#christian telecoms

[notokra]

InterCommunication’91 “The Museum Inside The Telephone Network”

Tokyo's 1991 museum show only accessible by telephone, fax and modem, with works by Laurie Anderson, J.G. Ballard, John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Félix Guattari, Derek Jarman, Ryuichi Sakamoto, & many more https://monoskop.org/log/?p=19463

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The exhibition organised by the Project InterCommunication Center (ICC), founded by the Japanese telecom NTT, was a pioneering project investigating the implications of networked communication for the museum institution. The exhibition was only accessible to home users by means of the telephone, fax, and in a limited sense computer networking. It was meant as a model for a new kind of an “invisible” museum. Later it was followed up by another ICC exhibition The Museum Inside the Network (1995). The ICC opened its exhibition space in 1997.

The works and messages from almost 100 artists, writers, and cultural figures were available through five channels. The works in “Voice & sound channel” such as talks and readings on the theme of communication could be listened to by telephone. The “Interactive channel” offered participants to create musical tunes by pushing buttons on a telephone. Works of art, novels, comics and essays could be received at home through “Fax channel”. The “Live channel” offered artists’ live performances and telephone dialogues between invited intellectuals to be heard by telephone. Additionally, computer graphics works could be accessed by modem and downloaded to one’s personal computer screen for viewing.

Contributors include Laurie Anderson, J.G. Ballard, Christian Boltanski, Pierre Boulez, William S. Burroughs, Merce Cunningham, Daniel Buren, John Cage, Jacques Derrida, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass, Félix Guattari, Pontus Hultén, Derek Jarman, Jeff Koons, Daniel Libeskind, Jackson Mac Low, Judith Malina, Renzo Piano, Steve Reich, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Akira Sakata, Paul Virilio, Robert Wilson, Tadanori Yokoo, John Zorn, a.o.

Edited by Urban Design Research Introduction by Akira Asada, Yutaka Hikosaka, and Toshiharu Itou Publisher NTT, Tokyo, 1991 259 pages

[stargun2307]

Well, since I’m starting to get hits on my posts, I might as well go ahead and introduce myself. Hi Tumblr! I’m a writer who LOVES Signalis, anime, and guns, among other things. At different points of my life I have been a JROTC cadet, a government certified radio bro (ham radio person), a de facto shooting instructor, a competitive shooter, an unlicensed therapist, a Bible teacher, and so on, and so on.

I live in the US and I work in the general field of telecom/networking/radio engineering. I’m currently working on my firearms instructor’s license, so I can teach concealed carry classes in my state. I’m also a huge mythology/history/religion nerd with a particular interest in the literature of Second Temple Judaism, early Christianity, and the lives and works of Eastern Orthodox saints.

If you wind up following me, welcome to my blog. Enjoy!

[justforbooks]

Hassan Nasrallah

Ruthless head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah who led his movement for more than 30 years

Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, has died aged 64 in an Israeli bomb attack on the movement’s HQ in Dahiyeh, Beirut. His death came after 11 months of conflict between his fighters, based in Lebanon, and Israel.

On 7 October last year Hamas militants from Gaza entered Israel and killed more than 1,200 people. The next day Nasrallah ordered cross-border bombardments on Israel, and a limited conflict of attrition followed. This month Israel dramatically escalated matters by assassinating Hezbollah leaders, infiltrating the group’s security apparatus, hitting tower blocks and sabotaging pagers, walkie-talkies and arms silos, while rebuffing US calls for a ceasefire.

Over three decades Nasrallah, politically astute and often ruthless, transformed his Shia Muslim community, the largest yet most marginalised of Lebanon’s 18 sects – Muslim, Christian and Druze – into Beirut’s powerbrokers. His “party of God” also grew from a local militia into a disciplined body active elsewhere in the region.

Adored by supporters, Nasrallah was essential to Hezbollah’s success. His state-within-a-state runs schools, clinics, scout troops, support for farming, an alternative banking system, armed checkpoints, prisons, radio and TV stations and telecom networks.

Central to Hezbollah’s ethos is muqawama – resistance to Israel and its allies.

Hezbollah claimed credit when in 2000 Israel ended its 18-year-long occupation of southern Lebanon. The militia armed Palestinian factions during the second intifada of 2000-05 (the first having come in 1987-93); it trained Houthi rebels in Yemen and Shia factions in Iraq and Bahrain.

Nasrallah’s fighters became the most powerful non-state military in the Middle East. Hezbollah’s estimated 60,000 troops and 150,000 Iranian-supplied rockets eclipsed Lebanon’s national army.

In July 2006 Hezbollah fought a month-long war with Israel, with more than 1,100 dead on the Lebanese side, and more than 160 Israelis killed. Once hostile Sunnis hailed Nasrallah as the restorer of Arab pride. Their mood changed when in 2012 his forces joined President Bashar al-Assad and Iran in an internal Syrian war that killed half a million mostly Sunni civilians.

In October 2019 many Shia joined protests against him after gross mismanagement led Lebanon to the brink of bankruptcy. Foes blamed Nasrallah for overseeing the same corrupt political system he had once condemned.

Despite championing the Palestinian cause, Hezbollah did little to ease insufferable conditions for Palestinians in Lebanon. Then in August 2020, there was an explosion caused by 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in a part of Beirut harbour under Hezbollah control.

The blast killed 218, rendered 300,000 people homeless, and caused billions in damage, leading demonstrators to hang Nasrallah in effigy.

Hezbollah had a turbulent role in other aspects of Lebanon’s domestic affairs. It was the only civil war militia that had been allowed to keep its weapons after fighting ended in 1990. Nasrallah became Hezbollah secretary general in February 1992, the day after Israel assassinated his predecessor, Abbas al-Musawi.

He was re-elected in 1993 and repeatedly thereafter. Nasrallah rejected UN calls to disarm after Israel withdrew in 2000 and prevented Lebanon’s army from guarding the southern border.

In 2005 a car bomb in Beirut killed Lebanon’s former premier, Rafik Hariri. UN investigators named Hezbollah and Syria as likely culprits. Two months later massive “cedar revolution” protests forced Syrian troops out of Lebanon after 29 years of domination.

Yet Nasrallah choreographed a pro-Syrian alliance with Michel Aoun, a Christian former renegade general newly returned from exile in France. Hezbollah scored well in June polls, and two members joined the cabinet for the first time.

When Lebanon’s pro-western prime minister, Fouad Siniora, rejected Nasrallah’s demand for a blocking veto, Hezbollah shut down parliament for 18 months. In May 2008 Hezbollah gunmen crushed opponents in Beirut, Sidon, Tripoli and Aley – contradicting Nasrallah’s promise never to attack fellow citizens. Still, many Lebanese adored him for defying Israel and affirming their dignity.

Others resented his outsized influence. They said he was an Iranian proxy who killed enemies, including Shia intellectuals, brought starvation to besieged Syrian towns, and recreated the schisms of Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. That conflict, and especially the Israeli invasion and occupation of 1982, inspired the young cleric to choose a political path.

However, the greatest impetus was Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran. As the Lebanese analyst Saleh el-Machnouk put it, by 2020 Lebanon had become a “mafia-militia nexus [where] Iran uses Hezbollah as a subcontractor”.

Born in Bourj Hammoud, then a mainly Christian Armenian town, Hassan was the eldest of nine children of Mahdiyya Safi al-Din and Abdul Karim Nasrallah, a grocer. Hassan devoured Islamic texts while his siblings played football. When war erupted in 1975, the family fled to their ancestral village of Bazourieh, near Tyre. Hassan joined Amal (“hope”), the mostly Shia movement that opposed traditional elites, whether Shia, Sunni or Christian.

In 1976 the penniless 16-year-old left for the famous Iraqi Shia seminary in Najaf. Al-Musawi, a fellow Lebanese exile, became his mentor. After Iraq expelled Lebanese students in 1978, Nasrallah studied with Al-Musawi in Baalbek, in the Beqaa Valley, and joined Amal’s politburo.

By 1982 younger Shias such as Nasrallah were deserting Amal for Khomeini’s camp.

Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards based in Lebanon turned these radicals into Hezbollah. Its affiliates conducted suicide attacks in 1983 that killed more than 300 US and French peacekeeping soldiers. They later fought Amal and kidnapped westerners such as Terry Waite for the benefit of Iran.

In 1989 Nasrallah moved to Iran to study at the seminary in Qom. Back in Lebanon, in 1991 he grudgingly accepted the Syrian-backed Taif power-sharing accord that formally ended the civil war. A month after he became secretary general of Hezbollah, it was accused of killing 29 people at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires; in 1994 another assault on an Argentinian Jewish communal centre claimed 85 lives.

Hassan never stood for election; instead, the speaker of parliament and former rival, the Amal leader Nabih Berri, conveyed his views to the world. Nasrallah admitted Tehran was Hezbollah’s chief sponsor. Nonetheless, foreign intelligence claimed that the party benefited from narcotics traffic, an illicit diamond trade and millions more from expatriate tycoons.

Nasrallah cemented his image as a consensual national figure with Maronite Christian clergymen. He promised not to impose theocratic rule on a religiously diverse and often secular public and arranged for Hezbollah to contest elections between 1992 and 2022.

He displayed a dignified response when his son, Mohammed Hadi, died fighting Israelis in September 1997. Nasrallah helped Lebanon’s national army crush a revolt by Sobhi Tufaili, an anti-Iranian populist and first secretary general of Hezbollah, four months later. He tutored Al-Assad before the latter became Syria’s president in 2000. He also returned from Israel 29 Hezbollah captives and 400 Palestinian prisoners in 2004.

Often, however, the moderate facade would slip. Nasrallah praised Holocaust deniers and in 2001 reportedly called Jews “miserly and cowardly”.

In 2008 Nasrallah’s de facto deputy, Imad Mughniyeh, was blown up in Damascus. After that the leader avoided public appearances, and coordinated regional strategy with Qassem Suleimani, Iran’s external operations chief, himself killed by a US drone strike in 2020.

After another two-year shutdown of parliament, Hezbollah ensured that it elected Aoun as president in late October 2016. Following Lebanon’s economic meltdown, however, Nasrallah’s coalition lost its majority in assembly elections in 2022. That same year Hezbollah agreed a maritime and gas field demarcation agreement with Israel. But showing solidarity with Hamas after 7 October, and so displacing 65,000 Israelis in the north of the country, led to his death.

Nasrallah’s wife, Fatima Yassin, and their children Jawad, Ali and Mahdi, survive him; his daughter Zeinab died in the same blast as him.

🔔 Hassan Nasrallah, political leader, born 31 August 1960; died 27 September 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[mariacallous]

Joshua Hangshing’s 7-year-old son died less than an hour after being shot in the head. But it wasn’t the bullet that killed him.

On June 4, Hangshing set off from a relief camp in the Kangpokpi district of the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. He and his family had moved there for safety after fighting broke out the month before between the state’s majority Meitei community and the minority Kuki-Zo. Clashes had erupted that day just a mile away from the camp, so Hangshing ventured out to fetch water in case they needed to take shelter for a prolonged period.

As he returned to the camp, he saw Tonsing, his youngest child, waving gleefully at him from a first-floor window. Then Tonsing fell, shot in the head. “It couldn’t have been a stray bullet,” Hangshing says. “I suspect it was a sniper.”

Tonsing was still breathing when Hanshing reached him, but he had lost a lot of blood. When an ambulance arrived, Hanshing stayed behind while his wife went with their son to the nearest hospital, 10 miles away in the capital city of Imphal. They were halfway there when they were ambushed by militants, who set fire to the ambulance. Tonsing and his mother, Meena, were burnt alive.

The brutal murder of two innocent people is the kind of horror that should have made the news across India, even across the world. But Hanshing’s story is only coming out now, months on, because of an internet blackout covering the whole of Manipur. At least 180 people have died, and more than 60,000 people have been made homeless. Villages have been set alight and neighbors have lynched neighbors as the authorities fail to control the escalating violence. For three months, hidden from the eyes of the world, Manipur has burned in the dark.

The relationship between the predominantly Hindu Meitiei community, which makes up 53 percent of Manipur’s population, and the Kuki community, which accounts for 28 percent and is largely Christian, has long been frosty.

But the situation has deteriorated rapidly this year. A military coup and civil war in neighboring Myanmar has led to thousands of refugees moving into Manipur. Many of the new arrivals are of Kuki-Chin-Zo ethnicity, who are culturally and ethnically close to the local Kuki population. Some in the Meitei community have seen this as a threat to their political dominance. In late March, a court in Manipur awarded the Meitei “tribal status”—a protected status that gives them access to economic benefits and quotas for government jobs, and allows them to purchase land in the hillside areas where Kuki tribes are concentrated.

Kuki groups say giving the majority community access to minority protections will strengthen the Meitei’s stronghold over the state. Meitei groups accuse Kukis of importing weapons from Myanmar to fight a civil war. On May 3, some from the Kuki community staged a rally in Churachandpur district to protest the court ruling. After the protest, an Anglo-Kuki War memorial gate—marking a war between Kukis and the British in 1917—in Churachandpur was set on fire by Meiteis, which triggered riots that killed 60 in the first four days.

It was just the start of a wildfire of violence that would spread across the state, with barbaric murders, beheadings, gang rapes, and other crimes. Outnumbered, the minority Kukis have suffered most.

But as the fighting began, on May 4, the Indian government did what it has done time and time again when faced with internal conflict. It shut off the internet.

The national government has the power to order telecom providers to stop providing fixed-line and mobile internet, using an emergency law. It did it 84 times in 2022 and 106 times in 2021, according to Access Now, a nongovernmental organization that tracks internet disruptions.

Most of the shutdowns were in the disputed territory of Kashmir, but they have been applied across the country. In December 2019, internet shutdowns were imposed in parts of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, and Meghalaya after protests over a proposed citizenship law that would have rendered hundreds of thousands of Muslims stateless. In January and February 2021, the internet was disrupted around Delhi, where farmers were protesting agricultural reforms.

The justification for these shutdowns is that it stops disinformation from spreading on social media and helps keep a lid on unrest. In May, in Manipur, the government said the blackout was “to thwart the design and activities of anti-national and anti-social elements and to maintain peace and communal harmony … by stopping the spread of misinformation and false rumors through various social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. … ” It didn’t work.

On the first day of the shutdown, a Meitei mob went on a rampage in Imphal, seeking out Kukis to attack. As the violence spread, two young Kuki women in their early twenties huddled in their room above a carwash, where they worked part time. But the mob found them. Witnesses told the women’s families that seven Meitei men barged into their room and locked the door from inside. For two hours, the door remained shut. People outside could hear the screams of the women, which became muffled with time. When the door opened, the two women were dead. The families are certain their daughters were raped before being murdered.

The father of one of the women, whom WIRED is not identifying in order to protect the identity of his daughter, says he was told by a nurse at a hospital in Imphal that his child had been killed. Nearly three months after her death, her body is still in Imphal, along with dozens of unclaimed bodies rotting in the city hospitals because the Kuki families in the hills can’t go to Imphal Valley to claim them.

“It was her dream to become a beautician and start her own parlor. She always wanted to be financially independent,” the father says. She had finished her course in Imphal and was tantalizingly close to living her dream. About two months before the incident, she had rented a place in the city where she could open her beauty parlor. “She took up a part-time job to support her dream,” her father says. “She was excited about her future.”

The violence between the two communities has spiraled. Nearly 4,000 weapons have reportedly been stolen from the police, according to local media. Some Kukis have accused the police—many of whom are from Meitei communities—of standing by while Kukis are being attacked, and even of supporting Meitei extremist groups. Hangshing’s wife and son were killed despite a police escort. “How did the mob burn down the ambulance in police presence?” he says. “What did the police do to protect my wife and son?”

The police in Imphal declined to comment.

Today there is almost complete separation between the two communities, both of whom have their private militias protecting their territories. Kuki areas in Imphal are completely deserted. Meiteis in Kuki-dominated districts have been driven out of the hills.

