#minister of state

[halberdierminister]

Look at this cool new t-shirt I made for fans of Abraham Lincoln! I made it on my own time, with my own resources, and without any affiliation to existing public or private institutions concerned with history, education, hospitality, culture or retail. You can find it at my new Threadless shop or directly at bit.ly/imissabe

[tampire]

The Minister of State for Energy with his queer lover in Good Omens S01E03 - Hard Times

[wearenotjustnumbers2]

If you're having a hard time acknowledging the destruction and the severity of the genocide.

[proudzionist]

Benjamin Netanyahu gave an excellent speech to Congress 👏👏👏

Meanwhile loser lunatics we're doing what they do best : acting like a bunch of crazies who have no life !

They serve no purpose but to destroy .

Too bad these lunatics couldn't be sent to Gaza or Palestine.

America needs to wake up and hold these lunatics accountable.

If they hate America so much ?

Then get out nobody sane and with actual morals want you there anyways .

The same lunatics that hate Israel hate you too America .

Hold these lunatics accountable asap !

[jewreallythinkthat]

How can Israel be allowed to exist after citizens literally rioted over the fact that IDF soldiers might be punished for raping a prisoner? And after government officials defended that rape? Not to mention those who repeatedly blocked aid going into Gaza with no punishment.

Hi Nonnie.

Firstly, thanks for actually posing this as a question rather than just hurling abuse at me.

So, having extremists in a country - both civilians and in government - does not mean that a country has no right to exist. We literally have had fascist riots in the UK (caused by the English Defence League) the past few days based around misinformation which have targeted mosques and these are horrific but do not mean the UK should be dissolved. Expecting a country which does things that are bad, or has horrific fascists in government to be dissolved as punishment is not only nonsensical but also never going to happen. It's an ideological purity position which does nothing to help anyone.

Additionally, you never see anyone saying Iran should be dissolved for torturing women to death for wearing the hijab incorrectly, or hanging people who say things the regime doesn't like; you don't see people say the USA should be dissolved because lawmakers tried to stop aid going to Ukraine and ICE were putting children in cages and tormenting asylum seekers and immigrants. You cannot hold Israel to a higher standard than other countries.

In terms of what I've seen about the rape of prisoners, it's fucking horrific. It's unconscionable and must be condemned unequivocally - no ifs, no buts. This is a especially important topic to me personally as a man who has been sexually assaulted. The government ministers protecting them are far right extremists. They are awful people and I hope one day, soon, they will face severe consequences for their actions. The same goes for the civilians who tried to protect the perpetrators.

Those blocking aid should be punished for it. The aid situation is actually really quite complicated despite what a lot of online sources they to portray it as. The Standing Together food convoys being blocked was pretty much a manufactured issue by ST refusing to comply with rules about declaring and clearing aid so it could be sent in. They knew it would be blocked and they did it anyway. (There is a post about this from an ex member of ST which is around somewhere and I'll link back here if I find it).

The nationalist extremist citizens blocking aid are despicable however if they are saying "no aid in until our hostages come out" do you understand why they might take that viewpoint? I do not agree with it but I certainly can see why people might get to that position. I appreciate the whole of Gaza is in crisis however I can understand why people may see this as their only way to protest and try and force Hamas to release hostages (unfortunately it seems like Hamas cares even less about the lives of the average Palestinian than they do about the average Israeli.)

The fact that Hamas also steels aid, there are literal videos of this happening and Hamas attacking starving Gazans trying to get the food, and this goes ignored by so many people does not help. Now I would say that if 90% of the aid is stolen by Hamas, at least 10% gets through and that's better than nothing in my opinion but at the same time, if no one is condemning the aid being stolen and in some cases sold back to Gazans at huge prices to make more money for Hamas, then whats the point in trying to have a civil conversation.

If someone refuses to see that there are Terrible People on both sides, people who really showcase how low humanity can sink, then how can sustainable peace ever be achieved for Israelis and Palestinians.

[vox-anglosphere]

Decades later, Winston Churchill's funeral still touches the British heart and soul. The background music is all the narration you need.

