#specifically because of the news that shahid is dead

[iturbide]

I love how your tag for GW Claude acting funky is "claude got bodyswapped by an agarthan" lmaooo IT ALL LINES UP, FINALLY

okay but legit, claude being bodyswapped is terrifying?? like even aside from the mess in Fodlan, he's still the favorite son of the king of Almyra, so just IMAGINE one of the Twisted getting their hands on that throne....eugh

LOOK EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE IF WE ASSUME THAT THE CHARACTER IN THREE HOPES IS ACTUALLY AN AGARTHAN WITH CLAUDE'S FACE I say as I stand in front of my corkboard running on two hours of sleep and several gallons of tea

BUT NO IT REALLY IS A TERRIFYING THOUGHT because Claude holds an incredibly high rank: they might have had an agent high in the Kingdom court and Edelgard under her thumb, but replacing the head of the Alliance round table puts them in an unprecedented position of power. I haven't played the game yet, so I'm not sure when he starts acting out of sorts, but it's entirely possible he got swapped before restructuring the Alliance government to make himself king -- but even if he didn't, that just gives them more power to abuse (and abuse it they clearly do, given the whole Kingdom Invasion. Even assuming that the Agarthans don't have a way of accessing the memories of the people who they're impersonating and need to extract that information by either coercion or force, and assuming that Claude wouldn't give them anything to work with (so no inkling of his Almyran connections whatsoever, no insight into his deeper goals and ambitions, probably going so far as to actively mislead them about his usual demeanor and work ethic), it doesn't matter once they've secured that level of power and influence in the Alliance.

If they do find out details about the Almyra connection, though...having them expand their foothold across the Locket, using the king's favor for his son to entrench themselves? That's some majorly bad news. Here's hoping that they, at least, might realize that something is wrong with him if an Agarthan wearing Claude's face tries to insert himself back in their midst.

[creepingsharia]

A Month of Islam in America: August 2019

Jihadis, sharia and Islamic scams in every state. And this is just what was found using public sources. What‘s happening in - and to - your state?

Click any link below for more details and link to original source.

Jihad in America in July

New York: Pakistani Muslim immigrant in Queens plotted jihad attacks at World’s Fair Marina and Flushing Bay Promenade

Awais Chudhary, 19, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Pakistan, identified the pedestrian bridges over the Grand Central Parkway to the Flushing Bay Promenade (the Promenade) and the World’s Fair Marina (the Marina) as locations for the attack.  On Aug. 23, 2019, Chudhary told an undercover agent that he intended to use a knife “because that’s what he knows,” but if the undercover agent could instruct him on how to build a bomb, he would consider using an explosive device at a “mini-bridge over a busy road with many cars.”

Florida: Muslim immigrant gets 20 years for distributing bomb instructions

Tayyab Tahir Ismail, 33, of Pembroke Pines, Florida, previously pled guilty to Count 2 of an Indictment that charged him with distributing information pertaining to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 842(p)(2) (Case No. 18-60352-CR-Moore).  U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore sentenced Ismail to 240 months in prison,  followed by three years of supervised release.

Arkansas: Muslim Immigrant Charged With Providing Material Support to Al Qa’ida While Overseas

Bilal Al-Rayanni, also known as Bilal Kassim Alawdi, 28, a Yemeni national and resident of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, was charged on August 8 in a two-count superseding indictment with providing and attempting to provide material support to Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula, also known as Ansar al-Shari’a, a designated foreign terrorist organization, and making a false statement in a passport application.

Wisconsin: Second Milwaukee Muslim gets 5 1/2 years in plot to join Islamic State

Yosvany Padilla-Conde, a Cuban immigrant convicted of armed robbery at 17, converted to Islam and swore allegiance to ISIS.

Padilla-Conde made videos in which he swore allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and said he planned to travel to the Middle East. 

“In 2015 and 2016, ISIS perpetrated hellish levels of violence. To this, Padilla-Conde was drawn and sought to contribute,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memo.

Missouri: Bosnian Muslim refugee who funded Islamic State gets 5 1/2 years prison

Armin Harcevic, 41, who supplied money to help a man who fought and died for the Islamic State in Syria was sentenced Friday to five and one-half years in prison.

