#MARY MARGARET BEING FRAMED AND TAKEN TO COURT FOR MURDER????????????

[leslieseveride]

i totally forgot about all the different ways ABC tinkered with all these classic fairytales to make the characters 10x more badass.

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 1x16 “Heart of Darkness” Review

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x11 1x12 1x13 1x14 1x15

Another good episode, although the Storybrooke side wasn’t as good as last weeks. But I really liked seeing Snow’s bitchy side while under the potion. I do like how Emma is trying to play by the book this time around, as whenever she’s gone after Regina off of pure emotion she’s failed and looked the fool. But Mary Margaret escaping is not good.  That could potentially ruin Emma’s career as sheriff!

Summary: With no memory of Charming, Snow decides to go after the Evil Queen and enact her revenge by killing her. Charming aims to stop her and restore her memories. In Storybrooke, Mary Margaret is booked on suspicion of Kathryn’s murder (even though the heart is not confirmed to be hers yet) and Emma suspects that Regina has framed her.

Opening: Jiminy Cricket flying

Character Observations:

Snow/Mary Margaret: Snow is having a lovely time in the state of denial that anything is wrong with her. After attempting to kill a bluebird in the dwarves house the dwarves stage an intervention, with Jiminy as the voice of reason.  Apparently, Snow has become angry, irritable, and downright mean. Even Happy almost curses her out. Snow thinks she’s better off the way she is because her mind is now clear. The potion was the solution and not the problem. The problem is that the Evil Queen ruined her life and still lives. Jiminy tells her she shouldn’t take her anger out on her friends, Snow agrees. She should get her revenge instead. She traps Jiminy under a glass and tells the dwarves she’s going to kill the Evil Queen. Snow goes all Annie Wilkes on one of the Evil Queen’s guards with her stolen pickaxe until he tells her the Evil Queen is headed to the summer palace. Snow is pissed because that was built for her mother. She knocks him out and steals his armor. The dwarves eventually catch up with her and Grumpy suggests going back to Rumplestiltskin to get her personality back. Snow agrees as Rumplestiltskin can do anything. Snow wants him to kill the Evil Queen for her, instead he gives her a bow in which the arrow fired will always find its target. Also gives her a map showing exactly where to hit the Evil Queen from. No payment this time, Rumplestiltskin is invested in her future. Creepy. Charming catches up with Snow while she’s trying to follow the Evil Queen. He kisses her, she decks him, again. Snow ties Charming to a tree. He tries to convince her of their love but she’s tired of his words. She wants action, which is why she’s going to kill the Evil Queen. Snow is ready to shoot the Evil Queen, but Charming jumps in front of the arrow and gets himself shot. Snow is touched that someone is willing to die for he and kisses him. Her memories return! Of course, King George’s Army finds them right then. Snow gets knocked out while Charming is taken hostage. Snow says she will find him.

Mary Margaret is not having a good day. We start out with her mugshot being taken by Emma. Very different from when Emma had her mugshot taken. Emma seemed used to it and knew the drill. Mary Margaret is getting scared from the flash going off and is back in church mouse mode. She is pleading with Emma that she didn’t kill Kathryn. Emma knows, but she has to follow the evidence. Mary Margaret starts to get angry because yesterday the evidence pointed to David. Emma needs Mary Margaret to trust her and be patient. She is working on proving her innocent, but she needs time. Emma brings Mary Margaret into a room for questioning. Regina is there to make sure Emma stays impartial. What? And why doesn’t Mary Margaret have a lawyer? Emma told David get one last week and he wasn’t even under arrest. If Regina wanted to make sure Emma stayed impartial, having a lawyer would be the way to go. Not having the mayor there. That doesn’t make any sense! The box that the heart was found in turns out to be Mary Margaret’s jewelry box. Mary Margaret says she’s being framed. Regina tries to convince? Get Mary Margaret to confess? I don’t know. She goes off saying that David hurt her so that made her dark and that’s why she killed Kathryn. Mary Margaret says she’s the same person she was. Mary Margaret finally lawyers up with Gold, who is also a lawyer. David comes by after his hypnosis session and accuses Mary Margaret of killing Kathryn. She’s done. After standing by him for so long how he could he even think that about her? She tells him to get out. Poor Mary Margaret. First she has an attraction to an amnesiac, married man. Then he wants to be with her, then he gets his memories back and wants to work on things with his wife, then they have an affair. Then he finally breaks up with his wife but Mary Margaret breaks up with him. Then wife goes missing and now she’s being framed and David doesn’t believe she didn’t have anything to do with it. So is it any wonder that when Mary Margaret finds a key to her cell she considers escaping? Especially when the heart is determined to be Kathryn’s. Emma shares her belief with Mary Margaret that Regina is framing her, but Mary Margaret has no idea why she would do that. So of course, Mary Margaret ends up using the key and running away.

