#Oman National Day

[qamarul-islam]

🏅

On the auspicious occasion of the 53rd National Oman Day, I am deeply touched and humbled by the unexpected gesture of my wonderful students. Their token of love is not just a gift but a testament to the bonds we’ve built and the knowledge we’ve shared. OmanNationalDay2023 #Gratitude #TeachingJourney #StudentLove #EducationalImpact #CulturalPride #OmanHeritage

[lyfeeonline]

Celebrating Oman's National Day: A Four-Day Holiday Weekend for Public and Private Sector

In honor of Oman’s 53rd National Day, the government has declared a four-day weekend for all public and private sector employees. The official holiday will commence on Wednesday, November 22, and extend until Thursday, November 23, providing residents with ample time to commemorate this momentous occasion. This decision aligns with Oman’s long-standing tradition of marking National Day with grand…

[goggledoddle]

[wallpapers4screen]

[yhebrew]

2024 Judgment: Dubai, Oman, Brazil (Darian Gap) - Timing, Location, Consecration

One-Third of Emirates Offered Up. One-Third of Brazil Remains. TIMING LOCATION CONSECRATION In Real Estate the phrase is LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION! In God ‘TIMING’ IS EVERYTHING! He will NOT be late! Leviticus 8:33  You are not to go out from the entrance to the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your consecration are over; since Adonai will be consecrating you for seven…

[uncharismatic-fauna]

The Palestine Sunbird Persists

The Palestine sunbird, also known as the orange-tufted sunbird (Cinnyris osea) is the national bird of Palestine, and often seen as a symbol of resistance and hope. This species occurs in dry climates, particularly desert, scrubland, and savannahs, but can also be found in orchards and gardens where flowers are abundant. In addition to the Levant, C. osea occurs throughout the southwest cost of Saudia Arabia and the coasts of Yemen and Oman in the south.

C. osea is a small bird, 8 to 12 cm (3.1-4.7 in) long with a wingspan of only 14 to 16 cm (5.5-6.2 in). Males weigh on average 7.6 g (0.26 oz) and females are slightly smaller, at about 6.8 g (0.24 oz). Males are quite easy to identify due to their striking plumage; their feathers are iridescent, appearing dark until they shimmer glossy blue or green, with orange tufts at the side of the breast. In contrast females are fairly drab; grey-brown with a lighter underside. The beaks of the Palestine sunbird are also noted for their distinctively long and curved, which they have developed to efficiently feed on nectar.

Although not directly part of the hummingbird family, the Palestine sunbird shares many similarities with the group. Its diet consists of nectar, and is supplemented with insects. Their tongues are long, and brush-like, and the shape of their beak allows them to reach down to the base of the flower. For flowers that are , they will use their sharp beaks to pierce the side and access the nectar directly. All this is done at very high speeds, but unlike hummingbirds the Palestine sunbird cannot hover in place, and must land in order to feed. Because of their primary reliance on nectar, the orange-tufted sunbird is an important pollinator in its native region. Adults are rarely predated upon, but eggs and young are often targets for lizards, snakes, and birds of prey.

Reproduction begins in June, and continues through October. Males establish and defend territories, and court females by singing to attract a potential mate, then chasing her until she perches to signal her acceptance. Following the pairing, the two construct a purse-like nest, sometimes with a porch-like structure, that hangs from a branch. In this nest, 1-2 eggs are laid, and are incubated primarily by the female, while the male provides her food. The eggs take 13 to 14 days to hatch, and chicks are taken care of by both parents for an additional 14 to 21 days. Individuals can live up to 5 years in the wild.

Conservation status: The Palestine sunbird has a large range and population, and is thus considered Least Concern by the IUCN. Its primary threat is habitat loss due to agriculture and urban development.

If you send me proof that you’ve made a donation to UNRWA or another organization benefiting Palestinians, I’ll make art of any animal of your choosing.

Remember, the donation can be in any amount– every dollar counts!

Photos

Jorrit Vlot

Dula Alhashimi

Rana Hijawi

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Nobody

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 2, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Aug 03, 2024

Today, Aaron C. Davis and Carol D. Leonnig of the Washington Post reported that there is reason to believe that when Trump’s 2016 campaign was running low on funds, Trump accepted a $10 million injection of cash from Egypt’s authoritarian leader Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. It is against the law to accept direct or indirect financial support from foreign nationals or foreign governments for a political campaign in the United States.

In early 2017, CIA officials told Justice Department officials that a confidential informant had told them of such a cash exchange, and those officials handed the matter off to Robert Mueller, the special counsel who was already looking at the links between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian operatives. FBI agents noted that on September 16, Trump had met with Sisi when the Egyptian leader was at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. 

After the meeting, Trump broke with U.S. policy to praise Sisi, calling him a “fantastic guy.” 

Trump’s campaign had been dogged with a lack of funds, and his advisers had begged him to put some of his own money into it. He refused until October 28, when he loaned the campaign $10 million.

An FBI investigation took years to get records, but Davis and Leonnig reported that in 2019 the FBI learned of a key withdrawal from an Egypt bank. In January 2017, five days before Trump took office, an organization linked to Egypt’s intelligence service asked a manager at a branch of the state-run National Bank of Egypt to “kindly withdraw” $9,998,000 in U.S. currency. The bundles of $100 bills filled two bags and weighed more than 200 pounds. 