Harcevic, who came to the U.S. in December 1999, will be deported after he is released from prison. He was one of six people originally from Bosnia who were indicted in 2015.

Connecticut: Muslim Immigrant Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Provide Material Support to ISIS

Azizjon Rakhmatov, 32, a citizen of Uzbekistan and resident of New Haven, Connecticut, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). New York: Two Muslim Women in Queens Plead Guilty in Plot to Wage Jihad in the U.S.

Queens, New York: Two Muslim Women Plead Guilty in Plot to Wage Jihad in the U.S.

Asia Siddiqui and Noelle Velentzas, both citizens of the United States and residents of Queens, pleaded guilty to teaching and distributing information pertaining to the making and use of an explosive, destructive device, and weapon of mass destruction, intending that it be used to commit a federal crime of violence.

Noelle Velentzas goes by the name Amtu Shahid and she worked on behalf of the notorious Muslim organization Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA).

Montana: Muslim Immigrant Pleads Guilty to Lying About Jihad

Fabjan Alameti, a New York City resident who was arrested at a Bozeman shooting range, today pleaded guilty to charges of making false statements involving international terrorism to the FBI, announced U.S. Attorney Kurte Alme for the District of Montana.

Alameti, 21, pleaded guilty to two counts of false statements to a federal officer in a matter involving international terrorism. He faces a maximum eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Maryland: Muslim Immigrant Indicted for Attempting to Provide Material Support to Islamic State

A federal grand jury today returned a superseding indictment charging Rondell Henry, 28, of Germantown, Maryland, with federal charges of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, specifically, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle.

Texas: Muslim Charged with Conspiring to Provide Material Support to ISIS

Omer Kuzu ��� a 23-year-old U.S. citizen born in Dallas, Texas – was detained overseas by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and recently transferred to FBI custody and returned to Texas. He made his initial appearance before Magistrate Judge Irma C. Ramirez in the Northern District of Texas today.

[No Photo Available]

Mexico arrests Muslim - a U.S. citizen - suspected of supporting violent jihad

Federal officials have arrested a United States citizen and suspected jihadist at a migrants’ center in Huehuetan, Chiapas, near the Guatemala border.

The suspect, identified only as Mohammed “A,” is being investigated in the U.S. for supporting jihadist groups and was sought by Interpol citizen” jihadist caught in Mexico.

More on the “U.S. citizen”  jihadist caught in Mexico

The man, identified by Mexican media as “Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa”, was found and arrested at a migrant detention center in the town of Huehuetan...

I was told that Chhipa actually was outbound from the United States and on his way toward a foreign jihadist group to join them, at least initially to Egypt. The reason Chhipa was traveling southward away from the United States was because he was on the American “no-fly” list and couldn’t depart from an American airport.

More Jihad in America in August

Florida: Muslim tries to slash Walmart employee, yells threats in Arabic

NYC: Muslim shouting “Allah Akbar” shoves NYT illustrator onto subway tracks

Philadelphia: Man who shot six cops attended radical mosque

New York: Imam Active in Interfaith Work Disseminates Extremist Propaganda on the Side

Immigration Jihad

New Jersey: Former Afghan Interpreter Indicted in Scheme to Smuggle Illegals from Afghanistan to U.S.

Somali, Algerian and Iranian arrested for smuggling scores of illegals from Africa and Middle East into Brazil, and ultimately into the U.S.

Bangladeshi Muslim Pleads Guilty to Bringing Illegals to the U.S. from Mexico

Minnesota: Iranian national pleads guilty, stole restricted U.S. technology and exported to Iran

California: Muslim immigrant in LA gets 30 years for scheme to sell surface-to-air missiles to Libyan militants, Hizbollah

Missouri: Somali Immigrant Charged with Kidnapping Daughter of Girlfriend Found Dead, Stuffed in Suitcase

Sharia in Schools aka Education Jihad in America

Michigan: All the meat in Dearborn schools is now halal, i.e., sharia compliant... at taxpayer expense

Tax-Payer Funded Islamic Propaganda Forced on Teachers in Michigan, California, Georgia, Texas, Florida

Virginia: Methodist-Affiliated Shenandoah University Hires Muslim Chaplain

Submission to Sharia in America

CAIR Official Admits Women Don’t Have Equal Rights Under Sharia Law

Connecticut: Terror-linked CAIR tries to shakedown minor league baseball team owner, fails

Minnesota: Bloomington Mosque Blasting Neighborhood with Islamic Call to Prayer (VIDEO)

Pennsylvania: Minor league stadium, home to the Iron Pigs, to host Muslim “festival of sacrifice” event

New Jersey: Muslims take over Metlife (Giants) Stadium for (segregated) Islamic “festival of sacrifice” prayer

Previous monthly reports here.