At a relief camp opened in a trade center in Imphal, Budhachandra Kshetrimayum, a Meitei private school teacher, says his village, Serou in the Kakching district, was attacked by Kuki militants on the night of May 28. “The firing started out of nowhere,” he says. “They barged into the village and began torching the Meitei houses.”

Kshetrimayum had two options: either stay inside and be burned with his house, or run to the house of a local lawmaker for safety and risk being shot dead on the way. He chose the latter. “Luckily, I survived the firing and reached his house, where several other Meiteis were hiding,” he says. “His bodyguards were on the roof, firing back at the Kukis so they couldn’t come and get us.”

The next morning, Kshetrimayum found his house reduced to rubble.

Not too far from his home lived the widow of a leading fighter for India’s independence against Great Britain. “When I went closer, I realized that they had burnt the house with his 80-year-old wife inside it,” he says. “I could see her skull amid the debris. Since that night, I have been living in relief camps. I wear other people’s clothes. I eat other people’s food. I am a refugee in my own state.”

These aren’t isolated stories. Across the state, I heard eyewitness accounts of lynchings and murders, rapes, riots, and the burning of homes. After largely ignoring the crisis in Manipur for weeks, over the past couple of weeks, journalists from across India have descended on the state, thanks to a single video that leaked out from under the shroud of the blackout.

It’s not clear how the footage got out. But the 26-second video was posted on Twitter on July 20. It shows two Kuki women in Kangokpi being stripped and paraded naked by a mob. The women’s families say they were later gang-raped.

The video shook the conscience of India and shed light on the gravity of the situation in the state. It compelled Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak about Manipur for the first time, 77 days after the violence broke out. “Any civil society should be ashamed of it,” he said.

After the police arrested one person accused of participating in the attack, N. Biren Singh, the chief minister of Manipur, tweeted that strict action would be taken against all the perpetrators. But the incident had happened months before, on May 4, the first day of the blackout. The husband of one of the women in the video claims that the police were on the spot when it happened, but did nothing to stop it. In other words, the police were compelled to take action after the video went viral. And this is just one sexual assault—one of many crimes—that’s happened in Manipur since May. The perpetrators in other cases are roaming free because there is no video to shame the authorities into pursuing them.

"The video that went viral is just the tip of the iceberg,” says TS Haokip, president of the Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council, an NGO formed by Kuki writers and teachers. “It is one case in which the state has acted because it went viral and caused a great deal of embarrassment to the state. But what about other victims who have suffered in obscurity?"

Indian authorities say that internet shutdowns like Manipur are done to preserve the peace, to stop misinformation spreading online and reassert control. Experts say they have the opposite effect. They allow impunity for crimes and for those who fail to pursue them. Had locals in Manipur been able to draw attention to the situation as it got out of control, the anarchy that followed might have been avoided. But the silence over the state meant the national government could feign ignorance. Human rights groups said they couldn’t collect evidence of violations or distribute them to colleagues overseas.

The blackouts cause further disruption to an economy made fragile by the violence, and hinder aid groups as they try to collect funds for relief work.

Young Vaiphei Association, a nonprofit organization, operates five relief camps in Churachandpur district, housing 5,000 people. Lainzalal Vaiphei, convener of the relief committee, says they’ve had to raise funds door-to-door. “But because the state is in a limbo, people have suffered economically as well. They don’t have money to donate.” Had the internet been operational in Manipur, the organization could have tapped donors from outside the state through social media, and raised money for medicines. “We are barely managing our resources,” Vaiphei says.

In such a volatile atmosphere, shutting down communications doesn't stop misinformation. Rumors always spread fast in conflicts; blacking out the internet often just means that there’s no way to verify whether the accounts that are spreading them are genuine.

“The disinformation still spreads but it is not being countered,” says Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia policy director at Access Now. Most fact-checkers are independent journalists or operate in small newsrooms. Even if they can fact-check a doctored video or a false claim, they have no way to spread their work widely.

This can help fuel violence, creating monopolies on information and allowing more extreme voices to dominate. “Shutdowns like these actually benefit the perpetrators in a conflict situation,” Chima says. “Whoever is more powerful or networked on the ground gets to set the narrative.”

As the two women in the July 4 video were paraded around the village, the inebriated men around them shouted, “We will do to you what your men did to our women.” The men claimed to be “avenging” a Meitei woman who had been allegedly raped and killed in the Kuki-dominated district of Churachandpur. A photograph claiming to be of her dead body wrapped in a plastic bag had made the rounds in Manipur. Except the woman in the photograph was from Delhi. The story was a fabrication.

The violence in Manipur has ruptured communities and left families with no way back to their old lives. For Neng Ja Hoi, a relief camp in K Salbung of Churachandpur district is now her home. On May 3, her husband, Seh Kho Haokipgen, was lynched while guarding their village of K Phaijang. Violence broke out and the police fired teargas. “He fell down during the commotion,” says Neng. “He somehow managed to get up but his vision was blurred because of the teargas. He ran for his life but he ran toward the Meitei mob, which beat him to death.”

Neng hasn’t really come to terms with her husband’s passing. “He was a religious pastor, and he traveled quite a bit for work,” she says, cradling her 11-month old baby, tears rolling down her face. “I tell myself he is still on one of his long religious journeys. He was the sole breadwinner of the house. How will I look after my kids?”

She sleeps in a tent in a small room with her three children. Her few possessions are crammed on a bench nearby. “I grabbed whatever I could from our house and ran with the kids,” she says. “They will grow up here.”

The warring sides have drawn something akin to battle lines in Manipur. Abandoned homes, charred vehicles, and scorched shops line the borders between communities. Both groups have set up bunkers in deserted villages. The only people here are volunteers from “village defense forces” with guns, guarding the territory from people who used to be their neighbors. The military is deployed in the buffer zone. Venturing into enemy territory is a death sentence.

That is exactly why Joshua Hangshing didn’t get in the ambulance with his son Tonsing. He is a Kuki. If he had accompanied his son to Imphal, there was no chance the two would have survived. But a hospital in a Kuki area was two hours away. With a bullet in his head, Tonsing had to be taken to the nearest possible facility. Hangshing’s wife, Meena, was a Meitei Christian. Even though she belonged to the minority among the majority Hindu Meiteis, the couple thought her presence in the ambulance would keep them safe.

As we talk about the breakdown in trust between communities, Hangshing reminisces about meeting Meena in the mid-2000s. He was working in Imphal, and Meena would pass his office to attend singing classes. “She had a lovely voice,” he says with a wistful smile. For them, it was love at first sight. It didn’t matter that they belonged to different ethnicities. “Her mother was against it initially,” he recalls. “But she came around.”

He has now moved to Kangpokpi Town, away from his village, which is too close to the border with Imphal. He doesn’t think he’ll go back. But he hopes that reconciliation between communities is possible. “If everybody who has suffered starts thinking about revenge, the cycle of violence will never stop,” he says. “The Bible has taught me to forgive.”

On July 25, the state partially lifted the blackout, allowing some fixed-line connections back online—with restrictions. However, most people in the state rely on mobile internet. Apar Gupta, a lawyer and founder of the campaign group the Internet Freedom Foundation, said the changes only benefit a “tiny” number of privileged people. “It is my firm belief the internet shutdown is to serve state interests in avoiding accountability and contouring the media ecology than any evidentiary law and order objective," Gupta tweeted. Manipur is still mostly in the dark. And while the violence has subsided as both sides stay within their territory, it hasn’t died out completely. In the border zones, shots still ring out. It’s still smoldering, and could burst back into flames at any time.

[into-the-feniverse]

🏜️Fen in Trigun Stampede UPDATED🏜️

Template: bit.ly/trigunresources

Disclaimer: backgrounds aren’t mine, most of it came from the show or pexels

More character info & voice claim under the cut!