Once in office, Trump embraced Sisi and, in a reversal of U.S. policy, invited him to be one of his first guests at the White House. “I just want to let everybody know, in case there was any doubt, that we are very much behind President al-Sissi,” Trump said. 

Mueller had gotten that far in pursuit of the connection between Trump and Sisi when he was winding down his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. He handed the Egypt investigation off to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D C., where it appears then–attorney general William Barr killed it. 

Today, Brian Schwartz of CNBC reported that Elon Musk and other tech executives are putting their money behind a social media ad campaign for Trump and Vance, and are creating targeted ads in swing states by collecting information about voters under false pretenses. According to Schwartz, their America PAC, or political action committee, says it helps viewers register to vote. And, indeed, the ads direct would-be voters in nonswing states to voter registration sites.

But people responding to the ad in swing states are not sent to registration sites. Instead, they are presented with “a highly detailed personal information form [and] prompted to enter their address, cellphone number and age,” handing over “priceless personal data to a political operation” that can then create ads aimed at that person’s demographic and target them personally in door-to-door campaigns. After getting the information, the site simply says, “Thank you,” without directing the viewer toward a registration site.

Forbes estimates Musk’s wealth at more than $235 billion. 

In June the Trump Organization announced a $500 million deal with Saudi real estate developer Dar Global to build a Trump International hotel in Oman. 

In January 2011, when he was director of the FBI, Robert Mueller gave a speech to the Citizens Crime Commission of New York. He explained that globalization and modern technology had changed the nature of organized crime. Rather than being regional networks with a clear structure, he said, organized crime had become international, fluid, and sophisticated and had multibillion-dollar stakes. Its operators were cross-pollinating across countries, religions, and political affiliations, sharing only their greed. They did not care about ideology; they cared about money. They would do anything for a price.

These criminals “may be former members of nation-state governments, security services, or the military,” he said. “They are capitalists and entrepreneurs. But they are also master criminals who move easily between the licit and illicit worlds. And in some cases, these organizations are as forward-leaning as Fortune 500 companies.”

In order to corner international markets, Mueller explained, these criminal enterprises "may infiltrate our businesses. They may provide logistical support to hostile foreign powers. They may try to manipulate those at the highest levels of government. Indeed, these so-called 'iron triangles' of organized criminals, corrupt government officials, and business leaders pose a significant national security threat."

In a new book called Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, journalist Anne Applebaum carries that story forward into the present, examining how today’s autocrats work together to undermine democracy. She says that “the language of the democratic world, meaning rights, laws, rule of law, justice, accountability, [and] transparency…[is]  harmful to them,” especially as those are the words that their internal opposition uses. “And so they need to undermine the people who use it and, if they can, discredit it.” 

Those people, Applebaum says, “believe they are owed power, they deserve power.” When they lose elections, they “come back in a second term and say, right, this time, I'm not going to make that mistake again, and…then change their electoral system, or…change the constitution, change the judicial system, in order to make sure that they never lose.”

Almost exactly a year ago, on August 1, 2023, a grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted former president Donald J. Trump for conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. The charges stemmed from Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. A grand jury is made up of 23 ordinary citizens who weigh evidence of criminal activity and produce an indictment if 12 or more of them vote in favor. 

The grand jury indicted Trump for “conspiracy to defraud the United States by using dishonesty, fraud, and deceit to impair, obstruct, and defeat the lawful federal government function by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted, and certified by the government”; “conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the January 6 congressional proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are counted and certified”; and “conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.” 

“Each of these conspiracies,” the indictment reads, “targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election.” “This federal government function…is foundational to the United States’ democratic process, and until 2021, had operated in a peaceful and orderly manner for more than 130 years.” 

The case of the United States of America v. Donald J. Trump was randomly assigned to Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who was appointed by President Obama in 2014 and confirmed 95–0 in the Senate. Trump pleaded not guilty on August 3, after which his lawyers repeatedly delayed their pretrial motions until, on December 7, Trump asked the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals to decide whether he was immune from prosecution. Chutkan had to put off her initial trial date of March 4, 2024, and said she would not reschedule until the court decided the question of Trump’s immunity. 

In February the appeals court decided he was not immune. Trump appealed to the Supreme Court, which waited until July 1, 2024, to decide that Trump enjoys broad immunity from prosecution for crimes committed as part of his official acts. Today the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to Chutkan, almost exactly a year after it was first brought.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[girlactionfigure]

*ISRAEL REALTIME* - "Connecting the World to Israel in Realtime"

▪️ISRAEL TO CAPTURE EGYPTIAN BORDER CORRIDOR.. Israel to capture Egyptian - Gaza border, known as the Philadelphia corridor (per Russian sources and Wall Street Journal).

▪️HAMAS THREATENS EGYPT.. “If Israel conquers the Philadelphia corridor, we will conquer Sinai.”  Another Hamas official, “We ask Egypt to take a clear position to reject Israel’s demands to occupy the corridor.”

▪️RUSSIAN UN AMBASSADOR SAYS.. flooding Gaza tunnels could be considered genocide. (???)

▪️ISRAELI EMBASSY SWEDEN ATTACK.. thwarted.

▪️HOSTAGE ISSUE MANAGER.. ’it is absolutely clear that public demonstrations for the hostages HARDENS Hamas’s positions’ (as they know the pressure the Israeli leaders are under).

▪️HERO SOLDIER FALLS.. in battle in Gaza.

🇺🇸Regional War 🗞 2nd attack by US/UK “coalition” on the Houthis over Shabbat, “150 missiles used”.  All Arab gulf states allowed US/UK aircraft to use their airspace, including Saudi Arabia, except for Oman.

