#team liberia

[taweetie]

“Jewelry spotted at the Paris Olympics! 🖤”

- Outlander Magazine (X — @/StreetFashion01)

[luvmesumus]

[goalhofer]

2024 olympics Liberia roster

Athletics

Jabez Reeves (Prince William County, Virginia)

John Sherman (La Vergne, Tennessee)

Emmanuel Matadi (St. Paul, Minnesota)

Joseph Fahnbulleh (Hopkins, Minnesota)

Akeem Sirleaf (St. Paul, Minnesota)

Thelma Davies (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Destiny Smith-Barnett (Oakland, California)

Ebony Morrison (Miami-Dade County, Florida)

[lourensz]

team liberia in uniforms designed by telfar clemens

[enarei]

After African missionaries circulated initial reports about the slave labor behind sugar in the 1790s, some consumers desisted from sugar entirely -- "anti-saccharites", mostly fervent Christians such as Quakers. As the East India importers created a market in Britain, anti-slavery societies became their free marketing teams, widely distributing pamphlets such as "What Does Your Sugar Cost?" A Cottage Conversation on the Subject of British Negro Slavery. Meanwhile, in America, the free-produce movement was led by black women, who encouraged their segregated groceries to buy only slavery-free goods.

The bind that free Black Americans faced in sourcing their food and raw materials was especially harsh. They were forced to buy "ethical" expensive cotton from white farmers instead of black slaves, which frustrated those trying to support black businesses. They sought coffee from Liberia and Haiti, hoping that the majority black demographics of these countries would support black uplift and prevent slave labor, and these created natural (and, indeed, slavery-free) coffee industries in those countries which indeed persisted for some decades.

The most surprising part of this story comes in the 1840s. After abolishing slavery in 1836, Britain had placed tariffs on slave-produced sugar in order to ensure fairness for British sugar producers who paid their laborers. This inflated sugar prices generally. Without tariffs, "free-labour sugar" would cost three times as much as its competition, defeating the East Indian importers' argument that slavery was a corrupt process which artificially inflated prices. It soon became clear that the writing was on the wall. In 1845, the primary importer of "free-labour sugar" exited the sugar market, and the following year, Britain decided to remove all the tariffs, for the benefit of consumers. Free-labour sugar completely vanished as a category thereafter.

Meanwhile in the United States, abolitionists criticized the free-produce movement as ineffective; similar to "free-labour sugar", it only placed an extra economic burden on those struggling to live ethically. It was recognized on both sides of the Atlantic that making individual consumer choices was not enough, and that systemic change was necessary to permanently eliminate slavery. As a status symbol, though, "free cotton made by escaped slaves" continued to be worn in Britain and attracted comment in aristocratic salons into the 1860s. In this final stage of the movement, free labor was considered to be part of a civilizing project, a way to train ex-slaves in useful arts.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/138i5at/comment/jj04qsx/?context=3

[wintercorrybriea2]

Emmanuel Matadi for team Liberia ar the 2024 summer olympics

[mariacallous]

As war rages between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, it is hard to envision an end to the conflict. For decades, though, a growing movement of Palestinian and Israeli women has not only envisioned a peaceful coexistence, but also demanded it.

Just three days before Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, thousands of women from two peacebuilding groups gathered at Jerusalem’s Tolerance Monument for a rally and march. Israelis from Women Wage Peace carried blue flags, and Palestinians from Women of the Sun flew yellow ones.

Members of the two groups traveled to the Dead Sea—believed since ancient times to have healing qualities—and set a table. Women from both sides pulled up chairs as a symbol of a good-faith resumption of negotiations to reach a political solution.

Women Wage Peace formed in response to Operation Protective Edge, which was Israel’s 2014 invasion of Gaza in the wake of then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s failed effort to restart final status negotiations.

“We, Palestinian and Israeli mothers, are determined to stop the vicious cycle of bloodshed,” reads the preamble to their campaign, the Mother’s Call. This campaign was nine months in the making, and it involved aligning around a single agenda that demands a political solution within a limited time frame.

They set the table to show the importance of dialogue and women’s involvement in decision-making. But in the war between Israel and Hamas that has started since then, women’s voices are largely missing from negotiations and consultations.

Ensuring women’s participation isn’t about equity or fairness or a show of inclusion. It’s about winning the peace.

