#global war on terrorism national memorial

[indynerdgirl]

On October 7, 2001, the President announced that the United States had begun military action in Afghanistan, launching Operation Enduring Freedom. Now, 22 years later, we are asking for the public's input in the design of a Memorial on our National Mall honoring those who have served and continue to serve in this multigenerational war. Help design history and give your input today.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Andrew Wallace

Today, radical left-wing protestors breached parliamentary security and led an abhorrent protest from the top of Australian Parliament House.

Shouts like “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free” and “Sovereignty Was Never Ceded” echoed across the Parliamentary Lawn as radicals clad with balaclavas and keffiyehs made a delusional equivocation between Israel, Australian Indigenous issues and Australia’s peacekeeping and military operations abroad.

This is a shameful display. It’s vile. And it’s illegal.

This was an attack on the Jewish people and the people of Israel, at a time when antisemitism has reached levels we have not seen since we stood on the threshold of Hitler’s Holocaust.

It was an attack on our parliamentary democracy, disrupting the important work of parliament while families contend with crises in Australia’s economy, society, and national security.

It was an assault on the memory of those who have paid the ultimate price to protect Australia’s security and sovereignty, and to preserve peace in the global rules-based order.

In the conflicts of Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and East Timor, Australian servicemen and women stood up to the tyranny of communism, Islamic extremism, and dictatorship. They purchased our freedom with their sacrifice, and that is a debt we cannot repay.

This extremist behaviour is made possible by a government which has been slow to act on antisemitism and virulent hate of extremists on the far-left and far-right.

It’s not just virulent; it’s viral, and it’s infected our campuses, communities, social media and now our Parliament.

I call on the Federal Labor Government to legislate for a Judicial Inquiry into Antisemitism on Australia’s University Campuses.

I call on the Federal Labor Government to step back from its unqualified support for a Two State Solution, without acknowledging how the war in Gaza actually started, after the atrocities of October 7, 2023.

I call on the Prime Minister to sack Senator Fatima Payman and anyone else who defends the use of terror slogans such as those we have seen today.

And I call on every Australian, from every walk of life, to call out antisemitism wherever you see it or hear it.

Last time the world failed to act, six million Jews were murdered.

We must show “never again” is more than mere words; it is a promise made to a people whose share of oppression has been unrivalled through many centuries.

We must show that Australians keep their promises.

[eretzyisrael]

by Dion J. Pierre

Columbia University’s most strident pro-Hamas organization distributed literature calling on students to join the terror group’s movement to destroy Israel during this year’s convocation ceremony last week, according to various reports on social media.

“This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the thawabit and the Palestinian resistance movement overall by transmitting the words of the resistance directly,” says a pamphlet distributed by Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) spinoff, to incoming freshmen. “This material aims to build popular support for the Palestinian war of national liberation, a war which is waged through armed struggle.”

Other sections of the pamphlet are explicitly Islamist, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist arm,” it says its purpose is to build an army of Muslims worldwide.

“We call upon the masses of our Arab and Islamic nations, its scholars, men, institutions, and active forces to come out in roaring crowds tomorrow,�� it adds, referring to an event which took place in December. “We also renew our invitation to the free people and those with living consciences around the world to continue and escalate their global public movement, rejecting the occupation’s crimes, in solidarity with our people and their just cause and legitimate struggle.”

This latest exaltation of violence was followed by a disturbing act of vandalism on Columbia’s New York City campus. On Tuesday, a masked man poured red paint on the Alma Mater sculpture located in front of the Low Memorial Library, symbolizing the spilling of blood. A protest broke out elsewhere on campus, with a young woman, whose face was concealed with a keffiyeh, waving a sign cut into the shape of an inverted red triangle. It said, “Long live the intifada.”

[jordanianroyals]

24 September 2024: King Abdullah II called on all countries to join Jordan in enforcing an international Gaza Humanitarian Gateway.

Delivering Jordan’s address at the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, His Majesty said the gateway would be “a massive relief effort to deliver food, clean water, medicine, and other vital supplies to those in desperate need”.

“Humanitarian aid should never be a tool of war,” the King continued in his speech, attended by His Royal Highness Prince Hashem bin Abdullah II.

His Majesty noted that almost a year into the war on Gaza, the world has failed politically, “but our humanity must not fail the people of Gaza any longer”.

The King urged the international community to establish a protection mechanism for the Palestinians across the occupied territories.

Turning to the dangerous developments in Lebanon, His Majesty said the escalation in Lebanon has to stop, stressing that no country in the region benefits from escalation.

“Our United Nations is facing a crisis that strikes at its very legitimacy”, said the King, stressing that the harsh reality many see is that some nations are above international law.

This Israeli government, His Majesty said, has killed more children, more journalists, more aid workers, and more medical personnel than any other war in recent memory.

The King stressed that the unprecedented scale of terror unleashed on Gaza is beyond any justification.

His Majesty warned of extremists who are taking the region to the brink of an all-out war, including those who continue to propagate the idea of Jordan as an alternative homeland.

“We will never accept the forced displacement of Palestinians, which is a war crime,” the King affirmed, noting that consecutive Israeli governments have rejected peace and chosen confrontation instead.

His Majesty stressed that Palestinians have borne more than 57 years of occupation and oppression, but the brutality of the war on Gaza has forced the world to look closer.

Over the past years of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the King said the global community had taken the path of least resistance, paying lip service to the two-state solution

“My father was a man who fought for peace to the very end. And, like him, I refuse to leave my children, or your children, a future we have given up on,” His Majesty concluded.

Following is the full text of His Majesty’s speech:

“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

Mr President,

Mr Secretary General,

Your Excellencies:

Over the past quarter-century, I have stood at this podium amidst regional conflicts, global upheavals, and humanitarian crises that have profoundly tested our global community.

It often feels that there was not a moment when our world was not in turmoil. And yet, I cannot recall a time of greater peril than this.

Our United Nations is facing a crisis that strikes at its very legitimacy and threatens a collapse of global trust and moral authority.

The UN is under attack—literally and figuratively.

For nearly a year, the sky-blue flag flying over UN shelters and schools in Gaza has been powerless to protect innocent civilians from Israeli military bombardment.

UN aid trucks sit motionless just miles away from starving Palestinians. Humanitarian workers who proudly wear the emblem of this institution are disparaged and targeted. And the rulings of the UN’s International Court of Justice are defied, its opinions disregarded.

So it’s no surprise that both inside and outside this Hall, trust in UN’s cornerstone principles and ideals is crumbling.

The harsh reality many see is that some nations are above international law, that global justice does bend to the will of power, and that human rights are selective; a privilege to be granted or denied at will.

We cannot stand for that, and we must recognise that undermining our international institutions and global frameworks is one of the gravest threats to our global security today.

Ask yourselves, if we are not nations united in the conviction that all people are equal in rights, dignity, and worth, and that all countries are equal in the eyes of the law, what kind of world does that leave us with?

Your Excellencies,

The attacks of October 7 on Israeli civilians last year were condemned by countries all over the world, including Jordan, but the unprecedented scale of terror unleashed on Gaza since that day is beyond any justification.

The Israeli government’s assault has resulted in one of the fastest death rates in recent conflicts, one of the fastest rates of starvation caused by war, the largest cohort of child amputees, and unprecedented levels of destruction.

This Israeli government has killed more children, more journalists, more aid workers, and more medical personnel than any other war in recent memory.

And let us not forget the attacks on the West Bank. There, since October 7, the Israeli government has killed more than 700 Palestinians, among them, 160 children. Palestinians held in Israeli detention centres exceed 10,700, including 400 women and 730 children—730 children. Over 4,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes and lands. Armed settler violence has surged. And entire villages have been displaced.

And in Jerusalem, flagrant violations of the historical and legal status quo at Muslim and Christian Holy Sites continue unabated, under the protection and encouragement of members of the Israeli government.

To be clear, this is in the West Bank, not Gaza.

Almost 42,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7.

So is it any wonder that many are questioning, how can this war not be perceived as deliberately targeting the Palestinians?

The level of civilian suffering cannot be written off as unavoidable collateral.

I grew up a soldier, in a region that is all too familiar with conflict. But there is nothing familiar about this war and the violence unleashed since October 7.

