#RAND Corp

[stupittmoran]

Top 10 headlines the media didn't tell you this week, Repost & FoIIow for more

Rand Paul announces investigation into Fauci's 'secret trips' to the CIA prior to the COVID outbreak.

Brazil threatens to Cut Off access to 𝕏 and detain employees after Elon Musk refused to censor accounts.

Woman who found Ashley Biden's diary sentenced to jail time.

FBI contractor confirming there were likely at least 20+ undercover FBI agents in the crowd on J6.

Donald Trump's support among black men has doubled in battleground states.

64-year-old Trump RV operator and supporter beat nearly to death with a sledgehammer by 36-year-old Michael Gonzalez.

Rep. Jim Jordan launched investigation into Fulton County DA Fani Willis.

Donald Trump pushes for a bill to ban non-citizen voting.

NAIA bans men from competing in women's sports.

54 convicted sex offenders caught by Border Patrol agents in Del Rio since October.

BONUS: Biden to send Ukraine aid amounting to more than we've spent on our entire Marine Corps.

At what point do we secure our own border?

If you appreciate this Top 10 recap, remember to Repost and FoIIow me for another week in a clown world 🤡🌎

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Trudy Ring at The Advocate:

When marriage equality was but a dream, right-wingers alleged that somehow it would cheapen marriage. Twenty years after the first same-sex couples married in Massachusetts, a new study proclaims that’s not the case. “For LGBT individuals and same-sex couples, their children, and the general U.S. population, the benefits of access to legal marriage for same-sex couples are unambiguously positive,” says the study by the RAND Corp., a nonprofit research organization. The study’s authors reviewed the existing research on the effects of marriage equality — 96 studies — and conducted their own new analyses. They found that “when states legalized marriage for same-sex couples, the physical health of LGBT individuals in those states improved; state-level rates of syphilis, HIV, and AIDS fell significantly; same-sex households in those states experienced more-stable relationships, higher earnings, and higher rates of homeownership; and sexual orientation–motivated hate crimes and employment discrimination against LGBT individuals declined,” the study says. “Children of same-sex couples benefited when their parents were granted access to legal marriage, and state-level adoption rates rose after marriage became legal for same-sex couples,” it continues.

There was “no evidence for a retreat from marriage,” the study notes. “New marriages increased by 1 percent to 2 percent among different-sex couples and about 10 percent overall,” it says, and there was “no consistent evidence” that cohabitation increased among unmarried different-sex couples or that divorces increased as a result of marriage equality. “Some of those who opposed the granting of marriage rights to same-sex couples predicted that doing so would undermine the institution of marriage, resulting in fewer couples marrying, more couples divorcing, and an overall retreat from family formation,” study coauthor Benjamin R. Karney said in a RAND press release. “Overall, the fears of opponents of same-sex marriage simply have not come to pass.” Karney is a psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and adjunct researcher at RAND.

A new study from the RAND Corporation reveals that the benefits of marriage equality for same-sex couples are “unambiguously positive” to the economic and moral well-being of the USA.

[haggishlyhagging]

The extreme of the male culture has become a grotesque caricature of part of the potential inherent in every human being, whether female or male. Why are so many blind to the grotesqueness of the tough, hard, super-balls, insensitive, unemotional male image in John Wayne, James Bond, the Marines, etc.? Or so blind to the grotesqueness of the super-mind, intellect, reasoning, and abstraction removed from any connection with life in the "think tanks" of the Rand Corporation, the academy, the corporations, the Army Corps of Engineers, most scientific research, war games strategies, etc.?

The extreme of the female culture has also become a grotesque caricature of the potential inherent in every human being. Why are so many blind to the grotesqueness of the super-sex goddesses, the sex-object removed from mind and emotion, the motherhood myth, the pettily personal existence which is not allowed to transcend itself into the individual autonomous existence, the enforced delicacy without full feeling and intensity, the sentiment turned into bathos because removed from direct sexual or creative expression, etc.?

The abstractions of male and female are extreme and many people are not molded wholly into either category—there is a great deal of overlap. But no one in the society is allowed to be a whole human being as long as the tyranny of the male and female culture or sex role split exists.

Recently there has been an unfortunate reaction among some women's liberationists and feminists. Some women have begun to call anything which they do not like "male." They seem to think that anything that has been defined as a "male quality" is inherently bad. A woman who is strong or takes initiative is told that she is "acting like a man" or "talking like a man." The crushing of initiative and strength and self-expression in women is now being done by other women in the movement under the guise of "anti-elitism," "anti-male-identification," and "collective self-suppression." It would be a tragedy if women were to make our oppressed state into a virtue and a model of humanity and the new society. We need to sift out what is good in our imposed definition as females and to honestly examine what is stupid and self-destructive. We need also to sift out what is good in what has been defined as male and therefore denied expression in us. We need no more glorification of the oppressed and their "super-soul" and "superior" culture, for that will blind us to our weaknesses and only lead us back into the same mire from which we have been trying to free ourselves.

-Barbara Burris, ‘The Fourth World Manifesto’ in Radical Feminism, Koedt et al (eds.)

[confesiunianonime]

Scriu aici pentru ca simt nevoia sa relatez cuiva povestea vieții mele de pana acum când vine vorba de băieți, relatii și sex. Pentru ca simt ca pana la 22 de ani am trăit mult prea multe chestii. Asa ca luați niște popcorn, covrigei, o sticla de cola și niște bomboane și haideți sa va relatez cum am ajuns de la un om care se tundea o data la 3 luni si de care trebuia sa ma rog sa se rada in zona intima, la cel mai bun bărbat din viata mea, iar în timpul acesta sa va prezint mai in detaliu experienta mea cu ritualul reproducerii.

Întâmplarea face ca, am făcut prima oara "dulce dragoste" la frageda vârstă de 15 ani cu iubitul meu de pe atunci. Bine, "dulce" e mult spus, fiindcă m-am simțit constrânsa de împrejurările mele sociale cât și de "minunatul" mascul ce-mi cerea virginitatea de vreo 2 luni deja, spunandu-mi în continuare ca viata sexuala dintr-o relație e poate mult mai importanta decât cea emoțională. (O minciuna totala)

Asa ca, uite-ma singura virgina din grupul meu de prieteni, cu o relație de 4 luni (cea mai lunga pe care o avusesem vreodata) cu un băiat care la rândul lui se ținea de capul meu sa-i dau fecioria pe care o pazisem cu săbii și topoare pana atunci. Fiind o copila proasta, m-am simțit nevoita sa fiu și eu în rand cu lumea, asa ca alături de răposatul (nu e mort din pacate) am stabilit o zi în care sa încercăm ritualul de împerechere, eu având foarte multa încredere în "abilitățile sale de mascul alpha" cu care s-a dat mare la mine atâtea luni de zile. (Avea 16 ani btw și mi-am dat seama mai târziu ca era la fel de virgin ca mine)

Asa ca uite-ne, în mijlocul zilei la el în camera, eu plina de rușine fără pantaloni și cu tricoul pe mine,el cu pantalonii în vine, încercând sa facem imposibilul sa se întâmple. Pe lângă faptul ca am refuzat vehement orice schimbare a poziției (stăteam pe spate) acesta a refuzat sa se oprească când i-am spus ca ma doare de nu mai pot. (Lucruri care denota faptul ca eu nu eram pregătită de nicio culoare pentru acel pas, iar el voia doar sa-si "rupă ata" o data)

Lăsând ceva timp sa treacă, pana la urma răposatul s-a saturat de vaicarelile mele și de faptul ca nu îmi doream sa cooperez mai mult decât o făceam deja, și am lasat-o balta. Penetrarea pe bune urma sa se întâmple la vreo luna după prima încercare.

Întâmplarea face ca am rămas cu răposatul vreo 5 ani 🤮 timp în care am experimentat cele mai groaznice momente în timpul sexului semi-consensual din viata mea. Și spun "semi-consensual" pentru ca deja după un an de relație sexul cu el devenise o obligație. Dansului ii plăcea mai "rough", dacă se putea cât mai aproape de SA dar cu consimțământ. În 99% din cazuri, în zilele în care ne vedeam trebuia ori sa ne-o tragem ori sa primească oral, altfel se plângea și ma făcea sa ma simt ca ultimul om. (V-am spus pana acum ca era un manipulator extraordinar care m-a împins aproape de suicid de 4 ori?) Bun, chestia e ca omului ii pasa doar de el în timpul actului, doar el sa se simtă bine, nu conta dacă ii spuneam ca ma doare, ma ustura, nu mai pot, omul continua pana "trecea linia de finish". Toate lucrurile astea, plus tormentul mental și emotional la care m-a supus m-au făcut sa am o imagine foarte proasta despre mine, ajunsesem sa ma simt ca o păpușă de porțelan care se putea sparge în orice moment. Din fericire am prins tupeu și am terminat-o definitiv cu el.

Din păcate, în momentul în care m-am desprins de răposatul și m-am văzut libera și singura la vârsta de 20 de ani, am intrat intr-o stare de hiper-sexualitate. Ma postam în diferite ipostaze, imbracandu-ma foarte vulgar, folosindu-ma de un personaj creat din cauza gustului de libertate simțit după 5 ani. Lucru de care mi-am dat seama aproape recent ca a fost doar un răspuns al traumei trăite.