In 2014, Laurel Stone, then a researcher at Seton Hall University, conducted a quantitative analysis of 156 peace agreements over time. She found that when women are decision-makers—serving as negotiators and mediators—the probability of an agreement lasting at least two years increased by 20 percent. The probability of the agreement holding for 15 years increased by 35 percent.

Many studies show that women tend to be more collaborative, more focused on social issues over military issues, and less likely to attack those who hold differing views. With women at the table, the potential for risk-taking behavior and attacks on perceived enemies may be lower. In diverse teams, decisions are more likely to be based on facts than assumptions.

While men are more likely to be fighters in war, the work of holding families and communities together more often falls to women, and according to some studies, it’s women who more frequently stand up for a return to negotiations, civilian protection, and an end to violence.

“We learned from the cases of Northern Ireland and Liberia,” Yael Braudo-Bahat, the co-director of Women Wage Peace, told Foreign Policy. Women’s active participation greatly strengthened these peace and recovery processes.

Ahead of the formal talks that led to the Belfast Agreement in Northern Ireland, Catholic and Protestant women’s groups formed the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition and gained two seats at a table of 20 in formal negotiations. As one of the few groups that moved beyond the sectarian divide, its members were seen as honest brokers. They represented civil society concerns and helped ensure that the agreement included commitments for social healing and integration.

Because the brutality of war falls disproportionately on women—they frequently are the first to go hungry, serve as the de facto caretakers, and become the victims of increased gender based violence—they are often committed to finding a path to peace even when male leaders won’t compromise.

During the Second Liberian Civil War, women played a heroic role by successfully pressuring male decision-makers to negotiate. The documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, directed by Gini Reticker and produced by Abigail Disney, popularized the incredible story of how women convinced the warring parties to attend peace talks in Accra, Ghana.

“We were the ones watching our children die of hunger … we were the easiest targets of rape and sexual abuse,” said Nobel Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee, the founder of the Women for Liberia Mass Action for Peace grassroots movement, which played a major role in pushing then-President Charles Taylor to sign a peace agreement in 2003. This common suffering among women formed the basis for unity across political and religious divides.

In Israel and Gaza, women will need to play an important role in the implementation of any new accord between Israel and Palestine, Braudo-Bahat said. Her organization’s partnership with its Palestinian counterpart, Women of the Sun, has remained steadfast, even after learning that her co-founder, Vivian Silver, 74, was murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7.

“We continue our plans—we work together, and we don’t hide it,” she said. “It might be dangerous to the Women of the Sun, but they are so courageous.”

Although many Palestinians want peace, for others, “peace is normalization,” a member of Women of the Sun wrote to Foreign Policy via WhatsApp, choosing to go by the initials M.H. to preserve her anonymity and safety. Some Palestinians think that “it’s something shameful to be dealing with Israel,” she added, because it could imply that the Israelis’ treatment of, and policies toward, Palestinians are tolerable.

“I believe we should actively engage and collaborate, even if some label it as normalization,” M.H. said. “I am committed to working toward a better future for us.”

International law is on the side of these women. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, adopted unanimously more than 23 years ago, urges all member states to increase the participation of women in peace and security efforts, and highlights women’s essential role in preventing war, protecting civilians, and negotiating lasting peace.

Despite Israel’s deteriorating track record with regard to women’s rights and roles as decision-makers, women are involved in the war as politicians, members of the military and civilians. Women in politics have made important advances for gender equity, although among the 32 cabinet ministers sworn in a year ago, only five were women. One of those women ministers was dismissed amid the recent closure of the Ministry for the Advancement of Women.

The reality for women in Gaza is far more challenging when it comes to holding leadership positions. Women generally do not participate in public political activities or hold public office, although Hamas appointed 23-year old Isra al-Modallal as its first female spokesperson in November. She told the Guardian newspaper that she is not a member of Hamas or any political party.

At the start of the conflict, Hamas had just one woman, Jamila al-Shanti, 68, serving as part of the organization’s 15-member political bureau. Al-Shanti, who was also a founder of Hamas’s women’s movement, died in an Israeli airstrike on Oct. 19.