In the absence of global accountability, repeated horrors are normalised, threatening to create a future where anything is permitted anywhere in the world. Is that what we want?

Now is the time to ensure the protection of the Palestinian people. It is the moral duty of this international community to establish a protection mechanism for them across the occupied territories. This will guarantee the safety of Palestinians and Israelis from extremists who are taking our region to the brink of an all-out war.

That includes those who continue to propagate the idea of Jordan as an alternative homeland. So let me be very, very clear—that will never happen. We will never accept the forced displacement of Palestinians, which is a war crime.

No country in the region benefits from escalation. We have seen that clearly in the dangerous developments in Lebanon over the past few days. This has to stop.

For years, the Arab world has extended a hand to Israel through the Arab Peace Initiative, offering full recognition and normalisation in exchange for peace. But consecutive Israeli governments, emboldened by years of impunity, have rejected peace and chosen confrontation instead.

Impunity gathers force. Left unchecked, it gains momentum.

Palestinians have borne more than 57 years of occupation and oppression. During this time, the Israeli government has been allowed to cross one red line after another.

But now, Israel’s decades-long impunity is becoming its own worst enemy.

And the consequences are everywhere.

The Israeli government has been accused of genocide at the ICJ. Expressions of outrage at its conduct are echoing around the world. Cities everywhere have seen mass protests, and calls for sanctions are growing louder.

International frustration with Israel has long been mounting, but it has never been more exposed.

For decades, Israel has projected itself as a thriving Western-styled democracy in the Middle East.

But the brutality of the war on Gaza has forced the world to look closer.

Now, many see Israel through the eyes of its victims. And the contradiction, the paradox, is too jarring.

The modern, advanced Israel admired from afar, and the Israel that Palestinians have experienced firsthand simply cannot co-exist. Israel will eventually be entirely one or the other.

That is the choice its leaders and its people will have to make. To live by the democratic values of freedom, justice, and equality for all, or to risk further isolation and rejection.

Over and over, we have watched Israel try to achieve security through military means. Each escalation is followed by a pause, until the next, deadlier one.

And for years, the global community has taken the path of least resistance—accepting the status quo of the ongoing military occupation of Palestinians, all the while paying lip service to the two-state solution.

But it has never been more evident that the current status quo is untenable. And, as the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion underscored two months ago, it is unequivocally illegal.

The Court’s opinion bears a moral imperative to us all. The obligation it carries is one that our nations cannot afford to ignore—for the sake of our world, as well as the future for Palestinians and Israelis alike.

Because both peoples deserve to live their lives in dignity, free of violence and fear.

And the only way to achieve that is a just peace, one grounded in international law, justice, equal rights, and mutual recognition.

That is something we, as nations and people everywhere, can and must unite around.

Your Excellencies,

The world is watching, and history will judge us by the courage we show.

And it’s not just the future that will hold us accountable, so will the people of the here and now.

They will judge whether we, as the United Nations, will surrender to inaction, or will fight to uphold the principles that anchor this institution and our world.

Right now, they are asking whether we will stand by as parents watch their children waste away, as doctors watch their patients die for lack of basic medical supplies, and as more innocent lives are lost, because the world failed to act.

This war must end. Hostages and detainees must return home. But every day we wait is one day too long for far too many.

So I call on all countries to join Jordan in enforcing an international Gaza Humanitarian Gateway—a massive relief effort to deliver food, clean water, medicine, and other vital supplies to those in desperate need. Because humanitarian aid should never be a tool of war.

Whatever our politics, one truth is undeniable—no people should have to endure such unprecedented suffering, abandoned and alone. We cannot surrender the future to those who thrive on division and conflict.

I urge all nations of conscience to unite with Jordan in the critical weeks ahead on this mission.

Almost a year into this war, our world has failed politically, but our humanity must not fail the people of Gaza any longer.

Echoing the words of my father from 64 years ago, at the 15th session of the General Assembly, I pray that this community of nations may have the courage to decide wisely and fearlessly, and will act with the urgent resolve that this crisis and our conscience demand.

My father was a man who fought for peace to the very end. And, like him, I refuse to leave my children, or your children, a future we have given up on.

Thank you.”

The Jordanian delegation at the 79th Session of the UNGA included Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Director of the Office of His Majesty Alaa Batayneh, and Jordan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Mahmoud Hmoud.

[feckcops]

The hidden racism that turned a Nazi concentration camp into a detention centre for Muslims

“Today, a national memorial exists at the site of the Vught concentration camp. The main building is a museum with exhibits on the history of the camp and Nazism in Europe. Outside are life-size reconstructions of the camp’s living quarters, watchtowers, and barbed-wire fences. Various components of the memorial commemorate those killed at Vught or murdered after passing through it. The final part of the memorial is a reflection room where several short films convey the message that you should not be a bystander when you see others needing help ...

“It is impossible not to notice that alongside one of the memorial’s walls is a much taller wall, topped with barbed wire and closed-circuit TV cameras. On the other side of that wall are prison buildings, their arrangement mirroring that of the memorial’s reconstructed camp buildings. The memorial, in fact, takes up only a small part of the original concentration camp site. A larger part is occupied by a functioning prison. If you look left from the memorial’s main entrance, the tall metal doors of the prison entrance are visible, flanked by lines of people waiting to visit inmates. Many are women wearing hijabs and niqabs, a result of the fact that the Vught prison includes a high-security unit where anyone suspected or convicted of being a terrorist or ‘Islamic radicaliser’ is automatically separated from other prisoners and held under especially punitive conditions. Because almost all of those imprisoned there are Muslims, the unit has come to be known informally as a ‘Muslim detention centre’.

“Dutch prison authorities opened the high-security unit in 2006. Prisoners held there are isolated and confined for up to 22 hours per day. One woman imprisoned there, who was eventually acquitted of all charges, spent two full stretches – one for ten consecutive weeks and the other for three – cut off from anyone else. This kind of isolation has been a focus of research for Craig Haney, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who writes that prisoners held in long-term solitary confinement suffer effects that ‘are analogous to the acute reactions suffered by torture and trauma victims’. Former United Nations special rapporteur on torture Juan E. Méndez has said that, based on the medical evidence, solitary confinement for longer than 15 days can amount to torture ...

“What happened at Vught in 1943 and 1944 and what happens there today are, of course, not equivalent. Yet neither are the uses to which the camp has been put in these two periods entirely separable. The Nazis sought the complete elimination of European Jewry; incarceration was a means to this end. The European and US governments that implemented a global ‘war on terror’ have a different aim. Their goal is the integration of Muslims into what they call ‘liberal’ society. What is regarded as the cultural identity of moderate Muslims is celebrated within a framework of diversity and inclusion. Extremist Muslims, on the other hand, have their mosques and community organisations closed down, their speech criminalised, their bank accounts frozen, their clothing regulated (as with the Dutch ban on wearing a niqab or burka in certain public spaces, introduced in 2019), even their citizenship cancelled. In the cases of Afghanistan and Iraq, entire countries were invaded, occupied, and destroyed.”

[anniekoh]

On the (mis)uses of history, and on Jewish safety AND Palestinian freedom

An Open Letter on the Misuse of Holocaust Memory

Omer Bartov, Christopher R. Browning, Jane Caplan, Debórah Dwork, Michael Rothberg, et al.

Appealing to the memory of the Holocaust obscures our understanding of the antisemitism Jews face today and dangerously misrepresents the causes of violence in Israel-Palestine.

November 20, 2023

Israeli leaders and others are using the Holocaust framing to portray Israel’s collective punishment of Gaza as a battle for civilization in the face of barbarism, thereby promoting racist narratives about Palestinians. This rhetoric encourages us to separate this current crisis from the context out of which it has arisen. Seventy-five years of displacement, fifty-six years of occupation, and sixteen years of the Gaza blockade have generated an ever-deteriorating spiral of violence that can only be arrested by a political solution. There is no military solution in Israel-Palestine, and deploying a Holocaust narrative in which an “evil” must be vanquished by force will only perpetuate an oppressive state of affairs that has already lasted far too long. Insisting that “Hamas are the new Nazis”—while holding Palestinians collectively responsible for Hamas’s actions—attributes hardened, antisemitic motivations to those who defend Palestinian rights. ... We encourage those who have so readily invoked comparisons to Nazi Germany to listen to the rhetoric coming from Israel’s political leadership. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament that “this is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness” (a tweet from his office with the same phrase was later deleted). Defense Minister Yoav Gallant proclaimed, “We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.”