Vorbind cu X și cu Y, postând poze ce atârnau foarte aproape de linia indecentei majore, l-am cunoscut pe tipul cu care aveam sa-mi iau revanșa asupra propriului corp, dar tot o data luandu-mi și puterea înapoi.

Era un tip la vreo 18-19 ani, deci clar mai mic, de pe undeva de la munte.(eu stau intr-o zona lângă bucuresti) nu era cel mai răsărit boboc, un 5/10, slab ca scandura, da măcar ma făcea sa rad și nu-l deranjau asa tare aerele mele de superioritate de pe vremea aia. Vine tipul, rămâne la mine 2 zile, prima oara cu el a fost cel mai ciudat lucru, eu fiind obișnuită cu răposatul. După vreo 2-3 dați în care ne-am "învățat corpurile" unul altuia, am început sa dau eu personal startul unor partide în care se întâmpla numai ce voiam eu, cum voiam eu, când voiam eu. Razbunandu-ma pe propriul corp prin momente de care știam ca ma vor răni mental foarte mult, dar luandu-mi puterea înapoi prin faptul ca am luat rolul dominant in acea relație, și nu doar în pat. Fapt care a dus și la despărțirea de dragul nostru boboc, o despărțire cu adevărat îngrozitoare pentru mine (I was actually really în love with him) dar uitandu-ma înapoi, nu-l pot învinovăți, am fost o adevărată jigodie câteodată, proiectand pe el toate insecuritatile și traumele mele.

După despărțirea de boboc care m-a băgat intr-o depresie nasoala vreo 4 luni si m-a aruncat in abuzul de droguri usoare(depresie care m-a lăsat cu o insomnie nasoala, nu puteam sa dorm mai mult de 2-3 ore pe noapte, chiar și cu 2-3 G-uri fumate + somnifere) am tot sărit din relație în relație, ca o albinuta de la floare la floare.

Am frânt inimi care nu meritau, am avut inima franta din nou și din nou, am fost în relații doar ca să fac în ciuda altor băieți sau din plictiseala, și cu toate acestea deja trecuseră un an iar eu nu mai știam cum se simte atingerea unor mâini calde și rapanoase de mascul între picioarele mele. Fierbeam din toate punctele de vedere și tot ce voiam era sa mi-o dau o data cu careva.

Dar din păcate pentru mine, în decursul acestui an crescusem foarte mult ca persoana, lucrand intens la foarte multe dintre traumele mele, iar personajul hiper-sexual pe care îl creasem se destramase cu totul, lăsând în urma sa o tânără cu principii ce nu voia sa lase orice fustangiu libidinos între picioarele sale doar pentru o noapte de placere. (Boring, stiu)

Aici intra actualul meu iubit, un tip pe care aveam ochii încă de la despărțirea de bobocel, de care nu prea știam mai multe inafara de numele lui și faptul ca-si luase motor destul de recent.

După destule planificări și un micuț ghost de 3 zile din partea lui, am reușit sa ieșim la date. Unde m-am simțit extraordinar de bine, însă nu eram sigura de intențiile sale. Asa ca am decis sa-l testez cu un road-trip spontan pana la Brașov, unde m-a și dus și unde am avut primul nostru sărut, pe banca sus la Belvedere 🎉💕

Acum intamplarea face ca, și dansul era la fel de fiert ca mine 🤣 insa eu o jucam pe Maica Teresa deoarece nu-i puteam da de înțeles ca îmi stătea gândul aproape tot timpul la ce are el în pantaloni, asa ca am jucat "hard to get" o perioada sa vad dacă rămâne cu mine sau ba.

A rămas, iar la vreo 2 săptămâni după ne-am trezit ca eram fiecare cu mâinile în pantalonii celuilalt, ca la o săptămână să dispară pantalonii de tot 🤣 El m-a învățat cât de fun poate fi sexul cu adevărat. Mi-a luat toate inhibițiile și le-a făcut dispărute. M-a învățat cât de fun poate fi sa te lași dominata de o persoana căreia ii pasa de plăcerea ta. M-a făcut sa dau la o parte rușinea pe care o aveam fata de corpul meu, sau de fetele pe care le făceam în timpul dulcii dragoste. M-a ajutat sa trec peste foarte multe lucruri, și încă ma ajuta. Încă încercăm chestii noi când vine vorba de viata noastră sexuala, și învățăm împreună să facem compromisuri pentru plăcerea celuilalt, but never forgetting each others boundaries. El e și primul tip cu care m-am mutat🥰🥳 iar viata e din ce în ce mai minunata pe zi ce trece.

Morala poveștii? Nu lasă niciun răposat cu fata cur si creier pane de gaina sa te facă sa te simți ca și cum nu merita sa existi. Și crede-ma, sexul e fun. E al dracului de fun. Trebuie doar sa găsești persoana potrivita.

#confesiunianonime

#povesteanonimă

[bookoftheironfist]

So i was wondering...how does Danny use the fact he's rich? Especialy considering he hangs out with Luke, i could image him being aware of the problems and struggles of the working class and wanting to help, especialy if i understand correctly that he has a very "simple" view of "do what's right and opose what's wrong" while also being generaly optimistic?

Danny's relationship with money in general, and with his inherited fortune in particular, was a recurring theme in Iron Fist comics for a long time, and you're right, it initially came to the fore in Power Man and Iron Fist volume 1, as Danny started settling into Earth society, and particularly through his friendship with Luke and his work as part of Heroes for Hire.

Power Man and Iron Fist vol. 1 #56 by Mary Jo Duffy, Trevor Von Eeden, George Roussos, Frank Springer, and Tom Orzechowski

To start, Danny never had any interest in his parents' money; the inheritance, and his shares in Rand-Meachum Corp, were essentially dumped on him by his father's lawyer, Jeryn Hogarth. In Iron Fist volume 1, Jeryn tracks Danny down, drags him in front of the Meachums (who had taken full control of the company following the Rand family's apparent deaths), and insists that they give him his inheritance. Danny, who has not been back on Earth long and has much more pressing concerns in his life at this time, is irritated by the whole ordeal.

Iron Fist vol. 1 #8 by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Dan Adkins, Bonnie Wilford, and Joe Rosen

Regardless of Danny's feelings on the matter, Jeryn succeeds in getting him what his parents left him: a huge amount of money, a 50% share in Rand-Meachum Corp, and the penthouse he grew up in. None of this has much of an impact on his stories at the time-- as Iron Fist, he has plenty of enemies to face and challenges to overcome, and at this point he was still trying to figure out who his civilian identity of Danny Rand even was. But one thing that does quickly become clear to him, as he settles further into the world of New York City, is that while he now has all of this money, he has no concept of the gravity or value of it. Having observed this about himself, he makes two key decisions: 1. He gives control of his Rand-Meachum Corp shares to Joy Meachum, and 2. He joins Heroes for Hire*. To be clear: he had many reasons for joining Heroes for Hire, key among them being his blossoming friendship with Luke and his search for a purpose while locked out of K'un-Lun. But he also embraces the opportunity to earn an honest living, and to learn the value of money through hard work.

*Just in case anyone reading this is unfamiliar with what Heroes for Hire actually was/is: When Luke acquired his superpowers and broke out of Seagate Prison (where he was being actively abused while held for a crime he did not commit), he found himself alone in the world, a fugitive, with nothing to his name but his newfound powers and his smarts. He managed to find himself a tiny apartment in Times Square (which was a very low-income, "seedy" part of the city in the 70s) and started up a business whereby people could hire him to help them, for a small fee. His goal was to earn enough money to keep himself fed and pay the rent. Over time, however, he became a known figure in the community: a superhero who looked out for the little guy. The operation expanded when Danny joined, and has taken on a number of different forms in the years since, but it has always been, first and foremost, an operation based in low-income communities and aimed at helping the underserved and oppressed. That is Luke's world, and it became Danny's too. Anyway, back to the post...

However, just because Danny is not interested in his fortune doesn't mean he doesn't still have it, and there are occasions when Heroes for Hire finds itself in need of serious cash and Danny has to dip into his funds. Luke doesn't love this; he, like Danny, wants to make it on his own, and he doesn't appreciate reminders of how well-off his friend is. Danny also comes to realize how complicated things can get when money is involved. At one point, Luke's apartment gets blown up by one of H4H's enemies, and Danny lets Luke bunk with him. He also offers him a check to get him back on his feet-- and is startled by his friend's reaction.

Power Man and Iron Fist vol. 1 #64 by Mary Jo Duffy, Kerry Gammill, Doc Martin, Dan Green, Jon D'Agostino, and Diana Albers

"Being able to help people is the best part of having money" pretty well encompasses Danny's attitude toward his fortune. While he does do the occasional goofy rich guy thing, like going to a fancy restaurant because he never noticed the price and just likes the view, or buying a yacht because he's having an identity crisis and thinks it might help, he pretty much only acknowledges his money in the context of how he can use it to help others. Having made close friends from all walks of life, and been immersed in low-income communities throughout his career as a street-level superhero and Hero for Hire, he is acutely aware of what he has and cares deeply about helping those who have less.