“You can hear amazing rhetoric and lip service, even from the Palestinian leadership,” Dr. Dalal Iriqat, an assistant professor at the Arab American University in the West Bank, told Foreign Policy. “But when it comes to practice, I always find a scarcity of women in decision-making.”

Women’s organizations in the Palestinian territories and in Israel have a rich history of political engagement, however. Palestinian women created social structures such as health clinics and orphanages for displaced Palestinians following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Following the Six-Day War in 1967, with traditional political structures in tatters and both Gaza and the West Bank under Israeli occupation, women of every social class stepped up.

It was through the networks they formed that a new cadre of women activists emerged as a force in December 1987, when Palestinian frustration with Israeli rule broke out in a popular uprising that became known as the First Intifada, or “shaking off.” Underlying this largely nonviolent Palestinian struggle was a collective social, economic, and political mobilization led by women.

Palestinian political leadership acknowledged women’s centrality in the Intifada, which paved the way for negotiations with Israel when it included three women—Suad Amiry, Zahiria Kamal, and Hanan Ashrawi—as part of the delegation that participated in the Middle East peace talks that culminated with the Madrid Conference in October 1991.

Ultimately, though, exiled Palestinian Liberation Organization leaders shunted the Madrid framework to begin secret negotiations with Israel that resulted in the security-focused Oslo Accords and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. Under their leadership, Israeli occupation, and the failures of the Oslo Accords, democratic ideals and women’s rights eroded.

Israel and the United States have discussed a potential role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza after the military operation. The Palestinian Authority has three women ministers, including its minister for women’s affairs, though women still struggle for equal opportunities and freedom from violence.

“Women usually refrain from being [an] activist in politics,” said an activist in the West Bank who withheld her name for security reasons. “Women are frightened to be involved in political activities, because they will be put in jail or be subjected to any kind of violence.” And the conditions are much worse for women when funding is restricted, as well as under Hamas, she said.

Serena Awad, a Gazan nonprofit worker who is now living in Rafah, told Foreign Policy that Gazan women are directing and managing many aspects of the humanitarian response. These women work for the United Nations as well as in health, cultural, child protection, human rights, sports, and legal organizations.

“I have lived through six aggressions, and every time, I wait for my turn to die,” said 24-year-old Awad. “What I want the world to know is that women in Gaza are like any other women—we study, go to work, have our own family, but we suffer.”

Israeli and Palestinian women working as peacebuilders say they need more international support. Women’s organizations are notoriously underfunded in the best of times, with only 0.4 percent of global gender-related funding going directly to women’s rights organizations, according to calculations by the Association for Women’s Rights in Development.

During crises, women’s rights often take a back seat. Women of the Sun’s 2024 budget is approximately $100,000, and Women Wage Peace’s budget is approximately $1 million, according to the organizations’ representatives.

Women’s groups are more likely to be effective during negotiations and during the implementation of recovery programs when they have access to external funding. During the peace process between Sudan and South Sudan, for example, South Sudanese women were highly mobilized as delegates, but some had to pause their involvement so they could go back to earning money.

In addition to funding, democratic countries have a role to play by insisting on women’s participation in negotiations, said M.H. of the Women of the Sun. She and other peacebuilders say that the United States and the United Nations should be more active in promoting women as counterparts, negotiators, and experts.

“By will, things can happen,” M.H. told Foreign Policy “And if the US says it [that women should be involved in negotiations], it can happen.”.

Talks convened by Qatar, the United States, and Egypt to end the conflict between Hamas and Israel are underway. These countries and other regional players—including Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority, have previously created national action plans that recognize the unique impact of war on women and their crucial role in promoting peace, culminating in 107 countries worldwide forming national action plans to empower women.

Still, news coverage reveals little or no evidence of efforts by these countries to promote women’s participation in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The U.S. State Department is “working to ensure the expertise of women from civil society and in government is incorporated in any process related to the current conflict in Gaza,” wrote a spokesperson in an email.

If the political will for participation exists, both Israelis and Palestinians have a robust list of women advocates from which to draw for official and nonofficial negotiations and discussions. A diverse list of 12 Israeli and Palestinian women who are qualified to participate in negotiations was provided by the 1325 Project run by members of  Women Lawyers for Social Justice—known in Israel as Itach Ma’aki—to the U.S. Embassy and other embassies and international bodies.

