#Port strikes 2024

[just2bruce]

Labor disruption coming for supply chains

Now is the time for labor unions to press ports and railways for new benefits for workers. There is a perfect storm of labor stoppages about to take place. Thursday (that’s two days from this writing) the Teamsters Canada union (TCRC) expects to strike the CPKC railroad, one of the two largest in Canada. CPKC is also a large US and Mexico railway, and we’ve yet to see if US unions will honor a…

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Unlike most of their brothers and sisters in eastern Canada, socialists in both Port Arthur and Fort William [now Thunder Bay] wholeheartedly embraced the creation of the OBU [One Big Union]. By October 1919, all 160 starch workers, all the bakers, and 18 general workers in Fort William united with the members of the IWW’s LWIU [Lumber Workers International Union] in Port Arthur and joined. The FOC’s [Finnish Organization of Canada] decision to declare itself a propaganda organization of the OBU created an auxiliary in Port Arthur that gained control of the Finnish Labour Temple by assuming its debt.

In the midst of the election campaign of October 1919, local newspapers reported that the OBU had established branches in the region and that an OBU-affiliated Central Labour Council (CLC) had been established in Fort William. The council adopted the structure, constitution, and bylaws of the Winnipeg council. Well attended by workers of all nationalities and by a variety of unions, the council heard predictions that the local trades and labour councils would disappear within the next few months. The newly formed executive board of the CLC reported that both the coal handlers of Fort William, who had been responsible for a number of the strikes before the First World War, and the pulp and paper mill workers were engaged in discussions that would see them joining the OBU within the next few weeks. The Brotherhood of Carpenters local, consisting of 250 members, had already gone over to the OBU. The General Workers’ Unit reported 60 new members in the last week alone.

The OBU thus appealed to a variety of strata within the working class and, in principle and up to a point in reality, transcended the region’s deep-seated ethnic divisions. Finnish workers, however, made up by far the largest ethnic group within its ranks. Well aware of this fact, and in order to discourage their further radicalization, police in both cities began a campaign of repression and harassment that, not incidentally, coincided with the 1919 election. Soon after the establishment of the first OBU branches in Port Arthur, for example, a series of raids shook that city’s “Finnish quarter” (the area immediately around the Finnish Labour Temple on Bay Street). Both local and Royal North-West Mounted Police (RNWMP) admitted to having searched, on 9 October, seven homes described as “propaganda depots,” confiscating a large amount of “Bolshevik” literature and arresting seven “Finlanders.” These arrests were followed the next day by the search and seizure of “red” material at the Fort William bookstore of Edward Ollikkala, including a large amount of IWW literature. The RNWMP was quick to point out that “of the three centers of foreign population,” the Fort William coal dock section remained quiet and those arrested were not “enemy aliens,” merely “aliens.”

The presence of the OBU at the Lakehead worried the TLC [Trades and Labour Congress of Canada] so much that it sent William Varley, an American Federation of Labor (AFL) organizer from Toronto, to the region in late October to address the local Trades and Labour Councils and the General Workers’ Unit of the OBU in Fort William. Varley devoted much of his time to demonizing the Winnipeg General Strike and the “hopelessness of this form of action.” He contended that the AFL “had done much for the workers and was the only form of organization.” Not surprisingly, his comments were met with ridicule, contempt, and often laughter. Rather than promoting a discussion about bridging the growing division among the region’s more radical unions, the ILP [Independent Labour Party], and TLC members, the meeting intensified the general hostility towards the distant labour centre. ILP alderman A.H. Dennis, for example, contended that the TLC and it alone was to blame for the division that existed both locally and nationally among workers. As he suggestively remarked, “Labour had shown by the elections in Fort William, what they could do when it got together.” The TLC, he suggested, “was out of harmony altogether with the workers,” and it no longer represented “the workers any more than the Government did the people.” The OBU, the majority present agreed, was a necessity because of the past actions of the TLC and the AFL. It appears that at this point both leftists and centrists at the Lakehead supported the OBU and identified it as the defender of regional interests against the aloof bureaucrats of the TLC. As one delegate, tired of the double-speak and manipulation demonstrated by Varley, declared: “Well, if that’s what you want, let’s hand in our charter.”"

- Michel S. Beaulieu, Labour at the Lakehead: Ethnicity, Socialism, and Politics, 1900-35. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2011. p. 70-71.

[sylvia-on-the-run]

The Yemeni ballistic response deep in the zionist entity strengthens the deterrence equation and further exposes the fragility of the zionist entity.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) salutes with all pride and honor, the brave Yemeni people and their valiant Armed Forces, who once again demonstrated their ability to penetrate deep into the zionist entity and bypass American and Western defenses by launching a ballistic missile that struck the capital of the fabricated entity. This new qualitative operation has proven Yemen's capability to enhance the deterrence equation against the occupation and deliver a powerful response to the occupation’s crime of bombing Al-Hodeidah port and the genocide against our Palestinian people.

This operation has left the zionist enemy in a state of shock and confusion, once again revealing the fragility of its defense system, which has long relied on support from the United States and its allies.

This missile strike comes as part of the continued Yemeni front of support and the strikes from the Axis of Resistance in response to the zionist genocide war against our people and in support of the resistance. The Yemeni armed forces have pledged to impose a naval blockade on the occupation and strike anyone who challenges this blockade.

Through this operation, the Yemeni forces have sent a strong message to the zionist occupation, stating that any aggression against Yemen or Gaza will not go unpunished, and the occupation’s losses will be severe at all levels and in the heart of the entity.

This qualitative operation also affirms that the American-zionist aggression on Yemen has failed to achieve its goals of breaking Yemen’s will or affecting its operations in support of Gaza.

The zionist reliance on American and Western defense systems, or the crimes of their allies against Yemen, has failed to protect the zionist entity. The Yemeni ballistic message today is clear and unequivocal: "Stop the aggression on Gaza immediately, or Yemen's responses will continue, intensify, and penetrate deeper into the zionist entity. There will be no red lines in defending the causes of the nation, foremost among them the cause of Palestine and its valiant resistance."

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Central Media Department Mid-September 2024

[magz]

Palestine related news summary from LetsTalkPalestine, May 1 to May 4, 2024.

[Ways to help, sources, and more: LetsTalkPalestine Linktree]

May 1.

(Instagram reel of UCLA protest. Includes footage of treating n washing a pro-palestine protestors' bloody head)

Day 208

🇨🇴 Colombia to cut diplomatic ties w/ Israel

•⁠ ⁠33 killed, 57 injured in the last 24 hours. Real number likely higher

⚖️ US lobbying ICC not to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, after Israel's threat to respond by retaliating against Palestinian Authority for sparking ICC investigation

🇫🇷 France denies selling weapons to Israel used in Gaza, claiming what's sold will be re-exported to 3rd countries via Israel, but did supply Israeli Iron Dome defense system

🇹🇷 Turkey set to follow Columbia & Nicaragua by joining South Africa's ICJ case against Israel

🎓 Zionist mob attacked Palestine protestors at UCLA w/ fireworks & pepper spray for 3 hours, police didn’t intervene (📹👆). Columbia & CUNY asked NYPD to raid & arrest 280+ student protestors. New encampments across UK, Tunisia & Canada

🚚 First aid trucks enter through Beit Hanoon crossing to north Gaza despite Israel's promise to open 1 month ago. Nearly half of aid convoys to north Gaza denied by Israel.

May 2.

(Instagram post, news update. The Israeli occupation has killed Palestinian Dr. Adnan Al-Barash.)

Day 209

• 28 Palestinians killed, 51 injured in last 24 hours. Note that the toll is underreported.

🏥 Dr. Adnan al Barash killed in captivity after IOF abducted him in Dec (📷👆)— 496 medical personnel killed in Gaza + 309 in captivity

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia arrests many for anti-Israel online posts, incl. an executive & media figure. Timing suspicious w/ reports of renewed normalization talks

• IOF attacks aid convoy, killing 1

🇹🇷 Turkey stops all trade w/ Israel after banning 54 exports to Israel

🇺🇸 US House pass “antisemitism awareness” bill using repressive IHRA definition of antisemitism despite antisemitism covered in anti-discrimination law. Why is IHRA definition problematic? See tinyurl.com/ynsfy8sx

• IOF airstrike in central Gaza killed 5, incl. a child

🪨 37m tons of rubble in Gaza, heavy contamination w/ unexploded ammunition & 800,000 tons of asbestos

🎓 Columbia & Emory University face federal investigation for anti-Muslim discrimination, reports of doxing & harassment

May 3.

