#National Park Service Tactics

[alleycatallies]

Alley Cat Allies Achieves a Victory in Court, Exposing National Park Service's Underhanded Tactics

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO: Alley Cat Allies, the leader of the global movement to protect cats and kittens, has achieved a critical legal victory against the National Park Service (NPS) and its plan to eradicate cats from Puerto Rico’s San Juan National Historic Site. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia has denied the NPS’ attempt to transfer the Alley Cat Allies lawsuit to a court in Puerto Rico.

After this failed maneuver, the NPS is now hastening the implementation of its brutal plan before the court can determine its legality. It plans to round up cats on the historic site starting October 1, 2024.

“The NPS tried to delay by transferring the case and, now that the court has seen through its tactic, is acting in bad faith by moving forward in a rush,” said Yonaton Aronoff, a lawyer representing Alley Cat Allies. “Alley Cat Allies insists that the NPS cease any further steps in its deadly plan against Puerto Rico’s cats or we will seek appropriate relief.”

Alley Cat Allies argues that the NPS’s eradication plan violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

The plan, which includes trapping, removing, and “euthanizing” cats, is cruel and ineffective. Removing the cats creates a vacuum, which cats living in San Juan will quickly move into the historic site to fill. The NPS is only setting itself up for an endless cycle of killing rather than supporting humane, effective approaches like Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).

The court’s decision is an important step forward, and Alley Cat Allies remains committed to holding the NPS accountable and protecting Puerto Rico’s community cats.

The people of Puerto Rico have voiced their opposition to the NPS plan. They, and Alley Cat Allies, recognize the threatened cats as community members who are woven into Puerto Rican culture and history. We call on the NPS to immediately halt its cruel plan and engage in a transparent, accountable process that respects the law, the lives of the cats, and the community’s wishes. Alley Cat Allies will not stop fighting until it does.

About Alley Cat Allies

Alley Cat Allies believes every cat deserves to live out his or her life to the fullest.

Founded in 1990, Alley Cat Allies is the leading advocacy organization for cats with a mission to transform and develop communities to protect and improve the lives of all cats and kittens. Together with our over 1.4 million supporters, we work toward a world where cats are valued and every community has humane and effective programs and policies to defend them.

Through our fearless advocacy, humane care, education and outreach, and law and policy activism, we empower and mobilize citizens, advocates, grassroots groups, shelters, veterinary professionals, and elected officials across the United States and around the world to improve their communities for cats through nonlethal, evidence-based approaches. Our website is www.alleycat.org, and we are active on Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Content source: https://www.alleycat.org/alley-cat-allies-achieves-a-victory-in-court-exposing-national-park-services-underhanded-tactics/

[bnnuyko]

RPD - Main Hall

Screenshots in-game of the smaller details that authors may be interested in — ♡

TW; blood

Feel free to request any other details you wish to see — ♡

main hall;

The Daily Raccoon RACCOON CITY, 1998 MISSING MAN FOUND DEAD IN RACCOON CITY Body discovered after five days of searching.

'Family looks for missing teen'

RACCOON TIMES June 22, 1998 Horror in Raccoon City ﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌ More Victims Dead ﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌ The bodies of a young couple were found early Sunday morning in Victory Park, making Deanne Rusch and Christopher Smith the eighth and ninth victims in the reign of violence that has terrorized the city since mid-May of this year. Both victims, aged 19, were reported as missing by concerned parents late Saturday night and were discovered by police officers on the west bank of Victory Lake at approximately 2 A.M. Although no formal statement has been issued by the police department, witnesses to the discovery confirm that both youths suffered wounds similar to those found on prior victims. Whether or not the attackers were human or animal has yet to be announced. According to friends of the young couple, the two had talked about tracking down the rumored "wild dogs" recently spotted in the heavily forested park and had planned to violate the city-wide curfew in order to see one of the alleged nocturnal creatures. Mayor Harris has scheduled a press conference for this afternoon, and is expected to make an announcement regarding the current crisis, calling for a stricter enforcement of the curfew.

CITYSIDE Raccoon City's #1 Newspaper June 21, 1998 "S.T.A.R.S" SPECIAL TACTICS AND RESCUE SQUAD SENT TO SAVE RACCOON CITY With the reported disappearance of three hikers in Raccoon Forest earlier this week, city officials have finally called for a roadblock on rural Route 6 at the foothills of the Arklay Mountains. Police Chief Brian Irons announced yesterday that the S.T.A.R.S. will participate full-time in the search for the hikers and will also be working closely with the RPD until there is an end to the rash of murders and disappearances that are destroying our community Chief Irons, a former S.T.A.R.S. member himself, said today (in an exclusive Cityside telephone interview) that it is "high time to employ the talents of these dedicated men and women toward the safety of this city. We've had nine brutal murders here in less than two months, and at least five disappearances now-and all of these events have taken place in a close proximity to Raccoon Forest. This leads us to believe that the perpetrators of these crimes may be hiding somewhere in the Victory Lake district, and the S.T.A.R.S have just the kind of experience we need to find them." When asked why the S.T.A.R.S hadn't been assigned to these cases until now, Chief Irons would only say that the S.T.A.R.S. have been assisting the RPD since the beginning and that they would be a "welcoming addition" to the task force currently working on the murders full-time. Founded in New York in 1967, the privately funded S.T.A.R.S. organization was originally created as a measure against cult-affiliated terrorism by a group of retired military officials and ex-field operatives from both the CIA and FBI. Under the guidance of former NSDA (National Security and Defense Agency) director Marco Palmieri, the group quickly expanded its services to include everything from hostage negotiation and code breaking to riot control. Working with local police agencies, each branch office of the S.T.A.R.S. is designed to work as a complete unit itself. The S.T.A.R.S. set up its Raccoon City branch through the fund-raising efforts of several local businesses in 1972 and is currently led by Captain Albert Wesker, promoted to the position less than six months ago.

Alberto Paque Ramirez David Cockman Katie Chevalier Manuel Trillo Carmona Stefano Ivan Stinga

In loving memory of those who served with the valor of lions, the nobility of unicorns, and whose ultimate sacrifice is as pure as the maidens of old.

Laura Salomon Ugo Ricard Janet Hsu Luca Baldassarre Francis Ishii

[uwmspeccoll]

Milestone Monday

On this day, November 25, 1863, the Battle of Missionary Ridge occurred. During this military engagement, Union troops, led by General Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), defeated the Confederate forces commanded by General Braxton Bragg (1817-1876) at Missionary Ridge in Tennessee, successfully concluding the Siege of Chattanooga.

The outcome of the Battle of Missionary Ridge had major implications for the Confederate Army. It exposed vulnerabilities in their defensive strategies and highlighted the challenges of commanding a dispersed and demoralized force. In the aftermath of the defeat, General Braxton Bragg faced intense criticism from both his troops and Confederate leadership, which eventually contributed to his reassignment.

The success at Missionary Ridge marked a key turning point in the Civil War. It secured control of Chattanooga and opened up the Deep South for subsequent Union offensives. This triumph set the stage for General Sherman's Atlanta Campaign and his infamous March to the Sea. It also reinforced the Union's commitment to prevail against Confederate forces until the war's conclusion in 1865.

The success of Union forces during this battle underscored the importance of strong leadership and coordination among troops. General Ulysses S. Grant, known for his aggressive and strategic military tactics, was later appointed commander of all Union armies and played a pivotal role in the war's conclusion. He would later become the 18th president of the United States.

Today, Missionary Ridge is preserved as part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, where visitors can learn about the battle strategies, the soldiers' experiences, and the broader context of the Civil War.