@MehdiHasanShow · Nov 19, 2023

@PeterBeinart on the censorship of Pro-Palestinian rhetoric: “The idea that if you’re going to…say you can’t say ‘Palestine should be free from the river [to] the sea’ then you also shouldn’t be able to say that you can have one Israel from the river to the sea.”

@AnamZakaria1 · Nov 26, 2023

When I studied genocide in context of the 1971 War, I wanted to know how the state produced narratives that enabled genocidal violence with such impunity while creating a culture of silencing that remains difficult to penetrate 50 years on. Many of those techniques at play now: 1. The bracketing of history. Picking a specific period in time as the ‘point of origin’ from where the state wants people to remember the story begins, conveniently enabling the erasure and conscious ‘forgetting’ of decades of systemic violence & oppression 2. The weaponization of pain and suffering of a community to legitimize genocidal violence against another community 3. Depoliticizing political & rights based movements by labelling everyone a terrorist or terrorist sympathizer - the term terrorism amid global Islamophobia, has of course become a particularly powerful tool of depoliticization and dehumanization 4. Creating hysteria about how ‘enemy’ nations are supporting those whom the state violates the bodies and rights of to garner political legitimacy for its ‘mission’ or ‘operation’ 5. Creating false equivalencies to ‘neutralize’ state violence - ignoring that it is backed by state machinery, and here a global machinery of weapons and narrative making too. At the heart of this is also an argument that violence is the monopoly of the state - that the violence unleashed by the state is a legitimate, even necessary act and anyone criticizing this violence is an enemy, who too, must be eradicated / silenced

/////

@sarahschulman3 · Nov 10

1. The NY Times coverage is absurd. A Pulitzer Prize winning reporter quotes a Jewish student at my school claiming “antisemitism” is having to see a poster that says “Gaza is an open-air prison.” He should be asking this student why he feels “attacked” by seeing a fact . 2. He should explore with this kid 1. The meaning of the statement. And 2. Why that meaning is being confounded with abuse when literally tens of thousands of people are starving, deliberately denied water and health care and are helplessly surrounded with the dead and dying. 3. He needs to report on the actuality: the profound inability of this student to understand what other people are experiencing. That is the actual story.

Image 1: Our statement on the march (Na'amod UK): Pitting Jewish safety against Palestinian freedom doesn't make Jews safer, it makes fighting antisemitisim harder.

Image 2: Why is traffic stopped ahead (tweet). On the shut down of the Manhattan Bridge on Nov 26, 2023.

[weonlyneedfour]

(Background by Ele.D)

The Grey Claw

Character created by: Francisco Armond

Home series: A Garra Cinzenta (1937-1938)

Title: Fascinora. Alter Ego: Thiago Fragas. Doctor Stone.  Nationality: Brazilian. Occupation: Crimelord. Chemist.  Group affiliation: His gang. Base of Operations: São Paulo, Brazil.  Likes: His robot companion. Jazz. Attention. Dislikes: His arch-enemy. Dying. Being unrecognized. Skill: Resurrection. Revenge. Building models replicas of haunted castles.

Powers: None on record. Access to a vast arsenal of strange weapons, devices, death traps, and henchmen. Deadly claw gauntlets able to puncture concrete and tear through flesh and bone, below-average fighter otherwise. Chemical and bioelectrical genius. Built self-sustaining automatons. Devised a chemical formula able to resurrect the deceased, albeit without memories. Failed prototypes of said formula were used to transmute living and dead humans into mutant creatures, most frequently reminiscent of chimpanzees and gorillas. Possibly immortal.

The Grey Claw was the man who lit the world on fire in the process of trying to start a match. 

The Grey Claw was among the first recorded black hats operating in Brazil, a master criminal of a sort thought to have died out after the end of World War 1. Distinguished by his grim yet flashy buccaneer grim reaper costume, his deep and nasally voice, and his appalling chuckle and sense of humor. The Grey Claw perpetrated a series of high-profile thefts, murders and bombings at his debut, quickly consolidating São Paulo’s criminal underworld and newfound industrial advancements under his grip and holding the country in a grip of terror for over a year. And this was but the start, a cheap façade over his true plans of alchemical research and global domination.

Notorious for his mysterious technology and bizarre resources, The Grey Claw’s highly advanced arsenal included early prototypes of television screens, recording devices across the entire city, mummified corpses rigged to spasm and perform simple tasks, rampaging mutant apes, and FLAG, a titanic murderous automaton bodyguard that rendered The Claw untouchable, and whom The Claw displayed a bizarre degree of camaraderie with. Constantly outfoxing the police and with little to no white hats to oppose him, The Grey Claw eventually achieved his world-changing breakthrough: perfecting a formula that could resurrect the dead. 

His success would be seemingly short-lived, as a police raid on his underground lair quickly buried the Claw’s discoveries. His persistent enemy, the police inspector Higgins, would find the corpses of his fellow officers, one of the Claw’s mutant apes, and the Claw himself being mauled to death by FLAG, as Higgins had his men bring down the machine and the surrounding cave with grenades, burning the laboratory and notes in the process. The Grey Claw was identified post-mortem as the famed young chemist, Doctor Thiago Fragas, said to be driven to crime by his sheer hatred of his former partner, Professor Curberry. Curberry was identified as the mutant ape corpse in the basement, and with all knowledge of The Claw's research scrubbed from public record, for many years that was assumed to be end of the sadistic crook’s reign of terror, as both Higgins and “The Dame in Black”, the Claw’s resurrected victim-turned-partner in crime, eventually took all knowledge of The Grey Claw’s research into their graves.

But The Grey Claw would return over the following years. Although Doctor Thiago Fragas remains buried, sightings began emerging locally as well as internationally during the war years, with a man wearing the original costume last seen following in the wake of The Golden Bat’s psychic meltdown and disappearance. Variants in costume and body type over the decades indicate that the Grey Claw has become a mantle, worn by criminals pursuing the original’s infamy to their ends. Fascist coalitions, anarchist gangs, doomsday cultists, black hats and white hats alike have turned The Claw’s image to their own ends, using it as a persona with an extra layer of anonymity to escape accountability, and with little interest in the original’s great scientific genius, which would be the most unforgivably offensive part of it all to him.

Some among these believe that Thiago Fragas never died at all, and that he’s merely biding his time, tinkering with the next great electric brain of his design, merged inseparably in the shadows of the city, if not outright merged with the city itself, waiting for the next perennial motivator. Waiting for the next target of his eternal hatred. That he waits for a worthy arch-nemesis, to at last take his throne as the world’s greatest villain.

Or that perhaps he waits, only because when death itself is beyond reach, there's not much else you can do.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[photo :: New York Times]

* * * *

Howdy Horn Honkers.

We are not going to fight about the fighting. Our Jewish brothers and sisters have had their world shattered and more than 900 have been murdered while simply going about their daily lives.

In that way, it's similar to a mass shooting in America. One minute you're doing your do, the next minute you're a memory. One minute you're a child, the next minute you're a statistic.

What about being ripped from your home or car and taken hostage by people who don't know you but hate you anyway? Does anyone want to imagine that for yourself or your family?

What of dozens of babies who were murdered by Hamas, some beheaded? There’s video of this horror online. Can any one of us defend carnage against children via our political views?

And now scores of innocent Palestinians of all ages are suffering too. Dying in their homes and in the street.

There is global pain. Ten people from my home country of Great Britain are dead or missing. Eleven Americans are dead. Two people from Tanzania are injured and 2 Mexican nationals have been taken prisoner by Hamas. Ten humans from Nepal, a person from France and a Canadian man are dead. Two Ukrainians were killed, along with 12 citizens of Thailand.

And that’s just the numbers we know right now. Those numbers will grow.

Terrorism, by design, kills people. So does war.