Day 210

• World Press Freedom Day: Israel killed 100+ journalists since Oct 7 + holding 53 captive

• 26 killed, 51 injured in the last 24 hours. Note the toll is underreported.

• Israel attack on Rafah killed 7, incl. a mother & her children — the children’s bodies were shredded by the airstrikes

🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago recognizes the State of Palestine as West Bank & Gaza

🇬🇧 UK sanctions 2 Israeli groups + 4 settlers for violence in West Bank, warns of more sanctions if no Israeli action against settler attacks

• Israeli strike on Bureij camp killed 5, incl. a child

💰 UN estimates cost to rebuild Gaza at $40bn; more than post-WWII reconstruction

🎓 Goldsmiths University students in London win & obtain demands after occupying library — @ goldsmithsforpalestine on instagram for details

🎓 University encampments for Gaza go global spreading to 🇨🇦 🇮🇳 🇳🇿 🇪🇸 🇦🇷 🇯🇵 🇰🇼 🇱🇧 🇹🇳 🇯🇴. US crackdown w/ 2,200 students arrested

• Iran-backed Bahraini militia launches attack at southern Israeli port Eilat

May 4.

Day 211

✝️ Israel blocks entry of many Palestinian Christians to Jerusalem for Holy Saturday celebrations

•⁠ 32 Palestinians killed, 41 injured in Gaza in last 24 hours. Toll underreported

•⁠ ⁠IOF killed 5+ in 15-hour siege on Tulkarem (West Bank) & clashes with Hamas resistance fighters. IOF targeted fighters’ homes w/ women & kids inside, demolished homes trapping many under rubble

•⁠ ⁠Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 11 incl. 3 in bombings of tents in Rafah

•⁠ Head of UN WFP says north Gaza experiencing “full-blown famine” and it’s only a matter of time before south Gaza faces same level of starvation

🇫🇷 British-Palestinian @ dr.ghassan.as denied entry to France for Senate address as witness of Gaza Genocide as Germany put year-long ban on his entry to Europe (Schengen)

🇺🇸 88 US lawmakers warn Biden that Israeli aid blockade violates US ‘foreign assistance’ law

•⁠ IOF abducts 5 overnight in West Bank

🎓 Uni encampments spread to Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, Cuba & Costa Rica

[yuurei20]

hello there! so sorry for how vague this question is but: do you have any idea as to why EN won’t give us the tamashina event? :’< we got the stitch event before tamashina 💔

Hello hello! ^^ Thank you for this question!

It is true that the EN server seems to have shuffled the order of release for Tamashna Muina (this is the spelling of the event music from the official soundtrack, which I have never seen anywhere else before 👀 Interesting!) but EN has a history of rearranging events, putting Halloween before Vargas Camp, Tsumsted before Harveston, Port Fest after Vargas Camp 2, etc ^^

We do not have any precedence for EN skipping something altogether so I think it is safe to say that EN will receive Tamashna sooner or later, and we might be able to guess when 👀

The 30th anniversary of the release of the animated Lion King movie is coming! ^^

As it was originally released in June in the US it seems that a June release would have made more sense than the Stitch event for this month. There is a chance they are opting for the Japan release date, instead? Maybe?

And there is another event up and coming!

The new "Mufasa" movie is coming out this December, but it was originally slotted for a July 5th release 👀

Is it possible that Aniplex USA timed their 2024 schedule around Mufasa coming out in July, and were not able to adapt to the sudden change that came from the writer's strike?

This would not be the first time that the EN server has tied in-game content to a live-action theatrical release, with a "release celebration" and Octavinelle Training Camp timed with the The Little Mermaid! (And this was unique to EN! JP received a log-in bonus but no training camp.)

In conclusion: Based on past release patterns, there is a good chance that Tamashna is on its way! ^^

A July release would be curious due to its proximity to Leona's birthday, but it would also not be the first time that EN has released multiple SSRs of the same character curiously close together (re: Phantom Bride and Clubwear Ace, Dorm Malleus and Birthday Malleus, Tsum Azul and Birthday Azul, etc.).

Only time will tell! 🦁

[ao-fc]

Port of Odessa fire after Russian missile strike

March 5, 2024

[girlactionfigure]

IDF OPERATION "OUTSTRETCHED ARM" SPECIAL UPDATE

Today, July 20th, 2024, Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in Yemen. All of the pilots returned home safely.

The strike was conducted in response to the Houthis' ongoing terrorist attacks on Israel in recent months. These attacks have included the launch of hundreds of aerial threats, one of which resulted in the death of Israeli citizen Yevgeny Ferder z”l and the injury of several other civilians.

Israeli Air Force jets executed an extensive operational strike over 1,800 kilometers away from Israel, targeting locations in the area of the Al Hudaydah Port in Yemen. The Al Hudaydah Port serves as an entryway for Iranian weapons to the Houthi terrorist regime and is a significant economic source for them. This strike is one of the furthest from Israeli territory ever conducted by the Israeli Air Force.

In recent months, the Houthis have been working to destabilize the Middle East. Their terror attacks, funded and directed by Iran, harm maritime freedom in the area, regional ports, the Suez Canal, and global trade as a whole.

Under Iran's guidance, attacks against Israel and Western nations are conducted by Iranian-funded, armed, and directed proxies. This strategy allows Iran to hide and avoid the consequences of war.

The IDF will continue to defend the State of Israel against terror threats wherever necessary and will maintain the security of Israeli civilians.

[fatehbaz]

Recent Chicago peice reminded me of the way Chicago north suburbs use military bases to divide and segregate in a manner that similarly matches connects to colonial actions. You always compile interesting stuff thank you.

Thank you for the kindness and support. I'm gonna riff on this a little bit. I'm sorry, I don't mean to distract from what you specifically brought up here.

Yea, we can add federal military base sites to the list of significant "innovations" Chicago has made in race-based labor segregation in service of wealth extraction. (For anyone following along, the article/essay we're discussing explores racism and white anxiety in Chicago, the fear and "anticipation" of Black migration from the South during Reconstruction and the Great Migration, and how between 1880-ish and 1910-ish Chicago then became a center of surveillance and policing beliefs and practices in response to this racial anxiety, refined to such an extent that Chicago's police/surveillance practices were then "exported" and employed across the US and also in the colonial plantations of the Philippines under US military occupation. By Jolen Martinez, in 2024, "Plantation Anticipation: Apprehension in Chicago from Reconstruction America to the Plantocratic Philippines".)

So Chicago is a wealth funnel, right? The node. The center of transportation networks. Extracted wealth channeled by the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence River waterway, channeled by the Mississippi River corridor, channeled by the railroads acting as tendrils reaching out into westward into "the frontier". For the United States, Chicago was the gateway to "the West". Over the course of the past two centuries: Furs from trapped mammals in Canadian boreal forest shipped through the lakes to French benefactors, mined metals from the Iron Ranges shipped through the ports, timber from Minnesota shipped through the waterway, cattle from Texas rangeland shipped to massive Chicago meat processing facilities, corn products from the tallgrass prairie ecoregion shipped to Chicago. And people, too. People diminished. People seen as mere resources. People as labor. People shipped to Chicago to work the processing centers, the docks, the restauraunt dish-pits. And so Chicago becomes a hub of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. And because Chicago was a hub of labor unions and Black migration, it also becomes a hub of policing.

Chicago achieves the pinnacle of its spectacular reputation with its image as a glistening modernist metropolis after the construction of the railroad networks. But even before the city itself was formally established, the wetlands where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan were kinda located in this general region that acts as a sort of bridge for French wealth, being both near the inland terminus of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence route while simultaneously also sitting near a sort of terminus of the Mississippi River route (uniting French Canadian fur trade and Ontario/Quebec settlement with French "Caribbean" plantations and settlement via New Orleans).