The images come from the following books in our Civil War Collections:

Lee and His Generals by Capt. William P. Snow, published in New York by Richardson & Company in 1867.

Braxton Bragg, General of the Confederacy by Don C. Seitz, published in Columbia, S.C. by The State Company in 1924.

The Generalship of Ulysses S. Grant by Colonel J. F. C. Fuller, published in New York by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1929.

Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant published in New York by C. L. Webster in 1885.

Life and Public Services of General Grant Being a Complete Life of the Great Hero Following His Career from the Cradle to its Close ... by William Ralston Balch, published in Chicago by J.S. Goodman in 1885.

View more of our Milestone Monday posts

-Melissa, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[artistic-vixen]

Juniper "Vixen" Parks (Shadow Company au)

Name: Juniper Parks 

Aliases: Shadow 7-13/ Vixen  Nicknames: June, Juni, JuJu 

Nationality: Britian Ethnicity: White  

Age: 28   

DoB: Dec 6th, 1995 

Pronouns: She/her/hers  

Gender: Female  

Sex: Female 

Sexuality: Demisexual 

Height: 5’5 

Languages: British, English, French 

Which CoD universe: Modern Warfare reboot 

Branches of Service: Army/ Marine corps 

Affiliation: Us Army (formerly)/ Shadow company (Currently/ AU) 

Rank: (N/A at this moment) 

Specialties: (N/A at this moment) 

Personality: (N/A at this moment) 

Alignment: (N/A at this moment) 

Backstory: [CLASSIFIED] 

Issues: (N/A at this moment) 

Habits: (N/A at this moment) 

Scars: (N/A at this moment) 

Preferred method of showing care/affection/love language: Food (Baking, cooking candies) and touch 

Preferred way of receiving care/affection: Touch, Food,  

Eye Color: Blue 

Hair description: Thick curly hair with a few strands of sliver throughout, short and barely touches the nape of her neck.  

Clothing description: In uniform: She wears a long sleeve turtle neck, tactical vest, dark denim pants, black boots, knee shoulder and elbow pads, and a black balaclava.  Out of uniform: When she’s out of uniform she likes to wear mostly neutral colors, although purple is her favorite color. She likes long flowy skirts, long sleeve shirts or anything frilly. She also absolutely loves wearing overalls if the weather allows. 

Body description: Vixen is chubby but the athletic kind of chubby. She does have stretch marks on her legs, arms and chest. She has freckles that dapple her face, shoulders, arms, back and legs. She has pale skin, and dark bags under her eyes. 

Favorite activities: (N/A at this moment) 

Blood type: (N/A at this moment) 

Favorite animal(s): Cats, dogs, snakes and jumping spiders 

Favorite food/dessert: (N/A at this moment) 

[ranahan]

Free tactical medicine learning resources

If you want to learn first aid, emergency care or tactical medical care for real, you will need to practice these skills. A lot. Regularly. There’s no way to learn them just from books. But if you’re looking to supplement your training, can’t access hands on training, are a layperson doing research for your writing or otherwise just curious, here are some free resources (some may need a free account to access them).

TCCC

The current gold standard in the field is Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC), developed by the US army but used by militaries around the world. There is also a civilian version of the system called Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC). Training materials, Standards of Care, instructional videos, etc. can be accessed at deployedmedicine.com. You’ll need a free account. This should be your first and possibly only stop.

There’s also an app and a podcast if those are more your thing, although I haven’t personally tried them.

More TCCC (video) resources

STOP THE BLEED® Interactive Course

TCCC-MP Guidelines and Curriculum presentations and training videos

EURMED’s Medical Beginner's Resource List has suggested list of video materials (disclaimer: I haven’t watched the playlists, but I have been trained by nearly all of the linked systems/organisations and can vouch for them)

Tactical Medical Solutions training resource page (requires registration; some of the courses are free)

North American Rescue video downloads

Emergency medicine

WHO-ICRC Basic Emergency Care: approach to the acutely ill and injured — an open-access course workbook for basic emergency care with limited resources

Global Health Emergency Medicine — open-access, evidence-based, peer-reviewed emergency medicine modules designed for teachers and learners in low-resource health setting

AFEM Resources — curricula, lecture bank, reviews, etc.

Global Emergency Medicine Academy Resources (links to more resources)

OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology textbook

Open-access anatomy and physiology learning resources

OpenStax Pharmacology for nurses textbook

Principles of Pharmacology – Study Guide

Multiple Casualty Incidents

Management of Multiple Casualty Incidents lecture

Bombings: Injury Patterns and Care blast injuries course (scroll down on the page)

Borden Institute has medical textbooks about biological, chemical and nuclear threats

Psychological first aid: Guide for field workers

Prolonged field care

When the evac isn’t coming anytime soon.

Prolonged Field Care Basics lecture (requires registration)

Aerie 14th Edition Wilderness Medicine Manual (textbook)

Austere Emergency Medical Support (AEMS) Field Guide (textbook)

Prolonged Casualty Care (PCC) Guidelines

Wilderness Medical Society Clinical Practice Guidelines

Austere Medicine Resources: Practice Guidelines — a great resource of WMS, PFC, TCCC, etc. clinical practice guidelines in one place

The Wilderness and Environmental Medicine Journal (you can read past issues without a membership)

Prolonged Field Care Collective: Resources

National Park Services Emergency Medical Services Resources

Guerilla Medicine: An Introduction to the Concepts of Austere Medicine in Asymmetric Conflicts (article)

Mental health & PTSD

National Center for PTSD

Psychological first aid: Guide for field workers

Combat and Operational Behavioral Health (medical textbook)

Resources for doctors and medical students

Or you know, other curious people who aren’t afraid of medical jargon.

Borden Institute Military Medical Textbooks and Resources — suggestions: start with Fundamentals of Military Medicine; mechanism of injury of conventional weapons; these two volumes on medical aspects of operating in extreme environments; psychosocial aspects of military medicine; or Combat Anesthesia

Emergency War Surgery textbook and lectures

Disaster Health Core Curriculum — online course for health professionals

Médecins Sans Frontières Clinical guidelines

Pocket book of hospital care for children: Second edition — guidelines for the management of common childhood illnesses in low resource settings

Grey’s Quick Reference: Basic Protocols in Paediatrics and Internal Medicine For Resource Limited Settings

The Department of Defense Center of Excellence for Trauma: Trauma Care Resources (links to more resources)

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from the New York Times:

As Elon Musk’s Starship — the largest rocket ever manufactured — successfully blasted toward the sky last month, the launch was hailed as a giant leap for SpaceX and the United States’ civilian space program.

Two hours later, once conditions were deemed safe, a team from SpaceX, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a conservation group began canvassing the fragile migratory bird habitat surrounding the launch site.

The impact was obvious.

The launch had unleashed an enormous burst of mud, stones and fiery debris across the public lands encircling Mr. Musk’s $3 billion space compound. Chunks of sheet metal and insulation were strewn across the sand flats on one side of a state park. Elsewhere, a small fire had ignited, leaving a charred patch of park grasslands — remnants from the blastoff that burned 7.5 million pounds of fuel.

Most disturbing to one member of the entourage was the yellow smear on the soil in the same spot that a bird’s nest lay the day before. None of the nine nests recorded by the nonprofit Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program before the launch had survived intact.

Egg yolk now stained the ground.

“The nests have all been messed up or have eggs missing,” Justin LeClaire, a Coastal Bend wildlife biologist, told a Fish and Wildlife inspector as a New York Times reporter observed nearby.

The outcome was part of a well-documented pattern.