Immortal Iron Fist #16 by Matt Fraction, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth, and Dave Lanphear

In partnership with his then-girlfriend Misty Knight, he creates the Thunder Dojo, a kung fu school in Harlem for children from struggling families that also provides them with meals, tutoring, and other means of support. And then, at the end of the Immortal Iron Fist series, he shuts down his father's company entirely and commits to donating away the rest of his fortune.

Immortal Iron Fist #16 by Matt Fraction, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth, and Dave Lanphear

He sells his penthouse and moves into a little apartment with Misty. Not long after, he founds the Rand Foundation, a community-focused non-profit, and brings in Joy Meachum, businesswoman extraordinaire, to help run it.

Shadowland: Power Man #4 by Fred Van Lente, Mahmud Asrar, Ray-Anthony Height, Bruno Hang, Dave Sharpe, et al.

Frustratingly, this strand of Danny's character journey has fallen by the wayside in the decade-or-so since this development. I wrote a post recently about the inconsistencies surrounding Rand Corp and Danny's fortune, the vanishing of the Rand Foundation, and just the blatant lack of continuity regarding Danny's financial situation in general. Currently, for no clear reason, Rand Corp is back up and running and Danny has returned to being a rich guy living in a penthouse. But it's clear-- though frustrating-- that this is largely due to various creative teams' inattention to this particular detail, or perhaps a desire to return to a certain status quo, rather than to any changes in Danny's attitude toward money or helping people.

Defenders (2017) #5 by Brian Michael Bendis, David Marquez, Justin Ponsor, and Cory Petit

Thanks for the great question!

[sugar-splenda]

You know what, fuck you. *Makes your protagonists cats*

CatLine Rescue Center AU ramblings under the cut.

Taylor and T2 are orange cats since they have that vibe and they won't shut the fuck up. Originally thought about making them the black cats with that dialog from HTI but decided I like them as domestic, utterly unprepared for street life, cats. I have a couple of ideas as to how they ended up in the rescue center:

1. T2 is the original family cat, goes missing and is replaced by Taylor because no one tell the kids the cat got out. Eventually, Taylor also gets out and ends up in the rescue with T2.

2. T2 is from the same litter as Taylor, but they didn't get picked and ended up in the streets while Tay has all the comforts of indoor cats. Eventually someone accidentally lets Taylor outside and they meet T2, who hates their guts and decides to take their place (And ends up in the rescue because the family can Tell its Not Their Cat).

Arika and Rand are black cats. Come on, black cats and magic! teenage witches!!! And the image of a mangy feral Arika is too good to pass on.

For them, I think the siblings are from a literal warrior cats inspired colony of feral cats that lived in the outskirts of the city and was starting to make a heavy impact on the native population so a catch and rehome operation was dispatched. If you want to be cruel we can say Adults got culled and Arika and Rand were young enough to be rehabilitated. The point is that Rand got adopted and Arika didn't. So her whole deal is to find her little brother and go back to the streets (Until the rescue center snatches them again)

Alex is a barn cat or at least an indoor/outdoor cat that's being used to deal with pests. When i think of working cats I think of the Maine coons and that's what I was going for first, but then I thought about it more and decided to make him an american longhair.

He is old and should probably retire, but old habits die hard and its difficult to socialize him with other cats. Maybe his owner couldn't take care of him anymore after they moved to the city. He's was also not neutered in time so he developed the big cheeks male cats get as natural defense against attacks.

Wynn was always pictured in my mind as a person whose hair was shaved for the surgery in Flatline, so the logical option for me was to make her a sphynx cat. At least until I found out about another breed that is also hairless (but keeps the whiskers) called Donskoy. I really like the idea of a weird looking cat for them.

As for their plot, I am once again torn between keeping some aspects of the game, or just go for the slice of Life vibes. I have the idea of Wynn being a cat rescued from an unethical research facility, be it PWG or Pearson Corp that was not always a hairless Donskoy. (Some Donskoy have "babyfur" covering their bodies) but the treatments and whatever they were doing there caused their hair to fall.

V. Adams is not included because he is from Whiteout and Clearly A Dog. Sorry Adams.

[ohplagg]

I Love Yoo Timeline Part 4/4

The Timeline

This is part 4 of 4 of my I Love Yoo Timeline as of Episode 241.

Part 1 and 2 consists of laying out all the detailed evidence with descriptions, screenshots and episode number.

Part 3 consists of explaining the evidence, connecting the dates and some math because the I Love Yoo universe (the Yooniverse, if you will) uses letters instead of numbers to represent official years.

Part 4 is the I Love Yoo Timeline.

---------

If you havent read the previous 3 parts of this mega post I highly encourage you to go check them out before continuing since up ahead I will be writing and explaining under the assumption that you have read the previous 3 parts.

All the events are placed where they are according to the evidence. I will not be providing much explanation in this post as to why things are placed where they are in the timeline so if you need explanation go back to the previous parts.

I also won't be adding most of Shin-Ae focused events otherwise the timeline becomes unnecessarily messy.

And lastly, I won't be mentioning every single event that has happened in current year of the story (20XX), only major events. If you want a more detailed timeline for present year this old reddit post that goes up to episode 146 has more details.

While I was finishing writing this timeline AugmentedElle from reddit published her own version of the timeline (Elle, if you see this, big fan. I don't have reddit but big fan) which has some parts I disagree with based on my interpretation of the evidence but her timeline is so well written and easy to follow + it's more detailed than mine that I honestly do recommend checking it out as well because Elle did a way better job than me in that regard.

Without further ado..

Cheat sheet

Because the Yooniverse uses the alphabet instead of numbers to keep track of years, it's hard to really grasp how much time has really passed. This is why I created this little chart where it lays down the year with the number equivalent and the age each character had in each specific year.

Dieter, Soushi, Maya and Rika were born the same year as Shin-Ae.

Sang-Chul and Alyssa were born the same year.

Meg was born the same year as Kousuke.

Yui's age is not exact. We only know she is in her 40s meaning she can be either 40 or 49. Meaning she was pregnant with Kousuke between 16-25. I chose 20 for no other reason than it's right in the middle.

I have no idea of anyone else's age (Rand, Hansuke, YuJing, etc) so I didn't even add my guesses to not confuse the timeline. If you know any clue about someone's age I would love to know!

The Timeline

I'll start with the earliest date and move forward from there.

Italic means that it's not known when exactly in the year that specific event took place. I still placed the event where it makes most sense.

January 20WA === 50 years ago

Young-Chul Kim become Chairman of Hirahara Corp.

Prestigious Prep School starts mishandling reports of SA

+ 25 Year

October 31st, 20WY === 25 years ago

Young-Chul Kim steps down as Chairman after SA accusations

Hirahara Corp CFO of several years, Randulph Hannesson is a witness against Young-Chul Kim

Next year

January 20WZ === 24 years ago

Yui and Rand get married without the public's knowledge

Yui and Rand have their honeymoon in February

Kousuke is conceived in February

Rand gets announced as temporary chairman of Hirahara Corp on March 27th

As of March 27th, the press and public only know that Yui and Rand relationship goes as far as "seeing each other in public"

Kousuke is born November 8th

+ 5 Years

January 20XE ==== 19 years ago

Nol is conceived around March

Kousuke has his 5th birthday

Nol is born December 21st

+ 6 Years

January 20XJ ==== 13 Years ago

Nol and Nessa move to USAsia

Nol and Kousuke meet for the first time

Kousuke has his 11th birthday

Nol has his 6th birthday

+ 4 Years

January 20XO ==== 9 years ago

Kousuke Graduates High School (Nessa is at the park the same day)

Yui and Rand's public marriage reconciliation

Kousuke starts college

Kousuke gets a college friend group

Kousuke has his 15th birthday

Nol has his 10th birthday

Next Year

January 20XP ==== 8 years ago

Kousuke has his 16th birthday

Nol has his 11th birthday

Nessa is found dead December 21st

The brother incident happens

Nol is taken to the Mental Facility

+ 2 Years

January 20XR ==== 6 years ago

Nol gets out of the Mental Facility

Nol get's officially introduced as Rand's bastard son

Kousuke has his 18th birthday

Nol has his 13th birthday

Next Year

January 20XS ==== 5 years ago

Nana moves to US Asia*

Nol moves in with Nana*

Shin-Aer starts going to Min-Hyuk's middle school

Shin-Ae has her 12th birthday

Alyssa has her 13th birthday

Shin-Ae and Alyssa meet

Kousuke has his 19th birthday

Alyssa pushes Shin-Ae

Shin-Ae gets out of the hospital

Nol has his 14th birthday

*This could have happened in late 20XR. It all depends on how exact "5 years" ago was.