Charming/David: We first see Charming dodging flaming arrows coming from King George’s men. Ruby’s wolfiness takes care of them as he rides out to find Snow. So we know we are back to the part after Frederick was degoldified and the wedding was called off. Does George know why the wedding was called off? Is he still after Charming because he ran out on the wedding or now because Abigail has found her true love? Charming finds the guard that Snow relieved of his uniform. How is he walking around after she broke his ankle with a pickaxe? He learns that Snow was behind his attack and I guess the guard overheard that Snow was going to see Rumplestiltskin so Charming heads to his castle. Wasn’t his castle in the middle of the snowy mountains in the middle of nowhere when we saw it in Skin Deep? How are people getting to it so easily? Charming wants to know how to save Snow from becoming a killer. Rumplestiltskin tells him that True Love’s Kiss will cure her and all he wants is Charming’s cloak as payment. He also gives him a copy of the same map he gave Snow. Says if Snow kills the Evil Queen she’ll be just as evil as she is. Charming vows that Snow could never become that evil. Charming does find her and kisses her but it doesn’t work, he gets knocked out. I can see that Charming definitely likes a little pain with his pleasure. He awakes tied to a tree and Snow assumes (correctly) that he’s the man she took the potion for. Charming doesn’t understand why True Love’s Kiss didn’t work. He tries and fails to convince her not to kill the Evil Queen. Luckily, Jiminy Cricket happens to be in the area and gets Charming loose and tells Charming he needs to remind Snow of who she is so she can remember who he is. Charming decides the best way to do this is to jump in front of the arrow meant for the Evil Queen. Snow kiss him and remembers. Of course, this is when King George’s guards catch up with them. They take Charming away. 

David is believing everything and everyone but his own gut. There is no way he can possibly believe that Mary Margaret is capable of murder, let alone cutting out someone’s heart, but he listens to everyone but himself. Regina tells him that everyone has a dark side, he says that there is a difference between a dark side and evil. David doesn’t think Regina knows much about evil. Oh, David, if you only knew who you were talking to. David thinks if he can figure out what happened during the missing time he can free Mary Margaret. Does he think that he’ll find out he killed Kathryn? That’s the only thing I can think of that would free Mary Margaret. David decides that he’ll go to Dr. Hopper to use hypnosis to retrieve his lost memories. He does remember that he spoke to Kathryn and she said everything she had said in the letter Regina burned. Unfortunately, he also remembers too far back, to when he was Charming and Snow said she was going to kill the Evil Queen, but he thinks it’s Mary Margaret talking about killing Kathryn. So, of course, David goes to Mary Margaret in jail and basically tells her he knew she wanted to kill Kathryn. Worst mixed up memory ever!

