#terror attack 2019

[theheadlessgroom]

@beatingheart-bride

"Emily..." Randall began, almost tearfully, but it was June and Wilhelm who spoke up over him-not to agree, not to rush her out the door and warn her not to come back, but instead to ask her to stay.

"Please," Wilhelm began, as June reached out to take the young woman's cold hand, stopping her as he continued, "W-Would you stay, just a little longer, lass? Really, we...we'd like it if you stayed. I-I promise, y-you're not intruding; Junie and I weren't able to sleep anyways..."

"You saved our son's life, and you brought him back home to us," June continued gently, as Randall sat up a little, just as surprised as Emily was at this sudden turn of events, this change in reaction in his parents. "We...we can't thank you enough for that. Please, won't you sit down? I...I think we have a lot to talk about...and a lot to apologize for."

At this, Randall's eyes widened further, as he looked between Emily, his mother, and his father, that surprise turning to a sort of tentative relief, as his mother encouraged Emily to make herself comfortable, while June moved to the kitchen to put on a pot of tea, to perhaps soothe their frazzled nerves. She hoped the young woman (not a monster, she thought to herself, but a young woman) would accept, and hear out what the Pace parents had to say.

[arnittimes]

भारत-पाक तनाव के बीच पीएम मोदी CCPA और CCS की बैठक करेंगे आज

प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी (Narendra Modi) आज कैबिनेट की सबसे अहम समिति राजनीतिक मामलों की कैबिनेट समिति (CCPA) की बैठक की अध्यक्षता करेंगे। यह समिति अक्सर “सुपर कैबिनेट” के नाम से भी जानी जाती है। इसके साथ ही पीएम मोदी एक बार फिर सीसीएस की बैठक भी आज यानी बुधवार को करेंगे। यह बैठक ऐसे वक्त पर हो रही है जब कश्मीर के पहलगाम में हाल ही में हुए पर्यटकों की दर्दनाक हत्या के बाद सुरक्षा हालात को लेकर…

[gojover]

i was debating making this post for a long, long time, because i don’t like getting political on a fandom space, but as an indian, i felt the need to talk about this. i can’t engage in fandom content without feeling deeply guilty & worried for all the soldiers and innocent lives already lost and at stake, so here’s a brief masterpost to spread awareness about what’s going on in jammu & kashmir at the moment.

i have linked all my sources, and have aimed to be as unbiased as possible. if you find any discrepancies or inaccuracies, please don’t hesitate to tell me so that i can edit accordingly.

before i get into any of the actual details, i want to talk about what triggered this entire conflict between india and pakistan: the pahalgam attack, which took place on april 22, 2025.

(it’s also worth knowing that the india vs pakistan conflict over J&K is not something that was caused by this isolated incident; there are decades of history between the two countries dating back to the partition of india. you can read briefly about it here.)

the pahalgam attack was an attack on 26 tourists by five armed militants in a popular tourist destination known as baisaran valley (located in india-administered kashmir), which is surrounded by dense pine forest and is only accessible by foot or horseback.

the militants singled out the men & asked for their religion, before shooting the hindu and christian tourists. the attackers also asked some tourists to recite the islamic kalima to identify non-muslims. of the 26 people killed, 25 were tourists and one was a local muslim pony ride operator who tried to wrestle a gun from the attackers before being shot. the tourists included several newlywed couples, and the men were shot point-blank in front of their wives.

some hindu men were forced to remove their trousers to check for a lack of circumcision before being shot at close range. the militants also told some hindu women that they were spared so that they could narrate the horrors of their mens’ killing to the prime minister of india, narendra modi.

the national investigation agency (NIA) formally took over the pahalgam terrorist attack case on april 27. the lashkar-e-taiba proxy the resistance front (TRF), claimed responsibility for the attack.

in retaliation to the pahalgam attack, india launched operation sindoor on may 6, 2025.

the indian armed forces carried out precision strikes at around 1 am on terror infrastructure in pakistan and pakistan-occupied kashmir (PoK). nine sites were targeted, and each were selected because they had a history of association with major terror plots and infiltration attempts against india (such as the 2001 parliament attack, the 2019 pulwama attack, and the 26/11 mumbai attacks). no pakistani military facilities were targeted, as stated during the press briefing on may 7.

you can read about the nine sites & why they were targeted here.

as an additional note, it is worth noting that the central government directed all states and union territories to conduct mock drills on may 7 across 244 categorised civil defence districts in the event of a hostile attack.

following the indian attacks on may 7, pakistan resorted to unprovoked artillery shelling across the line of control (LoC), resulting in 13 casualties, with the poonch sector in jammu being the worst hit. this is not the first time pakistan has violated the LoC ceasefire agreement.

as of the time of writing, several cities/districts present on the border of the two countries have been facing blackouts. this comes as a counter-offensive against pakistani drones and missiles which violated the indian airspace several times over the entire western border with the intent of targeting indian military facilities along the western and northern frontiers. however, india was able to neutralise this attempt to hit military stations in jammu and other locations.

tl;dr: this thread on x offers a more concise version of the same events.

the main reason i wanted to make this post is because i saw this post on x and had to take a minute to recover because. genuinely what the actual fuck. in my opinion, a caucasian british person should be the last person speaking up on this matter. the selective activism and hypocrisy is glaringly obvious.

edit: here are a few more resources that provided good insights into what’s happening

articles on the pahalgam attack and its immediate aftermath: one two three

regarding the TRF statement: one

more articles about india/pakistan escalating the war: one two three

posts about what’s been happening in azad kashmir: one two

how to download tiktok (if you’re indian): here

please take the time to read through these and educate yourselves if you’re unaware of what the conflict is about.