——————

The basics:

• Her full name is Marlowe Fenley Holloway, but she prefers to go by ��Fen”

• She’s 3 years younger than Meryl, but 14 cm taller

• female, cisgender, she/her, AroAce (demiromantic)

• Personality wise, she’s generally pretty quiet/reticent. She’s very non confrontational and fairly hesitant. However she’s good at giving off an air of friendliness and cheerfulness when need be, and is “always happy to help” (even at her own expense). Once she warms up to people she becomes much more chatty and exuberant. She’s very compassionate and sincere.

• Post trip/after the time skip she’s much more comfortable with herself and more confident, in both her appearance and actions.

• Hobbies & Interests: She enjoys drawing and painting in her free time. She also enjoys traveling and just being outside. After her time on ship 3, she also gains an avid interest in botany

The lore Backstory:

• She hails from a small town north of May City called “Juneport Junction”. She lived there her entire life with her family (parents, grandma, and 3 adopted older siblings), up until she left for November. Growing up, she really enjoyed observing (and chasing) the various small critters of Gunsmoke (mainly the sand worms)

• While Juneport isn’t necessarily a “religious town”, there’s definitely a moderate christian demographic. She does come from a fairly religious (Presbyterian) family, however she herself is agnostic

• While she's not necessarily distant with her family (at least not in a relationship way, physically yes she is, it's just part of the job), she's not the closest with them either. She keeps in touch with them fairly often (before heading off for November her parents gave her a wrist watch made with lost tech that acts as a telecom. they call bi weekly) and tries to stop by home when she can, but she tries to keep her visits as short as possible.

• She was brought on to the Bernardelli company as a photography intern, having heard about it from a friend of a friend and applying on a whim, and was (begrudgingly) placed under the tutelage of senior journalist Roberto De Niro. And so ended up getting dragged into Meryl’s mad chase to track down and interview the Humanoid Typhoon.

Random notes:

• The nicknames she accrued over the course of the trip include but are not limited to: curls, shutterbug, short stack, sunshine (Wolfwood), kid, trainee, green bean* (Roberto), and junebug** (Vash).

* That one caused some confusion amongst the travel crew, Roberto never actually explained why he called her that. They think it's a mix of green horn and bean sprout, and possibly also because of her jacket

** tossed out there by Wolfwood initially (around the time he found out she had an interest in bugs and came from a town called Juneport) but fondly adopted by Vash

• In her messenger bag she has her canteen, wallet, camera, a first aid kit, a small pocket knife, and a notebook and multiple pens. She doesn’t leave anywhere without her bag, and doesn’t mind carrying things for other people as well. After the time skip, she still brings a pack with her when traveling (which still stores her canteen, a sketch pad, and a first aid kit, but it’s smaller and she doesn’t take it everywhere ) but she upgrades to a larger (utility) knife which she keeps on her at all times. And her new camera (which is more compact than the one she uses during her internship).

• Her telecom watch also gets a slight upgrade post JuLai, courtesy of ship 3, so that it has a small medium impact force field (good for blocking bullets!).

[molsons112000]

So there a 149 countries around the world that accept refugees. The United States can take in refugees and then distribute them amongst 149 countries. So can United Nations peacekeepers. If Miss Park had done it right she would have asked the Chinese border guards for refugee status in the United States. She did it right in Mongolia. Asking Mongolia to contact South Korea and ask for refugee status with South Korea. So the Christians that helped her told her exactly what to request when she got apprehended by the Mongolian border guards. Told her to tell them that she's requesting refugee status with South Korea and please contact South Korea. The Mongolians contacted South Korea and accepted them as refugees, South Korea. So there's a correct process and what she did was incorrect... So yes people from mexico or other countries coming through mexico can claim refugee status. But they don't have to come to America. We work with a 149 other countries. And the funny thing is who accepts the most refugees? It says right now, Iran.....

149 countries have agreed to provide refugees with protections under the 1951 Refugee Convention. This agreement was introduced following World War Two when many people fled persecution and conflict in Europe.Sep 26, 2023

https://www.rescue.org › article › fa...

Refugee facts, statistics and FAQs - International Rescue Committee

Jstor

So we can spread these refugees across 149 countries. And Like I said domestic Violence victims qualify for refugee status just read above... So if women can't stay in their country children or a male Because of a physical threat then They qualify for refugee status. The country must protect them. But the funny thing is I'm not being protected..... So we have these things here for the protection of human life.But you violate all protection agreements when it comes to my life..... And god's going to eliminate you all then because you all should be eliminated....

https://www.jstor.org › stable

Employment, Education, Training and Skilled Labor in Iran

by W Elkan · 1977 · Cited by 18 — During the 4th Plan (1968-73) a shortage of 7,000 technicians is expected in the fields of chemistry, telecom

[diarioelpepazo]

El premio es de 1,5 millones de dólares. Nick Dunlap se lleva el American Express, pero se queda sin el cheque por su condición de aficionado GERARDO RIQUELME En tiempos donde el golf sólo habla de dinero, Nick Dunlap vino a rescatar el romanticismo de este deporte. El estadounidense de 20 años, aún amateur, se alzó con la victoria en el American Express, el torneo que el año pasado ganó Jon Rahm, para convertirse en el primer golfista aficionado que gana un evento del PGA Tour, el circuito más prestigioso del mundo, desde 1991, cuando Phil Mickelson se llevó el Northern Telecom Open. Su condición le impidió disfrutar de un cheque de 1,512 millones de dólares, que recayo en el segundo clasificado, Christian Bezuindehout, poderoso contraste con el que el zurdo más famoso del golf tuvo que renunciar hace 33 años que fue de 180.000. Más impacto tiene pensar que su predecesor en el palmarés se mueve en 600 millones tras el mareante fichaje por el LIV Golf y el no se llevará, de momento, un centavo. El mismo Rahm lo felicitó en X y auguró "un gran futuro para este talento". Por el desenlace pareció algo predestinado. Sam Burns, uno de los 12 golfistas estadounidenses que sucumbió el pasado otoño en Roma en la Ryder Cup, llegó al fácil hoyo 16, el último par 5 del torneo, con un golpe de ventaja sobre Dunlap y no sólo no le sacó partido, sino que jugando a su lado en las dos salidas siguientes mandó sendas bolas al agua, firmó dos doble bogeys para acabar en sexto lugar. Dunlap, que había visitado el agua en el hoyo 7 (un doble bogey), y que había visto como Burns le había comido tres golpes, se limitó a hacer el par en esos dos hoyos finales para lograr el triunfo más histórico hasta donde alcanza la memoria. Estudiante aún de segundo año en la Universidad de Alabama y ganador del US Amateur -el torneo que ganó cuatro veces Tiger Woods-, el protagonista dejó otra muesca para su leyenda: con 29 bajo par, sobre todo gracias a la prodigiosa tarjeta de 60 golpes del sábado, batió el récord del torneo de La Quinta (California), con un resultado de 259, uno mejor que el sudafricano Bezuindehout. Púrpura a su victoria En tercer lugar quedaron jugadores tan reputados como Justin Thomas, ganador de dos grandes -y también estudiante de Alabama en su época universtaria- y Xander Schauffele, el campeón olímpico. Dunlap no pudo, sin embargo, batir el récord de precocidad en el circuito pues Jordan Spieth, que se saltó la etapa del paraninfo, ganó el John Deere Classic de 2013 con 19 años. "No pude optar al cheque, pero fue un privilegio estar aquí y recibir el apoyo de tanto público. Poder demostrar que el golf amateur también es realmente bueno es algo único. Pero reconozco que aún estoy en shock. Nunca había visto tanta cámara y tanto periodista en un green", dijo la nueva sensación, que ya ganaba torneos importantes de edad a los 11 y 12 años. Sólo otro jugador aficionado, Scott Verplank en el Western Open de 1986, había ganado previamente en el PGA Tour en los últimos 68 años. El resto, cinco golfistas -Fred Haas, Carey Middlecoff, Frank Stranahan (dos veces), Gene Littler y Doug Sanders- lo hicieron entre 1945 y 1956 antes de la eclosión de Arnold Palmer, el impulsor del golf moderno como espectáculo. La pregunta que queda en el ambiente es cuánto tiempo tardará el LIV Golf, que aún tiene una vacante en el equipo de Rahm, en tocar a este jugador que es el número 3 mundial amateur, aunque la victoria le permitirá si lo desea jugar cualquier torneo del PGA Tour hasta la temporada 2026, sin abandonar la universidad. También jugará el Masters. Para recibir en tu celular esta y otras informaciones, únete a nuestras redes sociales, síguenos en Instagram, Twitter y Facebook como @DiarioElPepazo El Pepazo/Marca