Next Year

January 20XT ==== 4 years ago

Shin-Ae has her 13th birthday

Alyssa has her 14th birthday

Min-Hyuk graduates middle school and starts high schools

Meg has her 20th birthday

Kousuke has his 20th birthday

Nol has his 15th birthday

For the past 2 years Nol has had no friends (ever since he got out of the mental facility) and Kousuke has been acting like his "guardian" (during which Kousuke has been constantly badmouthing Nol to everyone)

Next Year

January 20XU ==== 3 years ago

Shinae graduates Middle School

Shinae, Dieter and Soushi have their 14th birthday

Alyssa has her 15th birthday

Nol and Dieter meet while running during "summer before year 1 of high school"

Dieter, Shinae, Soushi and Nol (and the rest) start high school

Nol starts trying to befriend Soushi*

During a very rainy period Nol tries to meet his mom after 5 years of not seeing her*

Kousuke talks to Soushi*

Nol becomes friends with Dieter and Soushi*

Nol hangs out with Dieter and shortly after Soushi joins the group.*

Kousuke takes a break from babysitting Nol*

Nol, Dieter and Soushi meet Alyssa*

Nol and Alyssa start dating*

Alyssa starts the path of becoming a Kpop idol*

Kousuke and his college friends have the fallout**

Meg meets Kousuke*

Meg has her 21st birthday

Kousuke has his 21st birthday

Nol has his 16th birthday

(*All these events need to happen in that order, the placement on the timeline in relation with the other events depend on when Nessa's birthday was or when exactly Nol tried to "see" his mom)

(**I've decided to assume Hansuke doesn't really remember the exact facts of how, what and when Kousuke lost his college friends since he was in a different college, he would only occationally tag along and he was very busy with his doctor exams at the time)

Note: Whatever happened with Kousuke's friends, the fallout could perfectly have dragged throughout a couple of weeks/months. It doesn't necesarily need to have happened in a one day event.

Pretty eventful year

Next Year

January 20XV ==== 2 years ago

Kousuke graduates from his master's degree at 21 years old*

Dieter and Soushi have their 15th birthday

Alyssa has her 16th birthday

Kousuke has his 22nd birthday

Nol has his 17th birthday

(*I've decided to take Meg's flashback gossip about Kousuke with a grain of salt. This could have happened at the end of year 20XU instead of the beginning of this year.)

Next Year

January 20XW ==== Last year

In March a SA investigation in prestigious prep school (the one where Kim Sang-Chul is the Student Council President) gets launch

Min-Hyuk graduates high school

Kousuke has his 23rd birthday

Nol has his 18th birthday

Next Year

January 20XX ==== this year

Min-Hyuk goes to USA for college

Dieter, Soushi, Shin-Ae have their 17th birthday

Alyssa has her 18th birthday

In July the SA investigation in the prestigious preschool ends with nothing found and nothing done.

Dieter confesses to Shin-Ae

Saturday September 17th is the party where Shin-Ae meets the brothers

Thursday November 8th: Kousuke has his 24th birthday

Between Friday 9th and Saturday November 10th Shin-Ae's dad goes into a coma

Wednesday November 14th is the Gala. (That same night Shin-Ae was supposed to get evicted)

December 1st Min-Hyuk returns

Monday December 16th Nol has his trial (and he's sentenced for 120 days starting December 22nd)

Tuesday December 17th: Shin-Ae and Nol meet in the rain, Nol blocks everyone.

Saturday December 21st: Hirahara's Chirstmas party, Min-Hyuk's welcome home party, Nol turns 19 year's old

Sunday December 22nd: Nol is at the hospital (his sentence is pushed to start December 25th)

Personal Thoughts

This timeline broke my brain more times than I can remember. Whenever I thought I was close to being done with it I would remember something new or come across new information that would force me to rethink almost everything.

When I first started writing this timeline it was only going to be 2 parts, the evidence with the explanation and the timeline layout, but it kept getting bigger and bigger. It was supposed to be released the first week of October. We are in November. I've been writing this for 2 months.

I almost wrote this timeline in a manner that I would drag you all along through the same path of insanity that I went through but I decided against it not because I felt compassion for you all but because I plan to come back to these posts in the future for when I want to refresh my memory and I didn't want future me to go through that confusion again. I've suffered enough.

Shout out to my friend who lend me her DMs whenever I was going crazy and let me rant myself into sanity every time.

Conclusion

The timeline is not perfect, specially the events that happen between 20XS (5 years ago) and 20XV (2 years ago), but I'm satisfied with how it turned out considering the information we have so far.

Please don't take this timeline as the one that rules them all. If you have a suggestion on the order of events or theories on what could have happened I would more than love to read about them, so please do share your thoughts!

--------

This is part 4 of 4. In case you missed it, go read the previous parts:

Part 1: The Evidence Part 1

Part 2: The Evidence Part 2

Part 3: Math and connecting the dots

[woodsteingirl]

books i think should one day be written by me or someone else: biography of tom lehrer, history of the rand corp that more appropriately marries it to simulmatics and the other behavioral science places, another biography of mary meyer ‼️

[justforbooks]

Daniel Ellsberg, a US government analyst who became one of the most famous whistleblowers in world politics when he leaked the Pentagon Papers, exposing US government knowledge of the futility of the Vietnam war, has died. He was 92. His death was confirmed by his family on Friday.

In March, Ellsberg announced that he had inoperable pancreatic cancer. Saying he had been given three to six months to live, he said he had chosen not to undergo chemotherapy and had been assured of hospice care.

“I am not in any physical pain,” he wrote, adding: “My cardiologist has given me license to abandon my salt-free diet of the last six years. This has improved my life dramatically: the pleasure of eating my favourite foods!”

On Friday, the family said Ellsberg “was not in pain” when he died. He spent his final months eating “hot chocolate, croissants, cake, poppy-seed bagels and lox” and enjoying “several viewings of his all-time favourite [movie], Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”, the family statement added.

“In his final days, surrounded by so much love from so many people, Daniel joked, ‘If I had known dying would be like this, I would have done it sooner …’

“Thank you, everyone, for your outpouring of love, appreciation and well-wishes. It all warmed his heart at the end of his life.”

Tributes were swift and many.

Alan Rusbridger, the former editor-in-chief of the Guardian, said Ellsberg “was widely, and rightly, acclaimed as a great and significant figure. But not by Richard Nixon, who wanted him locked up. He’s why the national interest should never be confused with the interest of whoever’s in power.”

The Pulitzer-winning journalist Wesley Lowery wrote: “It was an honor knowing Daniel … I’ll remain inspired by his commitment to a mission bigger than himself.”

The writer and political commentator Molly Jong-Fast said: “One of the few really brave people on this earth has left it.”

The MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan said: “Huge loss for this country. An inspiring, brave, and patriotic American. Rest in power, Dan, rest in power.”

The Pentagon Papers covered US policy in Vietnam between 1945 and 1967 and showed that successive administrations were aware the US could not win.

By the end of the war in 1975, more than 58,000 Americans were dead and 304,000 were wounded. Nearly 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers were killed, as were about 1 million North Vietnamese soldiers and Viet Cong guerillas and more than 2 million civilians in North and South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

The Pentagon Papers caused a sensation in 1971, when they were published – first by the New York Times and then by the Washington Post and other papers – after the supreme court overruled the Nixon administration on whether publication threatened national security.

In 2017, the story was retold in The Post, an Oscar-nominated film directed by Steven Spielberg in which Ellsberg was played by the British actor Matthew Rhys.

Ellsberg served in the US Marine Corps in the 1950s but went to Vietnam in the mid-60s as a civilian analyst for the defense department, conducting a study of counter-insurgency tactics. When he leaked the Pentagon Papers, he was working for the Rand Corporation.

In 2021, a half-century after he blew the whistle, he told the Guardian: “By two years in Vietnam, I was reporting very strongly that there was no prospect of progress of any kind so the war should not be continued. And that came to be the majority view of the American people before the Pentagon Papers came out.

“By ’68 with the Tet offensive, by ’69, most Americans already thought it was immoral to continue but that had no effect on Nixon. He thought he was going to try to win it and they would be happy once he’d won it, however long it took.”

In 1973, Ellsberg was put on trial. Charges of espionage, conspiracy and stealing government property adding up to a possible 115-year sentence were dismissed due to gross governmental misconduct, including a break-in at the office of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, part of the gathering scandal which led to Nixon’s resignation in 1974.

Born in Chicago on 7 April 1931, Ellsberg was educated at Harvard and Cambridge, completing his PhD after serving as a marine. He was married twice and had two sons and a daughter.

After the end of the Vietnam war he became by his own description “a lecturer, scholar, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era, wrongful US interventions and the urgent need for patriotic whistleblowing”.

Ellsberg contributed to publications including the Guardian and published four books, among them an autobiography, Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, and most recently The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner.

In recent years, he publicly supported Chelsea Manning, the US soldier who leaked records of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, who published Manning’s leaks, and Edward Snowden, who leaked records concerning surveillance by the National Security Agency.

On Friday, the journalist Glenn Greenwald, one of the Guardian team which published the Snowden leaks in 2013, winning a Pulitzer prize, called Ellsberg “a true American hero” and “the most vocal defender” of Assange, Snowden, Manning and “others who followed in his brave footsteps”.

Steven Donziger, an attorney who represented Indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest against the oil giant Chevron, a case that led to his own house arrest, said: “Today the world lost a singularly brave voice who spoke truth about the US military machine in Vietnam and risked his life in the process. I drew deep inspiration from the courage of Daniel Ellsberg and was deeply honored to have his support.”

In 2018, in a joint Guardian interview with Snowden, Ellsberg paid tribute to those who refused to be drafted to fight in Vietnam.