I think about how suburbanization, and its attendant racial segregation, is especially blatant in something I kinda think of as "the southern Great Lakes industrial corridor and its economically, ecologically, culturally similar satellites" (Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Omaha, etc.). Some writing that I enjoy about this, which you might enjoy checking out if you haven't yet, is Phil Neel's work, particularly the book Hinterland (2018). Neel's book is largely about suburbs/suburbanization; the environmental construction of Midwestern cities as hubs of industrial extraction and racial segregation; and how these Chicago-esque traditions of designing physical space (whether it's residential, "rural", "urban", whatever) to best isolate/subdue people for extraction are now widespread and typical of US space in general. As another example, Neel discusses how the "revitalized urban core" of Seattle's utopian "infotech metropolis" of tech companies is actually dependent on the corridor extending southward towards and past Tacoma, "this logistics empire" of "warehouses, food processing facilities, container trucks, rail yards, and industrial parks" while "the poor have been priced out" and "can also be found staffing the airport and the rail yards [...], loading boxes in warehouses [...]." So that the power of such a major city does not end at the technical city limit boundary, but extends beyond into the "rural" hinterland. (You can see this when looking up an "urban megaregion map".) This is of course pretty obvious with the Great Lakes cities, if you consider all of the corn fields, the farms, the Rust Belt manufacturing sites, many of which use railroad and/or highway corridors to funnel that wealth ultimately to a place like Chicago. And Chicago, in many ways, was a sort of "pioneer" of these techniques of organizing space with racially-segregated labor compartmentalization.

So perhaps unsurprisingly, urban/neighborhood segregation is very ingrained/formalized in the Great Lakes cities. Chicago's Lake Michigan-based sibling Milwaukee is especially notorious (2018 research found Milwaukee had the most extreme Black-white segregation of any US city with a million or more people). Including banking, home-loan denial, insurance practices engineered specifically and efficiently to isolate/segregate/prey upon Black people (all kinds of academic research on on these practices). Redlining ("other side of the tracks"), especially 1930s-1940s, made use of the region's many railroad tracks as physical barriers and hostile environments.

And part of why I liked Martinez's take on it was that we can see more evidence that Chicago's techniques of organizing space/life did not just establish ways of being in the Midwest, but also established ways of being across the United States. And we can kinda see that this power is not just physical/material.

I think Chicago is interesting, especially in the time period of the research we're talking about (1880-1910), because this Gilded Age, Edwardian era, turn-of-the-century-opulence kinda moment is sort of singularly important for (European) empire-building. British imperial power being exercised in Southeast and South Asia. The Scramble for Africa. French Algeria. European power reaching outwards. But it also corresponds to United States empire-building both domestically and globally. 1889/1890: Wounded Knee and "the closing of the frontier", the West has been won, from sea to shining sea, now the US thinks it owns the continent or whatever. And the US didn't waste any time. Immediately, the US moves on to Cuba, to the Philippines, etc. And it's like, at first, to target Indigenous people and the Wild West, there are obvious physical/material reasons why Chicago (geographically, as a railroad and telegraph hub, as shipping hub, as the destination of Great Migration) is like a homebase or an epicenter for westward expansion and domestic empire-building. And with Martinez's writing, we can see Chicago is not geographically a convenient hub of colonization abroad in Central America or the Philippines (it's not close to those locations, the railroads of Chicago don't reach Manila, etc.). And yet in a very scary way Chicago still actually did function as a hub of empire-building across the globe due to Chicago's ideas, imaginaries, beliefs. Chicago's imagination itself. Chicago's racism, channeling the earlier racial hierarchy of the antebellum South, reached out across the planet. Chicago authority figures trained police and administrators from elsewhere. Chicago-style police data-collection and record-keeping inspired surveillance approaches across the United States. The ideologies, the "personality types", the filing cabinets, the "intelligence cards", were adopted elsewhere. What white Southerners believed and practiced in antebellum Louisiana, would carry over into Gilded Age Chicago, would influence twentieth century US domestic surveillance, and would then affect the rest of the planet. The beliefs, practices, the very emotions of white US residents could transform plantations in the Philippines. Disturbing.

[mariacallous]

Ukraine’s daring attack on a major Russian warship in occupied Crimea in the small hours of Dec. 26 was one more episode in Kyiv’s strategy to deny Russia control over the Black Sea. With most of its ships driven out of its home port in Sevastopol, the Russian Black Sea Fleet can no longer find safe haven anywhere along the Crimean Peninsula. All ports there are now vulnerable to attack.

The Institute for the Study of War tells the story with data, showing that Sevastopol saw a steady decline in the number of Russian naval vessels in port between June and December 2023; by contrast, Novorossiysk on the Russian mainland farther east showed a steady gain. While Russia has been going all-out to attack Ukraine’s infrastructure, its risky move to deploy ships and submarines armed with Kalibr missiles in the Black Sea is exposing them to potential Ukrainian attack. It is a tacit acknowledgment that Russia can no longer depend on Crimean ports and launch sites.

Ukraine’s success has been due to domestically produced missiles and drones, sometimes launched using Zodiac boats or jet skis. But its most potent attacks have come from the air, where Ukraine has used its Soviet-era fighter aircraft to launch both domestically produced and NATO-supplied missiles. These attacks have taken place with the protection of Ukraine’s advanced air defenses—including newly supplied foreign ones—which are regularly shooting down the majority of Russian missiles and drones destined for Ukrainian targets.

Ukraine thus has made significant strides denying Russia control of both the sea and airspace over and around its territory, thereby preventing the Russian Navy and Air Force from operating with impunity. But is that enough for Kyiv to win? To many Western observers, victory doesn’t seem possible in the face of wave after wave of Russian troops grinding down Ukrainian defenders. Ukraine’s strategy to deny Russia free use of its sea and airspace may be working, but as things stand, it cannot defeat the Russian army on the ground, nor can it defend against every missile striking civilian targets.

Indeed, the current conventional wisdom in large parts of the West is that Ukraine is losing the ground war, leaving no pathway to victory for the country as Russia pounds Ukrainian civilians into submission. Kyiv might as well call for a cease-fire and sue for peace.

The trouble with this scenario is that it spells defeat not only for Ukraine, but also for the United States and its allies in Europe and Asia. It would embolden both Russia and China to pursue their political, economic, and security objectives undeterred—including the seizure of new territory in Eastern Europe and Taiwan.

But is the conventional wisdom right—or does Ukraine’s clever success at sea and in the air suggest that a different outcome is possible? Perhaps the Russian army can be defeated by making use of Ukraine’s willingness to fight in new ways. If you asked a U.S. military professional, the key to dislodging the Russians is to subject them to relentless and accurate air attacks that are well synchronized with the maneuver of combined arms forces on the ground. While the Ukrainians are admirably using the weapons at hand to strike Russian forces both strategically, as in Crimea, and operationally, as in hitting command and logistics targets, success at the tactical level has remained elusive. To achieve a tactical breakthrough on the ground front that leads to operational and strategic success, they will need to be more effective from the air.

For power from the air to be decisive in 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces must create temporary windows of localized air superiority in which to mass firepower and maneuver forces. Given the Ukrainians’ success in denying their airspace to Russia at points of their choosing, such windows are possible using the assets they already have at hand. More and better weapons tailored to this scenario would make them more successful across the entire front with Russia.

Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, acknowledges that to break out of the current positional stalemate—which favors Russia—and return to maneuver warfare, where Ukraine has an advantage, Ukrainian forces need air superiority, the ability to breach mine obstacles, better counter-battery capability, and more assets for electronic warfare. Specifically, he argues for three key components. First, armed UAVs that use real-time reconnaissance to coordinate attacks with artillery (which could include properly armed Turkish-built TB2s, MQ-1C Gray Eagles, MQ-9 Reapers, or bespoke cheap and light UAVs capable of employing the necessary weapons). Second, armed UAVs to suppress enemy air defenses, as well as medium-range surface-to-air missile simulators to deter Russian pilots. And third, unmanned vehicles to breach and clear mines.

