#criticism of weapon manufacturing

[song-of-the-rune]

Seriously though I cannot tell if I'm doing something wrong in my writing or if I am just fighting this giant trope that's been built up. The mage's college in my campaign setting has always had this thin veneer of being this really cool magical wonderland and a single peek underneath reveals wanton disregard for the life, safety, and well-being of its students. Putting students in huge piles of debt just to force them to pay back the same institution through what is effectively indentured servitude/free labor for the academy.

There are people here who make horribly dangerous weapons just because they know they'll be payed well for them. The graduate necromancy courses are so literally cutthroat that there is a running problem of people killing each other for the success of their experiments. The party was indebted to the academy for so much gold that they could not feasibly pay it off within a single human lifetime (but that's fine, because they had more than that, so we're sure we'll get it back :) ). They have been asked to gather unicorn horns. There was a Rakshasa (!!!) preying on students because he got summoned there and nothing was done about it until it became inconvenient for administration! The school collects hair clippings so that it can track students through scrying spells!!

And like yeah these are all separate instances and many of them are all initiated by individuals within the university but! The school lets all these things get swept under the rug and gives the perpetrators a slap on the wrist to keep up appearances while doing nothing to remedy the patterns!

All they seem to get out of it though is "hogwarts" which drives me mad because on it's good days it's the Unseen University actually thank you very much!

Even now that they're starting to fear the institution they seem to think they've been singled out. Like this is some kind of anomaly. And the point is it's not and I don't know how much more hamfisted I can get than "The guy who killed his boyfriend to become a lich got off scott free while you are paying for trying to stop him, and the only way out was for a punk kid (the kid who got murdered here, yeah the boyfriend we were just talking about) to find a loophole that he only knows because he spent almost ten years of his life here getting into various forms of trouble, and also bribing someone who may or may not be a fey which we all know from the last campaign is a very safe plan."

[gumm1defloor]

thankyouthankyouthankyou thankyou so much omfg

I have a confession: I don't like Carmilla's character. And it might be me, but she just does not make sense?

I mean she's generally okay and seems a coherent character but what bugs me so much is her singing

I always thought that I would keep blood off my face

Lady. Excuse me, but you sell guns in Hell. What does it mean??? You are a pacifist making guns? You sell guns in Hell and you've never killed anyone? You are concerned by war and violence and you sell guns to evil people???

Like, if someone can explain me this writing, I'm open to conversation.

[opencommunion]

Mask Off Maersk: International Days of Action October 22-24 Palestinian Youth Movement

"Since October, Maersk has transported over $300 million of weapons components for the top 5 weapons manufacturers to the US for assembly. For example, Maersk transports the wings of Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jets to the US where these weapons are manufactured. After assembly, these weapons are sent to Israel from the US. In fact, 68% of Israel's weapons come from the US. The majority of these weapons are sent by the US Department of Defense which Maersk also has links to. Specifically, Maersk is part of the the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA) and the Maritime Security Program (MSP) which transport weapons on behalf of the US Department of Defense. Maersk is both complicit in the transport of weapons components to the US, and the transport of weapons from the US to Israel, making it a critical link in the weapons supply chain.

Logistics companies, with Maersk as the industry’s lead, are the invisible profiteers of weapons manufacturing, making the genocide of Palestinians a reality. Targeting Maersk directly disrupts the flow of weapons in the supply chain of death used to genocide Palestinians. 

Though many may not have heard of Maersk before, it is the one in the background making this genocide possible and will continue to reap profits once it’s over. Maersk's capitalist greed deems the lives of Palestinians disposable as long as it maintains its bottom line.

We must pressure Maersk to end its relationship with Israel, which is a small percentage of their business, but life or death for our people."

Petition

Maersk office and port locations

[facts-i-just-made-up]

How do you build a atomic bomb?

Easily!

All you need are a few household items, a little bit of patience, and a Class 1 Top Security clearance for the manufacture of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons under the Fermi laws of 1954 contingent to permission from the United Nations Security Council.

You're gonna need-

A box of matches

A blender

Tape

Some wire mesh (Like a window screen, for sifting)

Cake mix (Yellow sponge cake works best)

Ziplock bags

String

Ice cubes (The cold kind, not the rapper/actor)

A toilet paper tube

A Catholic Missal

An empty kitty litter bucket

First, you're gonna need two rare substances- Weapons grade uranium and "heavy" water. For the uranium, just take your yellow cake mix and sift it with the wire mesh. Whatever stays on top of the mesh- That's weapons grade. For the heavy water, take some ice cubes, which are heavier than water but still made of water, and put them in the blender. By breaking up the ice cubes and releasing the water, you keep the weight but make it a fluid. This is a process that scientists call "Putrefaction".

To build the weapon, pack some uranium into one end of the toilet paper tube and then cover that end with the Catholic Missal. This guarantees what we call a "Critical Mass" of uranium. Then take a smaller wad of uranium and pack it into the other end of the tube, leaving plenty of space between the two.

Tape the box of matches to that end of the tube. It will act as an explosive device to send the "bullet" of uranium into the critical mass, thus resulting in a nuclear fission explosion.

You now have a nuclear fission device! This device has a yield equal to about 10 thousand tons of T.N.T. But fission is for wimps, right? So let's turn that fission bomb, into a fusion bomb!

Tape your string to the matches to act as a fuse, and then put the nuclear warhead in a ziplock bag. Be sure to seal it tight! Now place that assembly into the kitty litter bucket. Make sure it's empty of kitty litter before the next step.