[caswlw]

i’m just so devastated, exhausted, and emotionally drained. steve kornacki, thanks for your service. big fuck you to anyone who abstained, voted for trump, or voted third party.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

[aahsoka]

this drama trying to trick me into believing the left state minister is a nice guy as if the left state minister isnt always the villain

[broadpreedglobalnews]

📰 Paetongtarn Shinawatra Becomes Thailand's Youngest Prime Minister

On Friday, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, a newcomer to politics, was chosen as Thailand's youngest prime minister by the nation's parliament 🏛️. Her election comes shortly after a turbulent power struggle among the country's elite ⚔️.

The 37-year-old daughter of the controversial political figure Thaksin Shinawatra easily secured a majority in the parliamentary vote 🗳️, taking on the role just two days after the judiciary dismissed her ally, Srettha Thavisin, as prime minister. This puts her in a pivotal position, with the future of the influential Shinawatra family's political legacy at stake 🔗 after their first electoral defeat in over two decades 📉.

Paetongtarn will be Thailand's second female prime minister 👩‍⚖️, following in the footsteps of her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra and her father Thaksin, both of whom previously held the position. In her first statement as prime minister-elect, she expressed her resolve to lead the country forward 🌍, despite the recent upheavals ⛈️.

Winning with 319 votes, nearly two-thirds of the house 🏠, Paetongtarn shared her joy on Instagram 📱 by posting a picture of her lunch 🍗, symbolizing her first meal after the successful vote ✅.

Her appointment marks a risky move for the Pheu Thai party 🎲, led by her 75-year-old father, Thaksin. She will face immediate challenges, including a struggling economy 💸, growing competition from rival parties 🥊, and unmet promises from her party's cash handout programme 💰.

The political environment remains tense, with Thailand's history of coups and judicial interventions ⚖️ that have repeatedly disrupted governments. Paetongtarn's leadership will be closely watched 👀 as she navigates these turbulent waters 🌊, with the Shinawatra family's influence and political alliances at the center of the ongoing power struggle.

[drivingsideways]

The Matchmakers (2023)- Review

A funny, smart youth fusion sageuk? Rowoon- whom I swear to god I would not have been able to pick out of a lineup of idol actors 2 weeks ago-  making me CRY in the year of our Lord 2024???? You could knock me over with a feather right now. 

Writer Ha Soo-jin and PDs Hwang Seung-gi and Kim Soo-jin did not drop the ball even once over 16 episodes- a true feat in kdrama land. More than the actors, it was the impressive lock-step of the creative/production team that got me in this one. I'm trying to put into words the oddness of it after: apparently I can be persuaded to buy a product (heterosexual romance kdrama version) that I would usually avoid, as long as it crosses a threshold of custom-made-for-me features.  I know I've been had, but it's done with such sly charm and madcap energy that I'm not even the least bit angry about it. 

This isn't to say that the drama isn't thoughtful: it is, very much. In an era when falling birthrates and fascism are making governments across the world decide that women have probably had too much freedom and are actively enacting policies that violate women's fundamental rights over their personhood, The Matchmakers is a tongue-in-cheek response that's deadly serious about its fundamental idea: that women are individuals who will and should act to preserve the sanctity of that gift of life.  

At the start of the series, its main antagonist- Park Ji young in an arresting role and performance- says "If a Nation is a tree with deep roots, then those roots are its WOMEN." Of course, this is a delightful statement on many levels- starting with the sheer brazenness with which the joke that sends up one of the most acclaimed and beloved sageuks is made; it also situates the character in opposition with the morality of Confucian-era Joseon of the series where women were to be kinda, sorta seen and definitely not heard etc. and makes us instantly- in our post-feminist complacence- sympathetic to her. But wait: as the series unravels its many, many, many threads, we begin to see the sleight of hand. For this Strong Woman Character ™  is, after all, preaching an old and well-worn moral code: for the woman, The Family is Everything. Unless you’ve been under a rock for a few years, it might have come to your notice that this Idea ™ is being repackaged and tik-tokified up as neo-conservatism and fascism gains ground once more in our feral capitalist hellscape. The show is full of women who've had to or are making choices for the Family (survival, honour, future)- at the cost of their own happiness and identities because that is their Fate. Even Madam Park, widely acknowledged as the most brilliant mind in Joseon- is not exempt from this; taking- limited- control of a system designed to grind you down doesn’t mean freedom, only fear and eternal vigilance. For me, it was the perfect choice and characterization of the villain that set this show apart from the others of its genre- that told me that it had something to say after all.