Sexual Jihad in America

Texas: Muslim cleric ordered to pay $2.55M in sexual exploitation of teen girl

Philadelphia: Immigrant Uber Driver Convicted of Raping Unconscious Female Passenger

Fraud for Jihad

Missouri: Somali Immigrant Day Care Owner Gets 4 Years in $556,000 Fraud Scheme

Maine: Muslim pleads guilty in tax preparation scheme run out of Portland halal market

California: Egyptian Physician to Pay Back $5M in Medicare Fraud Scheme

Dhimmitude in Elected Office and Courts

FBI Report: Question the Islamberg Compound, You're a Potential “Domestic Extremist”

California: Judge vacates sentence of convicted terrorist, blames CAIR lawyer’s incompetence

Democrat Presidential Candidates Bernie Sanders, Julian Castro to Speak at Terror-linked Group’s Islamic Convention

Minnesota: City of Bloomington pays $28K for driveway that increases fair market value of terror-linked Dar Al Farooq Property

Texas: First Known Convicted Terrorist Asked For ‘First Step Act’ Early Prison Release

Saudi judges: American woman “too Western” to raise daughter she had with Saudi ex-husband

And if that wasn’t enough, Muslims who live by, and want everyone to live by the sharia, are going to try and make that a reality by getting elected.

Tennessee: Nigerian immigrant  woman could become first Muslim voted to Nashville city government:

Ohio: Somali Muslim refugee seeks to become first in 25th House District

Please share this report on your social media sites before it’s too late.

Previous monthly reports here.

[irismadison]

tracking down sources on this Russian news report about a Covid-19 cure sparking anti-vax sentiment

In our Slavic circles and social media groups a video-clip has made the rounds of this news report from the Kazakh news station "Хабар 24". A bit frustrating to our fully vaxxed family, is that this video made some we know cancel their vaccination appointments, because "if the cure is almost ready, why risk the side-effects of the vaccine?"

I am trying to understand, how much of what reported was factual and find the sources of the reported content VS how much of it was sensationalism for views and clicks. From the pixelated video-clip, I tracked down the original broadcast: https://youtu.be/yNNeKKHw3XA?t=1032 The shared clip was the section 17:12 - 19:30 from broadcast in the linked YouTube video.

My Russian transcript:

news caster 17:12: "Israeli scientists developed a drug for treating the Corona virus, which is based on technology of growing stem-cells and the first trials already show excellent results. Patients who were literally almost dead recovered, without any post-covid / long-covid after effects."

on-screen text 17:32: "Israel, Haifa - Scientists developed a drug against the Corona Virus"

voice-over 17:29: "Scientists and doctors, still reserved in drawing early conclusions, but don't hide their joy: The results are earth-shattering. Patients on ventilators, almost destined to die recovered after receiving the new drug. It's possibly the world's first Corona drug, that can help the fight with the epidemic."

on-screen text 17:50: "Tomer Bronshtein - Developer of the drug"

voice-over translating Tomer Bronshtein into Russian 17:48: "We have been researching stem-cells for many years, they have an invaluable property to calm-down the immune system. You could say they are like the ambulance in the human body. For instance, if there is damaged tissue, they can restore the tissue. We use specifically this property when we try to extinguish the cytokine-storm in the human body during the corona virus."

voice-over 18:09: "The trials were conducted urgently, right in the corona-virus ward of the hospital Rambam. It was tested on patients the most severe corona cases. Already after the first injection the condition visibly improved. The people came back out of coma, started breathing and were quickly recovering. Most importantly, the cytokine storm stopped, one of the most frightening effects of the virus. The immune system starts attacking the own human organism, destroying it and leading to a lethal outcome. Besides that, Covid causes heavy pneumonia, when the lungs stop working and a person cannot breath on their own."