Fill the rest of the bucket with the heavy water you made in step one, and seal the top of the kitty litter bucket with the string still poking out. Once the fuse is lit, it will light the matches and detonate the nuclear fission bomb. This acts as a heat source to boil the heavy water, and when heavy water boils- Nuclear Fusion!

Congratulations, your bomb is now complete. Remember that it's illegal to carry or detonate a nuclear fusion warhead in public (except in Texas), and bear in mind this will be quite a bit stronger than your usual firecrackers. We recommend only setting off your nuclear device on official U.S. testing grounds, such as the desserts of New Mexico or islands in the Pacific only populated by tribes under no country's protection, because that's seriously what the U.S. did.

So play safe and have a good time,

-facts-i-just-made-up.tumblr.com

[sayruq]

Here's more of what's been happening on the ground. (Once again I'm not an expert in war).

Palestinian fighters are still waging war on the state of Israel

It is clear that Hamas and other groups have access to anti aircraft weaponry and long range missiles, partly from looting Israeli bases but partly from (and this is unconfirmed) from the Russia-Ukraine war. It's not unexpected for weapons to end up smuggled into other countries during a war.

On the other hand, Israel went from swearing it would invade Gaza on the ground to doing just about anything but that

It's understandable why Israel would hesitate even with its 300,000 strong army

IDF is made up of mostly conscripted soldiers who normally act as civilians once they've served their 2.5 year mandatory conscription. Not only that, IDF acts more like a police force than an army. Its soldiers simply don't have the training or mentality to fight militia groups in their home turf.

America itself doubts its capabilities no matter how it words it. This is a country that has yet to win against a guerilla army so it has experience when it comes to this

Edit:

Edit 2: above Hamas states the obvious

In my previous post I highlighted how disorganised the Israel military was in response to Operation Flood Al Aqsa.

This hasn't changed in the days. Israel is behaving more like a cornered animal lashing out than the so called 'strongest army in the Middle East.'

It has been dropping bombs on Syria, Lebanon and Egypt aimlessly, more out of anger than calculated strategy

Its efforts to pushing back against the Palestinian militia isn't going well either

in addition to naked, barbaric cruelty towards Gaza because it is not producing results elsewhere

The tweet below is important as Russia is an Israeli ally. The Israeli right wing has been very favourable towards Putin, even willing to disagree with the US and EU policies on Russia. However Israel repeatedly bombing Syria is quickly souring Russia on the country. While Putin doesn't want to go against Israel at this point, he has become increasingly critical of the country in the past couple of days.

Saudi went from making a half-hearted 'both sides need to stop statements to cutting ties with Israel (ties Israel and America have worked very hard to form) to outrightly condemning Israel's treatment of the people of Gaza.

Naturally, with all of this happening, Israel has responded, not with ceasing the bombardment of Gaza, but by killing and assaulting journalists covering the genocide.

so that it could committ war crimes without it being documented and seen by the world. War crimes such as announcing that they'd bomb a hospital in Gaza and giving doctors and nurses just hours to evacuate their patients.

This, btw, is part of the reason they cut electricity so that Palestinians can't post their own genocide on social media. Israel brutality is costing them allies but they have no intention of stopping.

Despite all of this, there has been a great deal of support for Palestinians globally

In short, this war is not going the way Israel thought it would. They didn't crush Hamas and the other Palestinian military groups immediately after the battle of Re'im. In fact, they're still struggling against those groups right now. They've been humiliated in front of the world after being revealed to be paper tigers and as such, they're going after Palestinian civilians in increasingly horrific ways.

The Palestinian resistance is still optimistic and they're still carrying out their plan. There's still hope for a future without apartheid.

[robertreich]

5 Crises Republicans Made up to Distract You

Here are five totally made-up “crises” Republicans have invented to distract from the real crises facing Americans today: the growing concentration of wealth, the worsening climate crisis, and the undermining of our democracy.

Fake crisis #1:  Anything they claim is “woke.”

Although Republicans struggle to define what “woke” even means, they’re constantly using it as a weapon to combat anything that seeks to foster tolerance and acceptance.

Pride flags? Woke!

Books about Rosa Parks? Woke!

Green M&M’s? The wokest!

Fortunately, most Americans think being informed and aware of social injustice…which is what being “woke” really means... is a good thing.

Fake crisis #2: The panic over trans people.

Trans people just want the right to exist safely as their true selves, like everyone else. And despite the lies spewed by some Republicans, there’s not a shred of evidence that they are a threat to anyone. But they’ve become easy scapegoats for the GOP, who vilify them and threaten to criminalize their very existence.

Fake crisis #3: Critical race theory

In reality, critical race theory is mostly taught in universities — like quantum physics or philosophy. It's really not taught in K-12, nor is it dangerous.

It’s merely a framework to understand the role that race and racism have played in shaping America’s laws and institutions. But Republicans have deliberately turned this obscure academic phrase into a weapon to silence any discussion of race they don't like.

Unfortunately, this includes teaching many basic historical facts.

Fake crisis #4: “Couch potatoes.”

Republicans are whipping up anger over welfare recipients supposedly abusing the system.

The reality is most people who collect benefits already hold jobs and work exceedingly hard.

Like Ronald Reagan’s claim about so-called “welfare queens”, the “couch potato” myth is a cruel racial dog whistle. In fact, the vast majority of Americans who receive government benefits are white.