On at least 19 occasions since 2019, SpaceX operations have caused fires, leaks, explosions or other problems associated with the rapid growth of Mr. Musk’s complex in Boca Chica. These incidents have caused environmental damage and reflect a broader debate over how to balance technological and economic progress against protections of delicate ecosystems and local communities.

That natural tension is heightened by Mr. Musk’s influence over American space aspirations. Members of Congress and senior officials in the Biden administration have fretted privately and publicly about the extent of Mr. Musk’s power as the U.S. government increasingly relies on SpaceX for commercial space operations and for its plans to travel to the moon and even Mars.

An examination of Mr. Musk’s tactics in South Texas shows how he exploited the limitations and competing missions of the various agencies most poised to be a check on the ferocious expansion of the industrial complex he calls Starbase. Those charged with protecting the area’s cultural and natural resources — particularly officials from the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service — repeatedly lost out to more powerful agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration, whose goals are intertwined with Mr. Musk’s.

In the end, South Texas’ ecology took a back seat to SpaceX’s — and the country’s — ambitions.

Executives from SpaceX declined repeated requests in person and via email to comment. But Gary Henry, who until this year served as a SpaceX adviser on Pentagon launch programs, said the company was aware of the officials’ complaints about environmental impact and was committed to addressing them.

Kelvin B. Coleman, the top F.A.A. official overseeing space launch licenses, said he was convinced that his agency was doing its duty, which is to foster space travel safely.

“Blowing debris into state parks or national land is not what we prescribed, but the bottom line is no one got hurt, no one got injured,” Mr. Coleman said in an interview. “We certainly don’t want people to feel like they’re bulldozed. But it’s a really important operation that SpaceX is conducting down there. It is really important to our civilian space program.”

[mariacallous]

The April 10 legislative elections in South Korea loom especially large for President Yoon Suk-yeol. After winning his election in March 2022 by the narrowest margin in the country’s history, the conservative Yoon inherited the National Assembly elected in 2020, in which South Korea’s liberals won a historic landslide thanks to the Moon Jae-in administration’s strong response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of the legislature’s 300 seats, the liberal coalition won a 180-seat majority, the largest margin of victory in South Korea’s democratic history.

Two years into his five-year presidential term, Yoon has left a mark in areas that are down to the president alone. Yoon made profligate use of presidential decrees, executive orders that don’t require legislative approval. In his first year, Yoon issued 809 presidential decrees, while his two immediate predecessors, Moon and Park Geun-hye, issued 660 and 653 decrees, respectively, in their first years. Yoon also exerted influence through his appointments—most notably Park Min, the new head of the state-owned broadcaster KBS who sacked popular liberal journalists as soon as he took office. In foreign policy, Yoon capitulated to Japan’s demands to sideline World War II-era Korean forced laborers and release wastewater from the failed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, paving the way for U.S.-Japan-South Korea trilateral cooperation.

But in areas that require legislative assent, Yoon has been stymied. The South Korean Constitution allows the executive branch to directly propose a bill to the legislature. For the first six months of Yoon’s presidency, the National Assembly refused to pass a single bill proposed by the government. Yoon’s campaign pledge of abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, pandering to the toxic misogyny rampant among young Korean men and fueling their conservative turn, has not come to pass because a reorganization of cabinet ministries requires passing a law. (Yoon has responded by simply refusing to appoint a gender equality minister.)

Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Party has leveraged its commanding majority to pass laws that could have been highly damaging to Yoon, such as providing for special prosecutor investigations of the Itaewon Halloween disaster, in which 159 partygoers died in crushing crowds in Seoul’s popular nightlife district, and the alleged stock pump-and-dump scheme on the part of first lady Kim Keon-hee. Each time, Yoon responded by exercising a presidential veto, quickly racking up nine vetoes in the first two years of his presidency—equal to the total number of vetoes exercised by six of his predecessors combined.

Naturally, the Yoon administration and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) are heavily focused on recapturing the legislative majority in elections this month. Yoon was able to win the presidency by flipping a significant part of Seoul from liberal to conservative between 2020 and 2022, by pandering heavily to grievances over rising property tax. The real estate slump since Yoon’s election—Seoul’s condominium prices dipped by more than 7 percent in the past year—threatened to erode that support, as the lower condo price damaged upper-middle-class Seoul residents’ primary investment while the decreased profits and higher interest rate pushed large construction companies to the brink.

In response, South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service audited banks for charging what the regulators claimed were overly high interest rates, in a move seen as a tactic to pressure banks to extend loans to companies that posed a credit risk. The government also delayed the publication of major economic indicators such as the previous year’s budget deficit and the rising price of consumer goods until after election day on April 10.

For its interim leader in the run-up to the election, the PPP tapped Han Dong-hoon, Yoon’s justice minister and heir apparent. Because of his patrician air and relative youth at 51 years old, Han has been hailed as representing the next generation of conservatives. In the words of conservative columnist Kim Soon-deok of Dong-A Ilbo, Han stands in contrast to Yoon in three ways: “First, he does not drink. Second, he is not a stinky old man. Third, he dresses well and speaks with refined language.” With Han at the center, the conservative party has been able to distance itself from the deeply unpopular president.

The Yoon administration also enjoyed a bump in popularity with its proposal to increase the number of medical students by 2,000—a significant jump from the current level of around 3,000. South Korea has a very low number of doctors, which has resulted in a lack of access to medical care especially outside the Seoul metropolitan area. At just 2.6 doctors per 1,000 people, it’s as low as in the United States, which also has a significant and artificially created shortage, and less than half of the number of most developed countries. Doctors reacted strongly, with more than 90 percent of interns and residents going on strike. Nevertheless, the Yoon administration effectively painted doctors as money-grubbers who wished to artificially restrict the size of their ranks to protect their bottom line. With all these moves, by late February it appeared that Yoon and the conservatives had put themselves in the pole position.

Meanwhile, South Korean liberals have been mired in a civil war. Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party and a former presidential candidate who opposed Yoon, began as a member of the minority faction within his party. As the Democratic Party finalized its slate of candidates in February, the legislators not aligned with Lee found themselves sidelined from running for their seats again. Many of them—including high-ranking members such as Assembly Deputy Speaker Kim Young-joo—quit the party, casting their lot with the PPP or seeking a third-party bid with former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon, who lost a bitter presidential primary against Lee in 2021.

But the campaign landscape changed dramatically in March as a new third party, the Rebuilding Korea Party (RKP), took the scene by storm. The RKP was founded by Cho Kuk, who was widely considered to be the heir apparent to Moon as the liberal president’s justice minister. Instead, Cho’s short time in office fueled the rise of Yoon.

As South Korea’s prosecutor general at the time, Yoon conducted a massive investigation campaign against Cho and his family, eventually putting his wife in prison for forging a service certificate that was included in their daughter’s college applications. Yoon’s prosecution of Cho galvanized the conservatives, who saw Cho as a symbol of liberal hypocrisy. Liberals, on the other hand, saw Cho as a martyr whose family was destroyed for the sake of Yoon’s quest for power.

With Yoon’s unpopularity, the latter narrative began to win out. The RKP’s slogan is not subtle: “Three years is too long,” referring to the remaining term of Yoon’s presidency. The new party quickly became the rallying flag for South Korean liberals critical of Yoon but disappointed with the Democratic Party’s internal squabbling. Even moderates began joining the RKP ranks, attracted by the clear message of punishing the Yoon administration. Within weeks of its launch, the RKP became South Korea’s most popular party with approximately 25 percent support.

