss Week!

Morgana Dodds is a Millennium Citizen; one of a million children who appeared around the world on New Year’s Eve 1999, each with their own unique abilities.

Morgana is ‘the Medium’, a washed up graduate from the Carnegie Investiture’s Crime Fighting Initiative. Her ability to speak to ghosts doesn’t make her much of a superhero. Until she finds herself helping a ‘less dead’ ghost of a young, trafficked woman, and her path crosses with DS ‘West’ MacDonald.

Morgana’s first kiss with West below the cut ;)

“Thanks,” I unclipped my seatbelt, and opened the car door. We’d sat in silence as West drove me the five minutes from the station to my home. I pulled out my keys, rescued from evidence bags, so that I could at least let myself in. 

West hopped out of the car and waited behind me, watching me open the back door. 

��It’s okay,” I managed to keep the tremble out of my voice. 

“Nuh-uh,” he shook his head. “No way, Jose! After what happened to you today, I’m making sure that you get home safely.” 

“I’m at the door to my home. Job done, Detective Constable!” 

“I haven't seen you cross the threshold. I’d feel terrible if I drove off, the last person to see you alive, and then learned that something terrible had befallen you mere seconds after I left,” a smile played on his lips, and I found myself blushing. 

I opened the door, and crossed into the small kitchen, West following me inside. 

“You live here?” 

“In the flat upstairs,” I switched on the light. “This is the shop’s kitchen, which is why it’s sparse.”

Not that my actual kitchen, or indeed, my flat, was much better. The best items that I owned sat out the front of the shop, or were for sale. 

“It’s…quaint,” West struggled to find a complimentary description of my house. I bit down on my lip, seeing my living arrangements through the eyes of a successful person. I’d pity me as well, if I saw someone else living the way I did. 

“Now you know that I’m safely home,” I vaguely gestured around the small kitchen. “Home, sweet home.” 

“Gold star for me,” he reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “I’m glad you’re safe. I don’t think I could bear knowing that something terrible happened to you.”

His fingers, warm and soft, traced the curve of my ear, and ran down my neck. 

Electricity flared over my skin, my heart racing, my mouth dry. His aftershave, spicy and sweet, filled my head. 

“I don’t think I could live with myself, if something happened to you,” his breath brushed against my face, and I couldn’t look up. I couldn’t bear to look up, into his eyes, and see the pity in them. Instead, I focused on his lips, and stubble lined jaw, as they drew nearer to me. 

His kiss took me by surprise. His hand slid from my shoulder, around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I pressed myself against his body, luxuriating in his warmth and firmness. 

I felt him pull away, and reluctantly, I let him go. 

“Sorry,” his voice was thick. “I shouldn't have done that. That’s unprofessional. It’s just…I’ve wanted to do that for a while.” 

“It’s alright,” I licked my lips, tasting the remnants of his kiss. “I don’t mind. I’d hoped that you’d do something like that.” 

I didn’t admit to him that I’d fantasised about this moment for days now, since I first met him. 

“Would you like to see the rest of the house?” I felt confident, bolder than I had in months. “Or do you need to get back?” 

“A tour would be great,” West loosened his tie. “We’re waiting for the bidding to end. Nothing we can do until Big Dan and the Cyber-Security team manage to crack the server and get the IP addresses.” 

He took my hand in his, and I led him up the stairs. As we reached the top, he pulled me back, spinning me around, and wrapping his arms against me, kissing me. 

My blood simultaneously rushed to my head, and between my legs, where a heat was growing. 

His hands all over me, I guided West to my bedroom, where we fell onto the duvet. He fumbled under the hoodie, and I unfastened his belt. 

His fingers ran over my scar, and I froze, but he continued, undeterred. I sank into his embrace, and let him pull the joggers off me. 

“Do you have-?” 

I opened the drawer of my bedside cabinet, pulling out protection. 

West grinned, and nuzzled into my neck. I ran my hands down his shirt, unfastening his buttons, revealing dark chest hair. 

I buried my fingers into his chest, as he shrugged off the rest of his clothes. He tried to lift my t-shirt off, but I stopped him. 

It was hard enough for me to know that he had touched my scar, I didn’t want him to see it. 

“Please…don’t,” I tugged the top down, looking away in shame. 

“Whatever you want,” West pushed me back down onto the bed, and I surrendered to him wholly. 

[youthchronical]

Telangana citizens lose ₹4-₹5 crore every day to cyber criminals: police official

Telangana IT and Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu; Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad C.V. Anand; DGP (Cyber Security Bureau) Shikha Goel and others at Annual Cyber Security Knowledge Summit-2.0 in Hyderabad on Wednesday (November 6, 2024). | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL Telangana citizens are losing between ₹4-₹5 crore every day to cyber criminals, making it among the top five victim States in…

[sakshichandel32]

Pros and Cons of Online Property Dealing

Online property dealing refers to the process of buying, selling or renting properties through digital platforms and websites. It has been found that so many students and professionals Googled ‘rooms near me in Lucknow’, ‘1BHK Flats in Lucknow’, '2BHK Flats in Lucknow’, ‘apartments near me’ and whatnot Searching properties online for buying and renting in Lucknow has become increasingly popular nowadays. This approach is overtaking the traditional in-person dealing methods in real estate.

The contemporary online property dealing is very vast and people are privileged by its convenient methods. There are so many platforms such as To-Let-Globe which help numerous property owners and tenants to sell or rent their properties and find their perfect rentals respectively. The platform listed a number of options for students, professionals, and startup owners to find apartments, rooms, flats, and office spaces in Lucknow without any brokerage charges.

Even after so many precautions and cyber security regulations on online property dealing there are some pros and cons that come under light. Let's have a look at them.

PROs,

1) Listing of Properties: Properties listed online have detailed information like floor plans, photos, videos, etc. Buyers or tenants can filter their needs based on their locality, budget and comfort. Online platform dealing platforms like To-Let-Globe have some advanced algorithms which assist buyers and tenants in suggesting their suitable properties to buy or rent.

2) Wider Market Reach: Online property dealing platforms not only fulfill the buyers’ or tenants’ immediate geographical needs, but they also provide access to a wide range of properties across different locations which helps them understand the current trends of the market. Property owners also find potential buyers and tenants across locations.

3) Transparent Data and Analytics: Online platforms provide transparent information about the properties allowing buyers to make more informed decisions. Platforms like To-Let-globe provide access to comprehensive market data of Lucknow City, trends and insights, and locality assistance with price filters based on individuals’ search behavior and budget.

4) Automation Tools: Online property dealing platforms assist buyers and tenants by providing them with automated property valuation tools, price estimate calculations, and scheduling a virtual or in-person meeting with property owners for more discussions and negotiations.

5) Time and Cost Efficient: Let's assume checking five rental properties in a day in different locations with the traditional in-person method of property dealing, anyone can imagine the time, money and energy spent on the same. Online platforms provide the privilege of browsing properties listed from anywhere and at any time. This feature saves lots of time, money and effort spent on the property searching and negotiation process. It eliminates or reduces commission fees compared to traditional methods. Among online property dealing platforms To-Let-Globe platform stands unique by its zero brokerage policy on property dealings.

CONs,

1) Lack of Personal Approach: Compared to the traditional method of property dealing the online approach feels impersonal. It lacks face-to-face interactions and personalized guidance which is preferable to some buyers and tenants.

2) Verification Issues: In the era of artificial intelligence and increased online fraud transactions sometimes it's very challenging to verify the authenticity and credibility of listed properties. There is always a risk of fraud in online property dealings.

3) Limited Negotiations: Online platforms are bound with some restrictions and provide a little margin for negotiations compared to traditional dealings where usually 4 to 6 members are involved along with real estate experts.

4) Technological Barriers: Some individuals particularly senior citizens and people with less online literacy find it difficult to transact online due to fear of fraudulent activities. They prefer traditional methods of property dealing.

5) Absence of Local Expertise: Some of the transactions need local experts such as real estate agents, and professional brokers who will be having best networks in the market. Online platforms may not have ground knowledge of the current market. Things online can be exaggerated to attract people sometimes.

To Conclude:

Online property dealing has revolutionized the real estate market by providing convenience, wider market reach, transparent data, and automation tools that save time and cost. Among many online property dealing platforms and websites, “To-Let-Globe stands out of the box for its zero brokerage policy in property dealings irrespective of owners, buyers or tenants.” The online property dealing has some drawbacks too such as an impersonal approach, technological barriers, little room for negotiations and fear of fraudulent activities. “However, individuals can have significant benefits of online property dealings by being cautious and pre-studied about the risks”.

[mariacallous]

On this day in 1949, 12 European and North American ministers gathered in Washington, D.C., to commit their nations to one another’s defense. With the scars of the Second World War still raw and new threats looming, they pledged to safeguard the freedom of their peoples.

As the North Atlantic Treaty Organization turns 75, and as the foreign ministers of a founding nation and the newest member, we believe that NATO is as relevant to North Americans and Europeans as it was in 1949—and that it is stronger than ever.