Emma: She finally has decided to do everything by the book and not run off half-cocked with ‘evidence’ anymore. Emma books Mary Margaret and lets her know she has to follow the evidence. Regina will find someone else if Emma doesn’t play by the rules. Then we have the questioning scene. How Regina convinced Emma to have her in the room while questioning Mary Margaret when both of them got on David last week for not having a lawyer is beyond me. You cannot have another random person in the room during questioning that isn’t part of law enforcement, can you? And Emma’s questioning Mary Margaret in the evidence room? Is there not an interrogation room in the precinct? After Regina tries to ‘comfort’ Mary Margaret and basically accuse her of killing Kathryn, Emma talks to her privately. Regina says to check their apartment for signs of a break in if Mary Margaret’s claims are true. Emma goes home to do exactly that and sees no signs anywhere of a break in. Henry comes by and Emma talks to him about Mary Margaret being framed (um, probably not the best idea to talk to your 10-year-old son about an ongoing case). He tells her it’s probably Regina since she hates Snow White. Emma doesn’t think that will hold up in court. Emma then happens to find the perfectly wrapped hunting knife in her floor vent that supposedly cut out Kathryn’s heart. Ok, I get that Regina framed this pretty nicely, but Mary Margaret lives with Emma, the sheriff. Does Regina honestly think that Emma wouldn’t notice if her roommate started going psycho? Gold offers to be Mary Margaret’s lawyer and Emma doesn’t think it’s a good idea because Gold is so shady. Henry comes back to Emma with the skeleton keys we last saw in What Happened to Frederick to show her how Regina would have broken into their apartment. Emma doesn’t think they would work because they don’t have a key lock, they have just a regular hole. But after a few tries, Henry and Emma find one that fits the lock and opens the apartment. Tests come back that the heart is Kathryn’s but Emma still doesn’t believe Mary Margaret did it. Is convinced Regina did it and is framing her, but belief isn’t proof, so she can’t do anything about it yet (see my questions about the keys below). Emma goes to Gold for help in proving Regina framed Mary Margaret. Gold says he is more powerful than Regina. For as much as Emma talks about following evidence, I don’t feel like she is, and then going to Gold at the end doesn’t bode well either.

Regina: She just lays it on so thick. For once she isn’t laying blame on Emma for everything wrong. She somehow gets in on Emma’s questioning of Mary Margaret (which I don’t understand), and then tries to be all sympathetic to Mary Margaret’s plight by relating her own sad story of loss and humiliation and how that changed her and made her dark. Hmm, more pieces of the puzzle or just Regina’s frame job tactics? Regina brings up how there would be signs of a break in if someone was trying to frame Mary Margaret. Not if they were trying to do a good job of framing her, Regina. She also mentions that having ones heart broken can make one do unspeakable things. So, basically, Regina went evil because she got her heart broken somehow? Is that what she’s saying? David comes to speak to Regina later because he doesn’t believe Mary Margaret is capable of killing Kathryn. Regina gives him the line about not being born evil but it being made. So was Regina nice at one point? We’ve only ever seen her evil, and even when we thought she was nice it turned out she was being manipulative. Are we to believe she was a nice person at one point? Regina tells David not to blame himself, sometimes evil is starting right at you and you don’t even realize it. Yes, David, the Evil Queen is staring right at you and you don’t realize it because she cursed everyone and is now framing your actual wife for your cursed wife’s murder! I wonder how much Regina just laughs at all the antics in town because of her curse.

Rumplestiltskin/Gold: I was not expecting to see Rumplestiltskin in this episode. The dwarves want to know why Snow’s such a bitch since taking the potion. He tells them that the potion took away Snow’s love and left a hole in her heart and there’s no way to bring that back. Exactly how does forgetting Charming make her into a bitch? Shouldn’t it just have made her the person she was before meeting Charming? I mean, sure she was feisty, but she wasn’t the person she is in this episode. He talks more about how love is the most powerful magic of all and the only thing he hasn’t been able to bottle. Snow wants him to help exact her revenge on the Evil Queen. He gives her a map and a bow that will send any arrow exactly where the archer wants it to go. He also tells Snow he doesn’t need payment because he’s invested in her future. Then Charming goes to Rumplestiltskin looking for answers about Snow. He also gives him a map and tells Charming what Snow is off to do. Rumplestiltskin says that if Snow kills the queen she will be just as evil as the queen was. He also gives the line about evil not being born but made, which we did see happen to him in Desperate Souls. Rumplestiltskin given Charming the same map he gave Snow in exchange for his cloak (it’s snowing outside, won’t Charming be cold). He wants it for Charming’s hair. He now has true love in a bottle