Although the technologies are new, this combination of capabilities recalls the method U.S. and allied NATO forces practiced during the Cold War in West Germany to confront numerically superior Warsaw Pact ground forces protected by layered air defenses. The Joint Air Attack Team (JAAT) was developed to synchronize attack helicopters, artillery, and close air support by fighter planes to ensure a constant barrage of the enemy in case of a ground force attack. Pooling NATO assets in this way was designed to give the alliance’s forces the mass, maneuverability, and flexibility needed to overcome superior numbers, avoid a war of attrition, and escape the type of bloody slugfest that characterizes the current stalemate in Ukraine.

In Ukraine’s case, a modernized JAAT would encompass, among many things, armed UAVs carrying Maverick and Hellfire missiles, loitering munitions, precision-guided artillery shells, and extended-range standoff missiles fired by aircraft. These systems would be coordinated in an electromagnetic environment shaped by Ukrainian operators to dominate the local airspace, saturate the battlefield with munitions, and clear mines to open the way for a ground assault. This updated JAAT—let’s call it electronic, or eJAAT—would create a bubble of localized air superiority that would advance as the combined arms force advances under the bubble’s protection.

Given Russia’s willingness to endure significant casualty rates, the eJAAT could be even more effective on defense: Massing firepower against advancing troops through an eJAAT might result in a stunning rout of the attackers, opening opportunities for Ukraine to strategically exploit the sudden change of fortunes.

Zaluzhny has made it publicly clear that “the decisive factor will be not a single new invention, but will come from combining all the technical solutions that already exist.” Like all good commanders, Zaluzhny is painfully aware that the 2023 campaign didn’t work as well as he had intended. Even so, and to their advantage, the Ukrainians have clearly demonstrated their innovative talents, willingness to exploit Western methods, and total commitment to victory. U.S. and European assistance to work with them on how to better manage operational complexity and combine technology, information, and tactics in more dynamic ways, coupled with security assistance tailored to the eJAAT approach, would return movement to the now-static battlefield and give Ukraine a fighting chance.

If Ukraine can achieve the momentum in the ground war that evaded it during its failed summer offensive, Kyiv will have a real pathway to victory. That pathway will run through Ukraine’s demonstrated prowess at sea and in the air, joined to an embrace of a sophisticated combination of techniques on the ground. It will be a pathway to victory not only for Ukraine, but also for the United States and its allies.

[softmeetscreatureplz]

ALRIGHT. HERES ANLITTLE EXCERPT FROM A ONESHOT I NEVER FINISHED!!!!

FOR @bsd-disability-week-2024 DISABILITY BSD WEEK (DAY 1: PHYSICAL DISABILITY) - Chuuya Nakahara with Chronic Pain!!!!

(Edit; Yes I just remembered Chronic illness is technically also a day. I will either post another thing or swap them for what I post shhh)

------

Chuuya had first started dealing with- this, a long time ago. Before he'd met Dazai, before he'd even escaped the lab.

The aching, shooting jolts of pain, that spread from his fingertips up his arms, and ate away at his lowered back. When he'd been younger, it'd terrified him. The amount of pain- striking at random seeming, going from dull, easily ignorable things to something that left him in tears and unable to move properly.

He'd ended up filled with experimental drugs from the scientists- handlers there- and for the most part it disappeared.

Then Chuuya had gotten out- living on the streets alone before being found by sheep. For the most part, the pain became dull. Something tiring, that stung every once in awhile, but manageable. He ignored it, keeping his hands hidden and warm in his pockets and protecting his back well in fights. The careful control kept the pain at bay somehow, and helped keep himself in control of Arahabaki.

Until he was fifteen. He met an asshole of a guy- Dazai Osamu. And, he fucking sucked. He was rude, lazy, worked for the PM, annoyed Chuuya, insulted his height, and didn't know how to shut up.

Chuuya hated him. With an absolute, burning passion.

Any sort of fondness there he blamed on his exceedingly poor taste in men. Nothing serious. Nope.

But, then they were working together; and Chuuya took his hands out of his pockets, and they worked together to beat Rimbaud. Dazais hands were warm- and his grip added pressure and Chuuya tried very very hard not to let on how relieved he was that he wasn't worse.

Joining the Port Mafia was- weird.

Weird and different as strange. He got gloves, which meant he didn't have a real reason to keep his hands in his pockets.

He did it anyway.

His hands ached dully, and trying to do both his and Dazais paperwork almost made him want to say fuck it and spree, his back and hands flaring up. He pushed through it, using the fact that Dazai and the others knew he hadn't received a real education to let himself be a bit more messy.

He still didn't tell anyone. He was fairly sure Ane-san had caught onto the fact that something was up, the way he sometimes shied away from picking up his tea and hid his hands more than usual when they met up. She didn't press.

Chuuya still didn't know what was happening other than this, but the more he tried to hide it the more sure he was that no one else here felt the same. He refused to be weak and let it get to him.

Storm bringer- happened. He got electrocuted, and beaten in a fight, and used Corruption. His friends died. He wasn't human.

When they got home, Chuuya hid himself away in his apartment. His arms felt like they were on fire, still being electrocuted. His back screamed at him, aching and stabbing, and he was exhausted. He didn't know how to do this. The redhead lay in bed for ages, pained and mourning. It felt like he had aged years in that time.

The silent tears on his pillows were left unnoticed, and forgotten.

No one tried to disturb him. His phone was left abandoned, the buttons too much to handle.

Eventually, his pain eased. Worse than the dull ache it had been, but manageable. He'd been gone too long anyways. He forced himself up. Chuuya was starting to hate this, just a little bit.

If he had to be not human, why did he have to get a body that hurt too?

[workersolidarity]

🇮🇶⚔️🇮🇱 🚨

ISLAMIC RESISTANCE IN IRAQ TARGETS ISRAELI ENTITY WITH DRONE STRIKES

✍️ The Islamic Resistance in Iraq issued a statement today, Sunday, June 23rd, announcing the launch of a drone strike on a "vital target" in the port city of Eilat (Umm-Rashrash), in the south of the occupied Palestinian territories, on the Gulf of Aqaba.

According to the statement:

"In continuation of our approach to resisting the occupation, in support of our people in Gaza, and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, and the elderly, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq targeted this morning, Sunday, 6/23/2024, a vital target in Umm al-Rashrash, "Eilat." The occupied territories, using drones, and the Islamic Resistance confirms that it will continue to destroy enemy strongholds."

#source

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[daphnethebanjolover]

Thoughts on the June 2024 Direct

Mario and Luigi: Back from the Dead

"We can end the Direct now." -person in Failboat's chat

They're still updating Switch Sports?

Looney Tunes Strikers (I know Space Jam is a thing but shh)

I'm personally not a Donkey Kong fan, but I'm happy for people who are. You guys are getting the whole platter.

Kind of weird that they added Luigi's Mansion 2 when it's coming next week and they've already started advertising it.

Perfect Dark NSO port and Perfect Dark remake coming up?

I was suspicious when I saw Super Mario Party, but this might actually be banger.

Mario Party Royale?

Quadruple Dice?

I'm just saying the new boards and minigames look cool.

The Legend of Zelda: You Play as Zelda

Wand of Gamelon is quaking.

Link's Awakening HD is quaking.

Fuck it. Tears of the Kingdom is quaking.

I need this Zelda game in my hands right now.

I like how YouTubers are all collectively scared of Just Dance because they don't want to get copyright striked.

I like that the Lego game actually looks like Lego.

The Lego Movie changed me fundamentally.

Stray isn't on the Switch already?

The creators of Danganronpa present Danganronpa.

Metroid Prime: Back from the Dead.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"The SDPC [Social Democractic Party of Canada] at the Lakehead appears not to have been content merely to contest elections. In 1912, having recently formed a union, the mostly immigrant workers of the Canadian Northern Coal and Ore Dock Company went on strike for better wages, hours, and working conditions. Bloodshed resulted when company officials, using local police and the militia, tried to suppress the striking coal handlers. The chief of police, two constables, and two Italian strikers were wounded. Fearing a general strike, the CNR quickly acquiesced to the demands of the coal handlers.