Analyst: Opposite Yemen across the Red Sea and the straight is the nation of Djibouti, which has a US base with 4000 US military personnel.  Possible Houthi target that they can reach.

⬇️ Southern Front 🗞 IDF blows up another tunnel complex and collapsing above neighborhood in Deir al-Balach, Gaza.  As IDF captures Al Aqsa hospital, mass fleeing from the compound.  Firefight catches bus on fire.

Rockets shot at Netivot from Gaza during the hillula celebration for the Baba Sali, zt”l.  

Gaza battles in Sheikh Zeytun neighborhood, central Gaza.

⬆️ Northern Front 🗞 In general, more of the same: terror squads attacked, airstrikes on Hezbollah targets.  Anti-tank fire from Lebanon hitting private houses in Israel.  

Terror squad attempts infiltration of IDF Mt. Dov post, firefight, artillery, IDF soldier wounded, 2 terrorists killed, squad flees back to Lebanon.

➡️ Eastern Front (Judea-Samaria) 🗞 Counter-terror operations in Jenin, security forces enter Jenin hospital, forces surrounding and searching ambulances.

Qalqilya, IDF checkpoints set up throughout the city.

Tubas, firefight.

IDF OPERATIONS AGAINST TERRORIST ELEMENTS IN THE GAZA STRIP

In ongoing military operations within the Gaza Strip, the IDF persist in targeting both terrorist operatives and associated infrastructure. Notably, launch pits utilized for firing rockets at Israel have been systematically obliterated by IDF ground forces.

Maghazi Operation:

In Maghazi, IDF troops successfully identified two armed terrorists advancing towards a compound housing the troops. Swiftly responding to this threat, ground forces coordinated with an IDF aircraft, resulting in the precise elimination of the terrorists. This intervention effectively thwarted their attempt to launch an attack against the stationed troops.

Atatra Operation:

Further operations in Atatra led to the discovery and destruction of multiple launch pits employed for launching rockets into Israeli territory. The IDF's strategic efforts in this region have significantly curtailed potential threats emanating from these launch sites.

Khan Yunis Incidents:

In Khan Yunis, IDF forces encountered armed terrorists on two separate occasions. Employing precise coordination, an IDF aircraft was directed to strike and eliminate the identified threats, preventing potential harm to the forces. Additionally, IDF tanks successfully neutralized five terrorists and discovered an underground shaft within the city area.

Ongoing Operations:

The IDF's commitment to security persisted over the past day, with continued operations in Khan Yunis resulting in the elimination of nine terrorists through coordinated efforts involving the Israeli Air Force and ground forces throughout the city.

IDF COUNTERS TERRORIST INFILTRATION FROM LEBANON

Last night, IDF patrolling the Har Dov area successfully identified and engaged a terrorist cell that had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory. The IDF responded decisively with live fire, resulting in the neutralization of four terrorists. Concurrently, during the exchange of fire, IDF forces executed targeted artillery and mortar strikes in the area.

[historyandarthijinks]

Real Life Heroes (1): Tilly Smith

A 10 year old girl at the time of 2004, Tilly Smith would happen to save the lives of over 100 people while on vacation with her family.

Tilly Smith is British woman from the village of Oxshott in Surrey, England. In 2004 her family went on vacation in Thailand, where they would spend an evening on Mai Khao Beach. Unknown to the approximately 100 beachgoers, and Tilly's family, the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake had just occurred 150 miles (240km) from the coast of Sumatra Island, Indonesia.

The 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake affected 18 different countries primarily, not including the thousands of tourists caught in the disaster.

Including...

India

Indonesia

Malaysia

Maldives

Myanmar

Somalia

Sri Lanka

Thailand

Bangladesh

Kenya

Seychelles

South Africa

Tanzania

Yemen

Australia

Madagascar

Mauritius

Oman

The worst affected of these countries were Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. According to Wikipedia's numbers, there were about 227, 898 casualties. The earthquake itself was a 9.2 magnitude. Many of the waves kicked up were up to 30 m (100 ft.) tall. It only lasted ten minutes...

What made the disaster so destructive and deadly was the preparedness of the nations hit. Despite the fact that the area of the Indian Ocean in which the earthquake occurred had a history of activity, no major populations were yet hit. The area was not viewed as a significant concern by nearby countries.

There were no warning systems in place. Nations instead leaned on the hope that their people would be properly knowledgeable about signs of tsunamis and have prepared their own places of evacuation. This wasn't fruitless. Many of the coastal population had zero to little knowledge about what to look out for, and especially what to do in case of disaster.

The same could not be said for Tilly Smith.

Tilly took pride in learning from her school teacher, Andrew Kearney at Danes Hill School. She learned in his geography class about the warning signs and what to do's about several natural disasters, including tsunamis.

Remembering the school lesson, that morning she witnessed the signs of a tsunami on the coast.

A quote from an interview done with her in 2005 was, "The water was really, really frothy. It wasn't calm, and it wasn't going in and then out. It was just coming in and in."

She immediately went to go alert her parents. At first they did not believe her, because they didn't see any large waves over the horizons. They decided to listen to her urgency though, and came to the security guards.

While trying to convince to the security guard of the threat, a nearby by English-speaking Japanese man had her say the word tsunami. He informed the group that he just heard that there was an earthquake in Sumatra. The beach was evacuated into one the resort buildings. Quickly after, a 9 m (30ft.) tsunami crashed through the shore, the evacuated peoples narrowly avoiding the event by seconds.