August: He tells Henry to look in his book for answers to help Mary Margaret. Henry says it’s just a book but August lets on that it’s more than that. August finally reveals that he knows the stories in the book are real and he believes and he’s there to make Emma believe!

Jiminy Cricket: Acts as a mediator in Snow’s intervention and does not do a good job. And then conveniently finds Charming in the woods and knows who he is (this seems to be his first time meeting both Snow and Charming) to help him escape to rescue Snow from herself. Gives good advice to Charming at least, even if he does use it to get himself shot.

Questions:

Did Emma get a warrant for Mary Margaret’s arrest? Since there is no body and the heart hasn’t been proven to be Kathryn’s at the time of the arrest, what exactly was she arrested for?

How do the dwarves know Jiminy? Is he just a conscience for hire? Why isn’t he with Pinocchio who should be around at this point?

Why can we understand Jiminy? Previously we’ve only heard him chirping when he’s been a cricket. Why is he now speaking English?

How exactly does this forgetting potion work? Snow remembers giving Rumplestiltskin her hair for the potion in the first place, but she’s forgotten everything having to do with Charming? What does she remember instead?

Ok, I get that David was basically in a dream state when he ‘remembered’ Mary Margaret saying he was going to kill ‘her’, but does he not see that she has long hair and is wearing strange clothes?

Has Regina done something to David to make him forget things? Why would he forget the phone conversation and looking for Kathryn in the woods? 

If the arrow shot from the bow Rumplestiltskin gave Snow always hits its target, shouldn’t the arrow somehow not hit a person who jumps in front of the arrow? Or are we to believe that Snow somehow wanted to hit Charming? If there is magic involved, the arrow shouldn’t have hit Charming. Unless Rumplestiltskin enchanted it to hit Charming in order to get Snow’s memories back.

Is this really Kathryn’s heart? Could Kathryn still be alive and Regina tampered with medical records? Could this actually be Kathryn’s heart and it’s just out of her chest? We know Regina has that capability.

Can Emma not use the keys as evidence that Regina may be behind Kathryn’s disappearance/death? Can she not use evidence someone else gave her? I’m confused as to why she can’t use the keys as proof that someone could have broken into their house?

Who left the key in Mary Margaret’s jail cell? It’s one of the skeleton keys, so I’m going to assume Regina for right now. Why would she want Mary Margaret to escape?

Observations:

Good job, Emma, leaving Mary Margaret alone with the jewelry box and in the evidence room in general.

There is no way I believe that Regina would be on horseback while it is snowing and not in her carriage where it would be much warmer.

Jiminy Cricket’s bites through  the ropes holding Charming to free him. I couldn’t find anything about crickets actually having teeth, but they can (but rarely do) bite people.

There is no rainbow whoosh like in the Pilot when Snow and Charming break the memory potion curse with True Love’s Kiss.

In his shop Gold is handling the genie lamp from Fruit of the Poisonous Tree, and all the jewels are back to green.

Rumplestiltskin has seen the future enough that he knows Snow and Charming are True Love.

Once Upon a Time Firsts:

Evil isn’t born, it’s made.

Rumplestiltskin’s true love potion

Good episode. I liked that Snow and Charming are back together, but obviously there are still trials ahead. We haven’t even seen the cursed apple and sleeping curse yet. And we learned a little more about what apparently made Regina go evil, although we still have very little details.This whole business with Regina framing Mary Margaret for Kathryn’s death is just boring though. I still think Kathryn could be alive. We all know that people can live without their hearts, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Please leave comments and reblog!