A major turning point came on March 18, when Yoon made a highly publicized visit to a supermarket—a photo op to show that the president was tending to the wild increase in food prices. In January and February, the cost of food in South Korea increased by 6.7 percent year over year, with popular items like apples rising by as much as 121.9 percent in the same period, resulting in some supermarkets selling a single apple for 19,800 won (about $15).

At the supermarket, Yoon held up a bundle of scallions and said: “I do a lot of grocery shopping, and 875 won for a bundle seems reasonable.” But in most grocery stores around South Korea, a bundle of scallions typically sells for between 4,000 and 7,000 won; the supermarket that Yoon visited just happened to be running a suspiciously well-timed promotion on scallions.

Yoon’s attempt at Potemkin produce, over a household item whose price is common knowledge, instantly became fodder for viral mockery. Especially in the Seoul metropolitan area, where partisanship is relatively weak and election results tend to alternate, support for the conservatives began crashing. Yoon’s gaffe, and the rise of his nemesis Cho, is threatening to reverse the gain that South Korea’s conservatives have made in Seoul in the past two years.

Seeking to recapture the momentum, Yoon took to the bully pulpit on April 1 to exhort the striking doctors to return to work. But the government’s standoff against doctors is now losing popularity, as the public is facing the consequences of a lack of medical care, such as emergency rooms rejecting ambulances and cancer surgeries being delayed indefinitely. The newly elected head of the Korea Medical Association vowed that the doctors would not negotiate unless Yoon apologized and sacked the health minister.

In his April 1 statement, Yoon offered no compromise—a stance that has done little for conservatives as election day approaches. After the president’s address, one unnamed conservative legislator despaired: “I feel like a dinosaur looking up at the oncoming comet, sensing our extinction.”

[falloutcaldera]

“Welcome to the neighborhood!”

Fallout: Caldera is a theoretical post-apocalyptic role-playing fan game inspired by & expanding upon the setting associated with Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. While Caldera is neither a direct sequel nor prequel to any of the games, it references many of the events surrounding the era, including cut or outright canceled content & concepts. While the theoretical game would likely make use of a modified Fallout 4 or Fallout 76 engine, its overall tone & themes would likely be more typical of Fallout: New Vegas or earlier titles. The theoretical game is set primarily in a post-apocalyptic Montana, specifically Yellowstone National Park, a Postgame ‘Add-on’ facility, and The Grand Teton 'Add-on' Area.

Setting

The game takes place in 2256, 179 years after the Great War. The events of Fallout: Caldera occur 154 years after Fallout: 76, 95 years after Fallout 1, 59 years after Fallout: Tactics, 48 years after Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, 15 years after Fallout 2, and 3 years after the canceled Van Buren, which it considers as semi-canon. 

This means it is also 21 years before the events of Fallout 3, 25 years before Fallout: New Vegas, and 31 years before Fallout: 4. Chronologically it is the fifth game in the series after Fallout 2 (though sixth if counting Van Buren).

The game takes place in The Caldera, which is composed of the former Grand Loop of Yellowstone National Park. Much of the main game takes place across various ‘Domesticons’ - planned condominium communities reliant on android ‘Securiunits’ to keep them safe & maintained, along with various campground-based shanty communities, ranger stations, and firewatch towers.

Famous local landmarks like the the Grand Prismatic Spring, Old Faithful Inn, and Fort Yellowstone are included in the game world, though Caldera takes a semi-’procedural’ approach akin to earlier games like Fallout 1 & Fallout 2 - with the majority of the actual mapping focusing on points of interest & landmarks while otherwise pulling from a series of random encounter map tiles designed to fit that area, such as Mountain, Forest, Lake, Road, Ect.

Story

The Homemaker, the player character, arrives in Yellowstone to join a new kind of planned community in Madison, a 'Domestic Condominium', or 'Domesticon', created by an expanding medical company called REGENT. After leaving their bus & interacting with various neighbors or protesters, they meet their assigned 'Securispouse' - a cutting-edge comfort & service android. 

Although the player can decide both the Homemaker & their Securispouses name, gender, and appearance, they are commonly referred to as 'Mx. Nazerov' & 'Daisy Belle' due to these being the names given as default both in-game & in expanded media. Fallout: Caldera briefly begins on October 23, 2077 (the day of the Great War), showing the player arriving at their new home and interacting with their Securispouse before being rushed inside as the bombs drop. After a series of events, they emerge after the Great War to a largely decrepit Madison Domesticon.

The story of Fallout: Caldera guides the player into its world, discovering a series of different factions with varying ideals & conflicts with others, albeit generally being introduced as paired groups.

These include the grungy and patch-job’d Outskirts, continuingly pushing-and-pulling with the large, pristine, and repressive Stepford Domesticon, whose citizens live in a perfect simulacrum of pre-war americana at cost of their sanity & deepening guilt while their Outskirts neighbors grow increasingly disruptive to their illusionary way of life.

Out in the campgrounds, a group of ghoulified tourists and their descendants now known as Caldera Runners chafe against the rules and regulations still-enforced by the Caldera’s Ranger Corps, having ample reason to utilize what many in the Ranger Corps think should be pristine wilderness and virgin pools.

Then there is the Ranger’s sister group, the Firemen, who have grown their own new brand of social structure thanks to the Caldera-strain Super Mutants withins constant fight against both the natural wildfires of the Caldera, and the arsonist tendencies of the flame-worshiping raider group known as the Char - who speak of great calamity, past sins, and strange visions from their psyker oracles and triad of ‘Sears’.

Meanwhile a group known as the Bison Riders has had the differences amongst their two subfactions come to nearly a head, with the Bison Ranchers summer lives differing so much from the Bison Nomads winter movings that both groups can barely recognize the other as the same. Though the player cannot change their minds on the subject, they might be able to influence their hearts. 

All the while, two groups connected-yet-disconnected from the rest of the Caldera are about to be forced to find where they stand, with the strange neolithic Mammoth Men reinventing the wheel when it comes to culture, and the Golden Eagles scouting out if they are fit to be part of everyone's life again properly or not.

Fallout: Caldera has four main endings, one for each reaction to the end event sequence, with variations regarding the choices made involving each of the ten distinct political factions, along with separate ending slides for Recruited Companions.

Add-Ons

REGENTs Crown is a post-game Add-On similar in concept to Fallout 3’s ‘Broken Steel’, split between a winterized post-ending Caldera and the REGENT Headquarters facility, which is designed as a Survival-Exploration-Horror Add-on with puzzle elements. 

Broken prototypes & creeping-flesh mutations roam the halls as you descend into the depths of the still-sealed ruins in an attempt to either reactivate or destroy the almost-eldritch AI construct below, guided by a production master-prototype ‘E.V.E.’ Securiunit named Earth.

Grand Teton is a (canonically post-game spring of 2257) anytime playable Add-on intended for high-level characters still in development, featuring new enemies, in-depth environmental hazards, and ambush gameplay.

[felipeandletizia]

Felipe and Letizia retrospective: November 29th

2004: Lunch offered to the Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and his wife, Viviane, at the Royal Palace.