“I would not have thought of doing what I did,” he said, “which I knew would risk prison for life, without the public example of young Americans going to prison to make a strong statement that the Vietnam war was wrong and they would not participate, even at the cost of their own freedom.

“Without them, there would have been no Pentagon Papers. Courage is contagious.”

Three years later, in an interview to mark 50 years since the publication of the Pentagon Papers, he said he “never regretted for a moment” his decision to leak.

His one regret, he said, was “that I didn’t release those documents much earlier when I think they would have been much more effective.

“I’ve often said to whistleblowers, ‘Don’t do what I did, don’t wait years till the bombs are falling and people have been dying.’”

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[boycottdivestsanctions]

WEF brought to you by CFR, Trilateral Commission, Rand Corp, Atlantic Council, Club of Rome, CIA, RIIA, Chatham House, Rhodes Roundtable, Pilgrims' Society.

The public faces of the Octopus of global control are arms of the multigenerational hidden Hydra of Technocracy

[protoslacker]

While exposing the dangers and dilemmas of deterrence theory, Kubrick also satirized contemporary military figures and strategists, probably including Henry Kissinger, the author of Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy (1957); physicist Edward Teller, the “father” of the H-bomb; the ex-Nazi space scientist Wernher Von Braun; and the bombastic, cigar-chomping SAC commander Curtis LeMay, who in 1957 had told a government commission assessing U.S. nuclear policy that, if a Soviet attack ever seemed likely, he planned to “knock the shit out of them before they got off the ground.” Reminded that U.S. policy rejected preemptive war, LeMay had retorted, “No, it’s not national policy, but it’s my policy.” Much of the strategic thinking that Kubrick critiques, and even some of the dialogue in “Dr. Strangelove,” came from the work of Herman Kahn of the RAND Corp., an Air Force-funded California think tank. Kubrick read Kahn’s work carefully, especially his influential On Thermonuclear War (1960). General Turgidson’s upbeat assessment of the outcome of an all-out nuclear exchange directly paraphrases Kahn’s analysis.

Paul S. Boyer in a 2004 essay at Arms Control Association. "Dr. Strangelove" at 40: The Continuing Relevance of a Cold War Cultural Icon

[theartismi]

وَلَنْ تَرْضٰى عَنْكَ الْيَهُوْدُ وَلَا النَّصٰرٰى حَتّٰى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ

Dan orang-orang Yahudi dan Nasrani tidak akan rela kepadamu (Muhammad) sebelum engkau mengikuti agama mereka.

RAND Corp adalah Pusat Penelitian dan Kajian Strategis tentang Islam di Timur Tengah atas biaya Smith Richardson Foundation, berpusat di Santa Monica-California dan Arington-Virginia, Amerika Serikat (AS). Sebelumnya ia perusahaan bidang kedirgantaraan dan persenjataan Douglas Aircraft Company di Santa Monica-California, namun entah kenapa beralih menjadi think tank (dapur pemikiran) dimana dana operasional berasal dari proyek-proyek penelitian pesanan militer.

Garis besar dokumen Rand berisi kebijakan AS dan sekutu di Dunia Islam. Inti hajatannya adalah mempeta-kekuatan (MAPPING), sekaligus memecah-belah dan merencanakan konflik internal di kalangan umat Islam melalui berbagai (kemasan) pola, program bantuan, termasuk berkedok capacity building dan lainnya.

Sedang dokumen lain senada, terbit Desember tahun 2004 dibuat oleh Dewan Intelijen Nasional Amerika Serikat (National Inteligent Council) atau NIC bertajuk Mapping The Global Future. Tugas NIC ialah meramal masa depan dunia.

Tajuk NIC di atas pernah dimuat USA Today, 13 Februari 2005 — juga dikutip oleh Kompas edisi 16 Februari 2005.

Inti laporan NIC tentang perkiraan situasi tahun 2020-an. Rinciannya ialah sebagai berikut: (1) Dovod World: Kebangkitan ekonomi Asia, dengan China dan India bakal menjadi pemain penting ekonomi dan politik dunia; (2) Pax Americana: Dunia tetap dipimpin dan dikontrol oleh AS; (3) A New Chaliphate: Bangkitnya kembali Khilafah Islamiyah, yakni Pemerintahan Global Islam yang bakal mampu melawan dan menjadi tantangan nilai-nilai Barat; dan (4) Cycle of Fear: Muncul lingkaran ketakutan (phobia). Yaitu ancaman terorisme dihadapi dengan cara kekerasan dan akan terjadi kekacauan di dunia — kekerasan akan dibalas kekerasan.

Jujur harus diakui, ke-empat perkiraan NIC kini riil mendekati kebenaran terutama jika publik mengikuti “opini global” bentukan media mainstream yang dikuasai oleh Barat.

Isi dokumen NIC di atas menyertakan pandangan 15 Badan Intelijen dari kelompok Negara Barat. Tahun 2008 dokumen ini direvisi kembali tentang perkiraan atas peran AS pada tata politik global. Judulnya tetap Mapping The Global Future, cuma diubah sedikit terutama hegemoni AS era 2015-an diramalkan bakal turun meski kendali politik masih dalam cengkeraman.

Tahun 2007, Rand menerbitkan lagi dokumen Building Moderate Muslim Networks, yang juga didanai oleh Smith Foundation. Dokumen terakhir ini memuat langkah-langkah membangun Jaringan Muslim Moderat pro-Barat di seluruh dunia. Baik Rand maupun Smith Foundation, keduanya adalah lembaga berafiliasi Zionisme Internasional dimana para personelnya merupakan bagian dari Freemasonry-Illuminati, sekte Yahudi berkitab Talmud.

Gerakan tersebut memakai sebutan “Komunitas Internasional” mengganti istilah Zionisme Internasional. Maksudnya selain menyamar, atau untuk mengaburkan, juga dalam rangka memanipulasi kelompok negara non Barat dan non Muslim lain. Pada gilirannya, kedua dokumen tadi diadopsi oleh Pentagon dan Departemen Luar Negeri sebagai basis kebijakan Pemerintah AS di berbagai belahan dunia.

Berikut ialah inti resume dari Agenda dan Strategi Pecah Belah yang termuat pada kedua dokumen tersebut, antara lain:

Pertama, Komunitas Internasional menilai bahwa Dunia Islam berada dalam frustasi dan kemarahan, akibat periode keterbelakangan yang lama dan ketidak-berdayaan komparatif serta kegagalan mencari solusi dalam menghadapi kebudayaan global kontemporer;

Kedua, Komunitas Internasional menilai bahwa upaya umat Islam untuk kembali kepada kemurnian ajaran adalah suatu ancaman bagi peradaban dunia modern dan bisa mengantarkan kepada Clash of Civilization (Benturan Peradaban);

Ketiga, Komunitas Internasional menginginkan Dunia Islam yang ramah terhadap demokrasi dan modernitas serta mematuhi aturan-aturan internasional untuk menciptakan perdamaian global;

Keempat, Komunitas Internasional perlu melakukan pemetaan kekuatan dan pemilahan kelompok Islam untuk mengetahui siapa kawan dan lawan, serta pengaturan strategi dengan pengolahan sumber daya yang ada di Dunia Islam;

Kelima, Komunitas Internasional mesti mempertimbangkan dengan sangat hati-hati terhadap elemen, kecenderungan, dan kekuatan-kekuatan mana di tubuh Islam yang ingin diperkuat; apa sasaran dan nilai-nilai persekutuan potensial yang berbeda; siapa akan dijadikan anak didik; konsekuensi logis seperti apa yang akan terlihat ketika memperluas agenda masing-masing; dan termasuk resiko mengancam, atau mencemari kelompok, atau orang-orang yang sedang dibantu oleh AS dan sekutunya;

Keenam, Komunitas Internasional membagi Umat Islam ke dalam Empat Kelompok, yaitu:

(1) Fundamentalis: kelompok masyarakat Islam yang menolak nilai-nilai demokrasi dan kebudayaan Barat Kontemporer, serta menginginkan formalisasi penerapan Syariat Islam;

(2) Tradisionalis: kelompok masyarakat Islam Konservatif yang mencurigai modernitas, inovasi dan perubahan. Mereka berpegang kepada substansi ajaran Islam tanpa peduli kepada formalisasinya;

(3) Modernis: kelompok masyarakat Islam Modern yang ingin reformasi Islam agar sesuai dengan tuntutan zaman, sehingga bisa menjadi bagian dari modernitas;

(4) Sekularis: kelompok masyarakat Islam Sekuler yang ingin menjadikan Islam sebagai urusan privasi dan dipisah sama sekali dari urusan negara.