That said, I don’t think The Matchmakers is particularly radical or subversive- here’s where the perfect commodification of kdrama and the show’s chosen genre blunts it-terrible things happen in families and to women in particular, yes, but we’re never allowed to contemplate those things too long; we’re being distracted by the next flourish in the shenanigans-filled plot. Heterosexual marriage is reconfigured but never seriously rejected; queer people exist but are not happy. Perhaps it takes a Jeong Seo Kyung (Little Women, 2022) or Lim Dae-hyung/ Jeon Go-woon (LTNS, 2024) to smash that particular barrier- but in its defense, The Matchmakers does what all love stories  set out to do and does it well- which is to reaffirm our belief in Love as the ultimate liberation; both the weapon and balm of our fragile lives. And it does, very firmly, plant its feet on the side of liberating the women who each find their courage to reassert their selves as the most necessary and valuable possession in a society which only sees value in their uteruses.

Tl; dr: watch it for its delightful women, its Wodehouse-ian shenanigans in regency romance/sageuk aesthetic, its quietly moving love story about letting love and life surprise you over and over again, and yeah, I guess you should also watch it for Rowoon being a “disgruntled pelican” as correctly described by @elderflowergin.

[reuna]

ICJ ruling shows that ‘no state is above the law’: Maliki

Riyadh Maliki, Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs, has issued a statement responding to the International Court of Justice’s ruling on the emergency measures requested by South Africa in its genocide case against Israel over its war on the Gaza Strip.

Here is his full statement:

Palestine welcomes the significant order by the International Court of Justice in South Africa’s case against Israel under the Genocide Convention. In light of the incontrovertible evidence presented to the Court about the unfolding genocide, the ICJ ordered these provisional measures.

The ICJ ruling is an important reminder that no state is above the law or beyond the reach of justice. It breaks Israel’s entrenched culture of criminality and impunity, which has characterized its decades-long occupation, dispossession, persecution, and apartheid in Palestine.

Israel failed to convince the Court that it was not violating the Genocide Convention. The ICJ judges saw through Israel’s politicization, deflection, and outright lies. They assessed the facts and the law and ordered provisional measures that recognized the gravity of the situation on the ground and the veracity of South Africa’s application. Israel is accused of destroying an entire people and will now stand accused of Genocide, the crime of all crimes.

Palestine calls on all states to ensure respect for the order of the International Court of Justice, including by Israel. Governments must ensure they are not complicit in this genocide, starting with stopping arms trade with Israel. Governments must also endeavor to stop the industrial slaughter and destruction in Gaza. This is now a binding legal obligation.

The Palestinian people and leadership will be forever grateful to the people and goverment of South Africa for taking this bold step of active solidarity. We are also grateful to the millions of people who have not stopped taking to the streets around the world to protest the genocide and champion Palestinian rights to life and freedom.

Palestine will continue to work with allies to ensure an end to the genocide, accountability for the atrocious crimes, and the protection of our collective rights as peoples of the world to equal human rights, justice, and freedom. This is a fight for humanity the world cannot afford to lose.

[girlthativealwaysbeen]

i think growing up is just life repeatedly sucker punching you and saying bitch you thought things were gonna better lmao no you're so naive and stupid for having hope in 20 years the world will be flaming bag of garbage and no matter how hard you work you'll get eliminated at some point

[nando161mando]

BREAKING: Major protest breaks out in Tel Aviv, Israel, calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign.

[art-from-within]

✨Under Cover✨

[awesomecooperlove]

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