2011: Meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Institute of International and Strategic Studies & Gala dinner for the awardees of “Mariano de Cavia”, “Luca de Tena” and “Mingote” awards

2012: Premios Magisterio 2012& Traveled to Mexico to attend the investiture of new president Enrique Peña Nieto

2013: Attended the exercise of the Mechanized High Availability Tactical Grouping in Zaragoza & Visited El Rastrillo

2016: Visited the Science and Technology Park (UPTEC) at the Porto University during their state visit to Portugal; Visited Lisbon’s City hall during the second day of their state visit to Portugal& Gala dinner at Palacio de las Necesidades during the state visit to Portugal in Lisbon, Portugal

2018: Inauguration of the “40 años de diplomacia en democracia. Una historia de éxito” (40 years of diplomacy in democracy. A success story) exhibition & 40th anniversary of the previous National Employment Institute, current Public Employment Service State (1, 2)

2019: Visited the Operational Headquarters (ESP OHQ) Atalanta and the Marine Corps

2021: Graduation ceremony of the 70th class of the judicial career & Delivery of the 14th Carles Ferrer Salat Awards and Commemorative Medals of Honor for the 250th anniversary of Foment del Treball

2022: Interval exercise of the 12th rotation of the Enhanced Forward Presence in Latvia & 38th Francisco Cerecedo Journalism Awards

F&L Through the Years: 1094/??

[beardedmrbean]

Iranian women are baring their heads to protest government controls. A top official said algorithms can identify anyone flouting dress codes.

So last month when the Islamic Republic said they're reviewing hijab laws, they probably mean make the laws more difficult to break, instead of loosening them.

Submitted by @eggs-n-ham-sam

Most places in the US have dropped any of that stuff, false positives are far too common, not that Iran cares they're just women after all, they're half a man in Islamic court.

But let's dig in. ________________________________

Last month, a young woman went to work at Sarzamineh Shadi, or Land of Happiness, an indoor amusement park east of Iran’s capital, Tehran. After a photo of her without a hijab circulated on social media, the amusement park was closed, according to multiple accounts in Iranian media. Prosecutors in Tehran have reportedly opened an investigation.

Shuttering a business to force compliance with Iran’s strict laws for women’s dress is a familiar tactic to Shaparak Shajarizadeh. She stopped wearing a hijab in 2017 because she views it as a symbol of government suppression, and recalls restaurant owners, fearful of authorities, pressuring her to cover her head.

But Shajarizadeh, who fled to Canada in 2018 after three arrests for flouting hijab law, worries that women like the amusement park worker may now be targeted with face recognition algorithms as well as by conventional police work.

After Iranian lawmakers suggested last year that face recognition should be used to police hijab law, the head of an Iranian government agency that enforces morality law said in a September interview that the technology would be used “to identify inappropriate and unusual movements,” including “failure to observe hijab laws.” Individuals could be identified by checking faces against a national identity database to levy fines and make arrests, he said.

Two weeks later, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman named Jina Mahsa Amini died after being taken into custody by Iran’s morality police for not wearing a hijab tightly enough. Her death sparked historic protests against women's dress rules, resulting in an estimated 19,000 arrests and more than 500 deaths. Shajarizadeh and others monitoring the ongoing outcry have noticed that some people involved in the protests are confronted by police days after an alleged incident—including women cited for not wearing a hijab. “Many people haven't been arrested in the streets,” she says. “They were arrested at their homes one or two days later.”

Although there are other ways women could have been identified, Shajarizadeh and others fear that the pattern indicates face recognition is already in use—perhaps the first known instance of a government using face recognition to impose dress law on women based on religious belief.

Mahsa Alimardani, who researches freedom of expression in Iran at the University of Oxford, has recently heard reports of women in Iran receiving citations in the mail for hijab law violations despite not having had an interaction with a law enforcement officer. Iran’s government has spent years building a digital surveillance apparatus, Alimardani says. The country’s national identity database, built in 2015, includes biometric data like face scans and is used for national ID cards and to identify people considered dissidents by authorities.

Decades ago, Iranian law required women to take off headscarves in line with modernization plans, with police sometimes forcing women to do so. But hijab wearing became compulsory in 1979 when the country became a theocracy.

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi introduced additional hijab and chastity restrictions in August. Women deemed violators of the law can lose access to banks, public transportation, and other essential government services. Repeat offenders can spend years in jail or in forced morality schooling. A database maintained by the nonprofit United for Iran of more than 5,000 people imprisoned since 2011 indicates it was already not uncommon for violation of hijab rules to lead to years in prison.

Cathryn Grothe, a research analyst at Freedom House, a US government–backed nonprofit that works on human rights, says she has seen a shift in Iran in recent years away from a reliance on informants and physical patrols toward forms of automated digital surveillance to target critics.

Like Alimardani, she has received reports from people using online platforms to organize in Iran who suspect they were somehow recognized and then targeted by authorities offline. Iran’s government has monitored social media to identify opponents of the regime for years, Grothe says, but if government claims about the use of face recognition are true, it’s the first instance she knows of a government using the technology to enforce gender-related dress law.

Face recognition has become a desirable tool for authoritarian regimes around the world as a way to suppress dissent, Grothe says, although many lack the necessary technical infrastructure. “Iran is a case where they have both the governmental will and the physical capability,” she says.

Multiple arms of the Iranian government have access to face recognition technology. Iranian traffic officials started using it in 2020 to issue fines and send women warnings by SMS text about wearing a hijab when inside a vehicle. Mousa Ghazanfarabadi, the head of the country’s parliamentary legal and judicial committee, spoke last year in support of “exclusion from social services and financial fines'' for hijab violations. “The use of face recording cameras can systematically implement this task and reduce the presence of the police, as a result of which there will be no more clashes between the police and citizens,” he told Iranian news outlet Enghelabe Eslami.

Some face recognition in use in Iran today comes from Chinese camera and artificial intelligence company Tiandy. Its dealings in Iran were featured in a December 2021 report from IPVM, a company that tracks the surveillance and security industry.

Tiandy is one of the largest security camera manufacturers in the world, but its sales are largely within China, report author Charles Rollet says, and the company appeared to jump at the opportunity to expand into Iran. IPVM found that the Tiandy Iran website at one time listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, police, and a government prison labor organization as customers—agencies Rollet describes as “the kind of places that raise red flags from a sanctions or human rights perspective.” _________________

Of course they're teaming up with china.

My thoughts about turning that whole part of the globe into a smouldering glob a glass are getting more and more frequent.

On a bright note, this tells me the protests are working and the regime is getting a bit concerned by that.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Michael de Adder :: @deAdder :: Nov 1 :: The Toronto Star

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 3, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

NOV 4, 2023

Today, Representative Ryan Zinke (R-MT), who was former president Trump’s Interior Secretary until he left under accusations of misconduct, introduced a bill to ban Palestinians from the United States and to revoke any visas issued to Palestinians since October 1 of this year. Although the U.S. has resettled only about 2,000 Palestinians in the last 20 years, ten other far-right members of the House signed onto Zinke’s bill, which draws no distinction between Hamas and Palestinian civilians.

This blanket attack on a vulnerable population echoes Trump’s travel ban of January 27, 2017, just a week after he took office. Executive Order 13769 stopped travel from primarily Muslim countries—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen—for ninety days. The list of countries appeared random—Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, countries from which terrorists have sometimes come directly to the U.S., weren’t on the list—and appeared to fulfill a campaign promise and assert a new view of executive power.

Insisting that immigrants endanger the country is a key tactic of authoritarians. Excluding them is a central principle of those eager to tear down democracy: they insist that immigration destroys a nation’s traditions and undermines native-born Americans. With tensions in the nation mounting over the crisis in the Middle East, this measure, introduced now with inflammatory language, seems designed to whip up violence. 

Representative Greg Landsman (D-OH) called out his Republican colleagues on social media. “Un-American and definitely NOT in the Bible, [Speaker Johnson],” he wrote. “You going to tell them to pull this bill?”