“At least one person will be engaging in Track 2 and 3 efforts, and she was approached through us by an international body,” said 1325 project co-director Netta Loevy, referring to nonofficial negotiations and consultations.

Braudo-Bahat, meanwhile, urged policymakers to involve women in discussions now—not after violence ends. “The day after the war is yesterday … we need to start now,” she said.

Back in Gaza, the water tastes like poison; it’s freezing, and Awad, the 24-year-old nonprofit worker, keeps losing weight. She asked almost a dozen Gazan women leaders what they think should happen to resolve the war and to ensure that women participate in negotiations.

No one could give her an answer. They were busy responding to humanitarian needs, and telecommunication and internet services were out.

“Nothing has changed, but what can we do about it? All we can do is waiting and praying for this to end,” Awad wrote to Foreign Policy through WhatsApp, which only works for her about once every four days.

Iriqat, the Arab American University professor, has one wish: “That someone considers that if women are in charge, and involved, a more strategic agreement could hold.”

[annislittleshopofhorrors]

You know, I love your blog and your funny/shady comments about 🐟 unable to handle her husband getting the attention and not her.

But I’ll admit, I always laughed it off because we can say that but nobody really knows what’s happening.

Until yesterday. LMAO. I know, I’m sorry for not really listening to some of y’all… but she needs some serious help and for once, to put down her goddamn phone.

I also realized that I knew she was going to try and do something to put the attention back on her and nothing she does on IG is ever a coincidence. This is the actions of a very manipulative but also very stupid individual with narcissistic tendencies. To her five asskissers, look away.

She follows that light and dwell designer the day after people made fun of her for showing her PT apt (btw, now I wonder if she was hoping people would think it was the house her husband was allegedly building for her in PT like some blogs believe)

When that didn’t work, follow this designer lady back after months (funny how she does this quite often when she’s not getting the attention she wants).

Follows some random directors. She still wants a job. That custom ugly furniture ain’t gunna pay for itself!

Posts a random photo dump of suggestive photos to indicate nothing but also making sure the ones who care will try and figure out if she’s in MA, NY, NYC, Canada, Wherever the narrative of where she lives fits.

meanwhile, her husband is in NYC filming with his attractive female costar who is much more well known than her (even if it’s the nepo baby comments) and has two films of her own coming out this month and her Madame web movie is still doing pretty well on Netflix.

Their pap photos are much better received by the general public and have comments shipping them and wishing they were together instead. Yikes!! Also…they actually do look good together. They fit.

Btw, I don’t think 🐟 is jealous of Dakota because of Chris. TBH, I don’t think she’s into her “husband” at all. From her actions, she doesn’t care about him or his well being. She cares about what his name can do for her. That’s it. And right now his name is being lumped with Dakota and not hers and I think it’s pissing her off. She needs to get those cheap outfits comped one way or another and her Liberia film isn’t cutting it. Miumiu not calling her back and nobody wants to see her in a solo pap walk….so.

Sorry to all the team asslickers on here but even you have to admit yesterday was a hilarious show your ass moment.

Sidenote: I like to think CE is putting on a bigger effort to look like he likes Dakota because Celine song is directing this film and he wants to do well for her. And also, he seems to simply just like Dakota. She’s pretty hilarious in her own right when she’s not being a flat actress 🤣 and maybe…just maybe, he wants to show you all whose watching that he does know how to act like he’s in love with someone. He just didn’t want to the last time he was in that park.

😉❤️

Yep, she doesn't care about him (and I don't think he cares about her). It's all about using his name to be mentioned in some gossip magazines. Otherwise these magazines wouldn't talk about her. And even the Portuguese magazines have to mention him when they talk about her. The Portuguese people don't care about her. I'm not even sure if they know her name.

[trendfilmsetter]

Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, and Luxembourg Olympic teams at the Paris 2024 Olympics

[shannybasar]

Euro 2024 stories - 4

Good to see Ukraine show their resilience again and win today - they came from behind four times in qualifying, despite not being able to play at home.