There was much in this incident that recalled earlier labour strife at the Lakehead. A new element, however, was the growing influence of radical socialists, who were thought to have sway over the coal handlers and to have been instrumental in their inclusion in the trade union movement. Prominent among the activists were “members of the Social Democratic Party of Canada,” including the party’s organizers for Port Arthur and Fort William, the Cobalt miners’ union leader James P. McGuire and the Reverend William Madison Hicks, as well as Herbert Barker, a volunteer organizer for the AFL. In April 1912, the three men led a number of English-speaking socialists in Fort William in establishing Ontario Local 51 of the SDPC. Initial members also included W.J. Carter; an architect named Richard Lockhead; Sid Wilson, a member of the British-based Amalgamated Carpenters; and Fred Moore, owner of the printing press that printed Urry’s The Wage Earner. Significantly, most of the members appear to have been Finnish or Ukrainian. Before the strike, members of the Fort William SDPC had spoken at meetings of the coal handlers and, in the case of Hicks, played an active role by leading a parade of workers in confronting Port Arthur mayor S.W. Ray on his way to read the Riot Act to the strikers. The meeting between the two men and the violence that ensued were coincidental, according to Morrison, as

the Social Democratic party posed no real or imagined menace to the citizens of Port Arthur … what alarmed the English-speaking community was the newly won influence of the socialists with the immigrant workers.

Supporters of the ILP [Independent Labour Party] of New Ontario such as Urry found themselves “at odds with radical socialism” as

not only had the socialists played a prominent part in the strike, though not the riot, but they were also attempting to organize Thunder Bay’s entire waterfront.

...

Calls for Hicks’s arrest began to appear in newspapers in both cities and the surrounding countryside. On 1 August 1912, officials arrested him for his role in a “tumultuous assembly … likely to promote a breach of the public peace.” Shortly after Hicks’s arrest and conviction (although he received a suspended sentence), SDPC organizers began an active campaign to take control, or at the very least undermine, the ILP-led Trades and Labour Councils. Following the strike, they sought to stage a general strike on the waterfront and, ideally, spread it throughout both Port Arthur and Fort William. As Jean Morrison writes, however, this was “a move disparaged by the British labour men for its disregard of the law which required negotiations and conciliation preceding strikes by transportation workers.” The attempt failed and widened the rift formed during the municipal, provincial, and federal elections of 1908 and 1911 and the labour unrest earlier in 1912.

...

The SDPC was also not left untouched. In preparation for the 1913 Fort William civic election, Urry and Hicks jointly developed in opposition to the SDPC a manifesto describing the class struggle in general and the issues facing the region’s workers in particular .... On the recommendation of the Elk Lake, Porcupine, and Cobalt locals that Hicks be expelled, the matter was referred to the Fort William membership. Despite facing the possibility that its charter would be revoked, Local 51 refused to expel Hicks and launched a vigorous defence on his behalf. The convincing agitator had a coterie of true believers, who “defended him to the last ditch refusing to believe that Hicks would do anything wrong.” He also had his critics, evidently including the 400-strong Fort William branch, which, it appears, sided with the Dominion Executive and expelled Hicks.

...

With Hicks departed one highly personalized version of a response to the ambiguous legacy of Lakehead socialism. Both the ILP and the SDPC grew rapidly during 1913. The labour councils in the twin cities began to discuss unity, in the form of construction of a joint Central Labour Temple. The Finnish branch of the SDPC in Port Arthur also called out for working-class and socialist unity. Moreover, as a more tangible indication of potential unification of the socialist and labour movements, SDPC organizer Herbert Barker was elected president of the Port Arthur Trades and Labour Council in April 1913. As so often proved to be the case, however, such incipient unity was challenged by the region’s sheer class volatility. The strike by street railway workers in May 1913 was a volcanic moment. As David Bercuson writes:

The walk-out provided a focal point for much of the hatred and bitterness that had developed between labour and its enemies in the twin cities for several years.

Rioting and violence were sparked by the CPR’s attempts to use strikebreakers. When strikers overturned a streetcar operated by strikebreakers, police arrested one of the participants and, when a crowd tried to get him out of jail, fired into the crowd, killing a bystander. Local newspapers tried to pin the violence on the socialists, who were allegedly responsible for agitating the crowd. The railway workers belonged to the Trades and Labour Councils in both cities and, in a show of solidarity, both councils called for a general sympathy strike. These calls went unheeded and most workers returned to work after four days of protest. In response, Urry, James Booker, McGuire, Bryan, and many members of the SDPC met at the Finnish Labour Temple. They criticized the local trades and labour councils “for not being radical enough to resist the ruling of an unscrupulous upper class.” They hoped the councils would become “more radical.” Not surprisingly, the obviously inflamed right-wing media in the twin cities characterized the meeting as one of “sedition, anarchy, socialism, violence and most everything else calculated to worry orderly society and responsible government.” It was not a critique of the Lakehead workers reserved for the mainstream press. Mayor John Oliver of Port Arthur summed up the situation well when he argued that the continued unrest in Port Arthur and Fort William was not wholly due to working conditions. Making specific mention of the strikes of 1909, 1912, and 1913, he suggested that the unrest had been the result of socialist agitators. Oliver wrote:

There is hardly a night in the week that inflammatory speeches have not been made by several agitators … something will have to be done to either remove them or check their actions.

Interestingly, Frederick Urry and J.P. McGuire were specifically named for their alleged advocacy of a general strike. McGuire was further singled out for his reputed suggestion that it would be an easy thing to cut telephone, telegraph, and electric lines."

- Michel S. Beaulieu, Labour at the Lakehead: Ethnicity, Socialism, and Politics, 1900-35. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2011. p. 37-38, 40-42

[demifiendrsa]

Assassin's Creed Shadows: Official Cinematic World Premiere Trailer

Japanese version

Who Are Naoe and Yasuke?

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Store on November 15, 2024. Pre-orders are available now and include the bonus quest “Thrown to the Dogs.”

In addition to the standard edition, Gold and Ultimate Editions will also be available. Here are the details:

Gold Edition ($109.99)

The base game

Up to three days of early access to the game

The season pass including a bonus quest at launch and two upcoming expansions

Ultimate Edition ($129.99)

The base game

Up to three days of early access to the game

The season pass including a bonus quest at launch and two upcoming expansions

The Ultimate Pack containing the Sekiryu Character Pack, Hideout Pack, and five skill points, as well as the Red Dragon filter in Photo mode

Key visual

Screenshots

Overview

About

Experience an epic historical action-adventure story set in feudal Japan! Become a lethal shinobi Assassin and a powerful legendary samurai as you explore a beautiful open world in a time of chaos. Switch seamlessly between two unlikely allies as you discover their common destiny. Master complementary playstyles, create your shinobi league, customize your hideout, and usher in a new era for Japan.

Key Features

Explore the captivating open world of feudal Japan, from spectacular castle towns and bustling ports to peaceful shrines and war-ravaged landscapes. Adventure through unpredictable weather, changing seasons, and reactive environments.

Become Naoe, a shinobi Assassin, and Yasuke, a legendary samurai, as you experience their riveting stories and master their complementary playstyles. As Naoe, use stealth to avoid detection and agility to confound your enemies. As Yasuke, strike your foes with lethal precision and power. Unlock new skills, gear, and progression independently for each character.

Make information your weapon as you explore the world, and build your own network of spies to be your eyes and ears across locations to hunt down your next target. Along the way, recruit new allies with unique abilities to help accomplish your missions.

Create a fully customizable hideout for your growing shinobi league as you train your crew, craft new gear, interact with key characters, and choose your base’s layout, decorations, and accessories.

[magz]

Palestine summary for March 16 to March 28, 2024. (From "Lets Talk Palestine" broadcast channel). Quote.

March 16, 2024.

Day 162

• 1st aid shipment departing Cyprus arrived in Gaza yesterday carrying 200 tons of food, marking 1st Gaza sea shipment since 2005 + planned 2nd ship coordinated by US, UAE, Spain & Japan; but unclear on distribution of aid across Gaza

• Massacre in central Gaza as Israel destroys home, killing 36 Palestinians, incl. kids & pregnant women

🔻 Senior Hamas & Houthi officials hold rare meeting to discuss coordinated action against an Israeli Rafah ground invasion

• Israeli settlers attack homes in Nablus (West Bank), throwing stones & shooting the air + 20 Palestinians abducted in West Bank, incl. some released in Nov. hostage exchange deal

•⁠ ⁠Palestinian Authority (PA) president Abbas accuses Hamas of causing “return of Israeli occupation of Gaza”, essentially blaming Hamas for the ongoing genocide. Was prompted by Hamas criticism of ‘unilateral’ appointment of new PM of the PA (see our last broadcast)

• 63 Palestinians killed, 112 injured in Gaza in past 24 hours

March 17, 2024.