[facts-i-just-made-up]

Switch 2 Launch Titles Announced!

The Legend of Zelda: BotW / TotK / CDi

Unsurprisingly, a 4k60p upgrade to the two of the Switch’s most popular titles is coming first to Switch 2. But that’s not all- Not only is the DLC for Breath of the Wild included, but three additional vintage Zelda games are getting upgrades with Wand of Gamelon, Faces of Evil, and Zelda’s Adventure to be included.

Silent Hill f

The scary new Silent Hill installment is coming to Switch quick, with Nintendo willing to debut a far darker than usual game for the new more “serious” system. Silent Hill f will include exclusive custom skins as well, including Mario, Samus, Link, and Kirby visible as torn-off disembodied skins laying on the ground across the town.

Super Mario Space Odyssey

The sequel to Super Mario Odyssey heads to space in the new sequel, which takes Mario and Cappy out of orbit to visit new planets and planetoids across the solar system and beyond, making it the first Mario game ever to explore a “Galaxy” of levels.

The Lord of the Rings: Bombadil Kombat

From the makers of the recent Lord of the Rings: Gollum, this new fighting game will see fan favorite Tom Bombadil from Tolkien’s legendarium beat down Sauron, Saruman, Morgoth, Lesgoth, The Witch King of Angmar, The Warlock Queen of Vidmark, and that one Orc who says “looks like meat’s back on the menu, boys!” in a side-on fighting style arena.

Tetris Heap 2025

Nintendo will yet again try to improve the one perfect video game in history by adding more useless distracting crap! Tetris Heap 2025 will include new modes like Fireworks mode, in which fireworks go off in the background as you play Tetris the same way as always; Water mode, in which there is water and sea-life in the background as you play Tetris the same way as always; Battle Royale mode, in which other players can enjoy Fortnite in the background while you play Tetris the same way as always, and a revolutionary new "Jelly Tetris" mode in which you play Tetris the same way as always while watching a guy try to eat Jello-O with chopsticks in the background.

Animal Crossing: No Russian

Animal Crossing gets real, and really really serious in this game exploring the nature of terrorism and black-flag operations. Can your town stand up to attacks by other players and NPCs who attempt to kill your villagers to effect political change? Try not to let your village descend into fascism as you balance safety with liberty in this nightmare scenario for kids.

Switch Fit Adventure: Legend of the Thigh-Master

Ring Fit is SO 2019! This time the Switch 2 will offer an entire gymnasium of add-ons like rowing machines, treadmills, pull-up machines, shake weights, and the new Metroid themed Ab-Rotation “Morph Ball.” Nintendo is not responsible for crushed spinal columns.

[unsolicited-opinions]

I'm starting to think that a whole lot of US Jews don't understand why a crowd of tiki torch Nazis chanted "Jews will not replace us" in Charlottesville. It seems like a lot of US Jews don't yet understand how the anti-immigrant sentiment Trump used to recapture the presidency is a direct threat to US Jews.

If you don't know this yet, please read the broad strokes below:

1. Like a certain Austrian in the 20th century, Trump saw both a disgruntled part of the electorate and their antipathy for non-white, non-Christian, foreign-born people. He capitalized on their xenophobia and feelings of abandonment by blaming foreigners, LGBTQ+ folks, and DEI for all the US's challenges.

He's used and amplified bigotry against already-marginalized people in order to ride his base's bigotry to power. All comparisons people make between this and how Hitler amplified and harnessed the power of antisemitism are entirely appropriate. It's demagoguery.

2. One of the existing, popular, xenophobic ideas on which Trump capitalized is a right-wing conspiracy theory usually called The Great Replacement.

It seems as though many US Jews do not realize that Jews are a huge part of this conspiracy theory.

Great Replacement, also known as white replacement theory or white genocide theory, claims there is an intentional effort, led by Jews, to promote mass non-white immigration, inter-racial marriage, and other efforts that would lead to the “extinction of whites.”

This conspiracy theory was famously promoted at the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA, when white supremacists chanted, “Jews will not replace us.”

Right wing commentators have invoked the Great Replacement theory to say Democrats are “replacing” American citizens with illegal immigrants. Belief in the Great Replacement theory has been cited as motivation for recent terror attacks, including the 2018 Pittsburgh, PA, synagogue shooting at the Tree of Life, the 2019 El Paso, TX, and Christchurch, New Zealand, shootings, and the 2022 shooting in Buffalo, NY.

4. This isn't a theory limited to the far-right fringe. About half of US Republicans believe it.

It's been actively promoted on Fox "News" by Tucker Carlson and others.