Much coverage on the impressive Spanish youngsters - 16 year old Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, whose family were trafficked from Ghana:

“People empathise with my story, identify with the sacrifice,” he says. “My arrival opened minds. Athletic have done me a lot of good and I hope I’ve done Athletic good. Footballers often don’t speak out, but it’s good for society. If you have the power to reach people you should. Racism is a stain, an illness to be eradicated. Not talking about discrimination allows it to exist, being permissive allows it to continue. “Society is changing: it’s more open, there’s more immigration, more diversity. When I arrived, there were very few black kids; now there are more in the youth system. Diversity, movement, brings that and we’ll see it in the national team. England and France have many black players. Adama [Traoré] is here now, it’s changing. We’re going to get more used to seeing different faces in the same national team.”

@GuillemBalague:

The story of Nico Williams, who is playing the best football of his career, is a modern tale of human trafficking, hope, emigration and love of strangers Nico (and Iñaki) parents, María and Felix, travelled from Ghana in search of a better future. They used their savings to pay a human trafficking gang to take them to the UK, but they left them stranded half way. They had to walk the Sahara desert without shoes (Felix has got no sensibility on his foot as he walked over sand 50 degrees hot). María was pregnant from William Friends died and were buried, but they kept walking. They were arrested in Melilla (Spanish colony) and a lawyer told them to lie and say they had come from a war affected country (Liberia). They were introduced to a priest who helped them get the documents to stay in Spain, and found them work too. Iñaki was born soon after The family moved to Pamplona (in the nearby Navarra) and that is when Nico was born Iñaki only found out about his parents journey when he was 18 Now both Nico and Iñaki talk every time they can about María and Felix, and what they did for them

Still loving the food banter:

You can never have too much N'Golo Kante appreciation:

Some 733 days after his previous cap, Deschamps started Kante in both of France’s pre-tournament friendlies. In their 1-0 opening game win against Austria, the midfielder was awarded man of the match. His France team-mates have been effusive about him in recent weeks. “He hasn’t changed,” said Olivier Giroud. Benjamin Pavard described him as “incredible, still as strong as ever”. “It feels like three players — it’s horrible,” Marcus Thuram said about coming up against Kante in training. “He never complains, never baulks at the task,” said Adrien Rabiot. “He’s in great shape.”

His excellence was a sharp contrast to the England team :

Yet these were not the only grounds for the disorienting disposition of this encounter. Every time the men in white took possession of the sphere in the proximity of the left wing, they were consistently forced to funnel it, in turn, to the centre of the pitch, rendering most of their offensive efforts tortured, even disjointed. The side in red could simply defend their territory in the middle with impunity, secure in the knowledge their opponents were powerless to hurt them on their right verge. That’s a pretty terrible paragraph, right? But that’s what happens when you wilfully restrict your options. You have Kieran Trippier, a right-footed left-back who doesn’t even bother trying to disguise the fact – no feint, no shimmy, no darting eyes – that he’s going to turn back inside. You have Phil Foden, a left-footed player with very little interest in playing on the left wing, who always wants to come short into the central areas. England are essentially a team playing on 70% of the pitch, which is like trying to write an entire paragraph – like I did above – without using the letter A.

[hiswordsarekisses]

“I know a young man who lives in the city of Monrovia in Liberia, West Africa. A few years ago, he was involved in a terrible accident. He fell off a truck going at high speed down a crowded road. When he hit the ground, he was struck in the head by another vehicle, and his scalp was peeled back by the force of the blow.

The emergency team at the hospital was convinced he would die in a matter of minutes. Nevertheless, they sewed his scalp back, cleaned him up as best they could, and placed him in a bed in a crowded room.

In the middle of the night, the young man regained consciousness. His relatives were sitting near his bed asleep. And in the corner stood two men in white. They glowed with a shining white brightness. They came over to his bed, and without waking his family, told him they were angels who had been given charge over him to guard him and to minister to his needs. They then left, but not before assuring him they would always be near–that he could count on their help.

To the astonishment of the hospital staff, the young man made a complete recovery and regained his full strength. Today he suffers no effects from the accident, and of course his faith in God has been greatly strengthened.

Before you conclude this young man was hallucinating, look up the word angel in a Bible concordance and do a short study on these beings. You might start with Hebrews 1:14: “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14)

By the way, have you considered that angels are watching over you right now?”