@searchingwardrobes @thisonesatellite @justbecauseyoubelievesomething @laschatzi @profdanglaisstuff @mariakov81

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT 1X16 - Heart of Darkness

Howdy! It’s been well over a week since I wrote my last review, so will this episode get me back into the swing of things or just leave me with a heart of darkness?

Your answer to this most deliberating question lies below the cut.

Press Release Mary Margaret hires Mr. Gold as her attorney when Emma is forced to arrest her for the suspected murder of David’s wife, Kathryn. Meanwhile, back in the fairytale land that was, Prince Charming sets out to stop a determined and unhinged Snow White, whose memory is still clouded by Rumplestiltskin’s potion, from assassinating the Evil Queen. General Thoughts Past Snow’s character in this episode is just phenomenal. Her character builds on the aspects introduced in other episodes. In addition to seeing almost this path she’d walk if she’d never met Charming come out in full force, demonstrating just how much love is necessary in Snow’s life, we see some of the snarkiness (Such as in her scene with Red in the flashback of “7:15AM”) taken to eleven. And what I think works even better is that while Snow is undeniably showing unfavorable behavior, especially to her friends and roommates, until we get to Charming, just like Rumple in “Skin Deep,” it’s kept funny. It’s domestic (A term that the fandom often abuses and can sometimes demand too much of, but here it works because those scenes act to better the story) and snarky - and most importantly, fully enjoyable for the audience. Annoying characters should be annoying to the other characters, not to the audience, and Snow fulfils that so well. I found myself cracking up so much here! And at the same time, the tonal shift for when things need to get serious lands. Originally, I thought it happened after Snow went to Rumple, but I was shocked when we saw just how horrifying Snow could be in the second flashback. Not only do we see her viciousness in that attack on the knight, but those bits of manipulations towards Grumpy do a good job reflecting her change and lack of concern. Present The conflict in this episode is richer than a bite of the world’s finest cookie, and by that I mean that it’s tragic as all hell, but so fascinating to sit through. The main relationships are being picked at and brought to their limits - friendships, romances, power dynamics, rivalries - and it all works so well. Everyone’s motivations are laid out and you can see where they are coming from because they’re all from real places - even those on the more fantastical side of things. For the first time, we’re seeing Emma in this impossible lose-lose position where to help Mary Margaret, she has to hurt her, and Mary Margaret’s expected frustration is so understandable. While they make it clear that she logically understands what’s going on, her frustration at having to be the person going through all of these consequences is - while hard to watch - a reasonable reaction, especially as the evidence against her grows that much more. And that in turn fuels Emma’s frustrations, though those are kept more reserved, a very in-character move for Season 1 Emma. And I love how Regina is there - making things as painful and complicated for all involved. From her mere appearance to her fake shows of sympathy to her brief shows of her hand, Mary Margaret and Emma’s conflicts rise like gas prices in every instance of her presence. It gives this episode the feeling of breathlessness because you never know when she’s going to show up next. Both I feel like the episode was trying to push a theme of “maybe you don’t really know the people in your life as well as you think you do,” but the fact that the people judged are either being framed or have their memories wiped makes it fall flat. It works better in the present, since Regina’s the one who is setting everyone up to fail (Another instance of Regina bringing up the theme of the episode), but in the past, it’s weaker. Insights -Ruby taking off that hood makes me feel things. Very gay things. :D -I think that opening in the flashback may be in my top 5 opening flashbacks in the entire series! -I know that this is more of a “That Still Small Voice” things, but it just came to mind: Do you think a post-finale Jiminy is still immortal? Will he die as soon as Marco dies? Blue mentioned that he’d live as long as it took to help Gepetto. Did the curse take that away since he wasn’t a cricket anymore? -Why did no one let Jiminy out of that thing?! -Damn, I love Regina’s dialogue throughout this whole interrogation scene. In addition to touching each and every nerve of Mary Margaret, David, and Emma’s as I stated before, because we know now what happened to Regina, everything she says has this double meaning. -I shouted “FUCK” when Snow attacked that guy. Snow...I know you go on to kill Cora and all, but that was just fucking brutal. -I love how (1) Emma’s knows that Henry’s going to sneak out to hang with her no matter what and is now just making moves to ensure he’ll be safe about it, and (2) the MM picture with Henry reflects on her too, as if that’s her ideal life now. -The more I see August and Henry, the more I wish they’d bro’d out a bit