Terrorism is far too prevalent, violently destructive, and we now have two (!) major wars going on in our world — in Europe and the Middle East.

We will not be fighting about the fighting on this page, regardless of personal feelings. Not while fellow humans beings are killed in tragic numbers and suffering so greatly.

Look, l’m not naive. I get it. I do. But if you have to pick a side, pick the side of humanity. That’s who we need to win.

I hope we do.

[Therra Gwyn Jaramillo]

[overwatch-archive]

OVERWATCH IS BACK: UNCERTAINTY AND HOPE AFTER UN CONFIRMS VIGILANTE ACTIVITY

Olympia Shaw | May 27, 2016

NEW YORK CITY (Atlas News) – In the past few weeks, investigators confirmed that a number of violent incidents across the world, including Monday's attempted museum heist, have involved several notable former Overwatch operatives.

The United Nations finally admitted today that those individuals were not acting on official orders.

In its entirety, the UN's terse statement reads: "The United Nations has not authorized any Overwatch operations. The organization’s charter remains revoked." Further questions from this reporter were met with hostility or silence.

Such a short statement belies its astonishing truth: We have not seen the last of Overwatch. Being dismantled by the UN only drove them into the shadows.

This news will undoubtedly spark concern. It should. Overwatch was dismantled due to overwhelming negative public sentiment and allegations of corruption and abuses of power; the thought that the organization's remnants are operating without supervision is a chilling one.

But while governments from the Kremlin to Downing Street were quick to issue unreserved condemnations, the public was not. An Atlas News flash poll taken today showed a large amount of anger over the possibility that agents of Overwatch had gone "rogue," but it was the poll's final question that revealed the most interesting reaction. Nearly three out of every four respondents said they were "uncertain" what Overwatch's return would mean for the world.

Overwatch's history invites such uncertainty. In wartime, it was regarded as humanity's savior. Today, many have bitter memories of its disgraceful ending.

In order to understand what may happen now, it may help to take another look at Overwatch’s past, and the desperate circumstances from which it was born.

The Omnic Crisis

When Omnica Corporation revolutionized robotic manufacturing, it seemed the world was on the verge of entering an economic golden age. Their massive factories of automated construction machines and self-improving software algorithms were patented, marketed as "omniums," and installed on every continent.

What came next is well-documented. The omniums began to break down. Independent analysis showed they would never come close to meeting the corporation's promises of growth and output. Omnica was investigated and forcibly dissolved after evidence of fraud was uncovered, its omniums shut down.

That is why it came as such a surprise when these defunct, dismantled omniums woke themselves back up and immediately launched a military campaign against all of humanity.

This was a war many countries thought they were prepared to fight. But no single country, no matter how powerful its military, could permanently shut down a single omnium. The adaptability of robots, once celebrated by humanity, had become a tactical nightmare. Worst of all, there were no demands from the omnics. There was no ideological reason for their aggression. They simply attacked, and we did not understand why.

Overwatch: A Change In Strategy

No country was succeeding in securing its own territory. But some soldiers and strategists showed remarkable ingenuity in acclimating to this new brand of warfare. The United Nations covertly brought a few of these unique minds together to form a small, nimble team, aimed at striking significant blows against omnic strongholds. Their names—Morrison, Reyes, Amari, Liao, Wilhelm, and Lindholm—have since become legendary. The world would come to know them as the founders of Overwatch.

In highly secretive missions, they targeted the omnics' command and control protocols. After great sacrifice and heroism in a series of dangerous raids, they destroyed it all, rendering the omnic armies inert. The Omnic Crisis had finally come to an end.

For decades, as Overwatch grew, they made global stability their mission. And the world was happy to have them. Rogue omnics, terrorism, warmongering dictators, none of them could stand for long against such a capable, dedicated force. During natural disasters, we watched heroic rescue operations and efficient rebuilding initiatives. We saw Overwatch pioneer scientific initiatives to eradicate epidemics, reverse ecological damage, and develop new breakthroughs in medical care. They were a symbol of hope. An entire generation, my generation, was raised to see them as the best of humanity.

The Fall

Overwatch never had a shortage of critics. Even in its glory days, many voices called for severe restrictions on the agency's mission, insisting that such a powerful group of individuals needed careful oversight. Rumors of black-ops missions—carrying out tasks like assassination and kidnapping—were dismissed by the public as paranoid fantasies.

But as time passed, criticism became harder to shrug off, and the agency seemed to be tone-deaf to public concerns. Controversial missions stoked public outrage until it reached a fever pitch, and some of Overwatch’s most famous and celebrated agents were forced to retire in disgrace. If that had been the end of it, many might have accepted these missteps as the unavoidable signs of an aging, bloated bureaucracy, suffering under monolithic leadership that desperately needed a change in direction. The truth was much worse than that.

In the final years of Overwatch's existence, a top secret division called "Blackwatch" was revealed. There were stories of assassination, coercion, kidnapping, torture, and worse. Governments called on the UN to shut down the "aggressive and repeated violations of many countries' sovereignty." As public distrust swelled, a massive explosion wiped out Overwatch's headquarters in Switzerland. The United Nations called it an accident; today we know it was a battle, a dispute between Overwatch commander Jack Morrison and Blackwatch commander Gabriel Reyes. Overwatch's death knell was that of two former comrades laying waste to all they had built.

In the wake of such an incident, little could remain hidden. The full transgressions of Overwatch's shadow operations became known. Even the most ardent defenders inside the organization bowed to the truth and called for its dissolution.

The United Nations could do nothing but shut down Overwatch. Few people at the time doubted it was the right call. The world had never been more peaceful—the biggest threat to global stability and growth was, in many minds, Overwatch itself. Its time had passed.

Today

In the years without Overwatch, we've seen the world change. A movement promoting omnic civil rights and citizenship gained traction. The global economy surged. There seemed to be no shortage of good news.

But, as with Overwatch, the good news hid many darker trends. Tensions between humans and omnics have never been higher, particularly after the assassination of the omnic spiritual leader Tekhartha Mondatta. War may very well be inevitable. Local political leaders have accused certain corporations of using covert operatives to "persuade" government officials into accepting exploitive deals, and when that failed, of hiring mercenaries to enact more permanent solutions. We've seen shadow organizations operating with impunity, often leaving a trail of dead civilians in their wake.

Is this why these former Overwatch agents have come out of hiding? Could they not stand by and watch any longer?

Has the world's situation grown so desperate that they believe nobody else can help?

And does the world want them back? Should it?

The surveillance footage from Monday's attempted museum heist instantly caught the world's attention. Two former Overwatch agents risked life and limb against two frighteningly capable mercenaries, and the theft was thwarted. But while much has been made over the images of sheer mayhem—that, miraculously, did not result in any deaths—there was another moment that caught my attention.

Two young boys were caught in the middle of the violence. (And someone give them a medal, please, for keeping their heads straight in that situation.) When the attack ended, they spoke briefly to Lena Oxton, an ex-Overwatch operative known to the public as "Tracer." The surveillance footage does not reveal what she said to them. But it does show the expression on the older boy's face.

Hope.

When it comes to Overwatch, my generation understands that feeling all too well. To us, Overwatch embodied it. Its corruption was nothing short of a betrayal. The cynical part of me urges the world to take firm action if the dark forces that brought Overwatch down rise again in the form of self-appointed vigilantes.

All that gives me pause is this: The Overwatch Generation has grown up. We once believed in hope. It still lives within us, and some have chosen to act upon it in astonishing ways.

Consider the news from around the world in recent years. A Chinese environmentalist with a taste of adventure saved a nest of endangered arctic wildlife from a collapsing glacier using nothing but her own inventions. A musician from Brazil became a hero of his favela when he exposed and destroyed a corporation's exploitive use of local land. A professional-gamer-turned-mech-pilot has become a celebrity in Korea due to her publicized acts of heroism.

These are exactly the types of remarkable individuals Overwatch would have recruited. Take a look on the net; they are exactly who today's kids are looking up to as heroes. Would they have been inspired to take such extraordinary action if not for Overwatch?