[biographyit]

Kat Ramnani Biography, Facts & Lifestyle

Quick Facts Full Name Kat Ramnani Nickname Kat Age 34 years old (in 2023) Date of Birth 1988 Birthplace Manila, Philippines Biography/Wiki Known For Known for wife of Christian Bautista Profession Global Telecom Manager, Content Nationality Filipino-American Religion Christianity Zodiac Sign Sun Sign Gallery Height, Weight & Physical Stats Body Measurements 34-26-35…

[duybrandcell]

Cuộc chiến chọn người thừa kế của tỷ phú giàu nhất thế giới: Khi 5 người con tài giỏi cùng tranh đấu “ngai vàng” của đế chế hàng hiệu

Mới đây, Bernard Arnault - ông trùm đế chế hàng hiệu LVMH một lần nữa đã vượt qua Elon Musk và trở thành người giàu nhất hành tinh với tài sản ước tính 176.6 tỷ USD.

Ông vua làng thời trang hiện vẫn đang nắm giữ vị trí Chủ tịch kiêm Giám đốc điều hành LVMH, tập đoàn sở hữu loạt thương hiệu xa xỉ Louis Vuitton, Dior, Céline, Givenchy, Fendi... Nó còn là nhà sản xuất rượu sâm banh Moët & Chandon và công ty đồng hồ TAG Heuer. Công ty gần đây đã nâng giới hạn độ tuổi đối với giám đốc điều hành để Arnault có thể ở lại. Và theo Forbes, ông được cho là đang quyết định xem ai trong số 5 người con của mình sẽ tiếp quản đế chế khổng lồ này.

Vị “tộc trưởng già” có tổng cộng 5 người với 2 người vợ.Louis Vuitton siêu cấp Hiện tất cả đều có vai trò chính thức trong các thương hiệu do Arnault kiểm soát và đều được đánh giá là tài năng. Và cuộc tranh giành quyền lực trong LVMH đang “nóng” hơn bao giờ hết.

Delphine Arnault

Nữ doanh nhân người Pháp 47 tuổi, con gái thứ hai của chủ tịch với người vợ đầu hiện là Phó chủ tịch của Louis Vuitton và là ứng cử viên thừa kế sáng giá hơn cả. Cô theo học Trường Kinh doanh EDHEC ở Lille và Trường Kinh tế London.

Delphine bắt đầu sự nghiệp của mình tại McKinsey ở Paris, nơi cô làm cố vấn trong hai năm và học về chiến lược. Đại tiểu thư LVMH đã có được kinh nghiệm trong ngành thời trang khi làm việc tại công ty của nhà thiết kế John Galliano vào năm 2000 và giúp phát triển thương hiệu vượt bậc.

Từ năm 2001 đến 2013, cô bắt đầu làm việc trong bộ phận giày tại Christian Dior và trở thành phó giám đốc điều hành. Trong thời gian này, Delphine giám sát một trong những giai đoạn thành công nhất của nhãn hiệu, chỉ đạo sự phát triển của hàng da, phụ kiện và chiến lược truyền thông.

Kể từ đó, cô trở thành phó chủ tịch điều hành của Louis Vuitton và chịu trách nhiệm giám sát các hoạt động liên quan đến sản phẩm. Con gái lớn của ông trùm có phong cách quản lý điềm tĩnh và truyền thống, tỉ mỉ giống cha.

Nữ doanh nhân thành đạt cũng có chân trong các hội đồng quản trị như Château Cheval Blanc, The Saint-Emilion Premier Grand Cru, Les Echos, Loewe, Pucci's, Celine, Christian Dior, 21st Century Fox và Repossi. THỜI TRANG NAM siêu cấp Từ năm 2009, cô là thành viên ban giám sát của M6, đến năm 2013, cô tham gia ban giám sát của Havas.

Delphine cũng là người sáng lập Giải thưởng LVMH, giải thưởng cho phép các nhà thiết kế thời trang trẻ được huấn luyện bởi các chuyên gia LVMH. Năm 2014, cô cũng được vinh danh trong danh sách Fortune 40 under 40.

Antoine Arnault

Antoine, 45 tuổi, người con cả của Bernard Arnault là người đứng đầu bộ phận truyền thông và hình ảnh tại LVMH. Anh cũng là chủ tịch của Loro Piana và giám đốc điều hành của Berluti. Antoine chính là giám đốc điều hành đầu tiên tại Berluti và biến công ty đóng giày xa xỉ thành nhãn hiệu quần áo nam.

Năm 2002, khi Arnault 25 tuổi, anh đã đồng sáng lập một công ty khởi nghiệp về internet và bắt đầu làm việc trong nhóm tiếp thị của LVMH. Sau đó, anh lấy bằng MBA từ Insead và gia nhập lại LVMH trong bộ phận quảng cáo năm 2005.

2 năm sau, Antoine được bổ nhiệm làm giám đốc truyền thông của Louis Vuitton. Năm 2018, anh đảm nhận vai trò hiện tại tại LVMH và được giao nhiệm vụ quản lý hình ảnh của hãng thời trang mang tính biểu tượng. Giống như em gái Delphine và cha của mình, anh có chân trong hội đồng quản trị của LVMH.

Alexandre Arnault

Ở tuổi 30, Alexandre thông thạo tiếng Pháp, tiếng Anh và tiếng Đức, đồng thời là Phó chủ tịch tại Tiffany. Anh là con cả của Chủ tịch với người vợ hiện tại Hélène Mercier.

Anh tốt nghiệp Telecom ParisTech và có bằng thạc sĩ về đổi mới tại École Polytechnique. Kinh nghiệm kỹ thuật số của Alexandre đã giúp tập đoàn thời trang ra mắt 24 Sevres, nền tảng thương mại điện tử hoạt động rất thành công.

Năm 2017, anh được bổ nhiệm làm lãnh đạo hãng sản xuất túi hành lý xa xỉ Rimowa sau khi LVMH thông báo sẽ mua 80% cổ phần của công ty. Năm 2019, anh tiếp quản chiếc ghế của cha mình trong hội đồng quản trị tại Carrefour, chuỗi siêu thị của Pháp. Cuối cùng, vào năm ngoái, Alexandre đã trở thành phó chủ tịch điều hành sản phẩm và truyền thông tại Tiffany & Co.

Alexandre đã đưa ra cách tiếp cận hiện đại hơn để đổi mới Tiffany & Co. Giám đốc điều hành Anthony Ledru đã mô tả anh là người “có 40% khả năng phân tích và 60% trực giác, một người dám nghĩ dám làm”. Nhờ anh ấy, Jay-Z và Beyoncé đã đồng ý thực hiện chiến dịch “About Love” cho công ty.

Frédéric Arnault

Frédéric, 27 tuổi, là giám đốc điều hành của TAG Heuer, một thương hiệu đồng hồ xa xỉ. Anh học tại École Polytechnique và điều hành một startup thanh toán di động với một người bạn, sau đó bán công ty cho BNP. Sau đó, Frédéric về nhà làm việc toàn thời gian cho TAG Heuer với tư cách là giám đốc chiến lược và kỹ thuật số.

Khi Frédéric 25 tuổi, anh đã được bổ nhiệm làm Giám đốc điều hành của TAG Heuer, khiến anh trở thành thành viên gia tộc Arnault trẻ thứ hai có được vị trí đó sau anh trai Alexandre. Cũng nhờ vị CEO trẻ mà TAG Heuer có được mối quan hệ đối tác quan trọng với Porsche. Vào năm 2020, anh được chú ý sau khi hợp tác với siêu sao “khó mời nhất” Ryan Gosling. Frédéric cũng là một người có nhiều tài năng, chơi piano và quần vợt, đồng thời thông thạo tiếng Anh, Ý và Đức.