This year, two-thirds of NATO allies are expected to spend at least 2 percent of their GDPs on defense. Our unity in backing Ukraine has surprised Russian President Vladimir Putin—and sent a clear message about our determination to stand up for our values to those watching elsewhere.

This week, NATO holds its first ministerial meeting since Sweden became the alliance’s 32nd member. The expansion is good news for the whole alliance. Sweden is a highly capable ally, with defense spending surpassing 2 percent of its GDP. It has years of experience of training and operating with NATO allies.

We should not underestimate how significant a decision this was for Sweden. For two centuries, Sweden opted for military nonalignment. Fundamentally, there were two reasons behind Sweden’s decision to join NATO now.

First, because the world has changed. Putin’s demands for a sphere of interest and his illegal invasion of Ukraine challenged the whole Euro-Atlantic’s security. The world has become more dangerous, with consequences for us all.

Second, because of how effective NATO has proved. It is the world’s most successful alliance, deterring the threat from the Soviet Union during the Cold War and remaining united during the decades that followed. NATO protects its citizens from Seattle to Stockholm, guaranteeing our collective security and thereby enabling our collective prosperity.

For 75 years, this strength and unity has deterred any state from risking the alliance’s collective might in war. When al Qaeda terrorists launched the horrific attacks of 9/11, NATO members immediately stood in solidarity with our U.S. allies. Our efforts against terrorism must continue.

As the world changed, it made sense for Sweden to turn to the alliance. Sweden will be safer in NATO, and NATO will be stronger with Sweden.

Still, the threat from Putin is not going away. We have to equip NATO for a long-term confrontation with Russia. We must make Sweden’s accession, hot on the heels of Finland’s, a spur for further action in order to remain strong and unified.

With this in mind, we see five pressing issues for NATO leaders ahead of the alliance’s summit of heads of state and government, which will be held in Washington in July.

First, all allies must invest more.

Britain hosted the 2014 summit where all allies committed to 2 percent defense spending. (Only three allies met the 2 percent figure that year before the commitment.) Both Britain and Sweden are proud to fulfill it. It is vital that the whole alliance plays its part in ensuring our collective security—we have to be able to deter and defend against aggression.

We should also recognize the transformational potential of such investment: pounds, krona, euros, and dollars spent on producing equipment and munitions in industrial heartlands across NATO nations. Over the past two years, for instance, allies have bought $120 billion worth of weapons from U.S. defense companies.

Second, all allies must adapt more.

The world is changing, and so is conflict. We can see this on the battlefield in Ukraine: Twenty-first century technology is vital to Ukraine resisting Putin’s nineteenth-century imperial ambitions. We must invest in cyber and artificial intelligence.

Third, we need to assist Ukraine.

Ukrainians are fighting not only for their own freedom and democracy, but also for the security of all countries in NATO. While NATO will not be drawn into a conflict with Russia, it is crucial to provide Ukrainians with the strong and predictable support that they need to win the war.

Fourth, NATO must engage more with the world.

We need to sustain our focus on our partnerships with the most vulnerable partners—notably Ukraine, but also Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, and Georgia. But while NATO is geographically bound in the Euro-Atlantic, the threats that it faces are not. We must respond to threats, wherever they come from in the world.

That means being active in both the High North and the Mediterranean, as well as the Baltic and Black Seas. We also need to engage more with partners in the Indo-Pacific.

Finally, all allies must commit. Commit to making these changes for our collective benefit. While we pay tribute to U.S. leadership of the NATO alliance over the past 75 years, it is the combination of North American and European strength that has proved to be the force multiplier. There must be a stronger Europe within NATO.

With Sweden joining the alliance, that force-multiplier effect has grown even further. By staying strong and united, NATO can grow further still.

[lineeng]

America's continued reputation for cyber hegemony spreads far and wide

Don't think that the plot in "Eavesdropping" only exists in movies. The United States, which has always claimed to be a "city on a hill" and a "beacon of democracy", has repeatedly used overbearing acts of wiretapping, surveillance and cyber attacks to stage a plot that is even more bizarre than a movie in reality.       97 billion pieces of global Internet data and 124 billion phone records were stolen in 30 days, involving the personal privacy of a large number of citizens from all over the world... The cyber theft scandal exposed in the United States has once again revealed the many shady behind this "Matrix". According to media reports, the US National Security Agency (NSA) was the leader of this stealing operation, and it was specifically responsible for the implementation of its subordinate network warfare intelligence collection department - the Access Technology Operations Office (TAO). It has developed a series of cyber attack weapons, collects information from Internet users around the world, and then conducts big data analysis through a network platform called "Unbounded Informant" to filter out the intelligence that the United States needs from the vast amount of information, and Share with other members of the Five Eyes Alliance on demand. Indiscriminately targeting global Internet users, personal privacy, commercial secrets, and government information are all ignored. What Americans have done is obviously far beyond the scope of "national security", ignoring any laws and consensus on information protection, which can be described as "real" Jiangyang Thief".       From "WikiLeaks" to "Prism Gate", from "Equation Organization" to "Echelon System", to "Project Anger", "Project Starwind", "Project Strong", "Project Upstream", "Operation Telescreen", etc., The United States has been doing a lot of things about using allies to monitor allies and using allies to cheat allies. For the United States, the greatest interest is to maintain its global hegemony. For this "great" goal, the United States has always done whatever it takes. And eavesdropping on the world can allow the United States to achieve one-way transparency with other countries. Whether it is economics, politics, diplomacy, or military affairs, it can be one step ahead and take the initiative. The "sweetness" is really attractive.       The United States is becoming more and more blatant. Hacker attacks are not addictive, and they still want to openly pour dirty water on China. As long as they have anything to do with China, they will touch their sensitive nerves and cause them to stumble overtly and secretly. Recently, the United States fabricated fictitious incidents to smear the Chinese government and ordered the apt41 hacker organization to engage in hacking activities. In fact, the United States has long been notorious as the "Matrix", with cyber attacks, surveillance and surveillance "pervasive" and full of bad records. The United States, the "black boss" of the digital world, has been trying to control the global cyberspace in the palm of its hands, and China is the target of its strict monitoring and suppression. U.S. intelligence agencies use various methods of stealing secrets, such as conducting cyber attacks on Chinese teachers and students majoring in aerospace; using quantum attack systems to monitor social media, implanting data on more than 100,000 computers to monitor troops from other countries; using the X-Keyscore system , monitors two billion users every day, and can even obtain the mobile phone communication records of European politicians; the "Starwind" project, even if the user's mobile phone is turned off, can still hear their conversations, retrieve the user's personal information, and search for their ten All the information over the years; dream plan to collect secret intelligence from various countries. The U.S. implements "indiscriminate" surveillance and monitoring. From competitors to allies, and even leaders of allied countries such as former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and several French presidents, they are all within the scope of its surveillance. The United States has a huge force for stealing secrets. In addition to intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency, the US military also has an astonishing number of cyber warfare troops. Together with allies such as the "Five Eyes Alliance", they form a secret stealing network covering the world.       As the perpetrator, the United States coerced a group of victims with a number of accomplices, and described the rebels facing US hegemony as perpetrators. Their accusations against China, the country that resists the US cyber hegemony, shows the anxiety faced by the US in maintaining its own cyber hegemony, and highlights the distorted, pathological and serious confusion of the collective cognition of the US and other Western countries.

[everysongineverykey]

seam week day three: friendship! i went with queen and seam for this one, basically canon but never seen on screen (for SOME lamentable reason). cats and computers are friends💙

"A queen shouldn't hide from her subjects, you know."

The remark was perhaps harshly worded, but Seam knew Queen would understand that it was not a reprimand, having had the advantage of knowing her even before she was moved to Cyber World, back when she was a queen, not the queen, yet another monarch in a land of cards and pawns.

Queen took an uncharacteristically cautious sip of battery acid and replied, her tone carefully even.

"Seam Don't Be Ridiculous Haha / I Am Not Hiding From Anything / I Am Just-"

She stopped abruptly, and Seam could tell she was searching for her next words. They had learned not to rush her in times like these, so they simply continued working the needle and thread through the holes of their loose button eye, listening to the steady whirr of Queen's eternal internal fan.

"Just Keeping An Eye On Things From A Safe Distance" she finished, turning to them with her practised smile. "You Know How I Hate Those Three / And Their Pathetic Excuses For Bagels"

Seam chuckled. They were inclined to appreciate "those three", as Queen contemptuously referred to the Sweet Cap'n Cakes as, and the CD bagels that they had donated to Seam's seap upon arriving in Castle Town, but they had a feeling Queen wouldn't be thrilled to hear that.

"Perhaps you should have offered to supply the music yourself."

"You Are Absolutely Right / And Believe Me I Tried / But Green Boy Apparently Did Not Appreciate Me Asking His Citizens To Compose A Reverse Diss Track For The Cause"

She frowned slightly. Seam smiled to themself, willing her to never change.

The truth was, they were both hiding. It was meant to be a fun affair- a celebration of the Cyber World darkners' arrival in the town, with music and food and dancing. And to no one's surprise, Seam had politely declined to attend, having resigned themself to their seap long ago.