~ Leroy Eimes

See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.” – Exodus 23:20

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. Psalm 91:11

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Psalm 34:7

Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! Psalm 103:20

Take heed that you do not despise one of My little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 18:10

[ptseti]

BLACK ERASURE IN ARGENTINA

Argentina is Blacker than it likes to admit. “Mexicans descend from the Aztecs, Peruvians from the Incas, but Argentinians descend from ships from Europe,” so goes an old saying that encapsulates Argentina’s perception of itself as a nation of White Europeans that never had Blacks. Afro-Argentines formed almost half of the population of Argentina in 1778, but an evidently systematically implemented anti-Blackness policy reduced them to 30% of the population by the time the country gained independence from Spain in 1816.

Several decades of racial politics and alleged extermination campaigns followed where they were slowly yet steadily wiped out and their rich Black culture erased from the nation’s collective consciousness. Today, statistics show Afro-Argentines form a paltry 0.4% of Argentina’s total population, making it the Whitest country not just in Latin America but the Whitest country outside of Europe.

Evidently, there were no racially-oriented laws in Argentina, such as South Africa’s apartheid or the Jim Crow laws in the United States, but the country created a lot of obstacles that prevented Black people from accessing lands, the labour market and education. Over the centuries, Black and indigenous people chose to strategically increasingly mix with and pass off as White to escape marginalisation. Some of the country’s biggest stars can trace their lineage back to Black slaves. However, compared to other South American teams, the all-White, always-White roster of the soccer team must have piqued your curiosity.

This Whitening process was attempted throughout much of the Americas, in places such as Brazil, Uruguay as well as the United States, when the American Colonization Society set up Liberia as a home for freed slaves. What makes Argentina’s story unique in this context, however, is that it successfully pushed to build its image as a White country. Ex-president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento once said towards the end of the 19th century that it would be impossible to see Blacks in Argentina unless one travelled to Brazil. African Stream’s Brenda Mwai lays out the case.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Moochers Par ExcellenceA Deep Dive into the Carparkles' Visit to Costa Rica in December 2023. by u/BuildtheHerd

Moochers Par Excellence…A Deep Dive into the Carparkles' Visit to Costa Rica in December 2023. Photos and video of H&M and their rarely-seen child Lilibet on a family holiday in Costa Rica started appearing in the media on December 21, 2023 …just in time to compete for media attention with the Princess of Wales, whose Royal Carols: Together at Christmas was scheduled to air on Christmas Eve.Given that the Carparkles are known to regularly take advantage of the generosity of others by wrangling free stays at mansions and transportation on private jets, I've been curious about who financed this family trip to Costa Rica. After some internet sleuthing, I've figured out where the Carparkles stayed and who provided them with free accommodations and possibly private jet transportation, too.The resort where they stayed is Zapotal Golf and Beach Club, located in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica. The company's website provides the following description of the resort, "Spanning miles of untouched coastline and thousands of acres of pristine tropical forest, Zapotal is a true retreat with 240 residences on the edge of one of the world’s five National Geographic Blue Zones where residents are quantifiably happy, healthy and enjoy an increased lifespan. Enjoy adventures on sea and land or a leisurely round on the 18-hole Tom Fazio golf course. Delight in a tasty locally sourced organic meal. Indulge in a spa treatment or a heart pounding workout. Ground yourself in the lush rainforest for an escape from the day-to-day. At Zapotal, your days are yours- and only yours." "Zapotal is one of Discovery Land Company’s more than 35 exclusive, members-only international communities. Discovery properties are uniquely designed to capture the spirit of the land and local culture, providing members with endless opportunities to curate their most authentic lifestyle." (It sounds like Meg might have advised the resort's marketing team on their word choice, doesn't it!) Here's the link to the website where you'll find photos, videos, and additional descriptions of the resort: https://ift.tt/HoU1M9b might recognize the name of Zapotal Golf and Beach Club's parent company: "Discovery Land Company." It's Jack Brooksbank's employer (Jack Brooksbank is Princess Eugenie's husband). BTW, the Harkles visited another Discovery Land Company property in Portugal called CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club after attending the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf in September 2023. Here's an article from the Daily Mail about that visit (archived and unarchived): https://ift.tt/1sqNIQm Founder of "Discovery Land Company" is Michael Meldman, who also was partners with George Clooney and Rande Gerber in Casamigos, the tequila company that they sold for approximately $1billion. Sinners might remember that Casamigos tequila was served at the H&M's wedding after party and that Jack Brooksbanks was previously a Brand Ambassador for Casamigos.Perhaps Michael Meldman even flew the Carparkles down to Liberia Airport in Costa Rica on the corporate jet, a 2001 Dassault Falcon 2000 (tail number N250DL). On the tail of the jet is the Discovery Land Company logo and on the side is the Casamigos logo (see attached photo).***The Carparkles MUST have planned to be photographed at this resort.**\* Zapotal Beach Club is a very private property that caters to uber wealthy people, so you can imagine that security is tight. Tourism is the main source of income in Costa Rica (Source: Embassy of Costa Rica in Washington, D.C. website); therefore, keeping tourists safe is taken extremely seriously. I've stayed at a similar resort on nearby Papagayo Peninsula, which required passing through two security checkpoints to enter…I would expect that Zapotal Beach Club is similar. It is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that paparazzi just sneaked onto this property. This all fits the Carparkles' modus operandi.Discovery Land Company - Casamigos Corporate Jet​ post link: https://ift.tt/4pHB7lg author: BuildtheHerd submitted: March 04, 2024 at 07:06AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