Mai Khao Beach was one out of few that day which had no causalities.

Tilly Smith was awarded the Thomas Grey Special Award from the Marine Society & Sea Cadets. She earned the moniker Angel of the Beach. To this day Tilly is a face of coastal and natural disaster safety.

So what are the signs of a tsunami.

Any nearby or on location earthquakes

Loud roar from the ocean similar to a jet or train

rapid rise or fall of the water along the coast

What to do you in case of one

highest ground possible, as quick as possible

[peonycats]

If your still doing the shipping thing, TurkeyxUkraine, SeychellesxTaiwan, OmanxSaudi

taisey: seems cute but i dont think there's any actual irl deep ties between them? this seems to be more another ship shipped bc >cute girls together...?

turkraine: i remember seeing this lots back in the day on deviantart, it seems cute and there's some irl history to back it up but it's not really smth i'm compelled by? the only thing i can think for them is turkey harassing ukraine on social media LOL

omansaud: I can see it given the irl close relationship between the two nations but SHOCKINGLY, i think oman is actually the straightest man in the GCC.... so I don't really think of them having much romantic or sexual tension 😂

[flipshitz]

Refuting common blood libel about Jews and israel:

gen·o·cide

noun

the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group.

"a campaign of genocide"

From 1990 to 2022 the population of Palestine increased from 1.98 million to 5.04 million people. This is a growth of 155.0 percent in 32 years. The highest increase in Palestine was recorded in 1991 with 4.58 percent.

Israel is estimated to possess somewhere between 75 and 400 nuclear warheads (one can be used to wipe out all Palestinians if wanted but Israel will not)

What percent of Gaza's population has been killed?

1%

7, 2023. With 23,357 killed in Israel's military operation in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, the Gaza Strip population has now lost 1% of its 2.3 million residents. (There is no reason to believe these numbers are true as hamas is a terrorist organization with no intention of reporting accurate numbers therefore we can estimate less.)

Jews originally trace their ancestry to a confederation of Iron Age Semitic-speaking tribes known as the Israelites that inhabited a part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods. Modern Jews are named after and also descended from the southern Israelite Kingdom of Judah.

With this we know that Jews come from Judea and Arabs come from Arabia.

49 Muslim countries 2 billion Muslims

To 15 million Jews in their one Jewish state the size of New Jersey. 100 to 1 odds.

Zion: the hill in Jerusalem where king David built his kingdom -David (flourished c. 1000 bce) was the second ruler of the united kingdom of ancient Israel and Judah

Israel predates Islam by 1500 years.

ZionISM: the believe that Jews have the right to self determination in their homeland.

Muhammad Amin al-Husayni (189?-1974) was the Mufti (chief Muslim Islamic legal religious authority) of Jerusalem under the political authority of the British Mandate in Palestine from 1921 to 1937. His primary political causes were: -exiling and further blocking from Jews in diaspora from immigration.

-Organizing pogroms against Jews

-meeting with Hitler

-launching a war that would they would again lose & effectively displace thousands of Palestinians back into their neighboring Arab countries where they came from and blaming it all on the Jews.

After three defensive wars in 1949, 1956, and 1967, Israel had expanded its territory, leading to heightened tensions with the Arab states. On October 6, 1973, an Arab coalition of Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur—the Jewish holy day of atonement.

After these victories and acquiring of more land, the Israelis chose to give back their ancestral soil as a land for peace deal which the Palestinians would violate year after year by electing genocidal governments that seek to finish hitlers bidding.

To date; The bilateral agreements between Israel and the Palestinians contain no prohibition against the building or expansion of settlements.

Despite contrary allegations repeated ad nauseam.

2001 Israelis uprooted its citizens who had settled in Gaza already in order to make way for the Arabs to settle in an effort for peace but almost immediately they elect Hamas which is a proxy of Iran much like Hezbollah who’s only political agenda is to kill all Jews.

Oct 7th is a direct result of what happens when you invite terrorists to your front door.

For more copy and paste link:

SATURDAY-OCTOBER-SEVEN.COM

For the “UN” excuse;

Islamic Countries in the UN (46): Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Sudan, Algeria, Afghanistan, Morocco, Iraq, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Syria, Kazakhstan, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Tunisia, Guinea, Azerbaijan, Somalia, Tajikistan, Sierra Leone, Libya, Jordan, UAE, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Chad, Lebanon, Kuwait, Albania, Mauritania, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Gambia, Comoros, Djibouti, Maldives, Brunei, Lebanon. All of which are under the influence of IRAN which guess what? Owns Hezbollah and Hamas as its proxies. All of these nations have genocided or exiled all of its Jews. It’s no wonder they all take a majority vote over israel while simultaneously burying their crimes against humanity - but no mention of that from the peanut gallery on ur end right? Doesn’t fit your shill narrative. And to make matters worse; Iran's appointment to chair UN yes that’s right IRAN was appointed as chair for human rights - which drew rightful criticism at least thank god. Oh and 450 terror operatives in Gaza, mostly Hamas members, are also employed by UNRWA

Attacks on Israel: (still on going)