Ketujuh, Komunitas Internasional menetapkan strategi terhadap tiap-tiap kelompok, sebagai berikut:

1) Mengkonfrontir dan menentang kaum fundamentalis dengan tata cara sebagai berikut: (a) menentang tafsir mereka atas Islam dan menunjukkan ketidak-akuratannya; (b) mengungkap keterkaitan mereka dengan kelompok-kelompok dan aktivitas-aktivitas illegal; (c) mengumumkan konsekuensi dari tindak kekerasan yang mereka lakukan; (d) menunjukkan ketidak-mampuan mereka untuk memerintah; (e) memperlihatkan ketidak-berdayaan mereka mendapatkan perkembangan positif atas negara mereka dan komunitas mereka; (f) mengamanatkan pesan-pesan tersebut kepada kaum muda, masyarakat tradisionalis yang alim, kepada minoritas kaum muslimin di Barat, dan kepada wanita; (g) mencegah menunjukkan rasa hormat dan pujian akan perbuatan kekerasan kaum fundamentalis, ekstrimis dan teroris; (h) kucilkan mereka sebagai pengganggu dan pengecut, bukan sebagai pahlawan; (i) mendorong para wartawan untuk memeriksa isu-isu korupsi, kemunafikan, dan tak bermoralnya lingkaran kaum fundamentalis dan kaum teroris; (j) mendorong perpecahan antara kaum fundamentalis.

2) Beberapa aksi Barat memojokkan kaum fundamentalis adalah dengan menyimpangankan tafsir Al-Qur’an, contoh: mengharaman poligami pada satu sisi, namun menghalalkan perkawinan sejenis di sisi lain; mengulang-ulang tayangan aksi-aksi umat Islam yang mengandung kekerasan di televisi, sedang kegiatan konstruktif tidak ditayangkan; kemudian “mengeroyok” dan menyerang argumen narasumber dari kaum fundamentalis dengan format dialog 3 lawan 1 dan lainnya; lalu mempidana para aktivis Islam dengan tuduhan teroris atau pelaku kekerasan dan lain-lain.

3) Mendorong kaum tradisionalis untuk melawan fundamentalis, dengan cara: (a) dalam Islam tradisional ortodoks banyak elemen demokrasi yang bisa digunakan counter menghadapi Islam fundamentalis yang represif lagi otoriter; (b) menerbitkan kritik-kritik kaum tradisionalis atas kekerasan dan ekstrimisme yang dilakukan kaum fundamentalis; (c) memperlebar perbedaan antara kaum tradisionalis dan fundamentalis; (d) mencegah aliansi kaum tradisionalis dan fundamentalis; (e) mendorong kerja sama agar kaum tradisionalis lebih dekat dengan kaum modernis; (f) jika memungkinkan, kaum tradisionalis dididik untuk mempersiapkan diri agar mampu berdebat dengan kaum fundamentalis, karena kaum fundamentalis secara retorika sering lebih superior, sementara kaum tradisionalis melakukan praktek politik “Islam pinggiran” yang kabur; (g) di wilayah seperti di Asia Tengah, perlu dididik dan dilatih tentang Islam ortodoks agar mampu mempertahankan pandangan mereka; (h) melakukan diskriminasi antara sektor-sektor tradisionalisme berbeda; (i) memperuncing khilafiyah yaitu perbedaan antar madzhab dalam Islam, seperti Sunni – Syiah, Hanafi – Hambali, Wahabi – Sufi, dll; (j) mendorong kaum tradisionalis agar tertarik pada modernisme, inovasi dan perubahan; (k) mendorong mereka untuk membuat isu opini-opini agama dan mempopulerkan hal itu untuk memperlemah otoritas penguasa yang terinspirasi oleh paham fundamentalis; (l) Mendorong popularitas dan penerimaan atas sufisme;

4) Mendukung sepenuhnya kaum modernis, dengan jalan: (a) menerbitkan dan mengedarkan karya-karya mereka dengan biaya yang disubsidi; (b) mendorong mereka untuk menulis bagi audiens massa dan bagi kaum muda; (c) memperkenalkan pandangan-pandangan mereka dalam kurikulum pendidikan Islam; (d) memberikan mereka suatu platform publik; (e) menyediakan bagi mereka opini dan penilaian pada pertanyaan-pertanyaan yang fundamental dari interpretasi agama bagi audiensi massa dalam persaingan mereka dengan kaum fundamentalis dan tradisionalis, yang memiliki Web Sites, dengan menerbitkan dan menyebarkan pandangan-pandangan mereka dari rumah-rumah, sekolahan, lembaga-lembaga dan sarana lainnya; (f) memposisikan sekularisme dan modernisme sebagai sebuah pilihan “counter culture” kaum muda Islam yang tidak puas; (g) memfasilitasi dan mendorong kesadaran akan sejarah pra-Islam dan non-Islam dan budayanya, di media dan di kurikulum dari negara-negara yang relevan; (h) membantu dalam membangun organisasi-organisasi sipil independen, untuk mempromosikan kebudayaan sipil (civic culture) dan memberikan ruang bagi rakyat biasa untuk mendidik diri sendiri mengenai proses politik dan mengutarakan pandangan-pandangan mereka.

Beberapa bukti tindakan program ini misalnya mengubah kurikulum pendidikan di pesantren-pesantren dengan biaya dari Barat, kemudian menghembuskan dogma “Time is Money – dengan pengeluaran sekecil-kecilnya menghasilkan pendapatan sebesar-besarnya”.

5) Tempo doeloe, pernah dalam mata pelajaran PMP dtampilkan gambar rumah ibadah masing-masing agama dengan tulisan dibawahnya: “semua agama sama”.

Mendirikan berbagai LSM yang bergerak dibidang kajian filsafat Islam, menyebar artikel dan tulisan produk LSM yang dibiayai Amerika. Intinya menyimpulkan bahwa semua agama adalah hasil karya manusia dan merupakan peradaban manusia. Tujuannya tak lain guna menggoyah keyakinan beragama, termasuk mendanai beberapa web site di dunia maya dan lainnya.

6) Mendukung secara selektif kaum sekularis, dengan cara: (a) mendorong pengakuan fundamentalisme sebagai musuh bersama; (b) mematahkan aliansi dengan kekuatan-kekuatan anti Amerika berdasarkan hal-hal seperti nasionalisme dan ideologi kiri; (c) mendorong ide bahwa dalam Islam, agama dan negara dapat dipisahkan dan hal ini tidak membahayakan keimanan tetapi malah akan memperkuat.

7) Untuk menjalankan Building Moderate Muslim Networks, AS dan sekutu menyediakan dana bagi individu dan lembaga-lembaga seperti LSM, pusat kajian di beberapa universitas Islam maupun universitas umum lain, serta membangun jaringan antar komponen untuk memenuhi tujuan-tujuan AS. Contoh keberhasilan membangun jaringan ini ketika mensponsori Kongres Kebebasan Budaya (Conggress of Cultural Freedom), dimana pertemuan ini berhasil membangun komitmen antar elemen membentuk jaringan anti komunis.

Hal serupa juga dilakukan dalam rangka membangun jaringan anti Islam. Kemudian membangun kredibilitas semu aktivis-aktivis liberal pro-Barat, demi tercapai tujuan utama memusuhi Islam secara total. Bahkan apabila perlu, sikap tidak setuju atas kebijakan AS sesekali diperlihatkan para aktivisnya seolah-olah independen, padahal hanya tampil pura-pura saja.

AS dan sekutu sadar, bahwa ia tengah terlibat dalam suatu peperangan total baik fisik (dengan senjata) maupun ide. Ia ingin memenangkan perang dengan cara: “ketika ideologi kaum ekstrimis tercemar di mata penduduk tempat asal ideologi itu dan di mata pendukung pasifnya”.

Ini jelas tujuan dalam rangka menjauhkan Islam dari umatnya. Muaranya adalah membuat orang Islam supaya tak berperilaku lazimnya seorang muslim.

Pembangunan jaringan muslim moderat ini dilakukan melalui tiga level, yaitu: (a) menyokong jaringan-jaringan yang telah ada; (b) identifikasi jaringan dan gencar mempromosi kemunculan serta pertumbuhannya; (c) memberikan kontribusi untuk membangun situasi dan kondisi bagi berkembangnya sikap toleran dan faham pluralisme.

Sebagai pelaksana proyek, Departemen Luar Negeri AS dan USAID telah memiliki mandat dan menunjuk kontraktor pelaksana penyalurkan dana dan berhubungan dengan berbagai LSM, dan para individu di negeri-negeri muslim yaitu National Endowment for Democracy (NED), The International Republican Institute (IRI) The National Democratic Institute (NDI), The Asia Foundation (TAF), dan The Center for Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID).

Pada fase pertama, membentuk jaringan muslim moderat difokuskan pada organisasi bawah tanah, dan kemudian setelah melalui penilaian AS selaku donatur, ia bisa ditingkatkan menjadi jaringan terbuka.

Adapun kelompok-kelompok yang dijadikan sasaran perekrutan dan anak didik adalah : (a) akademisi dan intelektual muslim liberal dan sekuler; (b) cendikiawan muda muslim yang moderat; (c) kalangan aktivis komunitas; (d) koalisi dan kelompok perempuan yang mengkampanye kesetaraan gender; (e) penulis dan jurnalis moderat.

Para pejabat Kedutaan Amerika di negeri-negeri muslim harus memastikan bahwa kelompok ini terlibat, dan sesering mungkin melakukan kunjungan ke Paman Sam. Adapun prioritas pembangunan jaringan untuk muslim moderat ini diletakkan pada sektor: (a) Pendidikan Demokrasi. Yaitu dengan mencari pembenaran nash dan sumber-sumber Islam terhadap demokrasi dan segala sistemnya; (b) dukungan oleh media massa melakukan liberalisasi pemikiran, kesetaraan gender dan lainnya — yang merupakan “medan tempur” dalam perang pemikiran melawan Islam; (c) Advokasi Kebijakan. Hal ini untuk mencegah agenda politik kelompok Islam.