But, far from trying to work across the aisle, Johnson has been throwing red meat to his base. In the last two days, for example, the House has voted to slash 39% of the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and 13% of the budget of the National Park Service. It voted to require the Biden administration to advance oil drilling off the Alaska coast. It has voted on reducing the salary of the EPA administrator, the director of the Bureau of Land Management, and the Secretary of the Interior to $1 each.

Yesterday, Johnson told reporters he considers extremists Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) close friends and said “I don’t disagree with them on many issues and principles.”

To direct his communications team, Johnson has tapped Raj Shah, a former executive from the Fox News Corporation, who was a key player in promoting the lie that Trump won the 2020 presidential election. As the head of the “Brand Protection Unit,” Shah demanded that the Fox News Channel continue to lie to viewers who would leave the station if it told the truth. Johnson has hired Shah to be his deputy chief of staff for communications and, according to Alex Isenstadt of Politico, “help run messaging for House Republicans.” 

The extremists are doubling down on Trump and his election lies even as his allies are admitting in court that they are, indeed, lies. Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows is in trouble with the publisher of his memoir after admitting that under oath that the election had been fair. The publisher is suing him for millions in damages for basing his book on the idea that the election had been stolen and representing that “all statements contained in the Work are true.” 

The publisher says it has pulled the book off the market. 

House extremists continue to back Trump even as he is openly calling for an authoritarian second term. In September, former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley had to take “appropriate measures” for his own security after Trump accused him of disloyalty to him, personally, and suggested that in the past, such “treason” would have been punished with death. 

On Wednesday, Jonathan Swan, Charlie Savage, and Maggie Haberman of the New York Times reported that Trump was frustrated in his first term by lawyers who refused to go along with his wishes, trying to stay within the law, so Trump's allies are making lists of lawyers they believe would be “more aggressive” on issues of immigration, taking over the Department of Justice, and overturning elections. 

They are looking, they say, for “a different type of lawyer” than those supported by the right-wing Federalist Society, one “willing to endure the personal and professional risks of association with Mr. Trump” and “to use theories that more establishment lawyers would reject to advance his cause.” 

John Mitnick, who served in Trump’s first term, told the reporters that “no qualified attorneys with integrity will have any desire to serve as political appointees” in a second Trump term. Instead, the lawyers in a second term would be “opportunists who will rubber-stamp whatever Trump and his senior White House staff want to do.” 

Trump has also made it clear he and his allies want to gut the nonpartisan civil service and fill tens of thousands of government positions with his own loyalists. Led by Russell Vought, who served as Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, Trump’s allies believe that agencies like the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities and Exchange Commission should not be independent but should push the president’s agenda. 

This week, Trump vowed to take over higher education too. In a campaign video, he promised to tax private universities with large endowments to fund a new institution called “American Academy.” The school, which would be online only, would award free degrees and funnel students into jobs with the U.S. government and federal contractors.

“We spend more money on higher education than any other country, and yet they’re turning our students into communists and terrorists and sympathizers of many, many different dimensions,” Trump said. “We can’t let this happen.” In his university, “wokeness or jihadism” would not be allowed, he said.

In admirable understatement, Politico’s Meridith McGraw and Michael Stratford noted: “Using the federal government to create an entirely new educational institution aimed at competing with the thousands of existing schools would drastically reshape American higher education.”

Trump has made no secret of his future plans for the United States of America. 

Meanwhile, Republicans appear determined to push their agenda over the wishes of voters. In Ohio, where voters on Tuesday will decide whether to amend the state constitution to make it a constitutional right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” Republicans first tried to make it harder to amend the state constitution, and then, when voters rejected that attempt, the Republican-dominated state senate began to use an official government website to spread narratives about the constitutional amendment that legal and medical experts called false or misleading. 

Adding reproductive health protections to the state constitution is popular, but In an unusual move, the Republican secretary of state, Frank LaRose, quietly purged more than 26,000 voters from the rolls in late September. LaRose is a staunch opponent of the constitutional amendment and is himself running for a seat in the U.S. Senate. 

In Virginia, where Republicans are hoping to take control of the state legislature to pass new abortion restrictions as well as the rest of Republican governor Glenn Youngkin’s agenda, a study by the Democratic Party of Virginia shows that officials are flagging the mail-in ballots of non-white voters for rejection much more frequently than those of white voters. As of today, 4.82% of ballots cast by Black voters have gotten flagged, while only 2.79% of the ballots of white voters have been flagged.

In Richmond, The Guardian’s Sam Levine reported, city officials flagged more than 11% of ballots returned by Black voters but only about 5.5% of ballots cast by white voters. After the ballots are fixed, or cured, the rate of rejection for Black voters remains more than twice as high as that of white voters. 

Virginia officials also reported last week that they had accidentally removed more than 3,400 eligible voters from the rolls.

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[scotianostra]

John Cairncross WWII intelligence officer and Soviet spy was born on 25th July 1913 in Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire,.

Cairncross's father was the manager of an ironmonger's and his mother a primary school teacher. John Cairncross was one of a family of eight, many of whom had distinguished careers. All three of his brothers became professors. One was the economist Sir Alexander Kirkland Cairncross (a.k.a. Alec Cairncross). The journalist Frances Cairncross is his niece. Cairncross grew up in Lesmahagow attending the town's Academy, before going on to University of Glasgow; the Sorbonne and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied French and German.

it was while at Cambridge Cairncross was introduced to Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess and soon became a Communist working with the Cambridge Spy Ring. Monitored by Soviet agent Samuel Cahan, he received a short course in espionage tactics before taking the Home Office and Foreign Office exams, receiving the highest scores on both.

Cairncross briefly with Donald Maclean at the Foreign Office before the war, he was assigned to Bletchley Park in 1942/43 but unlike in The Film The Imitation game it is highly unlikely he would have met, let alone blackmailed Alan Turing. He did however pass on cases full of intercepted German messages which he transported in the back seat of his car to the Soviet Embassy. Cairncross joined Secret Intelligence Service MI6 in 1944 and continued working for them until 1951 when sensitive documents in Cairncross’ handwriting were found in Guy Burgess apartment after he and Maclean fled to Russia. He was thus fired from his position in the British Treasury department, although he denied being a spy. He turned to scholarly activities and humanitarian efforts for the United Nations.

In 1964, Sir Anthony Blunt confessed to being a Soviet spy and in return for leniency identified Cairncross as another Soviet agent. When confronted with the evidence, Cairncross admitted to his espionage, explaining that he had not spied for several years, saying that he spied only during World War II, when Russia was a British ally.

Soviet defectors later disputed Cairncross statements about his limited involvement in espionage. They claimed that he had turned over countless reams of information.

Fearful of negative publicity and scandal, the British government hushed up his activities, declining to prosecute him for espionage or to expose him to the public. Cairncross, in fact, remained for a time in his job as with the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.

He was finally outed as a spy in 1981 but no charges were ever brought against him. Cairncross spent most of his life in exile but returned home in 1995 dying later the same year after a stroke.

[queenofcandynsoda]

Sol Fertilis: Levels of the National Police Service

There are five branches of the National Police Service.

Civilian Police: The Civilian Police is the branch of Sol Fertilis law enforcement that deals with specific areas such as traffic control, parking enforcement, and public safety at events or gatherings. They ensure compliance with regulations related to transportation, public spaces, and crowd management. It consists entirely of Beta Pluses. 

Civic Police: The Civic Police is the branch of Sol Fertilis law enforcement that specializes in maintaining public order, enforcing local laws, and providing general community policing services. They focus on day-to-day law enforcement activities, such as patrolling neighborhoods, responding to emergencies, and conducting investigations into minor offenses. It consists of Delta Minuses and Beta Pluses. 