[lourensz]

team liberia

[vae1bixy]

Random Head canons for Bravo team

Jason Hayes -

Growing up Jason resented his father. Even now there relationship was strained. So he was a bit of a trouble maker. Doing anything that he could to tick the man off. He skipped classes smoked even learned the drums just to spite him.

Ray Perry -

No one knew but Ray had pretty bad insomnia. It especially got worse after his shoulder incident. Then the explosion. He could barely sleep a week once he was back. Any time his eye's shut he could just see the boy's face in his head. The only thing that helped calm his breathing and mind was to see his own children alive and well asleep in there bed's safely.

Sonny Quinn -

Sonny was a theatre kid through middle school all up to high school. He was pretty good at it too. He remembered line's easily and could act better than most kid's his age. He also enjoyed the spot light. Many kids shied away from the attention but not Sonny. He was front and center.

Brock Reynolds -

Brock had a big family growing up. Four brothers and three sisters. He was the one before the youngest of the feud just before his younger sister. Not too mention the amount of aunt's and uncle's and cousin's he had. His whole family when together were loud and blunt.

Trent Sawyer -

Trent initially was planning to become a surgeon. He was even planning on what college to go to. He was going to become a pediatrics surgeon. But something drew him to the military. Part of him thought he was just going to go in and do his two years so he would have enough for college. But he got in and was stuck with it.

Clay Spenser -

Despite living in Liberia for most of his life Clay was a horrible cook. He could make toast and eggs but that was about it. He was also pretty bad about keeping his fridge stocked. He didn't see a point when he was just going to get spun up again. Then all that food would go to waste. So he ordered most of the time unless he was invited to one of the guy's house.

These dividers were made by @firefly-graphics

[mariacallous]

Orthodox women activists are pledging to withhold sex from their husbands as they escalate a public campaign to help one of their own obtain a religious divorce from her husband after four years of trying.

Supporters of Malky Berkowitz, 29, are launching what they are calling a “mikvah strike” — a form of protest that leverages Jewish sexual purity rituals as a pressure tactic. It begins on Friday night and could be extended.

According to traditional Jewish law, following menstruation, married women must immerse in a mikvah, or ritual bath, before they can have sex with their husbands — which many do later that night. In fact, some authorities say that Jewish law, or halacha, attaches special significance to the intimacy that follows immersion, requiring that it take place without delay.

For Adina Sash, an advocate for Jewish women whose estranged husbands are refusing to divorce them ritually, that makes post-mikvah sex a natural site of protest.

For the last seven weeks, Sash — an Orthodox feminist activist in Brooklyn known by her Instagram handle, Flatbush Girl — has led a team of activists, lawyers, and community leaders pursuing a “get,” or Jewish divorce document, for Berkowitz. Berkowitz’s husband, Volvy, is refusing to issue the get that would complete their divorce, making her what is known as an “agunah,” or “chained woman” who cannot remarry under Jewish law.

Sash believes that Orthodox women need to negotiate and formalize Jewish legal terms around divorce before getting married — and that those who don’t run the risk of one day having a divorce withheld, widely understood to be a form of abuse.