The future is unknown. Evidence suggests that not all surviving Overwatch agents have been using their talents for the good of peace. But examine what happened yesterday at the museum. Which Overwatch did we see in that surveillance footage? The secretive, corrupt assassins? Or two disciples of Overwatch's original ideals?

More importantly: Should we fear the new generation of heroes just because the old generation let us down?

I don't believe we should.

[streetcurrencies1]

The 9/11 Attacks: A Nation In Shock

On the fateful morning of September 11, 2001, the world watched in horror as a series of coordinated terrorist attacks unfolded on U.S. soil.

The attacks, orchestrated by the extremist group Al-Qaeda, targeted the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

These events would come to be known simply as "9/11" and would leave an indelible mark on the United States and the world.

The Twin Towers: The World Trade Center towers, iconic symbols of economic prowess and architectural achievement, were the primary targets. Two hijacked commercial airliners were flown into the towers, causing catastrophic damage and eventually leading to their collapse. The attacks on the Twin Towers claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people, making it one of the deadliest acts of terrorism in history.

The Pentagon Attack: In addition to the attacks on the Twin Towers, another hijacked plane, American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense. The strike resulted in significant damage and loss of life, further escalating the national crisis.

Flight 93's Heroic Sacrifice: Amidst the chaos, a fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was also hijacked. Passengers on board, learning of the other attacks via phone calls, bravely fought back against the hijackers. The plane ultimately crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, preventing another potential target, likely in Washington, D.C.

Immediate Impact: The 9/11 attacks sent shockwaves through the United States and the world. In the immediate aftermath, there was a profound sense of grief, fear, and anger. The nation was united in mourning, and a strong sense of solidarity emerged.

Response and Consequences: The U.S. government, under President George W. Bush, launched a war on terror, with a focus on eliminating Al-Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden. The Patriot Act was enacted to strengthen national security, but it also raised concerns about civil liberties.

Homeland Security and Airport Security: The attacks prompted a significant overhaul of U.S. security measures, including the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. Airport security was enhanced with more rigorous screenings and the establishment of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Global Implications: Internationally, the 9/11 attacks had far-reaching consequences. The United States engaged in military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, leading to a prolonged period of conflict in the region. The attacks also reshaped global politics and intensified discussions on counterterrorism efforts.

Memorials and Remembrance: In the years following the attacks, several memorials were erected to honor the victims and remember the events of 9/11. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City stands on the site of the former Twin Towers, serving as a poignant reminder of the tragedy.

Never Forget: As the years have passed, the phrase "Never Forget" has become synonymous with 9/11. It serves as a solemn reminder of the lives lost, the heroism displayed, and the enduring impact of that tragic day.

In conclusion, the 9/11 attacks were a watershed moment in American history, leaving the nation in shock and reshaping its policies and security measures.

The scars of that day remain, but so does the resilience and unity of a nation determined to stand strong in the face of adversity.

[naipan]

THE 7TH OF OCTOBER AND

ITS CONSEQUENCE

1. Preliminary note: Why this statement?

As critical communists who are active in the international radical left and are part of alliances and campaigns, we see the need to take a stand on the current anti-Semitic fervour within the German and global left. The criticism of anti-Semitism within the left, which was still much more present at the beginning of the century, seems to have faded away. We want to take this as an opportunity to criticisethese current developments within the left and explain why we consider anideology-critical, anti-authoritarian and anti-national left to be necessary. At thesame time, we are experiencing a pretended form of combating anti-Semitismand solidarity with Israel by state bodies and parts of the ‘majority society’, whichare full of instrumentalisation and even open racism. We would also like tocomment on this.

However, it is not our intention in this statement to analyse individual Islamiststructures, give military tactical advice or suggest an adequate solution for the conflict. We are aware that the space in which the current anti-Semitic fervour is spreading is also a reaction to the war waged by the Israeli army in Gaza. This has cost the lives of tens of thousands of people, including many civilians, and destroyed large parts of the region. We mourn the dead and stand in solidarity with the suffering population of Gaza. For an emancipatory left, it is also necessary to support those structures in Gaza that are fighting for the prospectof a good and self-determined life and against Hamas

reign of terror and reactionary images of society, for example by campaigning for their rights as workers, women or queers.

We are also aware of the conflicts and disputes within Israel, especially with the far-right sections of the government. Nevertheless, we would like to emphasise that the current war in the Gaza Strip was triggered by the Hamas terrorist massacre on October 7 2023, in which over 1200 people were brutally raped and murdered for anti-Semitic motives and 239 people were kidnapped as hostages, many of whom are still held today. Our criticism is not intended to deny the right to mourn and protest, nor to outweigh he suffering, but to address a general problem of the global left.

2. The turning point of October 7

October 7 2023 marks a turning point. The extent and details of the atrocities are shocking: Systematic torture, mutilations, kidnappings and the systematic use of sexualised violence against women. These were deliberately used to unleash anti-Semitic violence and trigger fear of extermination. The massacres were intended to target Jews as such, to activate the memory of a centuries-long history of pogroms and threats of extermination and thus also to attack the state of Israel's self-image of being a shelter for Jews against anti-Semitic persecution.

The drastic events of 7 October were reflected surprisingly little within the global left.

Instead, a massive explosion of anti-Semitic attacks ignited. Tragically, large sections of the global left are the platform for this anti-Semitism and provide the fuel for it.

We are witnessing defence to the point of denial and secret joy among many on the left. Others remain politically paralysed in the face of the flare-up of anti-Semitism instead of moving towards a practice of solidarity. This is not surprising, but it is disappointing - after all, anti-Semitism is a central aspect of current power relations and criticism of it is therefore a basic requirement for any endeavour towards social emancipation.

3. A new global wave of anti-Semitism

While left-wing solidarity with the victims of October 7 was almost completely absent, mostly pro-Palestinian mass demonstrations took place before the start of the IDF'smilitary operations, the script of those demonstrations was clear and well-known: Israel is a colonial occupying power that should disappear; Israel aims to destroy all Palestinians; Israel is the evil that should be eliminated. What was brought to the streets was not simply solidarity with the Palestinians, but too often something that is in its essence virulent hatred of Israel. There was an overidentification with the ‘Palestinian cause’, which in large parts of the global left serves as a building block of identity, a marker of recognition, a substitute struggle and a collective ritual.

Hamas' cruel acts were celebrated and reinterpreted as an act of decolonisation, an “escape from prison” or an “act of resistance”. The loud calls for‘ contextualisation’ of October 7 demand a justification or at least relativisation of the horrors. It is absurd with which vehemence slogans, actions and thought patterns are to be released from the appeal of anti-Semitism. A large part of the global left endeavoured to explain and excuse the massacre as perhaps somewhat overdone self-defence - if it was not immediately celebrated as an anti-colonial act of liberation. In Germany, too, a section of the left, from pro-Palestinian groups and their ‘internationalist’ supporters to Stalinist and Trotskyist organisations, queer-feminist circles and autonomous housing squatters in Berlin and elsewhere, had no problem reinterpreting Islamist and anti-Semitic terror as liberation. The victim-centred approach usually preached in left-wing circles does not seem to exist for Israelis, especially Jewish ones. […]

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Jorge Guldenzoph, deeply involved with CAUSA and Moon's Unification Church, given 10 years jail for torturing

▲ Jorge Guldenzoph spoke at a Global Peace Foundation event

Jorge Guldenzoph is President of the National Leadership Council in Uruguay, as well as the Founding President of the Citizen Engagement Movement in Uruguay. He is Vice President, Editorialist, and Writer for the daily newspaper, Ultimas Noticias, and has written more than 1,000 articles, two books, five essays and three education manuals. He has worked for ten years for United Press International...

LINK

________________________________

Some 50 survivors had told the court of torments they had suffered, including electric shocks, beatings and rape.

The victims' lawyer Pablo Chargonia welcomed the end of a long process that has helped to reveal "the horror lived" by people during the dictatorship.

Agence France-Presse

________________________________

BBC Emperor of the Universe documentary:

Jorge Guldenzoph: “I remember Rev. Moon’s wife saying ‘How long are they going to think we’re bad?’ I felt humbled because there was no trace of resentment or bitterness in him. No part of him was asking why he had to suffer. It was like Jesus on the cross.”