We should be asking why so many jobs pay such low wages that workers need government help to get by?

Fake crisis #5: “Out of control government spending.”

Another lie. Apart from mandatory spending like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, government spending has actually fallen more than 30% in the past 50 years as a percentage of our total economy.

[9.6% in 1973  vs. 6.6% in 2022, a decrease of  31.25%]

Yes, the national debt is a problem, but in recent years, among its biggest drivers have been the Bush and Trump tax cuts, which have added nearly $10 trillion to the debt since their enactment.

All five of these so-called crises have been manufactured by the GOP. They’re entirely made up.

Why? To deflect attention from the near record share of the nation’s income and wealth now going to the richest Americans.

As the wealthy pour money into politics — largely into the GOP — they don’t want the rest of America to notice they’re rigging the economy for their own benefit, that their greed is worsening the climate crisis, and they’re undermining our democracy.

So the game of the Republican Party and their major donors is to deflect attention — to use fake crises to disguise what’s really going on.

Don’t let them get away with it.

[sepublic]

Thinking of the old Hexside group. Did they all know each other, or was it simply that Eda knew all of them? If the former…

How did Lilith think to teach her friends’ child, to have Alador and Odalia’s daughter look up to her? Was it a bit of triumph, esp knowing Odalia wanted to be in the Emperor’s Coven, or at least wished it for her children; Did she settle for Blight Industries because she wasn’t good enough, while Darius met the Golden Guard as he advanced in the Abomination Coven?

Lilith is petty, so I can see her enjoying it a little; And then afterwards, she betrays Amity’s trust but it doesn’t matter too much to her, not anymore. And that was brief compared to her sister being right there.

Darius was mentored by the Golden Guard, the previous head of the Emperor’s Coven; Now he sees his classmate become the same, and even mentor another Abomination witch. He feels strongly about his mentor’s legacy, so was he critical of Lilith failing that mentor-mentee bond, in someone he could’ve seen himself in?

Did he feel pity for Amity, make an exception for her despite how unpleasant Alador and Odalia became, or even because of that suspected parental abuse? Did he never notice any of it, did he think, Good for her when Amity developed a proper friendship with Lilith later on? And was Darius critical and slow to consider Alador because of his abuse towards his own kin?

Eda would’ve seen her friends’ daughter with Lilith, but to her that had also faded long ago, perhaps she didn’t think much of it as a result. But seeing Amity’s baggage through Luz and interacting with the twins, you have to wonder if she was surprised or not, that Alador and Odalia’s kids would turn out that way.

Similarly, Perry could’ve heard about Amity’s bullying of Gus’ first friend through his son. He saw Eda being executed and remained impartial and true to his job… Until his son took over, and he very conveniently stood by and nodded along, doing next to nothing to stop Gus and his friend’s call for a protest. Did he feel happiness when Eda and Lilith escaped together that night? Did he and Eda consider reconnecting through their kids, only to decide maybe that’s awkward, it’s been too long, it would look bad for Perry’s high-profile job if he did…

Did Raine and Darius, when they watched from afar? Agonizing that they couldn’t do anything at the moment, it’s not yet ready. They can’t jeopardize it now and maybe they couldn’t even do it even if they wanted to, they were too far away. I would not put it past Belos to suspect their sentimentality, and send those two far away when he called for Lilith to deliver Eda by the end of the day.

How much disappointment did Raine have in Lilith and Darius? They’ve only been coven head recently, and they figured it out the corruption well before them; Or at least Lilith. What relief was there when Darius turned out to be their side, and what disappointment did they and Darius have over Alador and Odalia selling dangerous weapons to the coven, making their plans more difficult and contributing to their failed sabotage?

For Eda, of course she lost Lilith. Then Darius. Then Raine. All three became coven heads, cop supreme. Alador and Odalia became arms manufacturers, only Perry was chill. The first time Eda talks to Gus, he proudly owns up to being from a long line of dweebuses, after she calls him that; Was she thinking, I know better than you about that kid, was exactly why I said it.

Did Odalia lowkey cope and seethe over her friends becoming coven heads while she didn’t, while Alador became apathetic to everything? Did she decide it didn’t matter, when she had strength and independence from the coven, and a family? Only for Belos to assimilate her work, and for her family to leave her because of Odalia’s obsession?

Was there any particular reason she chose Raine’s puppet to help her with the Collector’s task; Out of all of the coven heads, some of whom are stronger or have more/longer arms, she chose someone she grew up with. The only other one was Darius, but that bridge was clearly burnt in a personal, direct way, and not just them gradually drifting apart. Did Odalia find some comfort in having Raine around, and/or did she just feel good to lord over another classmate in Alador’s place?

Alador is tired to the point of apathy; He never expected his childhood friend turned wife to do this to him, but it was gradual enough he didn’t even realize what was going on until he talked to a child about it. If Darius made it as a Coven Head, did it matter to him when he was the architect behind Blight Industries, whose products phased out Darius’ own technique? If he agreed with Odalia on Willow not being good for Amity, maybe he too dismissed Eda as a delinquent; Even so, he didn’t feel personal about it, wasn’t bothered really by their kids hanging out with hers.

And to Bump? It may have been pride to see three coven heads be his former students, and for another two to start a successful corporation. Maybe he had some reservations about the coven system, being born before it… It felt good to repair relations with Eda, but being at the mercy of two of his students? Between this and Lilith being so dismissive of him, it must’ve been striking to realize how age inevitably means children who depended on you, now having power over you.