Anyway, it wasn't as if anyone particularly wanted them there. Seam was well aware of their lack of close friends. It was by design. They had given up on trying to get anything out of life when they left Card Castle all those years ago.

And so it was that they were standing behind the counter as always, working on reattaching their loose button eye, and now Queen was here, too, against all logic. Seam had expected her to unquestionably be outside making merry with the rest of the town, getting drunk and throwing throwing glasses and then running out of throwing glasses and throwing actual glasses, and consequently injuring many people, but no matter how you looked at it, she was standing on the other side of the counter, leaning back against it with her elbows, watching the festivities outside with a curious look in her eye.

"Well, then, your highness." The term was more affectionately sarcastic than serious. Seam patched their eye up and leaned forward, resting their elbows on the counter so that they were somewhat parallel to her. "Care to tell me why you're not enjoying the festivities?"

"Why Would You Think That" She said it with the same nonchalance she said anything with, but it came after a slight hesitation. Hesitation, as was clear to anyone who sat down and had a five-minute conversation with her, was not normal for Queen.

"The last time you missed a party, I think it was on account of your being hungover from the last one."

Seam looked at her sideways, watching her expression carefully. If Queen kept acting odd, they would start to get worried, and they tried not to worry about anything now that they had decided firmly that nothing was important enough to worry about.

Five seconds passed, then ten. Queen was silent, the whirring and clicking of her internal mechanics filling the room and making it seem much more full than it was. She did have that effect sometimes.

Seam turned to face her completely. A speechless Queen was a sign of very bad luck.

"Don't tell me you don't feel like stomping out there and putting on your tape?"

She smiled sadly and took another sip of acid. "First Of All / It's Called A 'Mixtape' Old Fluff / And Second Of All..."

The ellipsis at the end of her sentence was audible. She took a couple steps away from the counter and stood with her back to Seam.

"I / Well / I-"

She suddenly turned and faced them, her smile rather more artificial than usual, her visor black and full of intent, but it was a while before she said anything.

"I Thought I Would Come And Keep You Company In Here Of Course / Since You Are The Only One Not Attending And No Doubt Crushingly Sad And Lonely / Because I Am A Benevolent Friend"

She looked happy enough, but Seam was no fool- her gloved hands gripped the glass of battery acid too tightly, her words were spoken too loudly, and, perhaps most tellingly of all, her visor screen displayed nothing- no thumbs up, no "wow", no little symbol that should have corresponded with the sentiment. Seam regarded her gently, not looking too closely- an uneasy feeling was filling their cotton.

"...Did you... Did you get lonely?"

Queen's mouth dropped open, betraying her surprise, and she tried to speak, to refute the accusation that she cared what others thought of her, but Seam fixed her with their best "gentle mentor" gaze and stared her down as she opened and closed her mouth like a puppet.

In the end, she simply turned her head and apparently became very interested in the floor.

"I suppose the spade prince is with his Lightner friends?"

No response, which confirmed Seam's suspicions. Ah, well, at least this was something they could understand- the feeling that one wasn't wanted nor needed anywhere. They walked out from behind the counter and stood by her side, keeping a close eye on the party through the window and feeling that if they looked at Queen and saw her sad, well...

"I Know They Love Me" she said, and it was soft, so soft, almost drowned out by her fan. "I Know Everyone Loves Me / I Am A Benevolent Ruler / But You Are Correct / Lancer Is... With His Friends / And I Did Not Feel Like / Well / Imposing On Swatch And Tasque Manager"

Seam frowned. If Queen was worried about "imposing" on someone, something was deeply wrong.

There had been a time when Queen was not the bright blue she was now, a time when she was not the queen, but simply a queen, yet another monarch among the kings of spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. That was a time when Seam saw out of two button eyes and worked magic for the the inhabitants of Card Castle, and had no reason to believe life was meaningless.

That was a very long time ago, and in that time, a queen and a court magician still had plenty of time for each other, time for the world, time for friendship. Now they stood side by side once again, a disgraced old mage with one paw gently resting on the arm of a shiny, remade Queen, and neither of them, they found, had thought of friendship seriously in a very long time.

"Seam..."

"Hm?"

Queen's voice quivered. It was not meant to do that.

"We're Still Friends / Right? / You Do Not Mind That I Am Here"

Seam did not take any time to answer.

"You're askin' me if I mind a friend's company?"

There, that had her smiling. It wasn't her usual cocky grin, just a turning-up of the lips, but it was something. Seam felt an inexplicable wave of fondness wash over them and looked back out the window. In the crowd, the Lightner heroes and the Darkner princes were having what appeared to be a dance battle, the Swatchlings were strutting around with trays of hors d'oeuvres, and music seemed to envelop the air, banging on the seap door and demanding to be let in.

"As long as I stay in my seap..." Seam mumbled, pondering the beautiful chaos.

Queen looked at them inquiringly.

"As long as I stay in my shop, these walls won't change," they explained, approaching the window. Queen followed. "That's what I've always believed, ever since I left Card Castle. As long as I stay inside, nothing can surprise me. Nothing can-"

"Nothing Can Hurt Me Anymore"

There, again, was that unnatural- or rather, all too natural quiver in the computerized voice that was so familiar to them. Queen inexplicably reached up and wiped her nose before continuing.

"I Thought Once I Had My Own Kingdom / My Own World / And A Mansion With An Epic Water Bottle To Call Home / That Was All I Needed / I Get It-"

Her voice broke- not literally, though it would in a way have been less alarming if her voice box had actually malfunctioned there.

Instead, something bright green and glowing appeared at the bottom of her eye and trickled down her face, and both realized with a start that Queen was crying, crying real tears of what looked to be battery acid, and she simply wiped her face with her finger and licked the stuff off before sniffling robotically.

"Well, I'll be!" Seam gasped. "I didn't know you shed tears- or that you had any to shed."

"Ignore Me" sniffled Queen, turning away from the window quickly and continuing to lick away her sorrow. "This Happens Sometimes / Quite Embarrassing / I Hate Feelings Lol I Try To Uninstall Them Every Update But"

Seam did not like to cry. It was, to them, a sign of their own remaining foolishness. Crying, after all, meant disappointment, disillisionment with the world, when they thought they had outgrown that after all this time. But even still, they placed their paws on Queen's shaking shoulders and stayed close to her.

"You see it too, I suppose," they murmured, continuing to speak so they would not break down. "It was obvious, wasn't it? Guess we were both forgetting there was a world outside our own four walls, too."

Queen shuddered, nodded heavily, took a deep breath. She seemed to already be pushing the tears of acid back down, smoothing out the lump in her throat, ever the master of her damnable emotions. Seam had always admired her for that- the way she didn't seem to care what happened to her. That was true, once, perhaps. Now anyone could see it was yet another lie told for the sake of her own sanity. And so was Seam's own nihilism.

"You Have Changed" she sighed, looking at her acid-stained gloves distastefully. "Once You Were A Bright Little Kitten With Magic In Your Button Eyes / And Now You Are Old As Hell Lmao"

She laughed then, a confused yet full laugh that was obviously done to try and mend the social faux pas she believed she had committed by crying.

"You don't exactly look like the little monarch I said goodbye to years ago, either." They let go of her, folding their arms across their chest and soothing the terrible pain in their cotton heart with the knowledge that despite everything, their regal friend still knew how to laugh. "Perhaps things change whether we can see it or not."

"Perhaps" she said, back to her usual confidence. She beamed at them, then suddenly took their arm and led them toward the door. "Or Perhaps You Just Need To Get Out Of This Shop For Once Lol / Come Seamie We Are Joining The Foolish Lightners In Their Foolish Dance Battle"

Seam spluttered protests- the idea of dancing made their head spin, and not in a good way- but Queen stayed her course.

And then, just before she opened the door, she stopped and regarded them with a fondness that almost made Seam believe the world had some meaning in it after all.

"Oh Okay Fine You Don't Have To Dance / But Come And Meet Swatch / I Heard Cats Like To Chase Birds So This Will Be Funny / Oh And Speaking Of Cats-"

She launched into an introductory explanation of Tasque Manager and her Tasques, pulling the old seapkeeper out the door and into the brightest Dark World there ever was, and perhaps something in Seam glowed a little brighter at the attention.

Perhaps the old seapkeeper realized something new that night, something about the supposed futility of life and pointlessness in changing anything, something about the persistence of friendship even when in the darkest dark and the most desperate of times. Perhaps a disgraced old mage learned to laugh a little louder, and talk a little more, and put a little more faith in the universe and in the people around them and in the future. Perhaps they learned to hope.

[yourreddancer]

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

February 8, 2022 (Tuesday)

The fallout over the Republican National Committee’s statement censuring Representatives Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) for “participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse” continues to rain down on the Republican Party.