Shlomo Zalman Zoref 1851

Battle of Tel Hai 1920

Jaffa riots 1921

Meora’ot Tarpat 1929

Hebron Massacre 1929

The great revolt 1936-1939

*in the years 1937-1939 was funded by nazi germany*

War of independence 1948

Scorpions pass massacre 1954

Palestinian fedayeen

Jerusalem bombings 1969

Lord Airport massacre 1972

Munich massacre 1972

Yom Kippur Surprise attack 1973

Ma’alot Massacre 1974

Coastal road massacre 1978

Lanarca yacht killings 1985

1st intifada 1987-1993

Tel Aviv Jerusalem bus 405 attack 1989

Night of the pitchforks 1992

Western wall tunnel riots 1996

2nd intifada 2000-2008

Dolphinarium Discoteque massacre 2001

Sbarro restaurant suicide bombing 2001

Haifa bus bombing (16 suicide bombs) 2001

Passover massacre 2002

Yeshiva beit Yisrael bombing 2002

Cafe moment moment bombing 2002

Matza restaurant suicide bombing 2002

Yagur junction bombing 2002

Rishon lezion bombing 2002

Meggido junction bus bombing 2002

Patt junction bus bombing 2002

Karkur junction bombing 2002

Kiryat Menachem bus bombing 2002

Tel Aviv central bus station massacre 2003

Beersheba bus bombing 2004

2nd rosh ha’ir Restaraunt bombing 2006

Kedumim bombing 2006

Eilat bombing 2007

Jerusalem bus stop bombing 20011

Itamar massacre 2011

Tel Aviv truck attack 2011

Shaar ha negev school bus attack 2011

Tel Aviv bus bombing 2012

Gush Etzion kidnapping and murder 2014

Jerusalem synagogue attack 2014

Stabbing intifada 2015-2016

Tel Aviv shooting 2016

Temple Mount shooting 2017

Ariel stabbing 2018

Samaria combined attack 2019

Wave of terror 2022

Jerusalem bombings 2022

Bizengoff shooting 2023

Ramot junction attack 2023

October 7th massacre 2023

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

On National Day, Oman seeks business with Brazil

The Arab country celebrates the date in Brasília, and the ambassador highlights recent activities that have fostered diplomatic and commercial rapprochement with Brazil.

Oman celebrated its 54th National Day (officially observed on November 18) on Tuesday (26) with a ceremony in Brasília. According to information from the Omani Embassy in Brazil, Ambassador Talal Al Rahbi said in his speech that for 50 years of diplomatic relations the two countries have maintained strong ties. He also highlighted recent exchanges that could lead to increased trade and mutual investments.

In his speech, Al Rahbi recalled that a delegation from the Ladayn group visited Brazil in search of economic partnerships and investments. Al Rahbi highlighted the presence of Brazilian Tourism Minister Celso Sabino at the “Made in Brazil Expo Muscat,” a fair showcasing Brazilian products, held in May in Oman’s capital. He mentioned that a new edition of this event is scheduled for February 2025.

Continue reading.

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 6.18

Holidays

Academy Day (Scientology)

Autistic Pride Day

Clark Kent Day

Clean Your Aquarium Day

Count Your $$ Day

Drone Safety Day

Festival of Invisible Pornography

Finest Hour Speech Day

Foundation Day (Benguet, Philippines)

Go Fishing Day

Hand Cart Day (French Republic)

Horned Poppy Day

Human Rights Day (Azerbaijan)

International Day for Countering Hate Speech

International Declaration of Human Rights Day

International Panic Day

Jack Herer Day

Justice Institution Employees Day (Turkmenistan)

Mela Khir Bhawani (Kashmir, India)

National Black America’s Day of Repentance

National Internet Cat Day

National Jesse Day

National Relationship Day

National Splurge Day

National Wanna Get Away Day

National Wear Blue Day

Neurodiversity Pride Day (Netherlands)

No Headline Day

Police Inspector’s Day (Ukraine)

Queen Mother’s Day (Cambodia)

618 Day

Sustainable Gastronomy Day

Tabasco Day (Mali)

Trouser Day

Veterinary Appreciation Day (a.k.a. Veterinarian Appreciation Day)

Waterloo Day (UK)

Wild Den Dancing Day

World Day Against Incarceration

World Wide Knit in Public Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Insalata Day (Italy)

International Picnic Day

International Sushi Day

National Cheesemaker’s Day

National Cherry Tart Day

Independence & Related Days

Aldrodnia (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Bacolod City Charter Day (Philippines)

Constitution Day (Seychelles)

Egypt (a.k.a. Eid el-Galaa, evacuation of foreign troops, 1954)

Flinders (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Jailavera (Declared; 2017) [unrecognized]

Leprechia (Declared; 2021) [unrecognized]

Naga City Charter Day (Philippines)

Onontakeka (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Snagov (Declared; 2020) [unrecognized]

3rd Tuesday in June

National Accounts Payable Appreciation Day [3rd Tuesday]

National Cherry Tart Day [3rd Tuesday]

Royal Ascot begins (UK) [3rd Tuesday]

Taco Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Weekly Holidays beginning June 18 (3rd Full Week)

National Water Safety Week (Ireland) [thru 6.25]

Royal Ascot (thru 6.22)

Festivals Beginning June 18, 2024

Marysville Strawberry Festival (Marysville, Washington) [thru 6.23]

RMA Convention (Maui, Hawaii) [thru 6.21]

Taste of Little Italy (San Diego, California) [thru 6.19]

Feast Days

Amandus, Bishop of Bordeaux (Christian; Saint)

Andim Day (Pastafarian)

Bernard Mizeki (Anglican and Episcopal Church)