Day 163

🇺🇸⁠ NBC: Biden frustrated over drop in poll numbers in swing states Michigan & Georgia due to his handling of Gaza genocide. Shouting and swearing in a White House meeting, saying he’s doing what is right

•⁠ 19 aid trucks arrive in north Gaza — first convoys to reach the north without incident in 4 months. But aid remains scarce as Israel keeps blocking entry of aid as trucks pile outside Rafah crossing + rate of malnutrition among children under 2 in north doubles in past month

•⁠ 14th Palestinian dies since Oct 7 in Israeli prison following multiple allegations of extreme abusive conditions for Palestinian hostages

🇪🇺⁠ ⁠EU President condemns an Israeli Rafah invasion, joining countless nations to do so like the US & Arab countries

•⁠ Israeli forces abduct 25 Palestinians, incl. a woman with cancer from Gaza & a child in overnight raids in West Bank

•⁠ ⁠92 Palestinians killed, 130 injured in Gaza in past 24 hours

(No specific summary for March 18)

March 19, 2024.

Day 165

🇨🇦⁠ Canada to halt all further arms exports to Israel in support of ceasefire and 2-state “solution”, recognizing ICJ ruling. This came after a non-binding parliamentary resolution which called for ending arms sales. But resolution’s language was watered down during amendment, denoting Hamas as a “terror organization” + removing call to sanction Israeli officials

• 93 Palestinians killed, 142 injured in Gaza in past 24 hours

• Israel escalates attacks across Gaza with 1 attack on Rafah killing 14 Palestinians + ongoing raid of al-Shifa hospital killed & injured dozens

• Israel issued 100,000 new gun licenses to Israeli’s since Oct 7 out of the 299,354 applications

• Israel massacred aid distribution committee at Kuwaiti roundabout (north Gaza), killing at least 23 people

•⁠ ⁠Israeli settlers, w/ ongoing genocide as a distraction, accelerated building of 18 new illegal roads + 15 outposts (unauthorized settlement illegal under Israeli law) in West Bank since Oct

March 20, 2024.

Day 166

•⁠ 104 Palestinians killed, 162 injured in Gaza in past 24 hours

🇺🇸 Reuters:⁠ US Congress & White House reach deal on funding bill that includes blocking UNRWA donations until March 2025, based on Israel’s unverified allegations

🏥 IOF siege on al-Shifa hospital enters 3rd day, as forces surround the complex trapping hundreds inside & block rescue efforts

•⁠ 8 Israeli attacks kill 100+ aid workers in 1 week + IOF massacred 23 aid seekers in north Gaza

🚢 Israel Hayom: Israel plans to buy port in Cyprus amid fears of Haifa port closure from Hezbollah strikes, hindering military & commercial imports

⚓️ ⁠Israel’s Eilat port will fire half its employees due to Red Sea blockade

•⁠ Israeli High Court approves demolition of a Palestinian’s home for carrying out a non-lethal resistance operation in West Bank; marking first authorized home demolition by court for an operation without fatalities — an escalation in Israeli repression

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia pledges $40m to UNRWA

March 21, 2024.

Day 167

• As Arabs celebrate Mother's Day today, we remember that on average 37 mothers are exterminated everyday in Gaza, meanwhile mothers from Gaza make up 28 of the 67 female detainees in Israeli prisons

• 65 Palestinians killed, 92 injured in Gaza in past 24 hours

🏥 Israel continues 4th day siege on al-Shifa Hospital, killing 140+ Palestinians & abducted 600 people, incl. medical staff. 13 patients killed as Israel cut off electricity, depriving oxygen, medicine & food

• 18-year-old Ubai Abu Maria abducted by Israeli forces in West Bank for 7th time, impeding treatment for bullet wound requiring surgery

•⁠ Poll finds 71% of Palestinians in Gaza & West Bank support Hamas's Oct 7 resistance operation; compared to poll 3 months ago, support among West Bank residents dropped by 11% but amongst Gazans rose by 14%

• Israel ordered 25 patients receiving care in West Bank to return to Gaza. They're among the 400 patients from Gaza who were left stranded in West Bank after Oct 7

March 22, 2024.

🚨Russia & China veto US UN Security Council ceasefire resolution

The resolution showed a shift: US had vetoed every ceasefire proposal, most recently Algeria’s as the US opposed language of “immediate” ceasefire, preferring “humanitarian pause”. But now the US draft states “the imperative of an immediate and sustained ceasefire”.

The problem? It’d last only 6 weeks, is conditional on release of Israeli hostages, and condemns both Hamas’ op & the Houthi naval blockade. The wording of “determines the imperative” is also weak, implying the importance of a ceasefire, not demanding one.

The result? It wouldn’t obligate Israel to end the genocide + let it continue on the pretext that there’s no “acceptable” hostage deal.

It was vetoed by 🇷🇺 & 🇨🇳 who said it’d let Israel continue attacks & invade Rafah. Algeria also voted against it.

10 states are planning alternative resolution calling for Ramadan ceasefire, including but not conditioned on release of Israeli hostages. US likely to veto.

Day 168 - IMPORTANT

•⁠ Gaza death toll surpasses 32,000 not including the thousands buried under rubble

‼️ Israel seized 1,977 acres of West Bank land for settlements, the largest land theft since 1993

🇺🇸 Congress passes bill that bans funding to UNRWA until 2025; expected for Senate to pass before midnight deadline

🏥 Israel’s siege on Shifa Hospital enters 5th day as they bomb & demolish buildings with bulldozers; abducting 240+ patients & 10 medical staff from radiology unit. IOF forces ordered trapped patients to surrender despite continuous heavy gunfire

•⁠ 50 Palestinians abducted incl. 4 kids during 60+ Israeli military raids across West Bank in 2 days. Marking March 20 “one of the deadliest nights recorded to date” in 2024 in West Bank w/ 7+ Palestinians killed. Israeli settlers also took over 20+ Palestinian residential structures

•⁠ UN aid mission to north Gaza for 7,500 people was denied by Israel

🇫🇮 Finland to resume UNRWA funding

March 24, 2024.

Day 170

🚨 Israeli forces lay siege to 3 hospitals, surrounding al-Amal Hospital forcing Palestinians to strip naked & leave; currently carpet bombing near Nasser Hospital & sniping anyone moving, while continuing aggressive 7-day seige on al-Shifa

• 84 Palestinians killed, 106 injured in Gaza in past 24 hours

• Israel denied thousands of Christians from West Bank entry to Jerusalem on Psalm Sunday, heightening military checkpoints. Israel’s apartheid system discriminates Palestinians’ freedom of movement, requiring permits for West Bank residents to enter, which is rarely granted. More info on Israeli apartheid: https://rb.gy/vjocrd + checkpoints: https://rb.gy/rabxt6;

• Israel to deny all UNRWA aid convoys to north Gaza, despite 70% of population subject to “catastrophic starvation”

• BDS launches boycott of tech company Intel due to its $25bn investment in new factory in Israel, the “largest investment ever”; on top of Intel’s $50bn+ investments in Israel in past 50 years

March 25, 2024.

UNSC CEASEFIRE MOTION PASSES

For the 1st time the Security Council managed to pass a ceasefire resolution. The US abstained while all 14 others voted yes

The US planned to veto if it didn’t mention the hostages so it “demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a permanent sustainable ceasefire, and also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

But it doesn’t condition the ceasefire on a hostage swap the way done by the US draft that got vetoed by 🇷🇺 & 🇨🇳

It doesn’t condemn Hamas explicitly as the US wanted but it “deplores” all attacks against civilians & “all acts of terrorism” noting that it’s illegal to take hostages under int’l law. So it’s indirect condemnation

It expresses deep concern “about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip,” calling for more efforts for more aid & to protect civilians. This is weak language

Better than nothing but not enough as people are slaughtered & raped.