Jean Arnault

Ở tuổi 24, con út nhà Arnault là giám đốc tiếp thị và phát triển của hãng đồng hồ Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton khai trương nhà máy sản xuất đồng hồ vào năm 2003.

Thiếu gia Gen Z nhà Arnault đã lấy bằng thạc sĩ về kỹ thuật cơ khí tại Đại học Hoàng gia London và toán tài chính từ MIT.LOUIS VUITTON Mối quan tâm của anh ấy đối với ngành chế tạo đồng hồ bắt đầu sau khi được truyền cảm hứng từ anh trai Frédéric và khóa thực tập tại học viện đồng hồ của hãng. Mặc dù chỉ mới bắt đầu trong thế giới kinh doanh, nhưng tương lai của Jean Arnault rất được kỳ vọng.

https://duybrandlife.blog.ss-blog.jp/ https://duybrandcopse.blogspot.com/ http://duybrandcertainly.weebly.com/

[mollytatlisu]

Lecture 2

In order to expand our understanding of how current events will impact future fashion, in this lecture we looked at historical events that drove the changes in fashion we’ve already seen in the past. We learnt that the three main factors that contribute to the change in fashion & textiles are social change, development in industry and technology and world events.

Important examples of this include the beginning of the feminist movement in the 1960’s. In protest for equal rights for women, fashion designers such as Yves Saint Laurent began shortening the length of their skirts. This drove everyone to question the validity of traditional societal standards, urging the mini skirt to become a motif for the feminist movement and increasing its popularity. Similarly; the 1940s “New Look” founded by Christian Dior that arrived shortly after the utility clothing scheme also embraced femininity; rejecting the utilitarian approach to fashion that was favourable during the war by replacing simple standardised garments with elegant pieces such as full skirts and jackets with notched collars and rounded shoulders; which completely counteracted the bulky masculine jackets worn throughout the war. It’s clear that Diors intention was to make women more content by completely counterbalancing the war fashion which is apparent in the name “New Look”. Although the war caused the demise of fashion and cultivated the birth of utility clothing, some people found ways to work around this. Despite the promotion of functional garments such as the “siren suit” in this time; there were some solutions to avoid looking completely drab. For example the war caused the potential threat of gas warfare, so everyone was encouraged to carry gas masks constantly; which were typically distributed in a cardboard box with a string attached so it could be worn over the shoulder (2022). Retailers recognised a gap in the market; so introduced a slick, black leather handbag with a specialised compartment to store a gas mask. These examples demonstrate a clear link between the cause and effects of historical events and their fashion outcomes.

In groups we were each allocated a decade to research, considering the key events of this decade and how that influenced its fashion; ours being the 1970s.

In 1979 Margaret Thatcher was the first woman to be elected the conservative prime minister; which meant her fashion was bound to be influencial; with it drawing almost as much attention as the policies she set during this period. Her tailored skirt suits brought about the idea of ‘power dressing”, with her iconic look radiating a sense of determination and authority wherever she went. Although this portrayed her as a strong leader; she also wanted to tap into her feminine side to assert her dominance as a woman in power. This is why she wore accessories such as the layered pearl necklace that her husband gifted to her and pussy bow blouses with playful patterns such as polka dots; which completely contradicted her sharp power suits Dimarco (2021). The power dressing look is still being utilised today by politicians such as Liz Truss, who is often seen sporting bow front blouses similar to that of Thatcher. Not only did Thatcher influence fashion through what she wore but also influenced the industry through the implementation of some of her policies. For example, a part of Thatchers manifesto when she came into power was the privatisation of nationalised industries and companies such as British telecom and British airways in order to increase share ownership in society and to increase labour productivity (2016). This lead to society deeming the idea of greed as good; with shopping centres appearing all over the UK and people going into a spending frenzy. This new found sense of greed within western society lead to displaying wealth being deemed important; fuelling a surge in designer brands and labels that served as a symbol of superiority.

Another key event that took place majorly in the 1970s was the gay liberation movement Tavares (2021); which birthed a much more fierce take on activism with organisations such as “The Gay Liberation Front” fighting to end discrimination against gay people. Due to this everyone began to reject societal norms and gender stereotypes which pushed the first glimpse of queer identifying people, particularly men presenting themselves in a queer way. This resulted in what’s known as the “Clone look” which coined its name because of its inspiration from cowboys and bikers, in order to flip traditional male stereotypes by “queerifying” them. This translated to features such as denim, bomber jackets and plaid flannels.

This research has shown me that major historical events are crucial in the development and changes in fashion and textiles; which means we need to pay attention to current significant events whilst developing our brand. Although we are already focusing on the cost of living crisis which is destined to impact fashion; we may need to focus on other crisis such as climate change which could also have an impact.

[zvaigzdelasas]

[ProthomAlo is Bengali Private Media]

The issue of trial at a Dhaka court in a case filed against Nobel laureate economist Dr Muhammad Yunus on charges of money laundering was raised in the daily briefing at the State Department of the US Tuesday.[...]

The State Department spokesperson said, “So we continue to closely monitor developments in the case against Dr. Yunus. We have expressed our concern that these cases may represent a misuse of Bangladesh’s labour laws to harass and intimidate Dr. Yunus.”

In a note of warning, Matthew Miller said, “We also worry that the perceived misuse of labour and anti-corruption laws could raise questions about rule of law and dissuade foreign direct investment.”

He further said, “We will continue to encourage the Bangladeshi Government to ensure a fair and transparent legal process for Dr. Yunus as the appeals process continues, but I don’t have any actions to preview.”[...]

Another newsperson drew Miller’s attention to an allegation Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently raised.

He said, “Bangladesh ruling Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently claimed a white man offered her that she can stay in power without any pressure if she allows a foreign country to establish an airbase. She also mentioned that there is a conspiracy to turn Bangladesh into another East Timor and make a Christian country taking a part of Bangladesh and Myanmar, forming a base in the Bay of Bengal. [...]

Miller answered, “I’m not exactly sure who those comments refer to, but if it is in fact the United States, I’ll just say that they’re not accurate.”

5 Jun 24

[VOA is US State Media]

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, celebrated for his pioneering work in microfinance, is facing a new trial in a criminal case next week in Bangladesh on charges of embezzling more than $2 million from the workers' welfare fund of his nonprofit, Grameen Telecom.

Yunus — a political rival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina — was sentenced in January to six months in jail for violating labor laws at the nonprofit. He remains out on bail but faces nearly 200 additional charges, mostly civil cases, all of which he denies.

In the current case, the prosecution alleges that Yunus and his codefendants diverted funds from Grameen Telecom workers' welfare fund, a major stakeholder in Grameenphone, Bangladesh's largest mobile phone operator. Yunus has denied the charges.[...]

Yunus's legal team argues that the embezzlement charges are purely "baseless and frivolous" arguing that for embezzlement to occur, funds must be misappropriated from someone's custody, which he asserts did not happen.

"The money in question was properly deposited into a bank account as mandated by a settlement agreement between the workers' trade union and Grameen Telecom, in accordance with labor laws. Thus, there is no basis for embezzlement charges." Al-Mamun told VOA[...]

The outside world has expressed significant concern over Yunus' treatment. Last year, more than 100 Nobel laureates, including former U.S. President Barack Obama, wrote an open letter to Hasina, urging an end to what they describe as "continuous judicial harassment."

Amnesty International has condemned Yunus' treatment as emblematic of the broader erosion of human rights in Bangladesh. The United Nations rights body has raised concerns about ongoing harassment and smear campaigns from the "highest levels of government," which could jeopardize a fair trial.

Despite numerous appeals, Hasina has remained firm. In 2011, her administration ousted Yunus from Grameen Bank, and she has consistently accused him of acting against Bangladesh's interests. A significant instance is the World Bank's decision to withdraw funding from the Padma Bridge project, the country's major infrastructure endeavor and longest bridge. Hasina has attributed this withdrawal to Yunus' influence, an accusation that he denies.[...]