Chris Van Allsburg (Artology)

Elisabeth of Schönau (Christian; Saint)

Elvis Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Ephraem (Christian; Saint)

Erik Ortvad (Artology)

Festival of Anna (Ancient Rome; Everyday Wicca)

Going Forth of Neith Along the River (Ancient Egypt’ Goddess of War and Hunting)

Gregorio Barbarigo (Christian; Saint)

Gregory of Fragalata (Christian; Saint)

Into Raymi Festival begins (Inca Sun Worship Festival; until 24th)

James Montgomery Flagg (Artology)

John Bellany (Artology)

Joseph-Marie Vien (Artology)

Leontius, Hypatius and Theodulus (Christian; Saints)

Leroy (Muppetism)

Marina the Monk (Maronite Church, Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria)

Mark and Marcellian (Christian; Martyrs)

Media Ver XI (Pagan)

National Splurge Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Now Panic Day (Pastafarian)

Osanna Andreasi (Christian; Saint)

Theodoric the Great (Positivist; Saint)

Three Lasting Things of Cormac Mac Art: Grass, Copper and Yew (Celtic Book of Days)

Tiger-Get-By’s Birthday (Shamanism)

Islamic Lunar Holidays

Eid al-Adha, Day 3 [Muslim Feast of Sacrifice] (a.k.a. ... 

Al Adha (Bahrain)

Corban Bairam (Sudan)

Eid al Adha (Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, West Bank and Gaza, Yemen)

Eid e-Ghorban

Eid ul-Ad’haa (Maldives)

Feast of Sacrifice (Uzbekistan)

Gurban Bayram (Azerbaijan)

Hari Arafat (Malaysia)

Hari Raya Qurban (Malaysia)

Id el Kabir (Nigeria)

Kurban Bayram (North Cyprus)

Kurban Bayramy (Turkey)

Qurbon Hayit (Uzbekistan)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Unfortunate Day (Pagan) [36 of 57]

Premieres

The Adventures of Ellery Queen (Radio Series; 1939)

The Bully (Ub Iwerks Flip the Frog Cartoon; 1932)

Casey Bats Again (Disney Cartoon; 1954)

Dangerous When Wet (Film; 1953)

Dare To Be Stupid, by Weird Al Yankovic (Album; 1985)

Day & Night (Pixar Cartoon; 2010)

Der Freischütz (or The Marksman), by Carl Maria von Weber (Opera; 1821)

DodgeBall (Film: 2004)

(Everything I Do) I Do It For You, by Bryan Adams (Song; 1991)

Eyes in Outer Space (Disney Cartoon; 1959)

Goodbye Cruel World, by Elvis Costello (Album; 1984)

The House with a Clock in Its Walls, by John Bellairs (Novel; 1973)

Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train (Documentary Film; 2004)

Ice Station Zebra, by Alistair MacLean (Novel; 1963)

An Ideal Husband (Film; 1999)

Inside, Outside, by Herman Wouk (History Book; 1985)

Lady and the Lamp (Disney Cartoon; 1979)

Last Action Hero (Film; 1993)

Le Marteau sans Maître, by Pierre Boulez (Chamber Cantata; 1955)

Luca (Animated Film; 2021)

Morning, Noon and Nightclub (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1937)

My Cousin Rachel, by Daphne du Maurier (Novel; 1952)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman (Novel; 2013)

Odelay, by Beck (Album; 1996)

Once Upon a Forest (Hanna-Barbera Animated Film; 1993)

Origin of Symmetry, by Muse (Album; 2001)

Polar Fright (Chilly Willy Cartoon; 1966)

Popeye Meets Hercules (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1948)

The Sparks Brothers (Documentary Film; 2021)

Suppressed Duck (WB LT Cartoon; 1965)

Tarzan (Animated Disney Film; 1999)

Toy Story 3 (Animated Pixar Film; 2010)

The Underground World (Fleischer Cartoon; 1943) [#16]

The Wild Bunch (Film; 1969)

Wouldn’t It Be Nice, by The Beach Boys (Song; 1966)

Today’s Name Days

Elisabeth, Ilsa, Marina (Austria)

Asen, Chavdar (Bulgaria)

Elizabeta, Marcel, Ozana, Paul (Croatia)

Milan (Czech Republic)

Leontius (Denmark)

Auli, Aurelia, Auri, Reeli, Reelika, Reili (Estonia)

Tapio (Finland)

Léonce (France)

Elisabeth, Ilsa, Isabella, Marina (Germany)

Erasmos, Leontios (Greece)

Arnold, Levente (Hungary)

Gregorio, Marina, Marinella, Marinetta (Italy)

Alberts, Madis (Latvia)

Arnulfas, Ginbutas, Marina, Vaiva (Lithuania)

Bjarne, Bjørn (Norway)

Efrem, Elżbieta, Gerwazy, Leonia, Marek, Marina, Paula (Poland)

Ipatie, Leontie, Teodul (România)

Vratislav (Slovakia)

Marcelino, Marcos (Spain)

Bjarne, Björn (Sweden)

Leo, Leon (Ukraine)

Effie, Efrain, Eph, Ephraim, Marina, Marnie, Nevaeh (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 170 of 2024; 196 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of week 25 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Duir (Oak) [Day 10 of 28]

Chinese: Month 5 (Geng-Wu), Day 13 (Gui-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 12 Sivan 5784

Islamic: 11 Dhu al-Hijjah 1445

J Cal: 20 Blue; Sixday [20 of 30]

Julian: 5 June 2024

Moon: 88%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 1 Charlemagne (7th Month) [Theodoric the Great]

Runic Half Month: Dag (Day) [Day 10 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 92 of 92)

Week: 3rd Full Week of June)

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 29 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Charlemagne (Feudal Civilization) [Month 7 of 13; Positivist]

[goggledoddle]

[boxeboxer]

OMAN AMARI KHURSHID

Origin: asalee

Status: organic

Nationality/Ethnicity: Pakistani, currently resides in northern Britain

Age: 57 (date of birth August 31st, 1985) (pictured above at roughly 30-40 years old)

Occupation: electrical engineer, lineman

About:

Oman Khurshid is the son of Yushfa Saeed. His father left when he was very young and he was raised solely by his mother. His daughter is Samya Amari.