more in the later seasons after Henry became the Author. I know they wanted to give more of an impression that Henry was going into his authorship blind so he wouldn’t have all the answers and make conflicts too easy, but I feel like since August was pretty flawed and didn’t fully understand what it meant to be the Author, he and Henry could’ve still had some interesting conversations about it. -”As real as I am.” August, was that a backhanded compliment I spied? -Gold, you glorious bastard! That smirk as Emma’s leaving fucking kills me! -”If you can bottle love, you can do anything.” That is just a cool fucking line, and it sort of comes back in Season 3 with the time travel recipe. -Fuck, I’m always so impressed by the double meanings of these lines, and half of what Rumple says in his flashback scenes can go here. -And the way that Rumple sells himself as a madman to make others underestimate him is so genius. The way that he only lets that down for a few individuals throughout the flashbacks shows just how much he respects them. -Snow, that was a very good reaction! Charming, love you man, but you are such a dolt sometimes. -JMo’s “holy shit” faces are priceless! The door opening was incredible! -Josh’s eyes are so blue! They’re like the color of the ocean in Florida! -Davie, my boy. If MM killed her, how did she suddenly grow and de-grow all of that hair? -Why no rainbow of love from that Snowing kiss? -Can anyone tell me the timeline of Snow living with the dwarfs? Like, Charming was getting married at most one day after Snow’s visit. Then Grumpy tells Snow that the wedding was off, presumably on the day of the wedding, and that’s when Snow took the potion. And after an undisclosed amount of time, Snow became Bitchy Snow. How long did the dwarfs have to get to know the real Snow before that ended? -Why weren’t the keys court-worthy? Is it because she’s the mayor? I still feel like they should count for something? Phoenix Wright, anything to add on this? Arcs Kathryn Nolan’s Kidnapping - The strength of this arc comes not from the mystery itself, but from all of the character interactions we get out of it. Like, last week, I found the search for Kathryn that didn’t touch upon Ruby’s character to be confusing and a little boring. However, those character moments between them? Amazing! For instance, in this episode, I feel like things were better structured because they played around with and prodded their most engaging relationships. Emma’s search for evidence probably wouldn’t have done anything for me had Henry not been there to hang out with her and help her solve things. The strain on Mary Margaret and Emma’s friendship that this case and Regina was causing was heartbreaking and drew my attention like a fly to a house light. But the development of the mystery did work, hitting all the plot points it had to to bring out everyone’s desperation. Favorite Dynamic David and Mary Margaret - Because I haven’t really liked this dynamic for the most part in the present, I felt especially impressed with them here. David’s determination to help save Mary Margaret, even at his own expense, is just inspiring. Taking a fall like that shows the dedication I wanted to see out of David and it really makes me feel like he learned his lesson from “Whatever Happened to Frederick?” And that just makes those subtle bits of manipulation, the horribly timed bits of memories returned, and his discussion with Mary Margaret so sad. On Mary Margaret’s side, it’s so awful to see that someone who believed in her who wasn’t bound to a job turned on her. From her perspective, that just happened on a dime and it makes that scene between them so profoundly powerful. Writer Chambliss and Goldberg are at it again! These guys are so solid together. They have a way of taking advantage of these story ideas and making the nitty gritty of these conflicts so nuanced. While I’ve only adored their use of theme in one episode (“Fruit of the Poisonous Tree”), they do a great job balancing out their episodes through their use of story and characters to make the ride fun! Rating 10/10. I genuinely had no problem with this episode. While the theme isn’t an especially strong one, the story and character interactions more than make up for it. We finally get to see what so much of Regina’s plotting and scheming is starting to add up to, and it brings everyone to their brink. And in the past, we get to see so much of Snow with other characters and understand what a Snow without love could become. This is such a tragic episode to watch, but it’s so engaging seeing everyone try to figure out this mystery as obstacles are introduced and allegiances are tested. Flip My Ship Snowing - I love how these brief windows of time when Snow and Charming can actually be together show how strong their love actually is. Their lines are poetic and their actions are big and dramatic but not at all off-putting. Additionally, unlike in “Whatever Happened With Frederick,” we see what Snow’s life would’ve been like without love, and we see just how much Charming has changed and benefitted Snow’s life just by being there for her and showing her that she can be there for someone too. Additionally, their banter is just fantastic. Finally, Snow said the full line for the first time! Squee!!!