on-screen text 18:45: "Shahid Hamud - head of ward in hospital 'Rambam'"

voice-over translating Shahid Hamud into Russian 18:43: "We also noticed two important parameters, when checking the patients. We perform computer-tomography before and after treatment and also analysis and computer-tomography after a month after treatment [sic] and suddenly saw a quick reduction of lung inflammation. We see essentially clean lungs a month after treatment. It usually doesn't happen that quickly."

voice-over 19:04: "The stage-2 trial begins. In the trial the drug will be tested on 60 patients, also in other countries and soon the number of patients tested on will become multiple hundreds. The drug based on stem-cells is great, because compared to anti-biotics or anti-virus drugs there are almost no dangerous side-effects. The most important achievement of the drug the possibility of saving the servilely sick and strongly lower the mortality of Covid."

The report is a bit of a mess filled with buzzwords, without naming the actual drug even once in the whole report. What was the report referring to? I found multiple online articles in connection with the "Rambam Hospital" and Covid-19 trials, some refer to a drug named 'TXA127 / TXA27' some to 'MesenCure'. Articles mention different details about said trial and none managed to link a Paper or a Trial-Protocol. The research gate profile of the interviewed scientists may or may be this: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tomer-Bronshtein

Can someone make sense of this and provide a bit of context?

submitted by /u/Frost-Kiwi [link] [comments] from /r/medicine: a subreddit for medical professionals https://ift.tt/3lobZsy

[ali-bhutto-blog]

Graveyard of honour-killing victims

Feature published in Newsline.

At night, they would come in stealth, to bury the bodies of their women. The next morning, local shepherds would stumble upon freshly dug graves. The Mounds of the Jagiranis, or Graves of the Jagiranis (Jagiranin jo Kabrustan), as they have come to be known, are located in Larkana district’s remote union council of Jummo Agham. Up until the year 2001, according to locals, the desolate spot was frequented by only three kinds of people: shepherds, bandits on the run and men who had killed their wives, daughters and sisters, in the name of honour.

Today, 14-year-old Shahid Hussain Lolai, a shepherd from the neighbouring village of Lashkari Lolai, roams the graveyard with a friend. His goats graze on wild shrubs growing around the graves. This picnic spot for cattle hides beneath its surface layers of dark histories, of women who are now history. It is no secret among residents of the surrounding villages, who are hesitant to talk about a subject inextricably linked to the honour and izzat of their community. Even the children are well-versed in the ways of honour. “Women who committed zina were buried here,” Shahid tells me. Under Sharia law, the term implies illicit sexual relations – including adultery and intercourse between unmarried couples.

The graves are scattered across approximately 100 acres of saline terrain that has the outward appearance of a wasteland, large parts of which are now being prepared for cultivation by local Lolai, Brohi and Rajpar tribesmen. Soon, all the graves will vanish, as if they never existed, and all that will remain are skeletons of the past. “Many karis are buried in this graveyard, which is roughly 50 years old,” says Habib Rahman Abro, a retired district superintendent of police and a resident of the neighbouring village of Jummo Agham. “A Brohi settlement lies to the west of the graveyard, a Lolai village to its south-west and a Lohar village to its north,” he says.

Most victims of honour-killings buried at the site belong to various Baloch tribes settled within a 10-kilometre radius, according to former journalist Ubed Buledi, whose village, Morio Khan Lolai, is located three kilometres from the graveyard. Ubed wrote about the graves in 2001 for The Mirror – an English language daily circulated in rural Sindh – and a publication called The Orbit.

Due to UC Jummo Agham’s relative proximity to the Sindh-Balochistan border, men have travelled from Balochistan’s Dera Murad Jamali, Usta Muhammad, Gandhaka and Kachi Pul, to bury their women in this spot, according to Habib Buledi, another journalist who wrote about the graveyard in a Sindhi language daily called Tehreek-e-Sindh. Whenever he, or other reporters wrote about the site, they “had to censor certain information, such as the names of the tribes to which the women belonged, owing to local sensitivities,” he tells me.