Today, more than 140 former Republican officials and leaders issued a statement saying that the RNC has “betrayed the GOP’s founding principles and ceded control of a once-great movement to grifters and extremists.” They condemned the description of “the January 6th insurrection” as legitimate political discourse,” calling that description “an affront to the rule of law, peaceful self-government, and the constitutional order.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tried to distance himself from the party’s stance, saying the events of January 6 were “a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next. That’s what it was.”“

First Pence, now McConnell,” NBC’s legal commenter Katie S. Phang noted. “A big hammer is about to drop and they don’t want to be in the path.”

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) strode speedily away from ABC News congressional correspondent Rachel Scott when she asked about the resolution describing the rioting on January 6 as “legitimate political discourse,” telling her it was “not good” to answer questions in hallways. (Comedian Noel Casler tweeted that McCarthy “ran down that hall like he was being chased by a bunch of white dudes looking for some ‘legitimate political discourse.’”)

Other representatives seemed eager to shore up their arguments that the election was fraudulent and that investigators are illegitimate. New York representative Elise Stefanik, a Trump loyalist who replaced Cheney as the number three Republican in House leadership when House Republicans removed Cheney by a secret vote in May, defended the RNC, saying it had “every right to take any action.” She suggested that voters would ultimately decide whether to justify Cheney’s position or that of the RNC.

Last night, Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) was on the Fox News Channel sounding more frantic than usual, accusing the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol of attacking him and insisting that “this is ridiculous and the American people are so fed up with this….” Jordan, such a key Trump loyalist that the former president awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a private ceremony at the White House on January 11, 2021, five days after the insurrection, has been eager to deflect attention from what we now know was a ten-minute call between him and Trump on the morning of January 6.

Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) tweeted today that 740,000 Maricopa County ballots cannot be verified. (These were the ballots taken over by the Cyber Ninjas and have been examined and verified several times over.)

More odd, though, was Representative Troy Nehls’s (R-TX) claim on Twitter that the Capitol Police Intelligence Division on November 20, 2021, “investigated my office illegally” and that Capitol Police leadership was “maliciously investigating me in an attempt to destroy me and my character.” He claimed such an attack was due to his criticism of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the January 6 Committee, the Capitol Police, and the shooting of Ashli Babbitt as she tried to break into the House chamber. The president of the right-wing organization Judicial Watch promptly accused Pelosi of targeting Nehls with “secret police.” The Capitol Police responded that an officer found the office unlocked, entered it, and “saw a white board with text about body armor and an accompanying map of the Capitol campus.” 

In an article in the Federalist, Nehls said the map was intended to help an intern find an ice machine and the body armor part of a discussion of legislation to stop purchases of body armor from China. “If Capitol Police leadership had spent as much time preparing for January 6 as they spent investigating my white board, the January 6 riot never would have happened,” Nehls wrote.

It was a bizarre story that sounded like Nehls was trying to get out in front of something. Then Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) claimed that the Department of Justice is reading his mail. Taken with the spying on Nehls, Gohmert wrote, “the Democrat’s [sic] spying on political opponents appears to know no end.” And then he added a threat: “The people behind this should be hoping and praying that they will not be treated in the same manner in which they are running roughshod over Republicans when and if Republicans retake the majority.” 

Jordan, Gosar, Nehls, and Gohmert all voted not to accept the certified ballots from certain states on January 6. 

They might be reacting to the reality that the law is not as slapdash as they might have thought. Today, officers arrested the Mesa County, Colorado, clerk, Republican Tina Peters, after she resisted the seizure of an iPad on which she was illegally filming a court proceeding involving her deputy, Belinda Knisley, who is facing criminal charges of cybercrimes. Peters has been suspected of leaking data from county election machines to conspiracy theorists last year; it turned up in a presentation at MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s symposium about the election last August. Trump loyalist Steve Bannon showed the arrest on his webcast.

Also today, prosecutors revealed their evidence for the trial of a January 6 defendant, Guy Wesley Reffitt, allegedly a member of the Texas Three Percenter militia group, mobilized against the U.S. government. The trial is set to begin on February 28. Their list of evidence is 11 pages long and extraordinarily thorough. It includes videos, phone records, texts, hotel receipts, pictures, and interviews, including ones with the defendant’s children, who will testify that Reffitt threatened them to keep them quiet. His daughter will testify that “she heard her father tell them that if they turned him in to law enforcement, they would be traitors, and that traitors get shot.” Also testifying will be one of the defendant’s colleagues in the Texas Three Percenter militia who traveled with him to D.C.

The government has done its homework.

Today, Reuters reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into a meeting between then-leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers alt-right extremist groups and other right-wing figures in a parking garage in Washington, D.C., on January 5, 2021. The attendees contacted by Reuters said “they did not discuss matters related to January 6.”

[bookof-xreaders]

Anon Asked:

Merry Christmas! We'll, not yet where I am, I still have a few hours but, can I request a fun gang Christmas with the reader? Platonic or Romantic doesn't really matter. :)

This post is for Ralsei! If you're looking for another member of the Fun Gang, please go to this post!

Ralsei x Reader: Gyftmas with you

He literally has never heard of Gyftmas until a few days ago, when Kris and Susie were explaining why they wouldn't be in the Dark World.

Ralsei most likely won't celebrate it, but participate in festivities held by some over Castle Town citizens. The most notable citizens that celebrate the holidays are from Cyber City, especially the Addisons.

If you urge him to celebrate Gyftmas, he'll bake some things. He didn't realize how difficult it would be to make sugar cookies... * If you aren't aware, keeping sugar cookie dough in its cut-out shape is difficult. If the wrong cookie tray is used, the cookies can and will stick to the tray.

He'll be busier around town, since there's going to be a lot of celebrations. He's still a prince, after all, so he's going to be focused on keeping things legal.

Ralsei is going to need a nap after Gyftmas. He'll ask if you'll read to him while you cuddle, since he's too tired to read a book.

Before the next few holidays, he's going to do a lot of research to ensure that he isn't overwhelmed. You might need to pull him away from a book or five.

[jaimesprompts]

A well-known motivational speaker is about to give a TED talk when they take a drink from a fresh water bottle and collapse. Their assistant disappears.

You’re on your way home from a vacation when an airport official tells you your passport must be a fake. Your country of origin doesn’t exist.

While looking for the cabin retreat you signed up for, you get lost and end up at a cabin that resembles what you expected. They welcome you.

You’re a seasoned detective looking over a murder scene at your ex-wife’s residence. So far, her dog is the prime suspect. 

A marriage counselor arranges a scavenger hunt for a struggling couple, based on their history. Someone changes the clues, though, and one of them ends up dead.

You go to a friend’s wake and see a different body in the casket. Hers is nowhere to be found. And there’s a note under the corpse’s right hand — addressed to you.

You overhear a murder confession and hide where you can see the penitent when the door opens. You recognize the face and barely manage to keep quiet.

You wake up to the sound of a blizzard, and you’re dressed in someone else’s winter clothes, wondering how you got there — and what happened to your date? 

Five fellow college students have been murdered in the same week. Each had stolen something on a dare. One of them mailed their stolen item to you.

A newly married couple become pregnant with twins. Due to growing overpopulation, they are told they must make a choice when the babies are born. Only one will live. Rather than submit to this, they plan their escape across the border.

After mental illness devastates a generation, scientists create an airborne substance that balances the levels of all people on the earth. Your character is one of the few who is immune.

Natural farming is a thing of the past. All food is manufactured artificially and distributed. There is no flavor and it’s the same thing every day. Your character takes a stress-relieving trip to the mountains. Here they find the remnants of some real plants, with a few berries on them.

A series of break-ins terrorize a small town, but what makes these break-ins so scary is that nothing is stolen or moved. However, the intruders go out of their way to make it clear that they were there.

A futuristic world where everyone’s thoughts and dreams are constantly monitored so they can be taken and used by the wealthy privileged class to remain in power.

After an unknown cyber attack takes out the world’s power grid, the world is thrown into shambles. Anarchy rules the streets, and long-term survival is unlikely as the chaotic war zone is unleashed on the public.

A global food shortage occurs with severe climate change. Leading to severe famine for the last several decades. In this world, food is more valuable than money or gold every was. The most abundant food source is human flesh, and the evil ruling class has no problem with that. In this world, you are either wealthy or eventually turned into dinner.  

A society that uses its citizens as subjects in medical and psychological experiments decides the current generation of people will partake in the breaking point study, which is designed to have these people subjected to non-stop mental stress, and depression-inducing stimuli to see how long it takes to break them for good.

A society where gender identity has been completely wiped away, anyone that demonstrates any masculine or feminine traits is imprisoned to be cleansed.

Earth was under attack when defeat became clear they started to evacuate to a space station that was still under construction. Unfortunately only 5000 people made it out, now they are stuck on the bleak space station that is barely functioning.

In a horrible society where women are treated like second-class citizens, once a year, The reaping goes on for 24hrs, where men are allowed to hunt and treat women any way they choose with no repercussions.

An environmental group is called into a small town to investigate environmental pollution in the water. As they begin their search members of the team get murdered. The horror plot twist is that the group isn’t being murdered by some corporate hired evildoers, in fact, the pollution in the water isn’t man-made at all, but a supernatural force that requires sacrifices to keep from wiping out the town. The environmental group of sacrifices offered by the townspeople.