Oman happily lives in seclusion in the northern British countryside. He works as a local home electrician, though in his younger (and more agile) days he was a lineman. Even now as he continues to age, his occupation keeps him physically fit, as well as experienced with a range of tools. He is a strict pacifist, but still keeps a rifle by his bedside.

Oman is highly avoidant, and thus lives as a hermit. He is soft-spoken and not one to make himself the center of attention. Despite this, he has a strong moral code and will do anything to protect the people he cares about or what he believes in. This often makes him paranoid and untrusting of others he doesn't know. To those who are close to him, he is very sweet and loves to dote on them, though he isn't best at verbally expressing this affection in words. Oman likes taking apart and rebuilding electronics, freshly brewed tea, the smell of jasmine, and frozen TV dinners.

Background:

Born as Mehwish bint Khurshid, Oman experienced a typical childhood in Lahore. He has fleeting memories of his father, but he was very young when he left his and his mother's lives, which still bothers him into adulthood. In his mid-late teens, he came to realize he was a trans man and chose his new name. He remained closeted into his late 20s out of fear of angering his mother, especially once she fell ill in 2008.

When her health began to rapidly decline, along with a diagnosis of aggressive brain cancer, Oman decided to move to Britain for work in hopes of getting her lifesaving treatment. The Mallory lab takes him in as an equipment technician in their neurology research department, and in return promises to care for his mother. Unbeknownst to him, they actually plan to use Yushfa to harvest EBID.

While working as a technician, he meets Mia Safarova. Despite being shy, and struggling with spoken English, he's able to communicate with her more easily than anyone else they work with. They form a fast friendship, and Mia is the first person to call him by his chosen name, though he swears he never told her what it was. She's very curious about his life and comes off as strangely naïve. He forms a bit of a one-sided crush on her.

The EBID experiments on Yushfa prove too rigorous for her failing health, and she dies before a sample can be taken from her. Oman is not told this. Instead, Cassandra Mallory asks him if he would like to undergo the same procedure, no questions asked. She promises to give him the equivalent of $500,000, and still believing his mother is alive, he agrees. Mia tries to talk him out of it, knowing the truth, but this upsets him. They have a rough falling out.

On the day of the surgery, he realizes Mia will be the one performing it. With Cassandra attending, Oman is given a craniotomy just above his left eyebrow that extends to behind his ear. A fragment of brain matter from his frontal cortex is removed. Once he successfully recovers the next day, he's sent on his way.

Upon returning to Yushfa's home, he finds someone else living there. He tries contacting the Mallory lab to no avail. They claim they never had her in their custody. When he reports this to the police, they don't take him seriously and a missing persons report is never filed. In the coming months, he begins experiencing terrible side effects from his surgery, including gaps in his memory, hallucinations, and a piercing headache. This causes him to enter a manic state, doing anything and everything to find out what the Mallorys did to his mother and to him.

Oman believes all this to be in his head until he realizes the hallucinations he sees and hears coincide with electrical disturbances around him, most notably in disrupting the movement of his watch. He jerry-rigs a homing device to track the source, and realizes it's coming from the same lab he worked at. At the peak of his mania, he climbs a utility pole to break into the lab complex, where he finds Mia and infant Samya. She reveals that Samya is his daughter and the cause of his hallucinations, but he doesn't understand how that can be true. Cassandra hears the commotion and shoots him, but misses his heart.

Oman escapes with Samya, but passes out from blood loss. Mia follows him, setting fire to the lab and driving them to the countryside. She performs surgery to save his life and gives him a transfusion of her own blood. There she establishes a new life for the three of them while he recovers. To help them avoid capture, she gives Oman the avenues to finally present as a man and begin his medical transition, which helps keep the Mallorys at bay since they're still looking for "Mehwish." He changes his last name to Amari, the name of his mother's grandmother, both to leave his father's memory behind and keep is identity hidden.

He and Samya live a quiet life in the countryside. In their 40s, he and Mia enter an on-again-off-again relationship. He often helps her in combatting the Mallorys until her disappearance in 2029.

[reading-writing-revolution]

$10M cash withdrawal drove secret probe into whether Trump took money from Egypt - The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/08/02/trump-campaign-egypt-investigation/

Trump can do the crime, so let's let him do the time.

August 2, 2024 (Friday)

Today, Aaron C. Davis and Carol D. Leonnig of the Washington Post reported that there is reason to believe that when Trump’s 2016 campaign was running low on funds, Trump accepted a $10 million injection of cash from Egypt’s authoritarian leader Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. It is against the law to accept direct or indirect financial support from foreign nationals or foreign governments for a political campaign in the United States.