AS dan sekutu sadar bahwa ide-ide radikal berasal dari Timur Tengah dan perlu dilakukan “arus balik” yaitu menyebarkan ide dan pemikiran dari para intelektual moderat dan modernis yang telah berhasil dicuci otak dan setuju westernisasi yang bukan berasal dari Timur Tengah, seperti Indonesia dan lainnya. Tulisan dan pemikiran moderat dari kalangan di luar Timur Tengah harus segera diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Arab, kemudian disebarkan di kawasan Timur Tengah.

Agaknya inilah jawaban, kenapa Indonesia seringkali dijadikan pertemuan para cendikiawan dan intelektual muslim dari berbagai negara yang disponsori AS dan negara Barat lain. Banyak produk baik tulisan maupun film diproduksi “Intelektual Islam Indonesia”, kemudian disebarkan dan diterjemahkan dalam bahasa Arab. Semua bantuan dana dan dukungan politik ini tujuannya guna memecah-belah umat Islam.

Seperti berkembang banyak LSM memproduk materi-materi dakwah atau fatwa namun isinya justru “menjerumuskan” Islam, termasuk munculnya banyak tokoh liberal sebagai opinion maker di tengah masyarakat, merupakan isyarat bahwa konspirasi menghancur Islam itu ada, nyata dan berada (existance). Yang paling memprihatinkan, justru jurus pecah belah dilakukan menggunakan tangan-tangan (internal) kaum muslim itu sendiri di negara tempat mereka lahir, tumbuh dan dibesarkan, sedang mereka “tak menyadari” telah menjadi pengkhianat bagi bangsa, negara dan agamanya!

[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 11/9/2023 | The Libertarian Institute

Here is your daily roundup of today's news:

News Roundup 11/9/2023

by Kyle Anzalone

Russia

Ukraine’s CIA-backed military intelligence has taken credit for a car bombing that killed a politician in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine on Wednesday. AWC

Officials from the State Department and USAID pressed Congress to pass a $105 billion spending package that will provide weapons to Ukraine and Israel. One Biden administration official said it was crucial to provide aid to Kiev because “The besieged people of Ukraine are …fighting for basic needs, such as food, water, medicine, and electricity.” The Institute 

Russian official says Moscow will continue to abide by Nuclear test ban agreement. TASSX

Senator Rand Paul slams the State Department over Ukraine policy. RSX

China

The Philippine government has said it’s working on a pact to strengthen military ties with Japan amid rising tensions in the region, Defense Post reported on Wednesday. AWC

Israel

Blinken says the US supports a Palestinian-led government in Gaza after military operation. FTAWC

Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder expalined Washington’s four objective in the Middle East. The Institute

UN Secretary-General António Guterres says there is clearly something wrong with Israeli military tactics. Politico

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said late Tuesday that Israeli forces were fighting in the “heart” of Gaza City as Hamas is claiming its fighters are inflicting heavy losses on the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). AWC

Barbara Leaf, assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, tells Congress the death toll in Gaza is likely higher than reported. The HillXAWC

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich demanded Tel Aviv impose security zones around illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank on Monday. The Institute 

Middle East

The Pentagon said on Wednesday night that the US launched more airstrikes in eastern Syria that targeted a facility used by “Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups.” AWC

Yemen’s Houthis said Wednesday that their military successfully downed a US MQ-9 Reaper drone that was flying off the coast of Yemen. AWC

[Read More](https://libertarianinstitute.org/news-roundup/news-roundup-11-9-2023/

[michaelcosio]

The shameful Vietnam War policy that recruited low-IQ men to die for their country

Louis H. Pumphrey (Opinion)

Published: May. 26, 2019, 5:28 a.m.

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- As we approach Memorial Day honoring our war dead, take a few minutes to reflect on our government’s most sordid, disgraceful, unconscionable, ignoble and shameful policy during the Vietnam War: The Johnson administration’s “Project 100,000” program instituted in October 1966, which involved the drafting of low-IQ men as the war escalated. Of the 58,220 of our military who died in Vietnam, 5,478 mentally deficient servicemen were killed, most in combat.

The latter statistic was provided in the Fall 2017 edition of The Veteran, a publication of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, in a story written by Hamilton Gregory, author of “McNamara’s Folly: The Use of Low-IQ Troops in the Vietnam War.”

Gregory enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduation from college. While at an armed forces induction center in Nashville, Tennessee, a sergeant ordered him to “take charge” of Johnny Gupton (not his real name). The sergeant instructed Gregory to “go with him every step of the way” during their basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia.

The sergeant said Gupton could not read or write and would require assistance in completing documents at Fort Benning. Then the sergeant said, “Make sure he doesn’t get lost. He’s one of McNamara’s morons.”

Gupton was among men with low IQs drafted in a program that resulted in the addition of 354,000 low-IQ men into the armed forces, with 71 percent sent into the U.S. Army; the Navy and Marines each getting 10 percent; and 9 percent going into the Air Force, according to Gregory.

The reason, as you might imagine, was that President Lyndon B. Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara were “desperate for warm bodies,” wrote Gregory. Earlier, the draftees had failed the mental acuity test administered by the military and therefore had been out of reach of the draft, but the Johnson administration changed that policy.

The program also encompassed not only those with below-normal IQs, but also men with other mental or physical disabilities. There was a higher number of volunteer recruits in the program compared to the number of draftees, according to a RAND Corp. study of the strategy. Further, the endeavor, in addition to being applied to those who had failed mental acuity tests, also included men who had been unable to meet other eligibility criteria.

Gregory reported that, when he was on his way to Fort Benning with Gupton, he asked his charge what state he was from and Gupton said he did not know. Gupton, Gregory wrote, was unaware the United States was at war, had no understanding of basic training, did not know his left from his right and had to be taught how to tie his boots.

Gupton survived his tour in Vietnam because a sergeant took him under his wing, putting him in noncombat jobs. (The sergeant grew up with a sister who he said was “mentally handicapped,” and was sympathetic to Gupton’s condition.)

One of the low-IQ fatalities, Gregory noted, was a nephew of combat veteran Barry Romo. The nephew, Robert, was in Vietnam for part of the time Romo served as a platoon leader. Romo was very worried about his kin, who he said was “like a brother,” because the new draftee was to be trained as an infantryman at Fort Lewis, Washington.

Gregory reported that a contingent of the nephew’s family, along with Fort Lewis recruits, officers and sergeants, wrote to the military base’s commanding general pleading that the recruit be spared combat duty because, as one relative wrote, “he would die.”

The general refused to budge.

Romo’s nephew was sent to Vietnam and was in combat close to the border between South and North Vietnam -- an especially dangerous area. While on a patrol and attempting to aid a wounded soldier, Robert was shot in the neck. Intense gunfire prevented a medic from treating Robert and he “drowned in his own blood,” said Romo.

The army gave Romo permission to accompany the sealed aluminum casket with Robert’s remains to Rialto, California, for his funeral. Romo said in a speech several years later that his nephew’s family never recovered from his death, which “almost destroyed us with anger and sorrow.”

Gregory concluded his story in The Veteran with a quote from Joseph Galloway, a war correspondent: “The Good Book says we must forgive those who trespass against us -- but what about those who trespass against the most helpless among us: those willing to conscript the mentally handicapped, the most innocent, and turn them into cannon fodder?”

Drafted in 1966, Louis H. Pumphrey was a reporter, then editor, for the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division newspaper in Vietnam from July 1967 to July 1968. He is a member of Chapter 39 of Veterans for Peace, based at a Cleveland Heights church.

[bookoftheironfist]

Hey! I’ve noticed that since Danny’s not been the Iron Fist his company’s been getting a bit more attention, especially in Gang War, and I was wondering what the deal is with Rand Corp lately? It seems to be quite Tech focused recently, however the last important thing I remember happening with it was in Immortal Iron Fist a few years back when Danny was making it into a Non-Profit. I vaguely remember that still being the deal with it in the Power-Man/Iron Fist series from the early 2010s with Meachum being involved, but I don’t think I’ve read anything where it’s been too important since. Thought I’d see if I could get some answers from you as your Iron Fist knowledge far exceeds mine, and it’d be good to be in the know if it is going to be getting more attention in future comics. Keep up the great blog!🔥

Thank you!

The Rand Corp situation has been difficult to track, and I feel like it's fallen victim to the kind of continuity inconsistency that tends to result from the short runs/frequent creative team changes that Iron Fist has experienced...basically since the 90s. I really appreciate you asking this because it gave me an excuse to go back and take a closer look at the modern Rand Corp timeline which, simply put, is this:

In Immortal Iron Fist, Danny commits to donating away his fortune, which he never really wanted in the first place. At the end of that series he shuts down Rand Corp, sells his penthouse and moves in with Misty, and plans to funnel what's left of his money into his and Misty's kung fu school/youth support center, the Thunder Dojo.