At a press briefing on June 25 at her residence, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina criticized the open letter signed by more than 100 Nobel laureates and notable individuals supporting Muhammad Yunus as nothing more than "advertisements" funded by Yunus himself.

"He has money, so he can pay for publicity. All these endorsements by Nobel laureates and others are merely promotional efforts. If he truly were so popular, why would he need to resort to advertisements to garner so much support? The whole world would naturally rally behind him otherwise," she said.

Hasina who often called Yunus a "bloodsucker of the poor" and criticized Grameen's microlending practices, accused Yunus of taking credit for poverty reduction efforts that she claims her administration achieved, stating that her government reduced poverty significantly over the last 15 years.

"I have eradicated poverty. In the last 15 years, I have reduced it from 41.6% to 18.7%, and he takes the credit. Some international organizations even write that down," she said.

12 Jul 24

[ThePrint is Indian Private Media]

Speaking to ThePrint minutes after Hasina left Bangladesh, Yunus, who has been charged by the Hasina government in over 190 cases, said, “Bangladesh is liberated… We are a free country now.”

“We were an occupied country as long as she (Hasina) was there. She was behaving like an occupation force, a dictator, a general, controlling everything. Today all the people of Bangladesh feel liberated.”[...]

Yunus was convicted by the Hasina-led government in January for violating the country’s labour laws and is currently out on bail.[...]

Yunus, founder of the pioneering microfinance system that lifted millions of poor out of poverty in Bangladesh, ruled out any role in active politics. “I’m not the kind of person who would like to be in politics. Politics is not my cup of tea,” he maintained.

Currently in Paris, he said he would soon return to Bangladesh and continue to work for the people the way he did earlier.[...]

“I will continue with my work in a more free environment that I didn’t have during the regime of Sheikh Hasina because she was always attacking me. I will continue, devote myself to the things I could not do before,” he said.

Earlier in the day, coming down heavily on the Hasina-led government, Yunus had in a separate interview with ThePrint demanded that she resign immediately.[...]

He added that unlike the US, India has played a “major role” as far as Bangladesh is concerned.

“I don’t know what role they are playing now in this scenario and what role they will play in the upcoming situation,” he told ThePrint.[...]

The Nobel Laureate said that with Hasina no longer calling the shots in Dhaka, things have changed in Bangladesh and he is not sure what role opposition parties including former PM Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will play in the current scenario.

He added that the BNP was silent so far because they have been under attack all along. “Now in a free country, how they emerge, how they decide their policies and actions, if there is an election, what role they will play in the elections, how they perform in the elections, is not very clear as of now.”

[Dhaka Tribune is Bengali Private Media]

The coordinators of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement have announced an outline for an interim government headed by Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus.

This information was conveyed in a video message by key coordinators of the student movement, Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud, and Abu Bakar Mazumdar, at 4:15am on Tuesday.[...]

The army chief also mentioned that he would soon meet with representatives of students and teachers.

He expressed confidence that the situation would return to normal soon and sought all-out cooperation from people of all classes and professions, including students, regardless of party affiliations and opinions.

5 Aug 24

[thepeoplescloud]

Giant towering Jesus Statue in Świebodzin Poland is a massive digital satellite antenna array station.

In this documentary, bizarrely the investigators find the church rector denies the existence of any such infrastructure in the crown. Is this what Jesus had in mind?

h/t Aleksandra Skowrońska

[femininebehavior]

i fully believe the american tradition of being "spiritual not religious" which basically means "im christian but i dont go to church and have never read the bible" is a byproduct of the ongoing anti-reading campaign that telecom companies have been doing for decades

[newstfionline]

Saturday, March 6, 2021

U.S. birth rates plunged in 2020, a sure sign ‘things are not going well for a lot of people’ (The Week) As if we needed more evidence that the pandemic has been rough on everyone, experts say sinking U.S. birth rates point to widespread societal challenges, and could cause further complications later on. Data from 29 states showed a 7.3 percent drop in births in December 2020, nine months after the pandemic began in the U.S., CBS News reports. Birth rates have been declining for years, and its not surprising major economic disruption would cause a dip, but preliminary numbers suggest the pandemic has led to an especially notable drop—in the wake of the Great Recession, birth rates fell by 3 percent, CBS notes. University of Maryland sociologist Phil Cohen told CBS the “scale of this is really large,” and argued the decline “means things are not going well for a lot of people.” A column by two Brookings Institution economists in The New York Times outlines some of the struggles that have people postponing or avoiding expanding their families: a weak labor market, job and income loss, school closures, and fewer social activities, to name some.

The most desirable countries and cities for workers looking to relocate in 2021 (CNBC) Canada is now seen as the most desirable destination for overseas workers when it comes to choosing a country to relocate to, a global survey has found, knocking the U.S. off top spot. This is according to a poll of 209,000 people in 190 countries that aimed to find out whether and in what circumstances respondents would move to a foreign country for work. The survey was conducted between October and December 2020 by management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group and global recruitment alliance The Network. The authors of the report said the U.S. had been “hurt by an inconsistent pandemic response, the adoption of more nationalistic policies, and social unrest.” Meanwhile, they said Canada and Australia, which placed narrowly behind the U.S. as the third most desirable country for relocation, had both done a “far better job of pandemic management.” “They are also seen as having better social systems and more open cultures than the U.S.,” the authors added.

Texas Farmers Tally Up the Damage From a Winter Storm ‘Massacre’ (NYT) Texas farmers and ranchers have lost at least $600 million to the winter storm that struck the state last month, according to an assessment issued this week by economists at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Damage and disruption from the bitter blast of cold and snow, which farmers are calling “the St. Valentine’s Day massacre,” is likely to cause some gaps on grocery shelves in the eastern part of the country and push prices higher. The storm also caused a severe shipping and processing bottleneck that continues to challenge the food-supply chain. Truck drivers were stuck for days waiting to load or unload produce. Processing plants had no power. Dairies were forced to dump 14 million gallons of milk, said Sid Miller, the Texas commissioner of agriculture. In a state that sells $25 billion worth of agricultural products each year and has more farms and ranches than any other, the damage is spread far and wide. The storm killed newborn calves, acres of newly planted watermelons and nearly the entire crop of Valencia oranges.

U.S. detained nearly 100,000 migrants at U.S.-Mexico border in February—sources (Reuters) U.S. border agents detained nearly 100,000 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in February, according to two people familiar with preliminary figures, the highest arrest total for the month of February since 2006. The figures, which have not been previously reported, show the scope of a growing surge of migrants arriving at the southwest border as U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, seeks to roll back some of the restrictive policies of former President Donald Trump, a Republican. U.S. Border Patrol agents caught more than 4,500 migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in a single day on Wednesday, according to government figures shared with Reuters, a sign that illegal entries could continue to rise in March.

Pope Francis flies to Baghdad, beginning the first-ever papal trip to Iraq (Washington Post) Pope Francis on Friday began the first-ever papal trip to Iraq, flying to a country with an extraordinary biblical history but that is also experiencing a serious coronavirus outbreak and ongoing political turmoil. Francis’s four-day visit is his first international trip since the start of the pandemic and marks a return to the globe-trotting diplomacy—especially to minority-Christian countries—that had been his hallmark. It amounts to a show of encouragement for a nation trying to recover from the chaos of a U.S.-led invasion and the brutality of the Islamic State, a group that once vowed to “conquer Rome.”

India’s farmer protests (Foreign Policy) Indian farmers are planning another major road blockade outside New Delhi on Saturday, as protests against agricultural laws reach their 100th day. “We believe that after these 100 days, our movement will put a moral pressure on the government to accede to our demands, because the weather will also worsen,” said Darshan Pal, a spokesperson for the farmer unions’ coalition. “It will weaken the government, which will have to sit down with us to talk again.” The protests have contributed to a significant decline in Indian soft power, Sumit Ganguly writes, as Narendra Modi’s BJP makes a “risky calculation” between domestic dominance and international condemnation.