Narrator: “One of Moon’s key men in Uruguay is Jorge Guldenzoph, a veteran of the dirty war with the left. A former communist, he joined the secret police.”

Jorge Guldenzoph: “The Rev Moon is my savior. My life was literally saved by him. It’s as simple as that, Rev. Moon is my savior.”

LINK

________________________________

“Moon in Latin America: Building the Bases of a World Organisation” Part 2 Guardian, March 3, 1985, pp. 12-14. Jean-François Boyer and Alejandro Alem conclude a two-part report

Jorge Guldenzoph, a young Interior Ministry official who is secretary of Causa Uruguay. Ten years ago Guldenzoph was still a student leader of the . . . Communist Youth movement when, he says, he “forswore Marxism”.

LINK

________________________________

La Prensa Latina

An official of the dictatorship in Uruguay is sentenced to 10 years in prison

February 22, 2024

Montevideo, Feb 22 (EFE).- Jorge “El Charleta” Guldenzoph was sentenced to 10 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed during Uruguay’s civil-military dictatorship (1973-1985). The sentence against Guldenzoph, an official of the National Directorate of State Intelligence (DNII) of the Ministry of the Interior during the dictatorship, is dated Feb. 15 and was seen by EFE on Thursday.

...

For years, he remained unpunished and worked as a private businessman linked, among other groups, to the Unification Church (the religious cult founded by Korean evangelist Sun Myung Moon), the website added.

LINK

________________________________

Decades of Silence Broken: Former Uruguayan Intelligence Agent Sentenced for Dictatorship Crimes

The dictatorship in Uruguay, spanning from 1973 to 1985, left a deep and lasting impact on the nation's collective memory. It's estimated that 20% of the population was imprisoned at some point, with around 200 citizens murdered and an additional 191 disappearing without a trace. These numbers, while stark, barely scratch the surface of the pain and trauma experienced by those who lived through the regime's darkest days.

________________________________

‘Archives of Terror’ Yield New Horrors – Sun Myung Moon involved

CIA, Moonies Cooperate in Sandinista War

“The UC is truly anti-Christian” and produces “a species of material and spiritual slavery.” – Catholic Bishops in Honduras

The Unification Church and the KCIA – ‘Privatizing’ covert action: the case of the UC

________________________________

Uruguay condena a 10 años de prisión a Jorge Guldenzoph

[sybbi]

This is from 2019:

Trump cut off aid after Palestinians got upset that he moved the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, ostensibly recognizing it as the capital of the Israeli state.

It is so cute that people are acting like the man who refused to condemn white supremacists, who told female poc congresswomen to go back where they came from, who praised the brutal extra-judicial killings of Duterte, who implemented a travel ban on Muslim countries, who called African nations suffering from the effects of global capitalist imperialism shitholes, who wanted to shoot BLM protestors with live bullets, who blew to hell the Iran Nuclear Deal, who didn't condemn the brutal murder of a journalist critical of Saudi Arabia, who tried to get Zelensky to find dirt on his political rival by withholding funding (interesting how a Putin fan boy was trying to keep Putin's future target under his thumb with a quid pro quo), who started a knee-jerk tariff war with China and who has proven to be one of the most unstable, dangerous, patently criminal presidents in history is "just as bad" as Biden. You have to have the memory of a goldfish or logic more twisted than a fucking pretzel to genuinely believe that.

what i don't understand about people who refuse to vote for biden bc of his support of israel is why they would ever think trump won't make things even worse. i know y'all's hearts are in the right place, but you aren't saving palestinians by abstaining; you are actively making their situation worse, in addition to like, everyone else who isn't a rich white man. biden's support of israel is abhorrent, but a second trump term will be catastrophic. it's not "they're both bad, so it doesn't matter." one is EXPONENTIALLY worse than the other, and everyone needs to work together to make sure he doesn't take office

[thxnews]

Israel Conflict: Humanity Rises, Yael Leads

  A Shocking Saturday Morning Attack

Massive Rocket Strikes Rock Southern Israel In the wake of the devastating and relentless Hamas attacks on southern Israel during the early hours of Saturday, October 7, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (The Fellowship) swiftly initiated its humanitarian efforts. These actions come as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) executes Operation Swords of Iron, a retaliatory response in the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, with over 2,000 rockets raining down on Israel and hundreds of casualties reported within the first day of conflict, the attacks, which came by land, air, and sea, have left the nation in shock. The situation is indeed dire. The timing, coinciding with Shabbat (the Sabbath) and the conclusion of the Sukkot holiday, underscores the urgency of the situation that The Fellowship has been actively preparing for, working in close collaboration with local partners due to escalating tensions with Hamas and Hezbollah.  

An Unprecedented Crisis Unfolds

Yom Kippur War Memories Resurface Yael Eckstein, President and CEO of The Fellowship, likened the situation to Israel's own 9/11: "We are still trying to grasp the extent of this unprecedented event. It has been a jolt to the entire nation. This harrowing situation brings back painful memories of the Yom Kippur War, which commenced nearly 50 years ago on a date quite similar to this one." "As we monitor the situation, we also have our eyes on the northern front, where Hezbollah engages in artillery and rocket exchanges with Israeli forces. The escalation could magnify the crisis further."  

Global Condemnation and Support

Strong Words from The Fellowship Bishop Paul Francis Lanier, U.S. Board Chairman of The Fellowship, condemned the attacks in no uncertain terms: "The Fellowship has watched in horror and outrage at the unconscionable violation of Israeli sovereignty. Hamas has invaded sacred space, claimed innocent lives, terrorized families, and abducted Jewish citizens, all during the shadow of the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Just as in the past, Israel will prevail. The Fellowship is on the ground, providing help, healing, and hope."  

Aid Reaches the Frontlines

Despite Challenges, The Fellowship Steps Up Despite difficulties in communication with security officials in the south due to ongoing hostilities, The Fellowship is actively supporting evacuees from Gaza, local municipalities, and first responders. Basic necessities such as flak jackets and flashlights are being provided.   Emergency Response Center and Hot Meals An Emergency Response Center has been established in Ramle, Israel, to help families locate missing loved ones, working closely with local authorities. Additionally, The Fellowship distributed hundreds of hot meals to soldiers along the northern border through the Beit Batia soup kitchen and the fortified vehicle, previously donated by the organization.  

Anticipating Increased Demand for Aid

Preparedness and Swift Response As the organization anticipates a surge in aid requests from the south in the coming days, they have systems in place for a rapid and efficient response. Their focus will be on aiding evacuees in southern towns, assisting first responders, and providing medical kits and mental health/trauma support, in addition to supporting existing Fellowship programs.   Long-Term Commitment Yael Eckstein added, "Within less than 24 hours, our on-ground team has assessed immediate needs and is already distributing aid. We will expedite aid delivery within a week and identify long-term needs resulting from this war."  

Over 400 Bomb shelters were provided by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Added security throughout Israel. Photo by IFCJ.  

Strengthening Israel's Security

Frontline Support in Northern Israel The Fellowship is also at the forefront in northern Israel, moving swiftly to meet security needs. This includes supplying more bomb shelters, ambulances, additional food, and medicine for these shelters. They maintain close communication with Israel's Homefront Command, the Ministry of Welfare, the IDF, the FIDF, and local councils across the region.   Decades of Humanitarian Commitment The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023, remains the largest provider of humanitarian aid in Israel. In addition, their support extends to various projects and initiatives aimed at bolstering the country's security, civil defense, immigration, and poverty relief efforts. Most importantly, they have contributed to the purchase of fortified vehicles, provided hundreds of first responder medical kits, and fortified medical facilities in conflict-affected areas. Their commitment to Israel's well-being is unparalleled.  

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews recently provided four new fortified security vehicles to local security officers in Israel's south. Photo by Amnon Ziv.  