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Another winner! Let’s see if the next episode can pull something similar out of it’s hat!

Thank you again to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales for putting this together and giving me some space on their pretty page!

Season Tally (139/220) Writer Tally for Season 1: A&E (41/70) Liz Tigelaar (17/20)* David Goodman (24/50) Jane Espenson (36/60) Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg (29/40) Daniel Thomsen (8/10)* (* = Their work for the season is complete)

Operation Rewatch Archives

[the-final-straw-blog]

Sahar Francis of Addameer on Palestinian Prisoners

Sahar Francis of Addameer

This week, I spoke with Sahar Francis, the Director of Addameer. Addameer is a non-governmental organization, or NGO, based in Ramallah in the West Bank in occupied Palestine that focuses on human rights advocacy, political prisoner support & public education efforts like Know Your Rights trainings. Addameer is one of the projects that is receiving a portion of the profits of the 2019 Certain Days: Political Prisoners Calendar that we’ve you’ve heard of in past episodes. For the purposes of broadcast, we had to cut some portions of this chat for the radio. If you’re listening to the radio version, check out our podcast version for a few more minutes of chat. More instructions below.

For the hour, Sahar tells us about aspects of the Palestinian struggle of the last 70 years against the domination of the Israeli state and a little about the refugee situation of the 10 million Palestinians in the region as they await their Right of Return to their homeland. Addameer (which translates to “Conscience” from Arabic) works to highlight the treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories by the military court system of Israel, in particular the situation of youth as young as 12 years old who face harassment and torture, administrative detention of months and years on end with seemingly no end, and the impunity of the military system’s use against Palestinians, and the unequal treatment of Palestinians and Israeli Jewish Settlers in the Occupied Territories. We also speak of the movement towards widening the death penalty under military law and the difficulty of Palestinian lawyers offering defense in the Israeli military courts who aren’t usually fluent in Hebrew or proficient in Israeli law, as they study Palestinian law in college. Addameer, as a human rights organization, frames it’s work in terms of International Human Rights law as enshrined in the United Nations (UNRWA, The Geneva Convention in hopes of eventual international intervention against the ongoing genocide at the hands of the Israeli government. We even cover the incarceration of Palestinians (in Israel or the Occupied Territories) for publishing critique of the Israeli occupation on social media (1,000’s, including Tareen Tatour in 2015). In a segment comparing Settler-Colonialism in the U.S. & Israel/Palestine, Sahar speaks about two Bedouin villages under threat of demolition by Israel, Khan al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank as well as Umm al-Hiran in order to clear way for Israeli colonial design.

. ... . ..