“You need to stand with us on this mikvah strike and withhold sex on mikvah nights or on mitzvah night on every Friday night until Malky is free as a way of showing your compassion for Malky,” she said, addressing her fellow Orthodox women. (Jewish tradition encourages married couples to have sex on Shabbat, and some in the Orthodox world refer to that time as “mitzvah night” for that reason.)

She said the objective is to get men in the community to take action on Berkowitz’s behalf.

“When your husband says, ‘Why?’ say, ‘I could be the next agunah until Malky is free. I could be the next agunah. Please call your rabbi and figure out a way to help free Malky,’” she said.

The protest echoes the sex strike in Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata,” the Greek comedy where the women of Athens refrained from sleeping with their husbands in order to end the Peloponnesian War. Sex strikes have been used successfully to effect change in contemporary communities, for example ending Liberia’s civil war in 2003 when the country’s women participated. Leymah Gdowbee, the organizer of the Liberian sex strike, later won a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts.

Orthodox women have reportedly embarked on similar protests at a small scale in the past, such as in Canada several decades ago. But protest on behalf of agunot has more recently centered on public demonstrations, rabbinic suasion and, increasingly, social media campaigns like those run by Sash. Sash’s contributions have been successful — earlier this week, she was in the room as Esther Eisenmann-Lauber, an agunah separated from her husband for six years, finally received her get.

Asked whether Malky Berkowitz has any thoughts on the strike, Sash said only, “Malky has no comment.”

ORA, the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot, was established in 2002 precisely to facilitate Jewish divorces, and the organization also provides halachic prenuptial agreements that place a penalty on get refusal and abide by Jewish law. A representative for ORA did not return JTA’s requests for comment on the sex strike.

After Sash formally announced the call for the strike on social media Thursday afternoon, many of her followers reacted approvingly.

“Malky is worth this,” one of her followers commented on the call for a strike. “Every agunah before her is worth this. Every prevented agunah is worth this.”

In response to a negative comment, another woman wrote, “It’s not punishing women. ” She added, “A properly executed sex strike would def get some of the men in power to think twice.”

But critics of the strike — including those who agree that the problem of get refusal needs to be addressed — say it could interfere with “shalom bayit,” or peace in the home, an oft-cited Jewish value, and could disrupt otherwise healthy relationships.

“The way to address broken relationships is *not* by creating more broken relationships,” Rabbi David Bashevkin, creator of popular Orthodox podcast 18Forty shared on X on Monday. “Using intimacy as a point of leverage for social protest is unwise and downright dangerous. More healthy families. More healthy relationships.”

He added, “This is a communal issue that needs communal coordination and buy-in.”

Even some Orthodox feminists who have lobbied on behalf of agunot say they are troubled by the strike. Daphne Lazar Price, executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, told JTA she often speaks out against the “weaponization of halacha” and sees the mikvah strike to be another example of it.

“Religion-based coercive control is morally wrong and should never be tolerated,” she wrote in an email to JTA. “It shouldn’t take the threat of women to withhold sex from their husbands in order to get men’s attention – nor to get men to behave as allies toward women, and toward the halachic system that they purport to hold so dear. Using sex as a form of coercion is also highly problematic.”

She suggested, though, that the strike could create an opportunity for Jewish legal authorities to remember the other tactics they have at their disposal to pressure men who refuse to divorce their wives — in particular, “banning entry of recalcitrant husbands into every Jewish religious and communal institution and business, as well as private homes, until he issues a get.”

Sash attributes negative reaction to the strike as part of a “misogynistic” double standard for withholding a get versus withholding sex.

“If they’re going to withhold the get, then we’re going to withhold sex,” Sash said.

“They say, ‘How could you withhold sex? You’re weaponizing your body! How can you withhold sex? You’re weaponizing intimacy,’” she added. “Then how could you withhold the get? You’re weaponizing the divorce process. You are holding a woman in limbo.”

Malky and Volvy Berkowitz married in 2016. At their wedding, Malky wore a dek tichel, or opaque bridal veil, which she described in a text shared with JTA as a “blindfold.”

“Besides Volvy giving me a kdishen [sic] ring and getting me pregnant twice we never connected,” she wrote. “Good bye Volvy I never knew you and I’ll never know you.”