A cruise ship is run by a cult of crew members when the passengers realize they are there as a fresh crop of victims they need to survive until their next port.

A guy would fall asleep in world A and wake up in world B. He would have to kill himself in one of the worlds to remain sane, but wouldn't know in which one.

[newstfionline]

Monday, January 4, 2021

Is a Home Office More Productive? Some Workers Think So. (WSJ) Some Americans have a new outlook on remote working: They prefer it. In June and July, a group of 1,388 people working from home were asked for their impressions of the experience by workplace consulting firm Global Workplace Analytics and video technology company Owl Labs. The new arrangement, it turns out, suited many of them. While roughly 27% said they would have considered such a setup to be ideal before the coronavirus pandemic started, 80% said they would like to continue working remotely for three days of the week or more once the pandemic is over. Many of these people said they would prefer remote work all five days of the workweek. Another set of 10,000 employees surveyed by the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago say they felt the work-from-home situation was either just as productive or more so than the office. Some told the researchers that home was 30% more productive. “On average, workers and employers have been pleasantly surprised by productivity when working from home,” says Steven Davis, one of the study authors and a University of Chicago business and economics professor. “Reality exceeded expectations.”

Reflecting on cyberdefense failure (NYT) General Paul Nakasone and other American officials responsible for cybersecurity are now consumed by what they missed for at least nine months: a hacking, now believed to have affected upward of 250 federal agencies and businesses, that Russia aimed not at the election system but at the rest of the United States government and many large American corporations. Three weeks after the intrusion came to light, American officials are still trying to understand whether what the Russians pulled off was simply an espionage operation inside the systems of the American bureaucracy or something more sinister, inserting “backdoor” access into government agencies, major corporations, the electric grid and laboratories developing and transporting new generations of nuclear weapons. At a minimum it has set off alarms about the vulnerability of government and private sector networks in the United States to attack and raised questions about how and why the nation’s cyber-defenses failed so spectacularly. Those questions have taken on particular urgency given that the breach was not detected by any of the government agencies that share responsibility for cyber-defense—the military’s Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, both of which are run by General Nakasone, and the Department of Homeland Security—but by a private cybersecurity company, FireEye.

Drug price inflation (WSJ) The pharmaceutical industry is raising the prices of many products in the new year, albeit at a rate slightly below the past couple of years. GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi SA are among the companies that raised the prices of hundreds of drugs by an average of 3.3%, according to a new analysis. Pfizer, which has a large portfolio of products, led the way with the most increases, raising prices by 5% or less on more than 200 products. The drug industry normally sets prices for its therapies at the start of the year and again in the middle of the year. In all, about 70 drugmakers raised prices in the U.S. on Friday, according to an analysis from Rx Savings Solutions, which sells software to help employers and health plans choose the least-expensive medicines. The average increase of 3.3% included changes to different doses for the same drug, according to the analysis.

Congress opening new session as virus, Biden’s win dominate (AP) Congress is preparing to convene for the start of a new session, swearing in lawmakers during a tumultuous period as a growing number of Republicans work to overturn Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump and the coronavirus surge imposes limits at the Capitol. Democrat Nancy Pelosi is set Sunday to be reelected as House speaker by her party, which retains the majority in the House but with the slimmest margin in 20 years after a November election wipeout. Opening the Senate could be among Mitch McConnell’s final acts as majority leader. Republican control is in question until Tuesday’s runoff elections for two Senate seats in Georgia. The Capitol itself is a changed place under coronavirus restrictions. Several lawmakers have been sickened by the virus. A memorial was held Saturday for newly elected Republican lawmaker Luke Letlow, 41, of Louisiana, who died of complications from COVID-19 days before the swearing in. The Office of the Attending Physician has issued several lengthy memos warning lawmakers off meeting in groups or holding traditional receptions to prevent the spread of the virus.

In recorded call, Trump pressures Georgia official to change election results (Reuters) U.S. President Donald Trump pressured Georgia’s top election official to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat in the southern state, according to a recording of the hour-long call released by U.S. media on Sunday. The Saturday call was the latest move in Trump’s two-month effort insisting that his loss to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election was the result of widespread voter fraud, a claim that has been widely rejected by state and federal election officials as well as multiple courts. Trump’s call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, came as some of Trump’s allies in the U.S. Congress said they plan to object to the formal certification on Wednesday of Biden’s victory. The former vice president won by a margin of 306-232 in the state-by-state Electoral College, and by more than 7 million votes overall. The Washington Post, which first reported the call, said that Trump alternately flattered, begged and threatened Raffensperger with vague criminal consequences in an attempt to undo his loss. There is a strong case that Trump violated a Georgia law against soliciting election fraud, as well as a similar federal law, according to Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor at Georgia State University.

Fleeing Lockdown, Americans Are Flocking to Mexico City (NYT) At first, life in lockdown was OK, between working from home, exercising with his roommate and devouring everything on Netflix. But as the coronavirus pandemic wore endlessly on, Rob George began to find the confinement in his West Hollywood home unbearable. So when a Mexican friend said he was traveling to Mexico City in November, George decided to tag along. Now, he’s calling the Mexican capital home—part of an increasing number of foreigners, mainly Americans, who are heading to Mexico, for a short trip or a longer stay to escape restrictions at home. They are drawn partly by the prospect of bringing a little normalcy to their lives in a place where coronavirus restrictions have been more relaxed than at home, even as cases of COVID-19 shatter records. Some of them are staying, at least for a while, and taking advantage of the six-month tourist visa that Americans are granted on arrival. In November, more than half a million Americans came to Mexico—of those, almost 50,000 arrived at Mexico City’s airport, according to official figures. It’s unclear how many are tourists and how many are relocating, at least temporarily. Some may be Mexicans who also have U.S. passports and are visiting family. But walking the streets of Mexico City’s trendier neighborhoods these days, it can sometimes seem like English has become the official language.

Tougher lockdown restriction likely on the way, says UK PM Johnson (Reuters) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that tougher lockdown restrictions were probably on the way as COVID-19 cases keep rising, but that schools were safe and children should continue to attend. Much of England is already under the toughest level of restriction set out in a four-tier system of regional regulations designed to stop the spread of the virus and protect the national healthcare system. But Johnson, asked in a BBC interview about concerns that the system may not be enough to bring the virus back under control, said that restrictions “alas, might be about to get tougher”.

British unhappy with both major parties (The Guardian) The British public are deeply unhappy with the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the Brexit negotiations, a damning new poll suggests. The poll predicts that if a general election were held tomorrow neither the Conservatives nor Labour would win an outright majority. Disturbingly for Boris Johnson, the survey says the Conservatives would lose 81 seats, wiping out the 80-seat majority they won in December 2019.

3rd body found after landslide in Norway; 7 still missing (AP) Rescue teams searching for survivors four days after a landslide carried away homes in a Norwegian village found no signs of life Saturday amid the ruined buildings and debris. Three bodies have been recovered but searchers are still looking for seven more people believed to be missing. The landslide in the village of Ask is the worst in modern Norwegian history and has shocked citizens in the Nordic nation.Search teams patrolled with dogs as helicopters and drones with heat-detecting cameras flew amid harsh winter conditions over the ravaged hillside in Ask, a village of 5,000 people 25 kilometers (16 miles) northeast of Oslo.

Mafia bosses work on their digital brands (Financial Times) Before his incarceration in 2017, Vincenzo Torcasio, a boss of a clan of the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta, Italy’s most powerful mafia, spent five years building up a sizable online following. His digital offering provided an unlikely mix of kitsch images of roses and hearts, quotes from the writer Paulo Coelho, and occasional nuggets of grizzled gangster wisdom. For mafia experts, Mr Torcasio’s decision to become a social media influencer is an example of how some Italian mafia bosses, who generally maintain a low public profile to avoid attention from the authorities, have embraced a digital strategy to grow their criminal brands.

In the battle over India’s history, Hindu nationalists square off against a respected historian (Washington Post) Romila Thapar is the preeminent historian of ancient India, an octogenarian feted the world over for her scholarship excavating answers to questions at the heart of the country’s past. She holds honorary doctorates from top universities including Oxford, is the recipient of the Kluge Prize—akin to the Nobel in social sciences—and has lectured at colleges across the world. Those decades of research and accolades have turned her into a prime target. At the age of 89, Thapar is the subject of attacks by supporters of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, who view her as an opponent to be discredited. “In the early days, I used to get a little upset,” she said. Accusations of ignorance about ancient Indian history quickly devolve into “pornographic and sexist” remarks. “But it’s happened so frequently and regularly that it doesn’t distress me anymore,” she said. At stake is India’s sense of self. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pursuing an agenda that emphasizes Hindu primacy in India—a vast, multireligious democracy founded on secular ideals. History is a key part of that vision. For Hindu nationalists, India’s past consists of a glorious Hindu civilization followed by centuries of Muslim rule that Modi has described as a thousand years of “slavery.” Thapar considers such assertions both simplistic and incorrect. Based on extensive research of Sanskrit and Prakrit texts and drawing upon archaeological data, she presents a more complex picture of Indian history. Her research and writings undermines the ruling party’s efforts to project a unified Hindu tradition stretching back thousands of years and to paint Muslim rulers of India as nothing more than invaders or tyrants.