Day 171 — Attacks on 3 hospitals

🚨 Israel escalates attacks on “safe zone” Rafah killing 30+, including women and children amid threats of looming ground invasion

• 107 Palestinians killed, 176 injured in past 24 hours

🏥 22,000 displaced Palestinians face worsening conditions in the European Hospital, one of the last functioning in Gaza, overcrowded with patients awaiting critical care

🏥 Israeli forces lay siege to further hospitals in Khan Younis forcing critically ill patients to evacuate the premises surrounded by complete destruction

🏥 Israeli forces open fire on medical staff forced to evacuate al-Amal Hospital amid continuous attacks on the premise leaving patients in critical condition, deprived of medical supervision

• Netanyahu cancels Israeli delegation trip to US over its abstention in today’s UNSC vote, calling it a departure from their long-standing support of Israel. Biden called the move “disappointing”

• Israeli assaults targeting homes in central Gaza kill 18

(No march 26 summary)

March 27, 2024

Day 172

🚨 Gaza Gov’t Media Office demands end to aerial aid drops after one today killed 6 & caused 12 to drown in north Gaza

• 81 Palestinians killed, 93 injured in the last 24 hours

🇯🇴 100+ protesters arrested & teargassed outside Jordan’s Israeli embassy amid demands to end Jordan’s military & economic ties with Israel

🇧🇪 Brussels City Council passes motion to ban council purchases of products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank on the basis of international law violations

• Israel bombs residential building in Rafah, killing 15+ displaced Palestinians incl. 4 kids. Analysts say the Rafah bombings mark the start of a “silent” invasion

🏥 Ongoing Israeli attacks on Shifa Hospital kill 30+ people incl. a family living in a residential building near the besieged complex

• IOF abducts 30 Palestinians in overnight raids in West Bank cities

🇱🇧 Israeli airstrike in eastern Lebanon kills 2 people, an escalation as the bombing was far from south Lebanon, the usual battleground

March 28, 2024.

Day 173

🇮🇪 Ireland to follow Nicaragua and join South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel

•⁠ ⁠Israeli attacks on residential homes in Rafah kill 25 displaced Palestinians, incl. multiple children

•⁠ ⁠76 Palestinians killed, 102 injured in the last 24 hours

•⁠ ⁠IOF kills 4 in central Gaza, forcefully burying them by bulldozers

🇺🇸 ⁠US state department report claims Israel is complying with international law, as US reviewed Israeli usage of US weapons in order to validate future arms exports

🇱🇧 Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon residencies kill 12 in past 24 hours with many still trapped under the rubble

•⁠ ⁠Two aid seekers remain in critical condition as Israeli snipers target the Kuwait Roundabout aid distribution point

🇺🇸 Poll: 55% of Americans disapprove of Israel’s actions in Gaza — a 10% increase from November’s poll

•⁠ ⁠Israeli drone attack kills 8 in West Bank; IOF abducts 20 Palestinians in overnight raids

[sickficideas]

hazardous || TachiAku w/ poisoned Akutagawa

ao3! 2.6k - please refer to the tags in the link for content + warnings! sicktember 2024, day 16: toxin/poison

Tachihara feels his stomach drop when he watches the dart move at an incredible speed and hit Akutagawa right in the left side of his neck.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

There’s too much going on. Tachihara came here with Akutagawa and the rest of the Black Lizard to apprehend a woman who has been doing shady things with the Port Mafia’s money and assets - shady for the Port Mafia, even - and Tachihara took the opportunity to let the Hunting Dogs know, since this woman was a target of theirs as well. A target they needed information from.

But the poison dart was supposed to hit her. Not Akutagawa.

Akutagawa leaves no time for reaction. He pulls the dart out and slices it at least eight ways with his ability, staring its shards down before his eyes scan the area, wondering where on earth it came from. Tachihara knows. He positioned them. But Akutagawa can’t know that.

Tachihara has lost sight of their original target, now, as she and her subordinates have disappeared from the open section of the warehouse, just a few remaining. Tachihara can only hope that their intended target was actually hit, and regardless of the position she ends up in, he can set up something for the Hunting Dogs to purchase her from the Port Mafia. She has valuable information.

But that poison was intended to kill her in case she spent too much time in port Mafia custody, to avoid them keeping her for ransom.

It could very well kill Akutagawa too.

Tachihara pulls his arm just for a second to lead him in another direction, some other room where they’re not in the line of fire, because the woman they’re after is no force to be messed with, either. There’s a reason it’s taking both groups this long to corner her.

“I need the antidote, Jouno. The dart hit the wrong target,” Tachihara breathes as quietly as he can into his earpiece before Akutagawa joins him in the hall.

“Two birds, one stone. The sniper will strike again.”

And the line is silent once again.

Tachihara feels like he can't breathe. Akutagawa is the worst person this could have hit.

He whips his head around to make sure Akutagawa has followed him. His eyes are wide and darting around wildly to make sure they aren’t being followed, and there’s a hand pressed up against the side of his neck, which seems to be bleeding quite a bit. Really, very bad, if it hit a vessel or something already. Tachihara finds a room on the side of the hall and opens the door, deeming it safe enough before ushering Akutagawa inside.

He locks the door behind them with his ability, without Akutagawa’s knowledge, of course. That way he knows they’re safe in here for right now.

“I'm fine. Stop looking at me like that,” Akutagawa hisses, still holding a hand over the dart’s mark on his neck, leaning against the back wall of the bedroom-sized supply closet they’ve hidden in. “Where are Higuchi and Gin? Were they hit?”

“I - I dunno, there was so much going on,” Tachihara says with a frustrated huff. He can’t tell Akutagawa, but he knows they’re safe, he purposefully misled Gin and Higuchi out of the main hall before the sniper made their shot. He knows for sure that Hirotsu was on the opposite end of the building.

“Contact our specialist in the event they are. Higuchi has no poison training experience, this will kill her,” Akutagawa insists, and Tachihara is painfully aware of this. It's why he lead her out of harm's way for this, but Akutagawa won’t make it long either. He’s gotten much weaker over the past several months for reasons he can’t quite figure out, but he;s sure has something to do with his cough. He’s not sure he has the physical disposition to even withstand an hour of this stuff in his bloodstream.

He can see Akutagawa physically trying to fight off the symptoms of the poison. It's evident in his paling skin and the sweat on his hairline. His eyes are fixed on something on the ground to distract himself, it seems like. Tachihara takes a second to text an SOS signal to the backup they had on standby so that they know they need medical attention at the extraction point no matter the outcome, because it seems Jouno no longer has any desire to keep Akutagawa alive for information.

Akutagawa’a body suddenly tenses up, eyes screwing shut before he slides down the wall, not able to fight off enough of it to hide the pain from Tachihara. He feels like his breath is caught in his throat. They use this poison on enemies all the time in the military and he’s never cared once about what it does to its victims, but seeing Akutagawa just in the first few minutes of it hurts him to watch.

Why does it even matter, really? Akutagawa isn’t any different from the enemies and criminals he faces daily with his work as a Hunting Dog. He’s killed hundreds of people. He’s been an information target of the Hunting Dogs for a long time, and Tachihara’s been positioned undercover so close to him to get that information, and he’s never suspected a thing, to his knowledge.

This would be a good opportunity to detain him, but that would mean blowing his cover early, and he can’t do that.

Or maybe that’s an excuse.

Akutagawa's face is paper white, worse than Tachihara’s ever seen it. He hears gunshots and commotion on the other side of the building. He can’t stay here. He needs to make sure their target is detained. Jouno can’t find out he’s hiding with a Port Mafia attack dog to make sure the poison doesn’t kill him before they can get out to the attraction point.

“I need a minute,” he says through labored breaths, eyes darting up to Tachihara, who’s still by the door, “go find the others.”

“I can't leave you here,” Tachihara tells him. He can’t move. He doesn’t know what to do. Really, this is a great opportunity. Fukuchi has wanted Akutagawa captured ever since they were made aware of his existence. Dead or alive, but recently he's left the former out of the conversation.