As you mention, by Power Man and Iron Fist volume 2, Danny has transformed the bones of Rand Corp into the Rand Foundation, a humanitarian non-profit, which Joy Meachum steps in to help him run (I think it would have been fun for them to call it the Rand-Meachum Foundation, for old times' sake and full-circle-ness, but hey).

In Defenders (2011), with no explanation or fanfare, we learn that Rand Corp has transformed into Dongxi/Rand (presumably through a merger of some kind). Jeryn Hogarth is back on board, and the company still seems to be involved in transportation technology, including privatized space travel. There's already no mention of the Rand Foundation.

In Living Weapon, the dilapidated tower that formerly housed Rand Corp is taken over by Steel Serpent and the One and then fully destroyed when Danny, um, imbues it with the combined chi of the citizenry of K'un-Lun and transforms it into a giant mech to battle a god (man, I love Living Weapon). Brenda Swanson mentions Danny's charity work during her interview with him in the first issue, but he was also doing charity work long before he shut down Rand Corp. There's no specific mention of the non-profit, and not even any mention of Dongxi/Rand. Defenders (2011) ended (spoiler) with a reality rewrite. Was Donxgi/Rand erased, perhaps?

Power Man and Iron Fist volume 3 is centered around Luke and Danny re-starting Heroes for Hire. No mention is made of Rand Corp or the Rand Foundation.

In Iron Fist volume 5 Danny still has quite a bit of money; he pays a million dollars in cash to a fight club and says the set-up for Shou-Lao in his apartment cost millions, not to mention his security for the Book of the Iron Fist. No explanation is given. There's no mention of Rand Corp or the Rand Foundation.

In Defenders (2017), Danny attends a high-society function on behalf of Rand Corp and personally buys Night Nurse a building. The company seems to be back. I was a bit baffled by this when the series was coming out, but at the time, I took it with a grain of salt because the whole comic felt slightly removed from the normal 616 continuity. Now, however, it fits perfectly into the general confusion surrounding this topic.

Immortal Iron Fists seems to be the most recent official turning point. Rand Corp is definitively stated as being "back up and running" following its destruction in Living Weapon. Danny rides around in a fancy limo. He mentions that a lot of his time is being taken up "running the company" and refers to himself as a "multi-billionaire". No mention of the Rand Foundation. No context or explanation for why he decided to revive Rand Corp. Even Danny's character bio on the title page says that he still "presides over his deceased father's billion-dollar company". It almost feels like a retcon, but Danny has never, ever ridden around in a limo before, so I'm not even sure how to categorize it.

Heart of the Dragon and Iron Fist volume 6 both include vague, fleeting references to Rand Corp, but nothing conclusive. Phantom Limb has nothing at all.

And then we have Gang War, which is written as though Rand Corp has just been around this whole time, doing R&D on cool fight suits for Danny to give to Luke.

The casualness of it all is what leads me to suspect that it was just a big continuity bumble on the part of the various creative teams, rather than an intentional shift in the status quo. I'm not saying that big changes to Danny's world haven't been made with no set-up or explanation before (cough), but I would think that if he were actively bringing the company back as a money-making, tech-creating entity, after being so emphatic about shutting it down, we would have least have had a scene at some point in the past few years of him saying, "You know what? I think I want to revive Rand Corp because...etc." And we haven't. Thus, I'm diagnosing this as a situation where the Rand Foundation non-profit was probably forgotten following PMIF volume 2, which led to the events of the end of Immortal being forgotten, which led to creative teams going "Oh yeah, Danny Rand. He's a rich guy who owns a company, right?" and then just having Rand Corp and Danny's fortune still be a thing because they forgot that they, quite significantly, stopped being one a while ago. Which is a big, frustrating shame, because his decision to dump his father's company and get rid of his money was, I feel, a really important and compelling moment in Danny's journey. As we look towards Danny's future, I'll be curious to see what role Rand Corp might play in this new chapter of his life.

Thanks for the great question!

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 6.22

217 BC – Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom. 168 BC – Battle of Pydna: Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeat Macedonian King Perseus who surrenders after the battle, ending the Third Macedonian War. 813 – Battle of Versinikia: The Bulgars led by Krum defeat the Byzantine army near Edirne. Emperor Michael I is forced to abdicate in favor of Leo V the Armenian. 910 – The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army near the Rednitz River, killing its leader Gebhard, Duke of Lotharingia (Lorraine). 1527 – Fatahillah expels Portuguese forces from Sunda Kelapa, now regarded as the foundation of Jakarta. 1593 – Battle of Sisak: Allied Christian troops defeat the Ottomans. 1633 – The Holy Office in Rome forces Galileo Galilei to recant his view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the Universe in the form he presented it in, after heated controversy. 1774 – The British pass the Quebec Act, setting out rules of governance for the colony of Quebec in British North America. 1783 – A poisonous cloud caused by the eruption of the Laki volcano in Iceland reaches Le Havre in France. 1807 – In the Chesapeake–Leopard affair, the British warship HMS Leopard attacks and boards the American frigate USS Chesapeake. 1813 – War of 1812: After learning of American plans for a surprise attack on Beaver Dams in Ontario, Laura Secord sets out on a thirty kilometres (19 mi) journey on foot to warn Lieutenant James FitzGibbon. 1839 – Cherokee leaders Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot are assassinated for signing the Treaty of New Echota, which had resulted in the Trail of Tears. 1870 – The United States Department of Justice is created by the U.S. Congress. 1893 – The Royal Navy battleship HMS Camperdown accidentally rams the British Mediterranean Fleet flagship HMS Victoria which sinks taking 358 crew with her, including the fleet's commander, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. 1897 – British colonial officers Charles Walter Rand and Lt. Charles Egerton Ayerst are assassinated in Pune, Maharashtra, India by the Chapekar brothers and Mahadeo Vinayak Ranade, who are later caught and hanged. 1898 – Spanish–American War: In a chaotic operation, 6,000 men of the U.S. Fifth Army Corps begins landing at Daiquirí, Cuba, about 16 miles (26 km) east of Santiago de Cuba. Lt. Gen. Arsenio Linares y Pombo of the Spanish Army outnumbers them two-to-one, but does not oppose the landings. 1907 – The London Underground's Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway opens. 1911 – George V and Mary of Teck are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 1911 – Mexican Revolution: Government forces bring an end to the Magonista rebellion of 1911 in the Second Battle of Tijuana. 1918 – The Hammond Circus Train Wreck kills 86 and injures 127 near Hammond, Indiana. 1940 – World War II: France is forced to sign the Second Compiègne armistice with Germany, in the same railroad car in which the Germans signed the Armistice in 1918. 1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. 1942 – World War II: Erwin Rommel is promoted to Field Marshal after the Axis capture of Tobruk. 1942 – The Pledge of Allegiance is formally adopted by US Congress. 1944 – World War II: Opening day of the Soviet Union's Operation Bagration against the Army Group Centre. 1944 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs into law the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill. 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Okinawa comes to an end. 1948 – The ship HMT Empire Windrush brought the first group of 802 West Indian immigrants to Tilbury, marking the start of modern immigration to the United Kingdom. 1948 – King George VI formally gives up the title "Emperor of India", half a year after Britain actually gave up its rule of India. 1962 – Air France Flight 117 crashes on approach to Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport in Guadeloupe, killing 112 people. 1965 – The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed. 1966 – Vietnamese Buddhist activist leader Thích Trí Quang was arrested as the military junta of Nguyen Cao Ky crushed the Buddhist Uprising. 1969 – The Cuyahoga River catches fire in Cleveland, Ohio, drawing national attention to water pollution, and spurring the passing of the Clean Water Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. 1978 – Charon, the first of Pluto's satellites to be discovered, was first seen at the United States Naval Observatory by James W. Christy. 1979 – Former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was acquitted of conspiracy to murder Norman Scott, who had accused Thorpe of having a relationship with him. 1984 – Virgin Atlantic launches with its first flight from London to Newark. 1986 – The famous Hand of God goal, scored by Diego Maradona in the quarter-finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and England, ignites controversy. This was later followed by the Goal of the Century. Argentina wins 2–1 and later goes on to win the World Cup. 1990 – Cold War: Checkpoint Charlie is dismantled in Berlin. 2000 – Wuhan Airlines Flight 343 is struck by lightning and crashes into Wuhan's Hanyang District, killing 49 people. 2002 – An earthquake measuring 6.5 Mw strikes a region of northwestern Iran killing at least 261 people and injuring 1,300 others and eventually causing widespread public anger due to the slow official response. 2009 – A Washington D.C Metro train traveling southbound near Fort Totten station collides into another train waiting to enter the station. Nine people are killed in the collision (eight passengers and the train operator) and at least 80 others are injured. 2012 – Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo is removed from office by impeachment and succeeded by Federico Franco. 2012 – A Turkish Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter plane is shot down by the Syrian Armed Forces, killing both of the plane's pilots and worsening already-strained relations between Turkey and Syria. 2015 – The Afghan National Assembly building is attacked by gunmen after a suicide bombing. All six of the gunmen are killed and 18 people are injured. 2022 – An earthquake occurs in eastern Afghanistan resulting in over 1,000 deaths.