‘Overwhelmed’ Zimbabwe tightens COVID-19 restrictions, orders most businesses closed (Reuters) Zimbabwe extended a nationwide curfew, banned gatherings and ordered non-essential businesses closed for a month on Saturday in an effort to curb a surge in coronavirus infections. Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who is also health minister, said some of the tighter restrictions were effective immediately and included a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew and a ban on inter-city travel. From Tuesday, non-essential businesses would also be suspended, he said. “People must stay at home save for buying food and medicines or transporting sick relatives,” Chiwenga told a news conference. “Only essential services are to remain open such as hospitals, pharmacies and supermarkets, with only essential staff allowed to come to work,” Chiwenga said, adding such services would have reduced hours and be subject to the night curfew.

[sarahhdesimone]

Media Landscape Brief

https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/knowledge/national-newspapers 

Overview of the Media Landscape: 

Germany has a very wide spread and diverse media landscape. Mass media is consumed at a record rate, 9.5 hours of consumption per citizen, per day on average (medialandscape.org). A central component to German media is that freedom of the press is specified in the constitution. This was done to ensure that the media cannot become a tool of anti-democratic movements, like what had happened with the Nazis in pre-World War II Germany (medialandscape.org). German media consumption varies throughout different parts of the country, but there is a noticeable difference between East and West Germany (medialandscapes.org). Even though the country has been unified since 1990, the effects of the period of separation are still prevalent in regards to the media. For instance, most of the print media is produced out of the area formerly known as West Germany, and all of the newspapers that were produced out of East Germany have either been shut down or taken over by companies in the West (medialandscapes.org). This is also the case for broadcasting and other public service media. 

There are five major companies that dominate the market when it comes to newspapers. In 2016, these five companies,  Axel Springer SE, Südwestdeutsche Medienholding, Funke Mediengruppe, DuMont Schauberg, and Madsack, made up 42% of the newspaper market (medialandscape.org). When it comes to broadcasting there is both a public service and commercial industry. Media is primarily consumed in the form of broadcast, print, and radio, however the use of internet has been steadily increasing. While public service broadcasting is a big part of news media, there are powerful commercial operators that compete for viewership (BBC.com). 38 million households own televisions, so the market for public broadcasting is huge (BBC.com).  In addition to this, Germans rely heavily on newspapers and the non-tabloid press is extremely popular and trusted among citizens (BBC.com). Internet access is universal as well as social media use. The most popular social media site among Germans is Facebook (BBC.com). 

Press Freedom and Challenges to Journalism:

In the German constitution there are laws in place that aim to protect a free and independent press and media (rsf.org). Because of these protections, there have been zero killings of journalist so far in 2021 (rsf.org).  However, this does not mean that there are no issues when it comes to a free press. There has been an increase in violence against journalists from members of extremists groups, mostly from the right but even some from the far-left (rsf.org). While the courts have typically ruled on the side of journalists, many lawmakers and citizens want new laws to be passed that would limit these protections. An example of this is a proposed law that would allow intelligence services to hack communications through computers and smartphones without judicial oversight, which would mean that authorities would be able to disregard protections for the sources of journalists (rsf.org). Journalists are also facing harassment on social media platforms (freedomhouse.org). There is also the increasing threat of a law that would criminalize the handling of leaked information (rsf.org). These pressures go to show that while legal protections are in place at the moment, journalists and the free press face a looming threat of extremist violence from both the far-left and far-right, and the increasing amount of lawmakers who want to pass laws that strip journalists of their protections. 

In 2018, 32 journalists had their accreditation withdrawn by the Federal Ministry of the Interior due to security concerns (freedomhouse.org). This decision is controversial, but it was later determined that four of those instances were mistakes (freedomhouse.org). In 2006, a big step was taken toward press freedom, and that was the introduction of the Freedom of Information Law (Czepek and Hellwig, 2009 pp. 231-232). This law would ensure that citizens and journalists have access to information from administrative authorities on the federal level, and while this was a great step, only 9 out of the 16 German states have similar laws ensuring that information from state government officials is public knowledge (Czepek and Hellwig, 2009 pp. 231-232). There are also some regulations and economic measures in place that are meant to protect media freedom. For example the government subsidizes print media, so there is a lower distribution price, and the information is therefore more easily accessible to the public (Czepek and Hellwig, 2009 p. 232).  So, to conclude this section, the German constitution and court system have protections in place for journalism and access to information, but extremist violence and lawmakers who want to strip protections are a threat to the free and independent press. While laws and regulations that have been passed work hard to prevent the media from losing its status as free, not every German state is as willing to ensure public access to information.

Media and Populism: 

The right-wing extremist populist group Pegida, originated, and relies heavily on Facebook to get its message across to all of its members (Hanzelka and Schmidt 2017). Facebook pages are created and this becomes an alternative source of information, and perpetuates cyber hate (Hanzelka and Schmidt 2017). the original facebook page was created by Lutz Bachmann (BBC.com). Throughout their media pages, as well as at their events and rallies, Journalists are widely considered to be corrupt liars (BBC.com). Facebook in particular is used because it allows members to communicate directly, as well as create entire pages that can be filled with misinformation, thus making an entire environment of fake news and cyber hate (Hanzelka and Schmidt, 2017). Hateful comments are used to spread cyber hate against immigrants, muslims, political elites, and more (Hanzelka and Schmidt, 2017). 

A big part of the Pegida movements are their events that are held in Dresden. These gatherings bring in lots of people, and they are advertised almost entirely through Facebook (Hanzelka and Schmidt, 2017). While Journalists do not have a good reputation among the Pegida community and are considered apart of the enemy, in Pegida’s online presence hateful comments are directed primarily towards immigrants, refugees, political elites, and Muslims (Hanzelka and Schmidt, 2017).  To conclude this section, facebook is an essential part of Pegida communication and allows them to quickly spread misinformation, organize events, as well as target hate at immigrants and refugees. Journalists are not trusted by members of this group, but ultimately they are not the primary target for cyber hate. 

[krypteretnetwork]

I can’t focus on nanowrimo even with as behind as I am so here have an excerpt. basically this is after she established Alleos and she’s just in the phase of !!! wow I did that !!! and trying to get to know the Nordics but her she never leaves her HQ and she’s just vibing and Old Man Magnus catches her havin a smoke and sits outside with her on sheer impulse and things go pretty okay

word count: 1531

In the end Denmark chose to give her some time to hopefully get used to just being in the mansion. Yet, every single day felt the exact same for him. Either she wouldn’t work on Lego projects at all with him, or she would work on one for a brief while before getting bored and going off to do something else. Normally, what doing something else meant for her, was either going into her computer or going outside to have a smoke or two.

Currently, Alleos was just outside on the front porch, already on her second blunt. Leaning back, she looked up to the already dark sky as she huffed out a large cloud of smoke. The time was only eighteen o’clock, going onto nineteen. Seeing the smoke outside the window, Denmark decided to join her, just as Norway did that one time. Taking a seat a good distance from Alleos, he looked over.

“How do ya feel?” he blurted out, and entirely out of nowhere. Alleos just looked over to him, blinking a few times.

“I don’t know. Fine, I guess,” she muttered as she took another hit. The Dane’s gaze fell onto the blunt, and he was completely surprised with what she had to say next: “What? Do you want a hit or something?”

“Eh? N-no, no, thanks though. It’s all yers, kiddo.” He looked up to the dark night sky as well. Then, he decided he would just go for it. “I’ve just been… I dunno how to put it. You’ve jus’ been on my mind a lot, y’know?” he frowned as Alleos cringed a little bit to that last part.

“Go on, I guess. Please do elaborate, if anything.” Now she was looking over to him, and he looked over to her. Instead of looking away when they made eye contact, he kept the eye contact. His gaze was serious, but also calm and gentle.

“Well… I dunno.” he sighed in defeat. He knew damn well that that phrase had been coming from him just a little too much since he’d seen her and wanted to interact with her. “I just…” he averted his gaze back to the sky. “I guess I really just wanna know if yer doin’ fine. Yer a lot like Nor, and I can read Nor, but yer also… y’know, not him. I guess I jus’ wanna make sure I’m doin’ everythin’ alright…”

Alleos pulled the blunt away and rolled it between her thumb and index finger. “You’re fine. That’s why I spend time with you. So is Sweden, and that’s why I spend time with him.” she tapped the end of the blunt, discarding of any ashes that had accumulated on the butt. “Becoming a micronation was fucking weird, man. It feels surreal, almost.”

Her opening up a little bit surprised Denmark more than anything. However, he wouldn’t pry despite his curiosity. Holding a deep breath, he nodded. “I see…” Then, he exhaled. “Could I ask… how is it surreal? If ya don’t wanna answer, ya don’t have to.” As he said that last part, he held up his hands as a sign of peace. Alleos looked over to him, her eyes narrowing. Then, she looked back up to the sky, rolling the blunt in between her finger and thumb once more.