If you visit our website, thefinalstrawradio.noblogs.org you can find all of our episodes going back to 2010. To never miss an episode, click the “podcasting” link, where you can find instructions on how to subscribe to our podcast using iTunes or whatever music app or program you like, including our soon-to-be resurrected Error451 podcast, an occasional tech security podcast from an anarchist perspective. In the near future we hope to bring you perspectives on encryption from the pEp (or Pretty Easy Protection) Foundation, LEAP (or Leap Encryption Access Project) and more.

Stay tuned next week for an overview of the 2018 Nationwide Prison Strike with an incarcerated organizer named Dee from Jailhouse Lawyers Speak.

  Announcements

Phone Zap for Comrade Malik Washington

This didn’t make it into the recording for today, but this Tuesday, November 13th, BRABC with the backing of IWOC is inciting a phone zap in support of Keith “Comrade Malik” Washington to get Malik out of segregation. Malik has been continuously punished and persecuted, including instances of medical endangerment and solitary confinement with out reason given or recourse. He’s also had his property, including legal documents, taken and his communication is greatly stifled at the moment (including legal). Read more by visiting the above links.

Digital Security Self-Defense at Firestorm

If you’re in the Asheville area coming up, on Saturday, November 17th from 4-6pm at Firestorm Books and coffee, Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross will be giving a free, interactive presentation on online hygene and security self-defense threat modeling the far-right. But, whether you’re concerned about what info’s online that might fall into the hands of the fash, a stalker or just want to tie up loose ends, a lot of the tools and tips are the same. Bring a laptop, tablet or phone to work on. And a few hours later there’ll be a concert by Nomadic War Machine at the Bottle Shop, an electronic assault by Margaret Killjoy that you’re welcome to swing by.

SF Bay View Newspaper Updates

In an update to our past episode featuring Mary Ratcliff of the SFBayView National Black Newspaper from August, we have good news! Amani Sawari, who we interviewed in July about the Nationwide Prison Strike as an outside spokesperson for Jailhouse Lawyers Speak prisoner organization, will be stepping up to take on the editorial position at that paper and giving Mary and Dr. Willie Ratcliff a long-deserved break. There’s an online fundraiser to help get Amani situated in the Bay Area where you can support the transition and hopefully long next phase for the paper. You can find out more at https://www.patreon.com/sfbayview

Anti-Anti-Semitism Action

In light of the murder of eleven people at the Tree of Life synagogue, Anti-Anti-Semitism Action is asking for your support to take action against anti-Semitic organizers and to defend Jews. We are raising funds which we need to spotlight specific anti-Semitic organizers—especially those who use platforms that cater to the Alt Right such as Gab—to spread their toxic conspiracy theories. Funds will be used to expose and run public campaigns against activists who spread anti-Semitism, as well as those promoters who bring anti-Semitic speakers to their towns. Remaining monies will be used to provide security and protection for Jewish activists who are targeted by anti-Semites. This includes hiring security for public appearances, and arranging security measures at activists' residences. The ADL raises millions of dollars a year to “fight anti-Semitism” but they refuse to do the nuts and bolts work of taking action against anti-Semitic organizers or protecting Jews who are targeted. 100% of your donations will go directly to this.

Donate to this fundraiser here

Support Craggy Prisoner, Dayvon Person

Dayvon Person is a prisoner being accused of inciting a riot on September 24 at the Craggy Correctional Institution, just outside of Asheville, NC, where he was just about to reach minimum security levels. It’s requested that people call officials to press them to hear is appeal of innocecence. He is asking that folks on the outside call with persistence, and ask these persons to hear his appeal for this false accusation.

You can call:

Kenneth E. Lassiter (Director of Prison Facilities):

919 838 4000

919 838 3755

David Rogers (State Representative):

919 733 5749

Ralph Hise (NC Senator representing District 47):

919 733 3460

Express your concern through calling or writing the North Carolina Department of Public Safety:

512 North Salisbury Street Raleigh, NC 27604

919-733-2126

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