“Us weirdoes have to stick together” says Eda, and when we see Luz struggle to keep the family together when reciting this mantra in a season finale… Man did Eda relate, is it why she even came up with the saying? And when she did stick together with other weirdoes, it led to King and Luz, it led to a long chain of events that resulted in almost the whole Hexside gang, and her family, coming back together. Maybe they’d grown mostly apathetic, it was just “Goofing off” as Alador put it, but then they started interacting properly and they realized how much they’d missed it.

[canichangemyblogname]

These tags are 'lil weird, ngl.

Suggesting that Israel dictates US policy and keeps the US on a leash fails to consider why Western, imperialist nations created Israel and why they seek to maintain Israel. They have a vested geopolitical and tactical interest in Israel as an ally. It also does not consider that Israel is highly-- if not completely-- dependent on US money, support, and resources, especially armaments.

The US absolutely can and should reign in Israel.

Israel does not keep the US on a leash, the US keeps Israel on a leash. Israel is essentially being allowed to break international law and pose a threat to the security of other nations and the region. Due to it's geopolitical and monetary interests in the region, the US gladly insulates Israel from accountability. America is refusing to utilize its economic and military hegemony to reign in a rogue state under its sphere of influence.

The current situation in Israel-Palestine is as much a failure of American statecraft and intelligence as it is Israeli intelligence and strategy.

Nov 18, 2023 5:49 pm IST

We need to know how many. Yesterday. This incompetent ass fucking government and military mowed down their own citizens from a helicopter. This is what American tax dollars are going to. What a fucking shit-show of a response.

1.) They host a music festival right next to the Gaza ghetto without any security. None. 2.) The reason there was little to no security near Re'im is reportedly because the government transferred an entire brigade to the West Bank because they believed it was more important to protect settlers as they raided Palestinian neighborhoods. 3.) In their response, they killed festival participants.

How many, Israel? How fucking many did you kill?

Beyond infuriating and frustrating.

A small Palestinian force of just more than 2,000 fighters moved in to take over several military bases and strongholds in Israel’s south. Like in 1973, the surprise attack caught the Israeli army unprepared, with some Israeli soldiers still in their underwear and without their rifles when they came under fire.

Within hours, using a combination of missile attacks, drones, small arms, motorcycles, and power gliders, Hamas’s fighters were able to defeat all the forces defending the Gaza theatre, kill hundreds of Israeli soldiers, carry out massacres of civilians, and return to Gaza with more than 250 hostages, which they planned to exchange for the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

After the initial shock, the Israeli army struggled to launch a coordinated response. Some back-up units took hours to arrive on the scene and when they did, the battles with Hamas’s fighters were anything but well-thought-out. According to reports, civilians held as hostages and Israeli troops may have been killed in the crossfire or due to the use of indiscriminate firing, air raids and tanks to target Hamas fighters in the kibbutzim. The military was unable to re-establish full control over the south for several days.

Also, consider that their current tactics make no fucking sense. They are pursuing objectives-- like al Shifa-- as if Hamas has a dedicated military infrastructure, like a traditional state would (see: bases and outposts, etc...). They do not. The infrastructure they use for their operations is anywhere and everywhere, which is what Israel has used to justify indiscriminately carpet-bombing civilians. But the thing is? Carpet bombing campaigns still rely on the assumption that the organization in question operates out of and organizes within physical locations. Terrorists do not. Most terror activity is planned online and remotely.

[drdemonprince]

okay as someone who is critical of performative activism can you explain to me how protesting isn't performative? not tring to 'gotcha' you, i just really don't get how standing holding signs in seattle impacts what's happening overseas. the 'block the boat' protest made sense to me bc they were stopping weapons sent to israel, and it makes sense when like laborers damage equipment as part of a work stoppage bc they're wasting the bosses money. but most protests seem to be about 'showing solidarity' and i feel like usually they're more for the benefit of the protestors and to make them feel good for getting involved even if the involvement doesn't directly affect the outcome of whatever they're protesting. i'm open to being wrong about that though?

I used to feel this way, anon. And then I saw Palestinian men full on crying at protests while Facetiming their relatives overseas to show them that people actually cared. And I saw young Palestinian kids walking in front of their parents, moms, dads, aunts, and uncles, leading the chants of thousands of people, filled with confidence, not afraid to name their home land and give a voice to their resistance. And I saw elderly Muslim people, people who have likely not attended many American protests before of this size, emboldened and waving Palestinian flags and recognizing old family friends in the crowd and embracing one another. And I saw the highway be stopped for hours by thousands of us, forcing the entire city's road system to be rerouted, forcing untold numbers to contend with the rage that is being felt. And I saw us shut down all Black Friday shopping on the north end of Michigan avenue, closing off Victoria's Secret (which has manufacturing plants on Palestinian land), and covering the largest Starbucks in the Midwest (an informal boycott Target) with dozens of pro-Palestinian banners and stickers. And I've seen us showing up for one another again and again and again, every weekend, blocking off boycotted stores, ending business as usual, disrupting traffic, exhausting the police (who have had to pull a lot of overtime to deal with us), drawing attention to the cause, ending politicians' fundraising and meet & greet events, and not allowing business to go on as usual our ourselves to be complicit any longer.