Elite Police: The Elite Police is the branch of Sol Fertilis law enforcement that consists of highly trained and skilled officers who handle high-risk situations, such as counterterrorism operations, hostage rescues, and specialized criminal investigations. They are equipped with advanced weaponry, tactical gear, and specialized training to handle complex and dangerous missions. It consists of Delta Minuses and Beta Pluses.

Military Police: The Military Police is the branch of Sol Fertilis law enforcement that relates to the Ministry of Defense. Their jobs are to maintain discipline, enforce military regulations, and provide security within military installations and operations. They also assist with investigations related to military personnel and crimes that occur within the military environment. In terrorist attacks, they help other branches to maintain order, evacuations, close off areas, and apprehend suspected terrorists. It consists of Delta Pluses, Delta Minuses, and Beta Pluses.

Intelligence Police: Known as the Sentinel Police, it is the secret police branch of Sol Fertilis law enforcement. They operate covertly and focus on gathering intelligence, conducting surveillance, and combating threats to national security. They work in close coordination with intelligence agencies and are responsible for detecting and preventing espionage, subversion, and other activities that pose a threat to the nation. Whoever is in it is unknown but it is speculated that it consists of Alphas, Delta Pluses, Delta Minuses, and Beta Pluses. They are connected to the Ministry of Counter-Intelligence.

[darlenefblog]

General DeWitt Shy Spain Airport - Memphis, Tennessee

2787 North 2nd Street

Taken directly from Wikipedia with only slight modifications.

General DeWitt Spain Airport began as an idea in 1928 when the Memphis Chamber of Commerce Engineering Committee suggested turning Mud Island into Memphis' Airport. They decided against that location for a main airport and moved Memphis International Airport to its current location in South Memphis. However, the idea apparently did not fade.

In 1959, Memphis Downtown Airport was put into service about where Mud Island Park is today to service the general aviation community. It had the slogan: "You're strictly uptown when you land downtown." A ferry boat took travelers from the Island to the cobblestones, and then it was just a short walk to the offices of Memphis' city center. Private pilots who worked downtown and business travelers had the perfect arrangement. By 1961, 30 planes were landing per day, according to newspaper reports.

*I think this sounds like a lovely way to travel. Memphis International Airport is a sprawling 1960's design monstrosity. I personally would not cry if they tore it down and started over. *

By the mid-1960s, Interstate 40 was scheduled to cross the Island. Airport owners fought the I-40 Bridge, but in August, 1970, the last plane departed the island airport. *I-40 runs from East to West coast across America. The only leg not completed is in Memphis. The planners wanted to run the interstate through the Memphis Zoo, located in Overton Park. The city sued and after a long court battle finally won. As it turns out the I-40 bridge only obstructs a small portion of Mud Island but it would have interfered with airplane traffic*. Quickly the airport authority purchased available land just to the north of the island so downtown commuters could once again have their landing strip back. The following May, Memphis Downtown Airport was replaced by General DeWitt Spain Airport, honoring local war hero General DeWitt Spain who died in 1969. It has been and still is an active general aviation airport.

*This is a cute epilog, the only crash at the airport was a drone.*

On April 11, 2016, General Dewitt Spain Airport suffered its first accident of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle after a Phantom Quadcopter impacted the side of a hangar. No fatalities were reported. The Quadcopter was unregistered and unable to be traced to the operator.

*I found this information on General Spain from his obituary. I've lived in West Tennessee all my life and had no idea who he was. He died in 1969 in Maryland; I was almost 8 so it wouldn't have made my young self's radar. He sounds like quite a guy.*

Dewitt Shy Spain

BIRTH 24 Apr 1919

DEATH 28 Apr 1969 (aged 50) BURIAL Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington County, Virginia

Evening Star, April 29, 1969 Page 20

Brig. Gen. DeWitt S. Spain, 50, deputy chief of staff for plans at the Tactical Air Command Headquarters, Langley Air Force Base, died of cancer yesterday at the Andrews Air Force Base hospital. He was born in Memphis, Tenn., and attended Southwestern University there (now known as Rhodes College) and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

In 1940 he became an aviation cadet and was commissioned a second lieutenant in May of 1941. For four years during World War II he was active in the Asiatic-Pacific theater, finishing as commander of the 15th fighter group.

After the war he was discharged from active duty and returned to Memphis, where he participated in the air National Guard and air reserve programs. Returning to active duty in 1950, he became director of combat operations of the 26th Air Defense Division in New York. *Memphis is a large distribution hub, being situated on the Mississippi River in a middle of the country location. The military also found the city to be a good location for the Naval Air Station in Millington and a large Air National base where the Memphis Belle airplane was on display for many decades.*

Upon graduation in 1961 from the Industrial College of Armed Forces at Fort McNair, Gen. Spain was assigned for a year to the Pentagon's deputy chief of the Air Defense Division, followed by two years on the Pentagon's national Security Council. Assigned in 1963 the USAF headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany, he served as director of operations and training, until 1966, when he assumed his Langley post, he was attached to the 10th tactical reconnaissance wing of the Royal Air Force at Alcan Barry England.

His decorations include the Legion of Merit with Oak leaf cluster, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Purple Heart, and a commendation ribbon.

He leaves his wife Joan of Hampton Virginia and a daughter Mrs. James Romanchk of Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois. Services will be held at 3 PM Thursday at Fort Myer Chapel followed by burial with full military honors in Arlington Cemetery. The family suggests that expressions of sympathy be in the form of donations the American Cancer Society.

[uniquejellyfishqueen]

TTPD pop up at The Grove in LA was Tuesday 4/16/24 through Thursday 4/18/24.

4/18/24 - 12/6/24 is 7 months and 19 days…

The #119 show was Gelsenkirchen N3/3 on 7/19/24 and the surprise songs were

G: Lover track 8 “Paper Rings”// Red track 9 “Stay Stay Stay”

P: Evermore track 17 “It’s Time To Go”// Red track 22 “Better Man”

Take the 1st letter from each of those titles and their corresponding number:

P-16

S-19

I-9

B-2

You get a date: 2/9/1916

The British gunboats HMS Mimi and HMS Toutou sank the German steamship Hedwig von Wissmann in Lake Tanganyika, Central Africa

Britain's military service act enforced

American baseball player Tex Hughson was born in Buda, Texas. He played pitcher for the Boston Red Sox from 1941 to 1949

The National League celebrated its 40th anniversary with a banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria. NL votes down a proposal by Giants, Braves, & Cubs to increase club player limit from 21 to 22 (The Reds want to decrease to 20)

The desk calendar at the TTPD pop up had Friday 13 December.

This chick has been doing everything out of order and everything backwards. I don’t think this means Friday December 13. I think this means the 1st and 3rd Friday in December.

The 1st and 3rd Friday’s are also bookends of her birthday as well.

Also the 1st and 3rd Friday’s would be a fortnight apart.

1st Friday: 12/6/24 - #147 of the ET N1/3 Vancouver (the last city).

The surprise songs were

G: Speak Now track 12 Haunted// 1989 track 14 Wonderland

P: Speak Now track 8 Never Grow Up// Fearless track 12 The Best Day

12/14 is the day after her 35th birthday

8/12 is a mirror of the last ET show 12/8.

12/14 is 6 days from 12/8.