The Heart of The Fellowship

Yael Eckstein Leads the Charge Yael Eckstein, as President and CEO of The Fellowship, leads the organization's diverse programs and serves as its international spokesperson. With over a decade of nonprofit experience in multiple roles, Yael's leadership stands as a beacon, particularly as a woman at the helm of one of the world's largest religious charitable organizations. Her podcast, "Nourish Your Biblical Roots," delves into the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. Furthermore, Yael's impact has earned her the 2023 Jerusalem Post's Humanitarian Award. Notably, she is based in Israel with her husband and four children. As Israel faces this grave crisis, The Fellowship stands as a symbol of hope and support for the nation. In these trying times, echoing its mission to bless Israel and the Jewish people in unprecedented times, The Fellowship remains unwavering in its commitment to the nation's well-being.   Sources: THX News & International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Read the full article

[brookston]

Holidays 5.21

Holidays

Afro-Colombian Day (Colombia)

Agricultural Fair Day

Anti-Terrorism Day (India)

Circassian Day of Mourning

Daylilly Day (French Republic)

Day of Patriots and Military (Hungary)

Emergency Medical Services Day

EMS Health, Wellness & Resilience Day

End of the World Day

Feast of the Triple Scoop

Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Hug Your Interior Designer Day

Hummel Day (a.k.a. Sister Maria Hummel Day)

"I Need A Patch For That" Day

Journée Nationale des Patriotes (National Patriots' Day; Quebec)

Keanu Reeves Day

Lilies and Roses Day (UK)

National American Red Cross Founder’s Day

National Mamey Day

National Memo Day

National Patriots’ Day (Quebec, Canada)

National Talk Like Yoda Day

Natura 2000 Day (EU)

Navy Day (Chile)

Neighbor Day (Rhode Island)

Passion Play Day (Germany)

Pogo Stick Day

Rapture Party Day (2011 prediction by Harold Camping)

Red Cross Day

Saint Helena Day (Saint Helena)

Sanja Matsuri begins (Tokyo, Japan)

Send a Letter Day

Slap a Patch On It Day

United States Cyber Command Day

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (UN)

World Fish Migration Day

World Meditation Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

International Tea Day [also 12.15]

National Mourvèdre Day

National Waitstaff Day (a.k.a. Waiters and Waitresses Day)

Strawberries and Cream Day

3rd Sunday in May

Aunt's Day [3rd Sunday]

Bay to Breakers Race Day (San Francisco, California) [3rd Sunday]

Commemoration Day of Fallen Soldiers (Finland) [3rd Sunday]

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions by the Soviet Regime (Ukraine) [3rd Sunday]

Father’s Day (Tonga) [3rd Sunday]

Flower Day (Michigan) [3rd Sunday]

I Am An American Day [3rd Sunday]

International AIDS Candlelight Memorial [3rd Sunday]

International Day of the Baltic Harbour Porpoise [3rd Sunday]

My Other Mother's Day [3rd Sunday]

National Famine Memorial Day [3rd Sunday]

No Menthol Day [3rd Sunday]

Peace Day [3rd Sunday]

Ride a Unicycle Day [3rd Sunday]

Rural Life Sunday (Canada) [3rd Sunday]

Soil Stewardship Day [3rd Sunday]

Stepmother's Day [3rd Sunday]

Take Your Parents to the Playground Day [3rd Sunday]

World Baking Day [3rd Sunday]

Independence Days

Montenegro (from Serbia, 2006)

Southwest Vineland (Declared; 2021) [unrecognized]

Valentia Riqueza and Grandeza (a.k.a. ValeVRG; Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Agonalia (Ancient Rome) [also 1.9 & 12.11]

Albrecht Dürer (Artology)

Anastenarides Feast (Ancient Greek festival of dancing barefoot on hot coals)

Arcangelo Tadini (Christian; Saint)

Adílio Daronch and Manuel Gómez González (Christian; Saint)

Christopher Magallanes, and other Saints of the Cristero War (Christian; Saint)

Day of the Twins: Beginning of Gemini (Astrology/Pagan)

Emperor Constantine I (Christian; Saint)

Eugène de Mazenod (Christian; Saint)

Felix of Cantalicio (Christian; Saint)

Festival for Vevodus (God of the Dead, Swamps & Volvanic Movements; Ancient Rome)

Festival of Demeter (Greek Barley Mother Goddess)

Festival of Vejovis (Roman God of Healing)

42 Day (Pastafarian)

Franz Jägerstätter (Christian; Saint)

Free Money Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Godrick of Finkley (Christian; Saint)

Green Four-Net (Muppetism)

Helena of Constantinople (a.k.a. "Feast of the Holy Great Sovereigns Constantine and Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles,” Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion)

Henri Rousseau (Artology)

Hospitius (Christian; Saint)

Ponder Pointlessness Day (Pastafarian)

John Elliot (Episcopal Church)

Saint Camping’s Day (Discordian)

St. Luke (Positivist; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 24 of 60)

Premieres

Alison, by Elvis Costello (Song; 1977)

Annie (Film; 1982)

The Conquest of Everest, by John Hurt (Memoir; 1954)

Curtain Razor (WB LT Cartoon; 1949)

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (Film; 1982)

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Silent Film; 1908)

Gimme All Your Lovin’, by ZZ Top (Music Video; 1983)

Godzilla vs. Kong (Film; 2021)

Gypsy (Broadway Musical; 1959)

Hot Shots! Part Deux (Film; 1993)

Injun Trouble (WB LT Cartoon; 1938)

Mad Max 2 (Film; 1982)

Maybellene, recorded by Chuck Berry (Song; 1955)

Notting Hill (Film; 1999)

Ohio, by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Song; 1970)

Pagliacci, by Ruggero Leoncavallo (Opera; 1892)

Past Perfumance (WB MM Cartoon; 1955)

Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be, sung by Doris Day (Song; 1956)

The Real World (TV Series; 1992)

The Return of the Pink Panther (Film; 1975)

Riptide, by Vance Joy (Song; 2013)

The Road Warrior (Film; 1982)

The Secret of the Hittites, by C.W. Ceram (History Book; 1956)

Shrek Forever After (Animated Film; 2010)

Snow Excuse (WB MM Cartoon; 1966)

Sour, by Olivia Rodrigo (Album; 2021)

Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (UK Film; 1980)

Terminator Salvation (Film; 2009)

Under the Boardwalk, recorded by The Drifters (Song; 1964)

What’s Going On, by Marvin Gaye (Album; 1971)

Today’s Name Days

Christoph, Constantin, Josef, Julio (Austria)

Elena, Konstantin, Kosta, Kostadin, Kostadinka, Lenko, Stoyan (Bulgaria)

Dubravka, Eugen, Kristofor (Croatia)

Monika (Czech Republic)

Helene (Denmark)

Kindel, Konstantin, Kostel, Tiino (Estonia)

Konsta, Konstantin, Kosti (Finland)

Constantin (France)

Hermann, Konst, Wiltrud (Germany)

Constantine, Constantina, Elena, Elene, Eleni, Helen, Konstantina, Konstantinos, Lena, Nantia (Greece)

Konstantin (Hungary)

Angelo, Giulia, Vittorio (Italy)

Ernestine, Ingmārs, Vinija (Latvia)

Vaidivutis, Valentas, Vydmina (Lithuania)

Eli, Ellen, Helene (Norway)

Donat, Donata, Jan, Kryspin, Przecława, Pudens, Tymoteusz, Walenty, Wiktor, Wiktoriusz (Poland)

Constantin, Elena (România)

Zina (Slovakia)

Cristóbal, Virginia (Spain)

Conny, Konstantin (Sweden)

Constance, Constantine, Helen (Ukraine)

Adelric, Adiel, Audric, Keaton, Kendrick (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 141 of 2024; 224 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 7 of week 20 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Huath (Hawthorn) [Day 8 of 28]

Chinese: Month 4 (Ding-Si), Day 3 (Ji-Mao)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 1 Sivan 5783

Islamic: 1 Dhu al-Qada 1444

J Cal: 20 Bīja; Sixday [20 of 30]

Julian: 8 May 2023

Moon: 4%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 1 St. Paul (6th Month) [St. Luke]

Runic Half Month: Ing (Expansive Energy) [Day 12 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 63 of 90)

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 1 of 32)

Calendar Changes

Ḏū al-Qaʿdah [ذُو ٱلْقَعْدَة] (Islamic Calendar) [Month 11 of 12] (The One of Truce/Sitting)

Gemini (The Twins) begins [Zodiac Sign 3; thru 6.21]