I get the jadedness. I do. I have been there, especially after seeing awful police violence against protestors in 2020 and then seeing very little legal change occur. But the meaningful change we need will not occur via legal avenues. Protest is a means of building up collective power, of training people to think more collectively, of helping to normalize the viewpoints that we are advocating for, of disrupting regular everyday activities such as shopping and work that distract people from what is happening, of wearing the police state, of making our political representatives fearful and tired, and of setting the stage for larger, bolder, more disruptive direct actions that prevent or end humanitarian crises.

Block the boat doesn't just happen out of nowhere. You have to have a dedicated team of organizers and hundreds to thousands of devoted activists, medics, legal observers, coordinators, and people on the side lines offering resources and food. You need people to feel uplifted, motivated, and confident. You don't just get that in one day. The west coast has been able to launch incredibly effective actions like these because their work is YEARS in the making. Every major protest, every autonomous zone, every organizing meeting, it has all led to this. It takes work. It takes people being willing to show up and do that work, regularly, even when it is not glamorous, even when they do not get a sticker for it, and even when they cannot always walk away feeling that they've done something personally in that moment. It is a collective, long term endeavor, and it requires toughness and commitment.

Besides, the protests we are talking about actually are direct actions. Protestors yesterday shut down Zara. And now the company has to contend with a lot of bad PR from thousands of us screaming outside Zara's flagship store in the Chicago, speaking out about its advertisements mocking the Palestinian people. Shutting down the highway multiple times and other boycotted stores and ruining political fundraisers is directly impactful too. Now if any protestors want to take it further than that, I welcome them and I'll be there to join them. The Black & Indigenous solidarity rally in 2020 was one really impactful example. It came to blows in a serious way, but we almost tore the Columbus statue down. The city was so afraid of another incident they took the statue down themselves.

This is how we get things done. We show up, in large numbers, we give comfort and steadfast support to those most targeted, we show the state our true numbers, we wake other people up from their slumber, and we keep pushing to do more. We need as many people on the line as possible. The presence of every single person at a protest is powerfully felt. Numbers gives us confidence, it literally keeps us warmer in the cold in a noticeable way, it shows Palestinian people that we are with them, it broadcasts a message on the world stage, and it makes it possible for things like flipping over police cars and starting fires and closing bomb manufacturers possible.

[odinsblog]

Many years ago, the Jewish U.S. scholar Norman Finkelstein wrote a best seller that caused uproar among a group he exposed as the “Holocaust Industry”: people who invariably had not been direct victims of the Holocaust, but nonetheless chose to exploit and profit from Jewish suffering.

Though treated as leaders of the Jewish community, they were not primarily interested in helping survivors of the Holocaust, or in stopping another Holocaust – the two things one might have assumed would be the highest priorities for anyone making the Holocaust central to their life. In fact, hardly any of the many millions the Holocaust Industry demanded from countries like Germany in reparations ever made it to Holocaust survivors, as Finkelstein documented in his book.

Instead, this small group instrumentalised the Holocaust for their own benefit: to gain money and influence by embedding themselves in an industry they had created. They became untouchables, beyond criticism because they were associated with an industry that they had made as sacred as the Holocaust itself.

A follow-up book called the Antisemitism Industry, an investigation into much the same group of people, is now overdue. These ghouls don’t care about antisemitism – in fact, they rub shoulders with the West’s most prominent antisemites, from Donald Trump to Viktor Orban.

Rather, they care about Israel – and the weaponisation of antisemitism to protect their emotional and financial investment. They profit from Israel’s central place in US political, diplomatic and military life:

• as a giant real-estate laundering exercise, based on the theft of native Palestinian land;

• as a laboratory for the production of new weapons and surveillance systems tested on Palestinians;

• as a heavily militarised colonial state, a spearpoint for the West, useful in destabilising and disrupting any threat of a unifying Arab nationalism in the oil-rich Middle East;

• and as the frontier state for eroding legal and ethical principles developed after the Second World War to stop a repeat of those atrocities.

Anyone who challenges the Antisemitism Industry’s – and therefore Israel’s – stranglehold on Jewish representation in public life is hounded as an antisemite or self-hating Jew, as is currently happening most prominently to Jewish film-maker Jonathan Glazer. He is the Oscar-winning director of The Zone of Interest, about the family of a Nazi commandant of Auschwitz who lived blind to the horrors unfolding just out of view, beyond their walled garden.

I wrote an earlier piece about the manufactured furore provoked by Glazer’s comments at the Oscars. In his acceptance speech, he denounced the hijacking of Jewishness and the Holocaust that has sustained Israel’s occupation over many decades and generated constant new victims, including the latest: those who suffered at the hands of Hamas when it attacked on October 7, and the many, many tens of thousand of Palestinians killed, maimed and orphaned by Israel over the past five months.

—Jonathan Cook, the antisemitism industry doesn’t speak for Jews, it speaks for western elites

[thecreaturecodex]

Scalamanx

Image © Working Partners Ltd, accessed at the Beast Quest wiki here

[Sponsored by @glarnboudin. Beast Quest is a series of middle grade books that started publishing when I was in undergrad, but if they were around when I was in the target demographic, I probably would have imprinted on them hard. Each one is a monster of the week affair, with the Beasts being fought or rescued by earnest kid adventurers fighting against various evil wizards. The Beasts, even the evil ones, often have some sort of role in the ecology of the world. The post sponsor described it to me as "Harryhausen meets the Legendary Monsterverse", which I would have gobbled up as a kid. Although Scamandrax exists in universe kind of in a vacuum (he was slain by the protagonist's mother and is accidentally resurrected to wreak havoc in the modern era), I went ahead and added an ecological role for it that seemed to fit its general vibe.]