2nd Friday: 12/13/24 - 35th birthday

**release of the TS archives behind the scenes. 7 different “Taylor’s version” fonts…. Is she gonna re release Lover as well? Taylor Swift, Reputation, Lover

167 TRL… is she bringing TRL back?!

1/6/2007:

An overnight storm knocked out power to thousands in the Vancouver and Victoria area. The storm also uprooted trees in Stanley Park, and filled BC Place with water after the roof tore open a day earlier

The Sunday Times (UK) reports that Israel has drawn up plans to possibly destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons in the event that U.S. intervention does not occur, and non-nuclear strikes are ruled out. Iran has responded saying that "anyone who attacks will regret their actions very quickly." Israel denies such plans were made.

A second bus bomb in Sri Lanka, this time near the tourist resort of Hikkaduwa has killed at least 15 and injured dozens more. The Sri Lankan government declared the Tamil Tigers responsible, but the rebel group is denying involvement

At least 40 people have died in a bus crash in Comilla, Bangladesh

Nine bound and gagged bodies are found in grave in Uruapan, Michoacan state, Mexico. Drug gangs are suspected

The British Army raises its maximum recruitment age from 26 years to 33, but denies that this is a reaction to a failure to recruit sufficient young people. The normal term of engagement remains 22 years, meaning that some soldiers could still be serving to age 55.

Jeff Bezos Amazon founder and billionaire has joined the "budget space race" with a test burn of the Blue Origin passenger rocket, the New Shepard

The eastern United States enjoyed record high temperatures, including 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 Celsius) in New York City

3rd Friday: 12/20/24

12/13/1989 - 12/13/2024 is 12,785 days

7+8+5‎ = 20

12/20?

“In 50 years will all this be declassified?” 50 years ago was 1974 which was 15 years before 1989. (783 weeks before her birth)

So on 12/20/1974…

The Godfather part ll released

George Harrison releases his fifth studio album in the UK “Dark Horse”

Die [Daisuke Andou], Japanese heavy metal rock guitarist (Dir En Grey), born in Mie, Japan

André Jolivet, French composer (Jeune France, Mana), dies at 69

… 126 days prior to 12/20/1974 was 8/9/1974 when Nixon gave his resignation letter.

126 12/6 was N1/3 in Vancouver.

89 is the year she was born.

[misfitwashere]

The Abandonment of Ukraine

The American strategy in Ukraine is slowly bleeding the nation, and its people, to death.

By Karl Marlantes and Elliot Ackerman

On a recent trip to Ukraine, we walked through the rubble of a children’s hospital in Kyiv targeted by the Russians, toured an apartment building in Kharkiv where floor after floor had been destroyed by Russian missiles, and visited the front lines to meet with soldiers who spoke of the brutality of Russian human-wave tactics. But the most unsettling thing we saw was the American strategy in Ukraine, one that gives the Ukrainian people just enough military aid not to lose their war but not enough to win it. This strategy is slowly bleeding Ukraine, and its people, to death.

Our visit was facilitated by With Honor, a bipartisan political-action committee that supports veterans in Congress, and we toured Ukraine alongside Republican and Democratic lawmakers. We are both Marine Corps veterans. We have a combined 60-year breadth of combat experience between us, including Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The horrors of war are not unfamiliar to us. Yet both of us felt deeply disturbed as we finished our trip.

In Kharkiv, we met with a group of Ukrainian combat veterans. Before the war, Victoria Honcharuk, a 24-year-old medic, lived in the United States, where she’d been accepted to a graduate program at Harvard while working in New York City in investment banking. When war broke out in February 2022, she left that life behind and returned home to defend her country. Her unit of medics, composed entirely of volunteers, draws no pay. Approximately half of the friends she began service with have been killed or wounded. When she enumerated her concerns for the future, they included the safety of her family and her friends but also how she would make payments on her U.S. student loans while fighting a war for her country’s survival. When a member of our group observed that Ukraine’s future would involve young people, like her, leading and rebuilding her country, she paused and politely reminded us that they could rebuild it only if they survived.

After, we drove into the nearby countryside to a field a few miles back from the front lines, where we met up with the drone unit from the 92nd Assault Brigade. It had parked tactical vehicles and an assortment of drones beneath camouflage nets to avoid aerial observation. The unit’s commander, nicknamed Achilles, walked us through a presentation of the soldiers’ capabilities. This included a live-fire demonstration of one of their first-person-view drones destroying a target. Lethal drones and reconnaissance drones alike are reshaping the battlefield at an unprecedented pace. The U.S. military has yet to reckon with this. The current family of low-cost, highly effective drones used by the Ukrainians are all manufactured in China. No U.S. equivalent exists in the marketplace, as the efforts of several American companies have stalled.

Read: ‘We only need some metal things’

Achilles presented us with an elaborate series of slides that broke down by cost each drone in his arsenal. While lethal U.S. drones such as the Switchblade cost approximately $60,000 to $80,000 a unit, the drones employed by the Ukrainians are a bargain, most costing in the low four figures. That is cheaper than a single artillery shell. The briefing given by Achilles wasn’t simply a summary of capabilities; it was a sales pitch. If an ideological argument for supporting Ukraine wasn’t sufficient, Achilles was willing to make an argument around the numbers and America’s potential return on investment. If the United States wants to keep Vladimir Putin in check and halt the advance of China and Iran, he suggested, Ukraine offers a bargain. His presentation ended with a slide that broke down how, for about $100 million, a drone unit like his could sustain itself in the field for an entire year, conducting approximately 5,000 lethal strikes. The rate of return: one dead Russian for every $20,000 spent.

Achilles made his appeal with an urgency that American policy makers don’t seem to share. The speed of innovation on the battlefield has made some long-awaited Western weapons systems all but obsolete by the time they were delivered. Two weeks before our trip, yet another M1A1 Abrams main battle tank was destroyed in a top-down attack by a kamikaze drone. Only 20 of the 31 Abrams tanks delivered by the U.S. in February remain. Ukrainian soldiers at the front told us that any innovation they develop is countered by a Russian response within weeks. Both armies are innovating at a pace that is leaving the sclerotic U.S. and NATO defense industries behind.

An example of this is HIMARS, the long-range rocket artillery that the U.S. has provided at a maddeningly slow pace. A year ago, HIMARS was the most in-demand system on the battlefield. Now it has a success rate of less than 10 percent because of Russian innovation in electronic warfare. Each rocket fired by HIMARS costs roughly $100,000. Because of the rapid decrease in HIMARS’s effectiveness, the Ukrainians have developed a drone that has a similar impact of the early HIMARS and costs about $1,000. The Ukrainians, however, are rightfully worried that, within a few weeks, the Russians will develop countermeasures that bring the effectiveness of this kind of drone down to that of the current HIMARS. It is, literally, an arms race.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has spent a great deal of time pleading with his allies for weapons and permission to use them to their full capabilities. But his administration is now pleading simply for the delivery of weapons that have already been pledged. Currently, these delays are the result of U.S. Department of Defense protocols that affect the drawdown rates of U.S. stockpiles. Each of the services is required to keep certain quantities of weapons and ammunition in reserve in case of war, and they are not allowed to dip below these levels. Such concerns are not without precedent. In the Second World War, during the German invasion of France in 1940, Winston Churchill had to deny French requests for Royal Air Force support. Churchill knew that every British plane would be required for the upcoming Battle of Britain. However, the United States is nowhere near such a crisis. If anything, and ironically, we keep our weapons in reserve for a crisis exactly like the one playing out in Ukraine. We must make those weapons available to those who would use them in our shared defense.

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The war in Ukraine is at risk of being lost—not because the Russians are winning but because Ukraine’s allies have not allowed them to win. If we encourage the Ukrainians to fight while failing to give them the tools they need for victory, history will surely conclude that the Russians weren’t the only ones who committed crimes against Ukraine.

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Reblogged from https://www.tumblr.com/vermillionquinn