In early 2017, CIA officials told Justice Department officials that a confidential informant had told them of such a cash exchange, and those officials handed the matter off to Robert Mueller, the special counsel who was already looking at the links between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian operatives. FBI agents noted that on September 16, Trump had met with Sisi when the Egyptian leader was at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City.

After the meeting, Trump broke with U.S. policy to praise Sisi, calling him a “fantastic guy.”

Trump’s campaign had been dogged with a lack of funds, and his advisers had begged him to put some of his own money into it. He refused until October 28, when he loaned the campaign $10 million.

An FBI investigation took years to get records, but Davis and Leonnig reported that in 2019 the FBI learned of a key withdrawal from an Egypt bank. In January 2017, five days before Trump took office, an organization linked to Egypt’s intelligence service asked a manager at a branch of the state-run National Bank of Egypt to “kindly withdraw” $9,998,000 in U.S. currency. The bundles of $100 bills filled two bags and weighed more than 200 pounds.

Once in office, Trump embraced Sisi and, in a reversal of U.S. policy, invited him to be one of his first guests at the White House. “I just want to let everybody know, in case there was any doubt, that we are very much behind President al-Sissi,” Trump said.

Mueller had gotten that far in pursuit of the connection between Trump and Sisi when he was winding down his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. He handed the Egypt investigation off to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D C., where it appears then–attorney general William Barr killed it.

Today, Brian Schwartz of CNBC reported that Elon Musk and other tech executives are putting their money behind a social media ad campaign for Trump and Vance, and are creating targeted ads in swing states by collecting information about voters under false pretenses. According to Schwartz, their America PAC, or political action committee, says it helps viewers register to vote. And, indeed, the ads direct would-be voters in nonswing states to voter registration sites.

But people responding to the ad in swing states are not sent to registration sites. Instead, they are presented with “a highly detailed personal information form [and] prompted to enter their address, cellphone number and age,” handing over “priceless personal data to a political operation” that can then create ads aimed at that person’s demographic and target them personally in door-to-door campaigns. After getting the information, the site simply says, “Thank you,” without directing the viewer toward a registration site.

Forbes estimates Musk’s wealth at more than $235 billion.

In June the Trump Organization announced a $500 million deal with Saudi real estate developer Dar Global to build a Trump International hotel in Oman.

In January 2011, when he was director of the FBI, Robert Mueller gave a speech to the Citizens Crime Commission of New York. He explained that globalization and modern technology had changed the nature of organized crime. Rather than being regional networks with a clear structure, he said, organized crime had become international, fluid, and sophisticated and had multibillion-dollar stakes. Its operators were cross-pollinating across countries, religions, and political affiliations, sharing only their greed. They did not care about ideology; they cared about money. They would do anything for a price.

These criminals “may be former members of nation-state governments, security services, or the military,” he said. “They are capitalists and entrepreneurs. But they are also master criminals who move easily between the licit and illicit worlds. And in some cases, these organizations are as forward-leaning as Fortune 500 companies.”

In order to corner international markets, Mueller explained, these criminal enterprises "may infiltrate our businesses. They may provide logistical support to hostile foreign powers. They may try to manipulate those at the highest levels of government. Indeed, these so-called 'iron triangles' of organized criminals, corrupt government officials, and business leaders pose a significant national security threat."

In a new book called Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, journalist Anne Applebaum carries that story forward into the present, examining how today’s autocrats work together to undermine democracy. She says that “the language of the democratic world, meaning rights, laws, rule of law, justice, accountability, [and] transparency…[is] harmful to them,” especially as those are the words that their internal opposition uses. “And so they need to undermine the people who use it and, if they can, discredit it.”

Those people, Applebaum says, “believe they are owed power, they deserve power.” When they lose elections, they “come back in a second term and say, right, this time, I'm not going to make that mistake again, and…then change their electoral system, or…change the constitution, change the judicial system, in order to make sure that they never lose.”

Almost exactly a year ago, on August 1, 2023, a grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted former president Donald J. Trump for conspiring to defraud the United States, conspiring to disenfranchise voters, and conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. The charges stemmed from Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. A grand jury is made up of 23 ordinary citizens who weigh evidence of criminal activity and produce an indictment if 12 or more of them vote in favor.

The grand jury indicted Trump for “conspiracy to defraud the United States by using dishonesty, fraud, and deceit to impair, obstruct, and defeat the lawful federal government function by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted, and certified by the government”; “conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the January 6 congressional proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are counted and certified”; and “conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted.”

“Each of these conspiracies,” the indictment reads, “targeted a bedrock function of the United States federal government: the nation’s process of collecting, counting, and certifying the results of the presidential election.” “This federal government function…is foundational to the United States’ democratic process, and until 2021, had operated in a peaceful and orderly manner for more than 130 years.”

The case of the United States of America v. Donald J. Trump was randomly assigned to Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who was appointed by President Obama in 2014 and confirmed 95–0 in the Senate. Trump pleaded not guilty on August 3, after which his lawyers repeatedly delayed their pretrial motions until, on December 7, Trump asked the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals to decide whether he was immune from prosecution. Chutkan had to put off her initial trial date of March 4, 2024, and said she would not reschedule until the court decided the question of Trump’s immunity.

In February the appeals court decided he was not immune. Trump appealed to the Supreme Court, which waited until July 1, 2024, to decide that Trump enjoys broad immunity from prosecution for crimes committed as part of his official acts. Today the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to Chutkan, almost exactly a year after it was first brought.