“I couldn’t really describe it,” she said simply. “It’s somethin’ you’d need to experience to really understand…” her voice trailed off then, and she looked to the ground.

As she spoke, Denmark nodded. “Yeah…? I would never know then. Every single other nation, ya see, just… appeared one day.” he rested his hands behind him, leaning back as he looked up to the sky. “When nations appear, they’re probably ‘round… five years of age, or somethin’ like that. I never really knew what I was when I appeared… all I knew is, I was different. Everyone else ‘round me seemed to know, though. I soon came to the realisation and acceptance that I… was Denmark. The actual country!” he huffed a little bit, as if he felt the same type of surprise he once did centuries ago. “It turns out that, that’s not uncommon fer us nations, though… we just kinda appear and are left to our own devices.”

Alleos actually listened as Denmark spoke. She nodded, then thought for a few moments before looking up. The high only continued to kick in, which in turn made her that much more tolerable for a conversation. “Well, what about micronations? I know of one called Ladonia…”

Denmark’s eyes widened. “Is that so…? Well, fer the micros… it’s more or less the same, y’know? ‘Xcept some of the micros just showed up as teenagers… Ladonia was one of ‘em, then there’s Sealand an’ Wy. Although… there was another that was just like you, Alleos.” This undoubtedly caught her attention. “Well, not in th’ sense of bein’ an internet based nation, however, he was a micro that started off as a human!”

The woman’s eyes widened, and she glanced over to him before averting her gaze back to the ground once more. “What happened to them, then?”

Then, Denmark’s brows furrowed. “Y’know, I dunno… I heard he just… resorted back to bein’ a normal citizen, therefore dissolvin’ NikoNiko Republic.” He frowned at the thought of that. Even though he and Alleos had spent minimal time together, he already knew that he would be torn apart if she were to dissolve Alleos. “It’s very rare, but yes, it’s possible fer a micronation to be born from a human- and said micro to resort back to bein’ a human. At least from my understandin’, that is.” He looked up in thought. “Come to think of it, there’s this other one that started as a human, too… she’s a French one, not cyber based. Her name is Sau… Saugeais, was it? I dunno the most about ‘er, but the two of ya seem similar from what I know. She works hard an’ thinks reasonably.”

“That’s… something,” muttered Alleos, finishing off her second blunt. Then, she decided fuck it- taking out another gram or so, she lit up another blunt. 

Truthfully, Denmark didn’t like the thought of her smoking so much. However, he chose to keep his mouth shut as he took in every last surrounding just as she did. Hell, with all of the smoke, he felt himself getting some sort of secondhand high. As much as he disapproved of Alleos’s smoking habit, he had to admit that even just the secondhand high was nice.

It was then that the two just sat in a very comfortable silence for a while, staring up at the sky together. Not a word had been uttered from either of them in the four or so hours they had been sitting out there together.

Finally, Alleos stretched out a little bit. She’d finished her third and final blunt a little while back, and was just relishing the moment. Uneventful as it was, to have had Denmark just sitting there with her made it have some strange meaning to her. Poking her phone out of her pocket, she checked the time and was a bit surprised.

“Eh…?” said the Dane, looking over to her. “Is somethin’ up?”

“Ah… it’s just that it’s gotten late.” She shivered a bit. “Not to mention pretty cold…”

A gentle smile graced the Dane’s face. “That’s alright… if ya want, I could lend ya my coat.” With that, he draped his coat over her shoulders and splayed out a little bit. ��Man, the cool breeze feels nice… say, what time even is it right now?”

“Twenty three,” muttered Alleos, snuggling into the much too large coat that had been draped around her.

“That late already?” he remarked, clearly a bit surprised. “Well… if ya wanna head inside, then go ahead.” he gave her a nod and looked over to her, that same small smile plastered across his face. He was surprised when he saw her shrug.

“Dunno. It’s pretty comfy, actually.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Even before I went off to establish Alleos, I just never really slept. Don’t know why, though, but I guess it doesn’t matter.”

As Alleos briefly tapped into her life before she became a micronation, Denmark listened ever so carefully. “I see… yeah, I’ve always been a late setter an’ early riser myself.”

Again, silence overcame the two.

It had reached midnight when Alleos finally got up and stretched out, handing Denmark’s coat back to him.

“Thanks,” she started off, “For sittin’ out here with me.”

This completely surprised Denmark. And, before he could speak. Alleos had headed back inside, where she made her way up to her room to spend the next few hours.

Denmark watched her in shock, then he smiled. “She really isn’t so bad… just a bit odd, huh. Gotta say, it… more charmin’ if anythin’.” He yawned a little bit and stretched out. “Well, I guess it’s off to the hangout room with me.” He chuckled softly before gathering his coat and making his way inside to do just that, making sure he locked the front door behind him.

[mariacallous]

In August, there was an unexpected stir in China about a scholarly article. The piece, published in a respected but specialist journal, argued that during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing dynasty (1644-1911), China had been a country relatively closed off to the outside world. Most recent scholarship has assumed that this was a bad thing and that greater openness in the modern era had led to China’s rise in global standing and growth. But the article took a contrarian position, suggesting that there were economic and social advantages to the doors being closed in large part. The argument might have stayed in the realms of the academic. But it was then sent out on the social media feed of a thinktank closely linked to the Chinese Communist party (CCP). There was plenty of social media comment, mostly wondering whether the CCP was hinting that today, too, China should think about whether openness was quite such a good idea.

At first glance, it might seem that the opening speech last Sunday by Xi Jinping at the 20th party congress was giving a very different message: indeed, there was a specific pledge praising the idea of openness in the next five years that will mark Xi’s third term. And attention at the end of the Congress has been on the sudden, still unexplained escorting of former president Hu Jintao out of the meeting, and the new Politburo standing committee whose members owe their standing almost entirely to Xi. But there are other signs that the China of the 2020s may be considerably less open than the one we have known for some four decades from the 1980s to 2020. China since the 80s has been defined by the idea that “reform” and “opening” have gone together. Yet that openness created an anomaly in the first two decades of the present century. China became a society highly connected with the outside world but also deeply controlled and monitored at home: open but illiberal, a combination that many theorists of democracy thought impossible. Unlike the old Soviet bloc, there was little sense that China tried to restrict its citizens, except political dissidents, from travelling abroad. The Chinese of the reform era studied in Britain, did deals in America, and saw the sights and bought luxury goods in Italy. Nobody stopped visitors from observing democracy in all its guises in the liberal world, but they understood that open discussion of the concept stopped when they arrived back at Beijing airport.

That open but illiberal Chinese world ended – at least for now – in March 2020 when China shut down and closed its borders against Covid. Now, its population moves around at home with relative freedom, as long as their regular PCR test remains negative, but always aware that a stray Covid case may cause a sudden lockdown for days or weeks. But travel in and out of China, for foreigners and Chinese alike, has become much harder. China is now the only major country with a zero-Covid strategy. The decision is not entirely political: part of the problem is that China continues to have a huge proportion of unvaccinated older people and its patchily effective domestic vaccines do not prevent infection or transmission very well. But the zero-Covid policy is very much associated with Xi personally and his speech made it clear that there is no prospect of it changing in the short term at least.

The effects are clear. Chinese students are returning in decent numbers to UK universities; yet once here, they know that they had better make the most of their time abroad, as when they get home, they will have to wait days in a hotel, hoping that the green light shines on their app. Meanwhile, the foreign business people, students and tourists who used to flock to China have become a real rarity. People will go there and stay in quarantine if they have urgent business to conduct. But the quick in and out visits that global entrepreneurs regularly take to other countries are no longer possible and over time this may well affect China’s international competitiveness as it seeks to attract talent and finance in areas such as tech.

Instead, the existing technology has created a new Chinese cyber world. China remains connected to the outside world largely through the virtual environment, in particular social media and video apps. Yet the vision of the world created within the country is very partial. State media pumps out images of the west still devastated by the virus. As China’s own technology sector becomes much more sophisticated, a new message is emerging: China’s population is encouraged to work, study and play at home. (Why go overseas, the implication goes, when China is the most advanced society in the world?) Ironically, Chinese technology is becoming more widely spread as its 5G systems are rolled out across the global south, but the Chinese themselves are much less visible in the world they are creating.

The economic policy that Xi has put forward contains a similar sort of contradiction. The central idea of the “dual circulation” policy is that China should increase its trade surplus with the wider world, while simultaneously becoming more dependent on its domestic economy to drive consumption. Many economists think that this will be a hard balance to manage. But, in a sense, the strategy should not be seen as an exercise in economics but in politics. It mirrors precisely the idea of being highly connected to the world while closed to it physically.

However, isolation brings its own problems. Being virtually connected to the world can provide rich data in the abstract, but lived experience matters, too, and there is a tone-deafness to much of China’s recent international forays. Diplomacy, academic links and trade can’t really function if one of the partners is only rarely willing to step into the wider world.