As far as the Port Mafia goes, Tachihara has no obligation to stay with him, either. He doesn't work for Akutagawa, he works for Hirotsu, under Mori. Their team has been told explicitly by Mori a number of times that they are not obligated to cover or rescue Akutagawa. According to him, he’s a loose cannon and should not be easily trusted. They only take Akutagawa's orders because he's on the same level as Hirotsu, and only because of their mutual respect.

But for some reason, none of this matters. This isn’t a situation where Tachihara can blame the outcome on any reckless actions by Akutagawa. Akutagawa is suffering. And Tachihara doesn't know why, but he can't leave him to die.

Akutagawa kneels over on the side, one arm propping him up and the other only briefly covering his mouth to cough - even that sounds a hundred times more painful than usual -  but it’s not long before Akutagawa gags and chokes up a stream of bile.

Very, very bad. The poison has already saturated his bloodstream if it’s causing him to vomit so suddenly. Tachihara doesn’t know if it’s because of the location where he was hit, or maybe he got a high dose - or maybe he wasn’t physically well enough to attempt fighting it off in the first place.

Tachihara kneels down in front of him, not sure how he’ll be able to help at this point aside from catching him if he passes out, but Akutagawa makes it clear he doesn’t want him anywhere close. As soon as Tachihara’s knees hit the floor, shards of Akutagawa’s coat cover his face in some attempt to get him away, but Tachihara doesn’t react. He’s learned well that this is just an empty threat.

“If - if I'd ingested it, this would…at least be helpful…”

Akutagawa hardly manages to speak through how visibly nauseous he is, and the spot on his neck where the dart hit has almost blackened, like the tissue around the injection site is dying off. He almost chokes on the breath he takes in just before he gags involuntarily to bring up more bile, but after a few seconds, it’s just bright red blood.

He stares down at it - it’s not quite shock, more of a realization, before his whole body tenses up again from the horrific pain he’s in. Tachihara knows all about it, the poison makes it feel like your veins and vessels are all freezing but on fire at the same time, it’s not something anyone can shrug off or hide. Not even Akutagawa, someone he knows for a fact has a terrifying pain tolerance. He can barley breathe.

He’s seconds from passing out, Tachihara realizes, and he takes him by the shoulders before it happens, watching his eyes roll back and a mix of blood and spit drip from the corner of his mouth as he tries to steady him.

“Hey - stay with me, alright? Don't let yourself black out yet,” Tachihara tells him, because he’s not quite out yet. His eyes roll forward again and he’s conscious, for now, but he's not sure Akutagawa can understand him, or even recognizes that he's speaking. He tries to stand, tries to walk off past Tachihara like nothing’s wrong, but he just collapses into his arms.

This can't be happening. Akutagawa can't die because of a mistake. He'd never forgive himself, enemy or not, it doesn’t matter. He can’t walk out carrying Akutagawa’s corpse when everything was going so well.

Tachihara manages to lift him up, into his arms. He’s got some hope left in the fact that Akutagawa’s skin is burning, he’s not cold, but that still isn’t good. He’s got some control left, even half-conscious. He’s fighting to keep his eyes open, slow down his breathing, the little breaths he can get in - he knows exactly what to do if he’s been poisoned, but none of it will work in the end. Tachihara needs the antidote.

“Stay awake,” Tachihara tells him, his voice shaking as he approaches the door, “we’ve - we’ve gotta get you back to Gin, alright?”

A last-ditch effort to restore some determination. Tachihara knows how important his sister is to him, something he’s only pieced together recently.

But Akutagawa can’t hear him. His breathing is slowing down and he coughs a few times, so weak that Tachihara isn’t even sure they qualify. Tachihara opens the door with his ability and kicks it to swing it open, deciding if he should just pursue the sniper for the antidote or take Akutagawa to the extraction point and see if they can help him.

Except, they won’t be able to.

“Akutagawa,” Tachihara shouts, almost, but there’s no response from him, just shallow breathing from pale lips that can’t speak back to him. He watches a thin stream of blood drip from his nose.

Tachihara presses his earpiece against his shoulder to activate its signal back to the sniper.

“I need an antidote, dammit,” Tachihara bites, “if he dies, my whole operation is finished, and it’ll have been for fucking nothing.”

There’s silence. All Tachihara can hear his Akutagawa’s breathing. He didn’t realize he was holding his own breath.

“I’m leaving it outside the rear entrance. We’ve contained our target as planned.”

Tachihara takes in a mouthful of air and runs for the backside of the building.

…

Tachihara can’t sleep. It’s the middle of the night, and he’s sitting on a counter that he can’t possibly make comfortable, but he doesn’t intend to. He just needs to see this through. If he doesn’t, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.

Gin is asleep. Her head is laying in her arms, crossed over Akutagawa’s hospital bed. She’s only been asleep for an hour or so, but he’s glad she finally fell asleep. Higuchi was here for a pretty long time too, but she apologized profusely for needing to head home, since her sister was waiting for her.

Akutagawa had no objections to this, of course. He talks to them like he’s some old man who wants teenagers out of his yard, but Tachihara knows it’s guilt. Akutagawa isn’t as good at hiding his emotions as he thinks he is.

“You don’t need to stay here.”

He says quietly. He can’t raise his voice much, his throat is probably raw from all of the vomiting and coughing up blood, which only continued during his recovery with their toxin specialty team. Tachihara can hear him, though. It’s dead quiet aside from the monitoring equipment’s irregular beeping.

“I know,” Tachihara says. They’ve had this conversation already. Tachihara’s last excuse was that he’s staying in case Gin needs anything - she’s his coworker, after all. “I have free will, y’know. If I wanted to leave, I would’ve.”

“I don’t understand why you feel the need to stay,” Akutagawa whispers.

“Just wanna make sure you don’t die,” Tachihara says. He thinks it’s guilt on his end too, plus a secret crippling fear that Akutagawa fully understood his conversation with the sniper and plans on killing him for his betrayal. He tries to keep those thoughts back.

“I’m fairly certain that’s our medical staff’s job. Have you changed career paths?” Akutagawa says.

“You’re hilarious,” Tachihara teases.

Akutagawa lays his head back into the pillows with a quiet sigh, presumably giving up on his attempt to get Tachihara out of his hospital room. His head lulls to the side, peering out of the tinted window where they can’t see much of the night sky but the moonlight cascading in.

“Do you remember any of that?” Tachihara asks.

Akutagwa is quiet for several moments, but he finally decides to answer. “Nothing after you closed us in the room.”

“Well, good, then,” Tachihara tells him. “Less crap to worry about.”

“You put it so eloquently,” Akutagawa sighs with a sarcastic huff. He coughs a few times, lifting a hand to cover his mouth. They look and sound painful, he can’t imagine his body has even remotely recovered from what that poison did to him yet, antidote or not.

Gin lifts her head at the sound, still half asleep but worried enough to wake up and check to make sure her brother is okay. Tachihara’s heart hurts, remembering her face when he carried Akutagawa back to the extraction point. Gin is very professional, she always has been, and she kept it up, even seeing Akutagawa in that much pain - but she was shaking so much. Tachihara saw it each time, and as soon as it was just them and the medical staff, Gin held him and cried. And she hasn’t left his side since then.

Akuatagwa waves his hand dismissively as the coughs die down, laying his other hand on her head to encourage her to go back to sleep. He had tried to convince her to go home, but she refused every time anyone even lightly suggested it. Tachihara knows just how stubborn she is, he didn’t bother trying himself.

Gin is tired enough to give in, lowering her head back down into her arms, a little closer to Akutagawa this time. Akutagawa’s hand doesn’t leave her head, quietly patting her hair for some time. Tachihara can’t quite place his expression. It’s strange to see him like this - completely defenseless, weak, weirdly soft-hearted.

His soft expression on Gin’s sleeping face makes him wonder what he’s thinking about. Tachihara knows very little about their shared past, but knowing how young they were when they joined the Port Mafia tells him enough.

“I really thought you were gonna die for a second there,” Tachihara puffs, thinking out loud, “didn’t think you were killable.”

“Don’t keep your hopes up,” Akutagawa says quietly to himself.

Tachihara wonders what he means by that.