But why was this specific area chosen for the burials? Convenience, suggests Habib. “The idea was to leave no trace of the murdered women,” he says. “Therefore, they would not be buried in their own localities.” The further away the better, for it reduced the chances of evidence being dug up. “Parts of this area are being brought under cultivation today, but up until 2006, we saw with our own eyes that it was a densely wooded expanse of land that had graves,” he adds. For many, it was the nearest spot that provided the cover to commit a murder and carry out a burial, all in pitch darkness. Another reason why this became the designated burial spot for karis, according to Ubed, is because they were considered “na-paak” (impure) and therefore deemed unworthy of being buried in a regular cemetery.

“Those who came from Balochistan had local contacts – relatives or fellow tribesmen in the surrounding villages from whom they learnt of this graveyard,” says Ubed. “They would come in advance and survey the location,” he continues. “The practice itself always happened at night; they would come in cars.”

The graves are unnamed and kaccha (earthen), bearing all the hallmarks of a clear case of ‘bury and run.’ There was, however, one brick grave, according to Habib. “Hurmat Jagirani had a grave built out of brick for her daughter, who had been killed in a case of karo-kari (honour killing),” he says. “But she too was killed and buried in the same graveyard.” The Graves of the Jagiranis happened to get their name from a Jagirani village that existed in the area up until 1973, after which the residents moved away. The burials of the karis, according to Ubed, started thereafter and continued up until 2001. He adds that some of the land currently under cultivation belonged to one influential local zamindar of the Rajpar tribe and was sold by family members after his death.

According to locals, the graves include those of Brohi women. Pir Bux Brohi is one of the villages nearest to the site and visible from the graveyard. A single-lane metalled road – the only one in the immediate vicinity – runs past the hamlet, which is a cluster of a few houses surrounded by a thick cover of tamarisk, babur and neem trees. The village is dead silent and gives the impression of a ghost town. Only three children and a donkey cart can be seen outside one walled compound, before a woman carrying a baby emerges and makes her way down the road.

Among the locally settled Baloch tribes, if an unmarried girl is suspected of having sexual liaisons, her father and brothers take matters into their own hands, says Ubed. “They tell the mother and relatives that they are taking the girl to a distant village to get her married,” he adds. Instead, she is murdered and buried. In the case of adulterous married women, he says “if their husbands do not kill them, the girls’ fathers and brothers will.” They are all usually on the same page when it comes to this decision, he says, adding, “if an FIR is lodged against the husband, the girl’s father and brothers say he is innocent as they already have a prior arrangement.

“In local tribal society, even if there is the slightest suspicion of a married woman being unfaithful, it leads to immense social pressure on not only the husband, but the woman’s own family as well,” says Ubed. “Word spreads in the marketplace and autaaqs and people say things like, ‘look at your woman, she’s been accused, yet you have done nothing,’” he adds, referring to the psychology behind the concept of ghairat, or honour. In traditional Sindhi culture, for a female to be seen interacting with a male who is not a member of her household, is enough to cast a shadow of doubt over her character.

When ascertaining the guilt of the woman in question, the sardars of the Baloch tribes of Upper Sindh, such as Buledi, Jagirani and Brohi, take the man’s word as the final say in the matter and there is no further investigation. In other words, if the husband, father or brother says the woman is guilty, then she must be, even if there is no evidence to back up the claim.

In such faislas, usually one of two punishments is imposed on an unfaithful woman: vadhee – which literally translates into ‘axed’ or ‘cut’ and means to kill – or kadhee, which means to expel from the home, according to Ubed. The boy involved in the illicit liaison, on the other hand, is fined. “The boy’s family have to give cash, or a piece of land, as compensation” says Ubed. “And if they are unable to do so, then a girl from their house [usually the boy’s sister] must be married off to the man whose wife the boy had had an affair with.” The girl’s life would be miserable in the home of her new husband, as she would be mistreated. “She would be married off, even if underage,” he adds.

With the land in and around the graveyard now under cultivation, chances are that the area will no longer serve as the location of choice for secret burials. Yet it is unlikely that this will, in any way, curb the custom of honour killings.