Scalamanx CR 12 LE Magical Beast This creature appears as a lizard the size of a wagon, its hide made of rocky scales that glow from an internal heat. Its eyes are large and forward facing, and ridges of tissue like those of a newt grow along its limbs and tail. Six fiery tendrils grow from the back of its head like gills.

A scalamanx is an enormous fiery predator with a dim and cruel intelligence. They lair in volcanic caves and other sources of geothermal heat, and are found on the Plane of Fire despite their mortal natures. Although they have crushing jaws and thick powerful tails, the most fearsome weapon of a scalamanx is their fiery feelers. Each tendril of flame can move independently and lash like a whip, setting creatures and objects ablaze. A scalamanx is a stubborn combatant, and they frequently fight to the death once they have tasted the blood and char of a victim.

Scalamances have slow metabolisms despite their inner fires, and may only feed a few times a year. These meals are typically other creatures that stumble into their lairs, although during the driest parts of the year, a scalamanx may venture into the lowlands in order to hunt. These hunting forays can create wildfires that span for hundreds of acres, and many plants that need fire to propagate grow in areas patrolled by a scalamanx. At the first sign of precipitation, the scalamanx will retreat underground, as the touch of water burns them like acid, and any scalamanx caught in a rainstorm would surely die. Scalamances can understand a few words in Ignan, and respect powerful and intelligent creatures that can speak that tongue. Fire giants or efreeti use them as mounts, beasts of burden and guardians. Most scalamances are content to serve, but if they are mistreated may turn on their masters with lethal force.

Scalamanx CR 12 XP 19,200 LE Huge magical beast (fire) Init +5; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +14, scent

Defense AC 26, touch 10, flat-footed 24 (-2 size, +1 Dex, +1 dodge, +16 natural) hp 172 (15d10+90); regeneration 3 (cold or water) Fort +15, Ref +12, Will +7 Immune fire Defensive Abilities blazing defense; Weakness vulnerable to cold, water vulnerability

Offense Speed 40 ft., climb 20 ft. Melee bite +22 (2d6+9/19-20), tail slap +20 (1d12+4 plus push), 6 tendrils +20 touch (1d6 fire plus burn) Space 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks burn (2d6, DC 23), push (10 ft.)

Statistics Str 29, Dex 13, Con 22, Int 3, Wis 10, Cha 16 Base Atk +15; CMB +26; CMD 38 Feats Blindfight, Dodge, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Multiattack, Power Attack Skills Acrobatics +11 (+15 when jumping), Climb +21, Perception +14; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception Languages Ignan (cannot speak)

Ecology Environment warm mountains and underground Organization solitary, pair or maelstrom (3-6) Treasure incidental

Special Abilities Blazing Defense (Ex) A creature that strikes a scalamanx with a melee attack, natural weapon, touch attack or unarmed strike takes 1d6+15 points of fire damage. Manufactured weapons with the reach property do not endanger their wielders in this fashion. Water Vulnerability (Ex) A scalamanx takes damage from direct contact with water. A flask of water deals 1d6 points of damage to a scalamanx when used as a splash weapon, and immersion in water deals 10d6 points of damage to a scalamanx each round.

[feckcops]

Workers around the world can stand up for Palestinians

“Understanding what is happening in Palestine is only part of the battle — we must also think about how we can take action in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

“In recent days, Palestinian trade unions have called on workers around the world to demand an ‘end to all forms of complicity with Israel’s crimes’ by taking action to disrupt the flow of weapons to the Israeli war machine.

“There are several Israeli weapons companies located across the UK, including Elbit Systems, which has frequently been targeted by Palestinian organizers. UK weapons manufacturers like BAE Systems are also involved with the construction of technology being used against Palestine. The Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) and other NGOs have compiled data that shows the embeddedness of British industry in producing weapons for use by Israel.

“The very least Palestine should be able to expect from the world in terms of solidarity is an end to their active complicity in the terror being unleashed by the Israeli state. It is critical that British trade unions express solidarity with Palestine — and consider ways to disrupt the shipment of arms to Israel.

“There is a long tradition of such international solidarity within the labor movement. In the 1970s, workers in a factory manufacturing jets being used by Pinochet’s brutal authoritarian regime announced a boycott of shipments to Chile. More recently, unionized workers in Italy, South Africa, and the United States refused to load shipments of arms headed to Israel.

“It is easy to think of these as small, isolated actions that do little to arrest the functioning of the global arms trade. However, history has shown that actions, however small, can be of outsized importance in placing material limitations on the criminal actions of states.”

[dangerouslypassiveaggressive]

A Terribly Organized Almost-Essay About Suzanne Collins and Why I Think She Writes

Lukewarm take because it's been years, but here it goes: if there's anything I've learned over the years, it's that Suzanne Collins is not a people pleaser. (The author, at least. I don't know her personally lol). And she be pleasing the people, that's not what I mean! I just kept hearing the same question being asked over and over again. "Why Snow? Why him?? Why not anybody else? Really?? A prequel about HIM??" It really made me think.