China sets growth target ‘over 6%,’ tightening HK control (AP) China’s No. 2 leader set a healthy economic growth target Friday and vowed to make the nation self-reliant in technology amid tension with the U.S. and Europe over trade and human rights. Another official announced plans to tighten control over Hong Kong by reducing the public’s role in government. The ruling Communist Party aims for growth of “over 6%” as the world’s second-largest economy rebounds from the coronavirus, Premier Li Keqiang said in a speech to China’s ceremonial legislature. About 3,000 delegates gathered for its annual meeting, the year’s highest-profile political event, under intense security and anti-virus controls. It has been shortened from two weeks to one because of the pandemic. The party is shifting back to its longer-term goal of becoming a global competitor in telecoms, electric cars and other profitable technology. That is inflaming trade tension with Washington and Europe, which complain Beijing’s tactics violate its market-opening commitments and hurt foreign competitors.

People wasting almost 1bn tonnes of food a year, UN report reveals (The Guardian) People waste almost a billion tonnes of food a year, a UN report has revealed. It is the most comprehensive assessment to date and found waste was about double the previous best estimate. The food discarded in homes alone was 74kg per person each year on average around the world, the UN found. In the UK, which has some of the best data, the edible waste represents about eight meals per household each week. The UN report also includes data on food waste in restaurants and shops, with 17% of all food dumped. Some food is lost on farms and in supply chains as well, meaning that overall a third of food is never eaten. The researchers said nobody bought food with the intention of throwing it away and that small amounts discarded each day might seem insignificant. Therefore increasing people’s awareness of waste was key, they said.

What’s Catalyzing Catalytic Converter Thefts? (Washington Post) Rhodium is a metallic element used in an automobile’s catalytic converter. It’s unparalleled in its ability to remove the most toxic pollutants from vehicle exhaust. 80% of rhodium comes from South Africa, as a byproduct of that country’s platinum mining industry. Because rhodium is a byproduct of platinum, it’s only produced when mining platinum is profitable. A surplus of platinum has existed in South Africa for years, keeping prices so low there’s been no incentive to mine platinum, ergo rhodium isn’t being produced. At the same time demand for the metal has soared as countries in Europe, the Americas, and East Asia raise emission standards for new vehicles. The shortage has driven the price of rhodium to astronomical heights, currently 15 times more than the price of gold. But apparently not enough to restart platinum mining. And that explains why there’s been a huge rise in thefts of catalytic converters in the US in recent months. Thieves are taking a hacksaw to multitudes of tailpipes. Keep a close eye on your car’s exhaust pipe.

[creeping-shadow-heralds-storms]

What is a political cult?

While cults are often considered religious phenomena, they can also be political. What defines a cult is often debated, but they tend to share certain traits. In 1981, the psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton wrote an influential article on “Cult Formation.” Lifton identified three characteristics associated with cults:

1. A charismatic leader, who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose power. That is a living leader, who has no meaningful accountability and becomes the single most defining element of the group and its source of power and authority.

2. A process [of indoctrination or education that involves] coercive persuasion or thought reform. For example, members of the group engaging in behavior that is not in their own best interest but promotes the interest of the group and its leader.

3. Economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling coterie.

Lifton also identifies several other traits of cults: milieu control (the control of all communication within a given environment), mystical manipulation (turning the member into a pawn who will spread the message and carry out actions for the group), and dispensing of existence (i.e., those who have not seen the light and embraced the truth are wedded to evil, tainted, and therefore in some sense, usually metaphorical, lack the right to exist).

Jeremy E. Sherman also notes, “Cults are not defined by what their members believe but by how they enable members to translate their beliefs into a source of permanent self-affirmation, self-protection, and self-aggrandizement, sacrificing all else to maintain their membership in something that keeps their encouragement-to-discouragement ratio forever high.”

A prime example of an American political cult is the movement led by the late Lyndon LaRouche. Other political cults, such as the Church of Jesus Christ Christian (Aryan Nations) and other groups in the Christian Identity movement, combine both political and also religious elements. While QAnon has primarily been a political cult, there is evidence that offshoots are morphing into full-fledged religious cults.

For instance, Marc-André Argentino recently highlighted a “faction within the movement has been interpreting the Bible through QAnon conspiracies” and “QAnon conspiracy theories serve as a lens to interpret the Bible itself.” Although that particular group is relatively small group of neo-charismatic home churches, it is not uncommon to see QAnon-supporting Christians on social media interpret Q’s predictions as fulfillment of eschatological prophecy.

What is dangerous about QAnon?

Last year, for the first time, the FBI identified fringe conspiracy theories—and specifically QAnon—as a domestic terrorist threat. An internal intelligence bulletin of the agency observed, “The FBI assesses these conspiracy theories very likely will emerge, spread, and evolve in the modern information marketplace, occasionally driving both groups and individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts.”

While most are presumably peaceful, some QAnon followers have allegedly been involved in terroristic threats against Trump and his family, an arson that destroyed 23,000 acres in California, and armed standoffs with law enforcement. [https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2018/08/07/qanon-ties-two-arizona-arrests-conspiracy-theory-trump/920336002/] The conspiracy theory has also spread to Europe with a QAnon-inspired mass murder in Germany [https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/germany-mass-killing-right-wing-trump-child-abuse-20200223.html], arson targeting cell towers[https://apnews.com/article/4ac3679b6f39e8bd2561c1c8eeafd855], and attacks on telecom workers in Belgium, Cyprus, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

How is QAnon connected to the 1980s-era Satanic ritual abuse panic?

In February, Tobias R. murdered 10 people in the city of Hanau, Germany. In his manifesto he said that a sex cult was flourishing at underground military bases in the United States. “In some of them, they worship the devil himself,” he wrote. “They abuse, torture and kill little children.”

In many ways, the QAnon phenomenon is a revival of the Satanic ritual abuse (SRA) panic that originated in the United States in the 1980s. At the core of SRA was the belief that a global network of the wealthy and powerful elite was kidnapping and breeding children for the purposes of pornography, sex trafficking, and Satanic ritual sacrifice. SRA was largely abandoned by the early 1990s because the allegations about SRA were unsubstantiated. Promoters of SRA (like QAnon advocates today) were accused of allowing an unsupported theory to distract from and downplay real cases of child sexual abuse.

The long-term effect of SRA was the destruction of families and reputations, and a discrediting of those (such as Christians) who believe in the reality of the demonic.

The anxieties about society that allowed SRA to flourish are the same that underlie the QAnon phenomenon. In his 1993 book, Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend, Jeffrey S. Victor explained,

Satanic cult rumors are symptoms of anxieties deeper than fantasy worries about a secret, conspiratorial kidnappers and murderers. These rumors are collaborative messages in metaphorical form, which speak of a moral crisis. That moral crisis, as people perceive it, involves a loss of faith in the moral order of American society, a perception of the rapid decline in traditional moral values. People are saying, in essence, that “our world is falling apart, because all things good and decent are under attack by evil forces beyond our control.”

Couldn’t QAnon’s claims be true?

A common defense of conspiracy theories is that they “could possibly be true.” But most people use the term to refer to theories that have either already been debunked (e.g., flat earth theory) or that have no reasonable evidence to support their claims.

The issue with conspiracy theories is not with the possibility that they could be true, but with the lack of supporting data. As with many other conspiracy theories, QAnon takes a plausible scenario—such as sex trafficking by the wealthy elite—and distorts it until it becomes inconceivable.

To verify such claims, though, would require fact-based investigation, which can be both timely and expensive. Since most people have neither the ability nor dedication to find the truth of such claims, they resort to the much easier method of merely repeating the unverified claims of an anonymous source on discredited message board.

And as with most other conspiracy theories, QAnon dismisses contradictory evidence that would require abandoning the theory. That’s because the QAnon movement is less interested in protecting children than they are in making outrageous and slanderous claims (such as that celebrities like actor Tom Hanks were arrested for pedophilia) against those they perceive as political enemies. Instead of searching for the truth, they engage in misdirection that draws attention away from actual and substantiated cases of child sex trafficking.