Saint Paul (Catholicism) [Month 6 of 13; Positivist]

Sivan (a.k.a. Sīwān or Siwan) [סִיוָן / סיוון‎] (Hebrew Calendar) [Month 3 of 12]

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 5.21

Holidays

Afro-Colombian Day (Colombia)

Agricultural Fair Day

Anti-Terrorism Day (India)

Circassian Day of Mourning

Daylilly Day (French Republic)

Day of Patriots and Military (Hungary)

Emergency Medical Services Day

EMS Health, Wellness & Resilience Day

End of the World Day

Feast of the Triple Scoop

Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Hug Your Interior Designer Day

Hummel Day (a.k.a. Sister Maria Hummel Day)

"I Need A Patch For That" Day

Journée Nationale des Patriotes (National Patriots' Day; Quebec)

Keanu Reeves Day

Lilies and Roses Day (UK)

National American Red Cross Founder’s Day

National Mamey Day

National Memo Day

National Patriots’ Day (Quebec, Canada)

National Talk Like Yoda Day

Natura 2000 Day (EU)

Navy Day (Chile)

Neighbor Day (Rhode Island)

Passion Play Day (Germany)

Pogo Stick Day

Rapture Party Day (2011 prediction by Harold Camping)

Red Cross Day

Saint Helena Day (Saint Helena)

Sanja Matsuri begins (Tokyo, Japan)

Send a Letter Day

Slap a Patch On It Day

United States Cyber Command Day

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (UN)

World Fish Migration Day

World Meditation Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

International Tea Day [also 12.15]

National Mourvèdre Day

National Waitstaff Day (a.k.a. Waiters and Waitresses Day)

Strawberries and Cream Day

3rd Sunday in May

Aunt's Day [3rd Sunday]

Bay to Breakers Race Day (San Francisco, California) [3rd Sunday]

Commemoration Day of Fallen Soldiers (Finland) [3rd Sunday]

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions by the Soviet Regime (Ukraine) [3rd Sunday]

Father’s Day (Tonga) [3rd Sunday]

Flower Day (Michigan) [3rd Sunday]

I Am An American Day [3rd Sunday]

International AIDS Candlelight Memorial [3rd Sunday]

International Day of the Baltic Harbour Porpoise [3rd Sunday]

My Other Mother's Day [3rd Sunday]

National Famine Memorial Day [3rd Sunday]

No Menthol Day [3rd Sunday]

Peace Day [3rd Sunday]

Ride a Unicycle Day [3rd Sunday]

Rural Life Sunday (Canada) [3rd Sunday]

Soil Stewardship Day [3rd Sunday]

Stepmother's Day [3rd Sunday]

Take Your Parents to the Playground Day [3rd Sunday]

World Baking Day [3rd Sunday]

Independence Days

Montenegro (from Serbia, 2006)

Southwest Vineland (Declared; 2021) [unrecognized]

Valentia Riqueza and Grandeza (a.k.a. ValeVRG; Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Agonalia (Ancient Rome) [also 1.9 & 12.11]

Albrecht Dürer (Artology)

Anastenarides Feast (Ancient Greek festival of dancing barefoot on hot coals)

Arcangelo Tadini (Christian; Saint)

Adílio Daronch and Manuel Gómez González (Christian; Saint)

Christopher Magallanes, and other Saints of the Cristero War (Christian; Saint)

Day of the Twins: Beginning of Gemini (Astrology/Pagan)

Emperor Constantine I (Christian; Saint)

Eugène de Mazenod (Christian; Saint)

Felix of Cantalicio (Christian; Saint)

Festival for Vevodus (God of the Dead, Swamps & Volvanic Movements; Ancient Rome)

Festival of Demeter (Greek Barley Mother Goddess)

Festival of Vejovis (Roman God of Healing)

42 Day (Pastafarian)

Franz Jägerstätter (Christian; Saint)

Free Money Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Godrick of Finkley (Christian; Saint)

Green Four-Net (Muppetism)

Helena of Constantinople (a.k.a. "Feast of the Holy Great Sovereigns Constantine and Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles,” Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion)

Henri Rousseau (Artology)

Hospitius (Christian; Saint)

Ponder Pointlessness Day (Pastafarian)

John Elliot (Episcopal Church)

Saint Camping’s Day (Discordian)

St. Luke (Positivist; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 24 of 60)

Premieres

Alison, by Elvis Costello (Song; 1977)

Annie (Film; 1982)

The Conquest of Everest, by John Hurt (Memoir; 1954)

Curtain Razor (WB LT Cartoon; 1949)

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (Film; 1982)

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Silent Film; 1908)

Gimme All Your Lovin’, by ZZ Top (Music Video; 1983)

Godzilla vs. Kong (Film; 2021)

Gypsy (Broadway Musical; 1959)

Hot Shots! Part Deux (Film; 1993)

Injun Trouble (WB LT Cartoon; 1938)

Mad Max 2 (Film; 1982)

Maybellene, recorded by Chuck Berry (Song; 1955)

Notting Hill (Film; 1999)

Ohio, by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Song; 1970)

Pagliacci, by Ruggero Leoncavallo (Opera; 1892)

Past Perfumance (WB MM Cartoon; 1955)

Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be, sung by Doris Day (Song; 1956)

The Real World (TV Series; 1992)

The Return of the Pink Panther (Film; 1975)

Riptide, by Vance Joy (Song; 2013)

The Road Warrior (Film; 1982)

The Secret of the Hittites, by C.W. Ceram (History Book; 1956)

Shrek Forever After (Animated Film; 2010)

Snow Excuse (WB MM Cartoon; 1966)

Sour, by Olivia Rodrigo (Album; 2021)

Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (UK Film; 1980)

Terminator Salvation (Film; 2009)

Under the Boardwalk, recorded by The Drifters (Song; 1964)

What’s Going On, by Marvin Gaye (Album; 1971)

Today’s Name Days

Christoph, Constantin, Josef, Julio (Austria)

Elena, Konstantin, Kosta, Kostadin, Kostadinka, Lenko, Stoyan (Bulgaria)

Dubravka, Eugen, Kristofor (Croatia)

Monika (Czech Republic)

Helene (Denmark)

Kindel, Konstantin, Kostel, Tiino (Estonia)

Konsta, Konstantin, Kosti (Finland)

Constantin (France)

Hermann, Konst, Wiltrud (Germany)

Constantine, Constantina, Elena, Elene, Eleni, Helen, Konstantina, Konstantinos, Lena, Nantia (Greece)

Konstantin (Hungary)

Angelo, Giulia, Vittorio (Italy)

Ernestine, Ingmārs, Vinija (Latvia)

Vaidivutis, Valentas, Vydmina (Lithuania)

Eli, Ellen, Helene (Norway)

Donat, Donata, Jan, Kryspin, Przecława, Pudens, Tymoteusz, Walenty, Wiktor, Wiktoriusz (Poland)

Constantin, Elena (România)

Zina (Slovakia)

Cristóbal, Virginia (Spain)

Conny, Konstantin (Sweden)

Constance, Constantine, Helen (Ukraine)

Adelric, Adiel, Audric, Keaton, Kendrick (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 141 of 2024; 224 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 7 of week 20 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Huath (Hawthorn) [Day 8 of 28]

Chinese: Month 4 (Ding-Si), Day 3 (Ji-Mao)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 1 Sivan 5783

Islamic: 1 Dhu al-Qada 1444

J Cal: 20 Bīja; Sixday [20 of 30]

Julian: 8 May 2023

Moon: 4%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 1 St. Paul (6th Month) [St. Luke]

Runic Half Month: Ing (Expansive Energy) [Day 12 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 63 of 90)

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 1 of 32)

Calendar Changes

Ḏū al-Qaʿdah [ذُو ٱلْقَعْدَة] (Islamic Calendar) [Month 11 of 12] (The One of Truce/Sitting)

Gemini (The Twins) begins [Zodiac Sign 3; thru 6.21]

Saint Paul (Catholicism) [Month 6 of 13; Positivist]

Sivan (a.k.a. Sīwān or Siwan) [סִיוָן / סיוון‎] (Hebrew Calendar) [Month 3 of 12]