And don't get me wrong! I'd slash someone's tires for a Finnick prequel just like the next person (Suzanne please!), but that has never been the point of her writing. The Hunger Games novels, and by extension, the prequel book The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, aren't just fun fiction reads. Yeah, they're gripping. The world-building is superb. Young people are at the center of it. And all these characteristics are great, but the thing that draws us in, that keeps us consuming her media like hungry little caterpillars, is that they are, time and time again, a captivating and accurate criticism, analysis, and deconstruction of the broken systems society experiences in the real world. I can only speak from my own experience as a Mexican American woman in the United States, so take all of this with a grain of salt.

The Capitol is colorful and fun and interesting and horrible and sadistic. And it is all those things because it is a symbol of our own real-world 1%, except our own glittering Capitol members here in the real world feed us the hope that we may reach their status if we only work hard enough for long enough. The Hunger Games system never makes that claim. In fact, they are fed the narrative that the system only works because they're stuck where they are. Suzanne Collins is taking everything one step further in her writing because it is a type of satire, a critique of the things we already know. So as an author, she blows it out of proportion so that her reader will say "look at this! How ridiculous! How would someone let the system treat them this way!" And it is ridiculous, it's downright laughable that an entire society, an entire country, would let itself be oppressed in such a cruel way by just a few people in charge instead of rising up and- oh wow, yeah, I see it. She wrote about us.

Suzanne Collins just organized everything neatly into boxes- well, districts. Because every district comes with some form of product that they manufacture, but much more importantly: a class. We go in order from 1-13. District 1 manufactures luxury items and District 2 makes weapons (but mostly trains Peacekeepers), so they have the most privilege and wealth. On the other end, Districts 11 and 12 are the agricultural and coal mining districts, respectively. That's back-breaking work. Not to mention District 11 puts kids as young as 12 to work, and District 12 is poverty-stricken and starving. "But what about District 13?" You may ask, "They make nuclear weapons! Why aren't they up there with 2?" Fantastic question. If we know, and the people of Panem know, that the hierarchy is very clearly set by literal number order, why would one of the most powerful and competent districts be given more power and be put at the top? Placing them at the end lets them believe that they aren't powerful or competent. I mean, jeez, look at 12 and they're before 13? I wouldn't believe I could make it on my own either. (We know now that's not how things go down, but it's a clever power move regardless.)

But after all this, would it hurt Suzanne to give us a single book just for fun?

Yes, I believe it would, that's the whole point. We're not meant to fall for the Peeta/Katniss/Gale love triangle. We're not meant to be interested in Finnick's secrets and early life. We're not meant to want to know the morbid details of how Haymitch won his Games (with double the contestants! Ooh. Aah.) We're meant to be horrified at every turn, at every story. We're meant to ask ourselves how things got so bad, how anyone let this happen. Suzanne Collins has written wonderfully fleshed out characters that grip us and make us want to know more, but the point has never been them or even their loved ones. It was never about Katniss or Prim or Peeta or Finnick or Annie. It's always been about the systems that let this story happen, and where Suzanne got her inspiration: the very real lives we lead. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes shows us the same thing.

So why Coriolanus Snow? Because he is the catalyst to a broken system that only serves the powerful. If Suzanne were to write a novel about any of our much more beloved characters, then she would be writing the exact same book over and over about the same oppression happening in the same system. She does not write for the sake of bringing her very well-written characters to life, but to flesh out the poverty, the starvation, the power struggles, the horrors they experience. We know this because she writes a lot of her characters as symbols. (Coin, for instance, as the symbol for a power-hungry figurehead, or Prim as the innocent during war.)

Snow is living in a slightly different biome than what we know from The Hunger Games series. He has to make sacrifices and decisions for him and his family, but it's different. It is a view and critique from the inside looking in. This is not Katniss getting to experience the Capitol for the first time and understanding just how terribly unfair everything is. This is someone who is very aware of the way things work and playing the game to stay in power and keep their privilege. Not only that, but it's someone who feels entitled to all of it. In this novel, Suzanne plays around with power and people's position in it. What if a mad scientist was in charge? What if the creator of the thing that brought a semblance of peace was just as horrified as the reader? How far is one person willing to go for power? What if we saw the dawn of a world we're already familiar with?

So I hope she keeps writing, because I love seeing our world through her eyes and the parallels she writes from our world to hers of the injustices happening every day. Even though we'll probably never get the stories we crave, but that's okay. Keep putting those kids through hell, Suzanne.

[zvaigzdelasas]

21 Oct 23

President Joe Biden is making a new case to the American public for shipping arms, ammunition and other military supplies to the wars in Ukraine and Israel. His argument: many of those supplies are made in America — and that’s good for American jobs.[...]

That argument — which namechecked 2024 battleground states Pennsylvania and Arizona — comes as Biden makes a reelection pitch centered on his efforts to create jobs and revitalize domestic manufacturing in sectors such as clean energy and semiconductor fabrication. [...] And now that message includes arms manufacturing. The administration is pushing to ramp up the defense industrial base to pump out more artillery shells, missiles and other weapons for the U.S. and allies. The newest aid proposal, released Friday, includes $61.4 billion for Ukraine, of which $30 billion is for direct Ukrainian military aid.[...]

For Democrats who have been eager to see Biden more actively selling the war supply effort to weary voters, the made-in-America angle is a welcome sign of political vigor. They acknowledge, though, that it is not a sure-thing political wager. “To anybody that actually wants to, in good faith, make the decision, it’s certainly a really important and, I think, persuasive argument that this is about American jobs. It’s about helping actually bolster our entire defense manufacturing enterprise,” said Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.). “But I fear, and past behavior has shown, the MAGA extremists aren’t actually making this decision in good faith. They’re making it based on Russian propaganda that’s been propagated by Trump and everybody else.”[...]