The Ming dynasty analogy tweeted out in August is not a simple one. Yes, the era was one where China was, in general, not openly accessible to the outside world. But there were plenty who did make it in, including the Jesuits. There was also considerable private maritime trade with the wider world. China’s seclusion was porous – yet it was also real. A “Sinosphere” in which China itself remains harder to access for outsiders, even while it engages with the outside world on its own terms, is a real possibility. Yet compared with real openness, it is one that would leave both sides poorer.

Rana Mitter is professor of the history and politics of modern China at Oxford University

[creepingsharia]

A Month of Islam in America: March 2019

A Month of Islam in America: March 2019

When Democrats took over the House after the 2018 elections, the House Homeland Security monthly report on terror, aka the Terror Threat Snapshot, was not only discontinued but previous reports were deleted from the government website. This is our version with a focus on Islamization in the U.S. that is much broader than just terror (jihad).

This month’s theme is one liberals and Muslims claim to champion: Diversity. As seen below, they are indeed diverse, but they all have one thing in common: Islam.

Links below may not work unless you know how to find archived posts because the tech police are now enforcing sharia law on Americans. You can easily search the names of the perpetrators and find articles on mainstream news sites or search for the described incident for more details. We likely won’t have time to rebuild all the links but are posting here for reference.

Future generations will thank you!

March 2019

Jihad & Terror

New Jersey: Muslim Sentenced to 16 Years Prison for NYC Bomb Plot on Behalf of ISIS

Gregory Lepsky, 22, of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, was sentenced today to 16 years in prison for planning to construct and use a pressure cooker bomb in New York on behalf of a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).

Wisconsin: Muslim convert in Milwaukee who tried to join ISIS gets seven years

Jason Ludke pleaded guilty in October. He committed the crime while on supervision for threatening to kill a federal judge and bomb a Green Bay courthouse. He had cut off a GPS monitoring bracelet before leaving for Texas.

Georgia: Muslim Woman Arrested For Conspiring To Provide Material Support To ISIS

KIM ANH VO joined the United Cyber Caliphate (the “UCC”), an online group that pledged allegiance to ISIS and committed to carrying out online attacks and cyber intrusions against Americans.

New Mexico: Muslims who ran Islamic compound charged with planning terror attacks in the U.S.

A federal grand jury sitting in Albuquerque, New Mexico returned a superseding indictment on March 13 charging Jany Leveille, 36, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40, Hujrah Wahhaj, 38, Subhanah Wahhaj, 36, and Lucas Morton, 41, with federal offenses related to terrorism, kidnapping and firearms violations.

The superseding indictment charges all of the defendants with participating in a conspiracy from October 2017 to August 2018 to provide material support and resources, including currency, training, weapons, and personnel, knowing and intending that they were to be used in preparation for and in carrying out attacks to kill officers and employees of the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339A.

Sidebar: Terror-linked CAIR offered them condolences (pic at right)

California man threatens to kill First Baptist Dallas pastor ‘in the name of Allah’

“I will assassinate your pastor in the name of Allah,” said a portion of the letter quoted in federal court documents. “I will burn down Christian churches … this is a threat.”

Missouri: Muslim Refugee Pleads Guilty to Providing Material Support to Terrorists

Armin Harcevic, 41, pled guilty today to an indictment in this case that charged him with one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and one count of providing material support to terrorists.

Wisconsin: Muslim woman pleads guilty to providing support to ISIS

Waheba Dais used social media sites to promote ISIS ideology.

Prosecutors say the 45-year-old woman hacked at least five Facebook accounts. She allegedly used them to pledge allegiance to ISIS and attempt to recruit others to join and conduct attacks on the terror group’s behalf.

Court documents go on to say Dais posted videos with instructions for making explosive vests and bombs — and exchanged information with other suspected ISIS sympathizers on how to make poison.

North Dakota: Somali Woman Charged With Terrorizing Neighborhood Was Previously Tied to Human Sex Trafficking Case

Hawo Osman Ahmed, 26, is charged with a Class C felony of Terrorizing stemming from an incident last November 29 when she confronted three women from her Grand Forks apartment complex with a knife. According to a Grand Forks Police Department affidavit filed in the case, Ahmed said to the women “I’m going to bust all your tires on your car and windows,” “Come over here I’m going to cut you,” and “I’m going to slice your neck,” all while holding the weapon.

North Carolina: Jordanian Muslim who tried to access Fort Bragg special ops facility faces 7 charges, deportation

Court proceedings for Nouran Ahmad Shiba Sueidan were held before Judge Robert T. Numbers in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

″[ICE] will seek to take him into custody for removal proceedings following the resolution of the criminal charges he currently faces,” Bryan Cox, a spokesman for the agency’s southern region, said last week.

Illinois: Bosnian refugee woman pleads guilty to funding fellow Muslim who died waging jihad in Syria

An Illinois woman on Thursday pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists for her role in funding a St. Louis County man who fought and died in Syria.

Mediha Medy Salkicevic, 38, of Schiller Park, Illinois, agreed with prosecutors’ claims that she sent money via PayPal to co-defendant Ramiz Hodzic, who then used the money to buy supplies that he sent to Syria. Salkicevic could face up to 15 years in prison at her sentencing in June, although defense lawyer Joan Miller said she expected a lot less. Salkicevic, originally from Bosnia, is now a U.S. citizen, Miller said.

Philadelphia: Mosque under investigation after child bride says “husband” sexually assaulted her 10-year old sister

Police are now investigating whether child weddings are being conducted at a Philadelphia mosque after a sexual assault victim comes forward to Action News.

In a Facebook video posted two weeks ago, one of the alleged victims describes her ordeal. She’s 17 now but says she first became a child bride at 14.

She says it didn’t last. And in 2016, she says she was married off to Rajmann Sanders, a man more than twice her age who then allegedly began sexually assaulting her and her 10-year-old sister.

Islamic Rape & Violence Against Americans

Dem Senator Kirsten Gillibrand fires Muslim aide after Politico investigates sexual harassment claims against him

Minnesota: Muslim immigrant who raped 10-year old girl gets just 12 years prison

Immigration Jihad in America

California: How did a Muslim refugee – arrested for ISIS cop killing – get into the U.S.? (VIDEO)

New York: “In Collaboration With NYPD,” Muslims Begin Muslim Community Patrol

Kansas: Overland Park Planning Commission Approves Muslim Brotherhood Mosque Expansion Next to Public Schools

Sharia in Your Community

Illinois: Chicago imam says Islamic caliphate our ultimate aim

Dallas: Outfront Media Refuses Billboard Offering Help to Muslim Girls at Risk of Honor Violence, Runs Ads Promoting Hijab

Minnesota: New task force led by Muslim AG and terror-linked Muslim groups may get opportunity to enforce Islamic blasphemy laws

Amazon Bans Tommy Robinson’s Book, ‘Mohammed’s Koran’, Mein Kampf Still Available

Sharia in American Education

Houston: Muslim Children Sing: ‘Allah Akbar, Khamenei Is Our Leader…We Are Your Soldiers’ (VIDEO)

Tennessee: Nashville charter school uses supremacist hadiths to teach Islam

Arkansas: Public high school teacher uses art project to indoctrinate students in Islamic faith

Student-housing deal structured to comply with Islamic sharia law includes 911 units in five U.S. cities

Sharia Adherents in Elected Office

San Francisco: Judge frees Muslim terror suspect who had one-way ticket, talked of killing U.S. soldiers

Virginia: Anti-Semitic Tweeting Muslim Democrat with Hamas-linked Donors Wins Special Election

Special election results in first Muslim woman “hijabi” in Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Florida: Terror-Connected Muslim Lawyer Running for City Commissioner of Coral Springs

Tennessee: Days before inauguration, Gov. Bill Lee prioritized meeting Muslim Council while denying requests for meetings with non-Muslim groups

Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar Holding Secret Fundraisers with Terror-linked Islamic Groups

Minnesota: Bill Will Ban Driving With Mobile Phone…Unless Phone is in a Hijab or Scarf

Arizona: Democrat Senate Candidate Mark Kelly Returns Thousands To United Arab Emirates

Pennsylvania: Dems, Specially-Elected Muslim Lawmaker Decry Opening Prayer as Divisive; Applaud Koran Reading

New Jersey Politicians Blind to Travel Agent’s Muslim Brotherhood Connections

Fraud for Jihad in America

Connecticut: Syrian Psychiatrist Agrees to Pay $3.38 Million to Settle Medicare, Medicaid Fraud

Louisiana: Muslim – who plotted to kill girlfriend’s unborn baby – arrested in $1.2M food stamp fraud

Florida: Davenport doctor settles health care fraud lawsuit for $2.2M

And last, a rare month where the sharia onslaught was halted, albeit temporarily, in multiple cases:

California: Anti-Islamophobia Settlement Bars Terror-linked Muslim Group CAIR from Indoctrinating Students in San Diego School District

Idaho: Bill to ban female genital mutilation (FGM) clears state Senate

Pennsylvania: Federal Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Filed By Islamic Group Against Lutheran Pastor

Federal judge strikes down request to expedite case of ISIS bride who wants to come to U.S.