While Biden’s message might resonate with some voters, it’s not getting much traction with House Republicans who oppose more aid [to Ukraine] at least not yet. Interviews with House GOP lawmakers on Friday showed that even those who feel Ukraine aid is justified aren’t buying Biden’s argument.[...]

Ukraine has been striking Russian logistics hubs using Lockheed Martin’s Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, or GMLRS, that are partially made in Lufkin, Texas — a city of 34,000 people that saw its paper mill and foundry close over the last two decades.

It’s represented by Republican Rep. Pete Sessions, a Ukraine aid supporter, who said Friday that the U.S. has an obligation to protect Ukraine under its post-Cold War security commitments. [...]

The U.S. has awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launchers that fire GMLRS and are made in Camden, Ark., a town of about 10,000 people that’s 100 miles south of Little Rock. Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman, who represents Camden, said critics of government spending can be surprised to know some of that spending is going back to communities like his. “I actually had some constituents text me last night and say $100 billion is a lot of money to give away, and I made the point that a lot of that equipment is made in my district,” Westerman said. [...]

A bigger driver for House Republicans to back Ukraine aid may ultimately be whether they can extract border security concessions from Biden and Senate Democrats. Biden’s supplemental request includes $13.6 billion for security efforts at the U.S.-Mexico border. Republicans are also seeking border policy changes from the administration, and see a Ukraine funding request as an opportunity for leverage. “I’d be really surprised if Republicans wanted to let Russia win more than they wanted our own border secure,” Crenshaw said. “So I think that is the grand bargain that needs to happen.”

[tieflingkisser]

Biden, CDC silent as North Carolina lawmakers vote to ban masks

Biden's White House has made everyday survival hell for disabled people. Now the last tool in the toolbox is being targeted with zero pushback.

This week, North Carolina Republicans are voting to ban wearing masks in public. The bill passed in the State House easily, was amended and passed in the State Senate, and will next return to the House for a vote on the amended bill. The Republicans also hold a supermajority that could overturn a veto, and killed a Democratic amendment to allow masking for health reasons. Hot on the heels of student encampments demanding that universities divest from weapons’ manufacturers responsible for mass murder in Gaza, Republicans jumped at the chance to criminalize two of their favorite punching bags, leftists and medically vulnerable people. Disabled people and allies have met the news with chagrin, as Republicans carry out the long-predicted next step in their war on medically vulnerable people appearing in public and remaining alive. Unfortunately, as Joe Biden jokes about refusing to put his mask on after a known COVID exposure, and left/labor pundits ignore the topic altogether, “allies” are few and far between. This combination of aggressive targeting and utter lack of solidarity is leaving those who rely on one-way masking to survive more at-risk than ever before.

[...]

Since it became clear (2021-22) that vaccines would not halt COVID transmission, that the virus would quickly mutate around vaccine protection, and that herd immunity would never be achieved, our government and media have worked assiduously to normalize constant reinfections and stigmatize those who object. People who suggest that it is the governments’ role to mitigate disease are painted as annoying and weak, a narrative that came directly from libertarian think tanks. Those who attempt to protect themselves in the face of harsh abandonment are painted as paranoid and mentally ill. What happened in North Carolina today is the unsurprising result of that years-long propaganda campaign. Masks are a critical tool to protect disabled people from COVID, but many people either bought into anti-mask propaganda, or do not think COVID is dangerous. For a leftist- someone who expresses belief in community care and solidarity- being unmasked doesn’t only convey the sentiment “I don’t think I can be disabled by COVID,” it also broadcasts the accusation, “I don’t believe you can be disabled by COVID.” Being unmasked while COVID spreads unmitigated is an insistence on ones’ inalienable right to expose others to COVID without their consent. Meanwhile, the latest CDC Household Pulse Survey found 17 million Americans currently living with Long COVID, and approximately 3 in 10 reporting having had Long COVID symptoms at one point. Viral persistence is currently a leading hypothesis for the development of post-COVID disease, and “persistence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA or particles in multiple tissues for prolonged periods in patients following SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly in patients with long COVID, is now well documented.” Mounting research shows that every COVID infection significantly damages cognitive function. Research led by Dr. Akiko Iwasaki at Yale School of Medicine continues to find immune dysregulation following COVID, and studies point to a 40% increased risk of developing autoimmune conditions after COVID. And it’s long been established that COVID substantially increases your risk of heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular complications.

[...]

But Democrats continue to stand behind their failed “vaccine-only” strategy (now, without vaccines!) because of the political impossibility of attempting to pivot. Plus, when you’ve had such blinding success mainstreaming far-right beliefs about illness building the immune system and public health being a personal choice, why change horses now?

[aeli-tan-art]

I'm assuming that Ron had his weapons dealer gig before Dee and Liam were on the scene.

Nowadays do either of them ever help with the design or manufacturing? Does he take suggestions or criticisms? Or does he prefer to keep that aspect of his life separate as much as possible?

They generally don't. Dee makes his own weapons and sometimes would collaborate with Ronnie, but never for sale. Liam doesn't like to perch on Ronnie while he works since he tends to bounce a lot, but if there's loose unfinished equations lying around he'll do those absentmindedly like they're crossword, to a point where if Ron is stuck, he'll just write down the problem and shove it in front of Liam