This was the theory Elon Musk agreed with in a tweet, causing a mass exodus of advertisers from Twitter and prompting Musk's apology tour to Auschwitz with Ben Shapiro.

5. The anti-immigrant fervor, the mass deportation plans...? They're all tied up with Jews in the minds of the far-right base to whom Trump and his henchmen keep winking and dogwhistling. Trump has openly endorsed this conspiracy theory.

I see a lot of Jews online deciding to keep their heads down because they think Jews aren't the immediate target of this authoritarian and I'm gobsmacked by their ignorance of history and failure to pay attention to the rapid and violent increase in far-right antisemitic violence in recent years, driven by the very same Trump who they mistakenly believe is "good for the Jews."

Jews are being set up as scapegoats.

----

The irony is amazing, too. If you ask believers in the Great Replacement conspiracy theory for evidence of the Jewish plot to replace white people, they'll produce headlines about Jewish charitable organizations which seek to aid refugees:

The fact that Jews...care about refugees...is the proof of our sinister plot against white people.

[its-avalon-08]

hi !! can you do headcanons max verstappen X senna’s daugther!reader?

thank uuuu

hii !!! if i were to imagine senna's daughter!reader she would be so talented. she isn't a driver because of her built up trauma. (im fully aware that the timelines don't add up, don't add logic into it <3) she is an aerodynamic engineer, mainly responsible for making the car. she is secretly in love with speed and racing.

max and y/n met when they were just kids. max was a menace on track and y/n was terrified of racing. she saw speeding cars as a reminder of her father's passing. being good friends, y/n has a tradition of kissing max's helmet as a feeble attempt to keep him safe.

they started dating in 2019, and have been together ever since. y/n being the absolute genius she is, continues to work in redbull and delivers top of the line car designs leading to the dominance as seen on track.

max leaves a single, perfect red tulip on y/n's desk every race weekend, a silent promise to return safely.

y/n hides little notes in max's helmet before qualifying, each one a technical insight phrased like a love letter.

max, despite his aversion to early mornings, wakes up before y/n on important presentations to make her breakfast, his way of calming her pre-work jitters.

y/n, who finds airplanes stressful, uses a calming app max downloaded for her whenever they travel together.

max, after a particularly grueling race weekend, finds y/n curled up on the couch with a book about aerodynamics. he joins her, listening intently as she explains a new concept she's been working on, his full attention the sweetest victory lap.

max knows how deeply the lack of a father figure affected her, causing under-confidence and a constant need of validation. max knows this and never stops giving her words of affirmations.

everyone of the grid adores y/n. they see her spirit and her beautiful face reflect senna's in so many ways. max is fiercely protective of y/n, often defending her from questions about her father and his death.

y/n hates jos verstappen from the bottom of her heart. she is not scared of yelling at him when he berates max. she whispers affirmations into max's ears after a bad race (which was rare but not impossible)

when max crashes, y/n is the first to suffer from the highest intensity of a panic attack. she shivers and trembles until max gets out safely. after the crash in 2021 with hamilton which caused max to fall over in the medical center, y/n angirly stormed towards the cheerful hamilton, shouting angrily.

here's what happened ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

the smile evaporated as y/n marched towards him. it wasn't a walk, it was a storm surge. "congratulations? you call pushing max off the track at 200 mph congratulations?" her voice, usually calm and collected, was a tightly leashed fury. lewis blinked, his smile morphing into something defensive. "it was a racing incident, y/n. we both went for the corner." her voice cracked. "racing incident? you call leaving him stranded on the gravel, risking his life, a racing incident? do you have any idea what it's like to watch someone you love walk away from a fireball?" the room held its breath. lewis's face paled. "y/n, i…" "no, you don't," she cut him off, her voice thick with emotion. "you don't get to pretend you know what it's like to see your dreams vanish in a cloud of smoke. you don't get to understand the terror of every single corner, every single race because you haven't lost anyone on this damn track!" tears welled up in her eyes, blurring the accusing stare she fixed on him. "max is more than a rival, lewis. he's a friend, a teammate, a human being. and today, you gambled with his life for a trophy." the silence stretched, suffocating. finally, lewis spoke, his voice devoid of its usual bravado. "y/n, i… i didn't…" "you didn't think," she finished the sentence for him, a bitter laugh escaping her lips. "just like some people never think about the consequences of their actions." turning on her heel, she stormed out of the room, leaving behind a stunned silence and a champion stripped of his celebratory air. as y/n reached the red bull garage, she found max emerging from the medical center, a sheepish grin on his face. relief washed over her, so strong it brought her to her knees. max rushed to her side, his concern a warm balm on her raw emotions. he held her close, whispering reassurances into her hair.

🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️

well i hope you liked it! thank you for sending in your request and do send more <3 happy reading!

leave a like! leave a note!

🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️🏎️

[girlactionfigure]

The return of the hostages from Hamas captivity is of the utmost importance to Israel. 

I thought it might be helpful for some of you to hear just a bit more about certain individuals that Israel is releasing in order for that to happen. The sacrifice being made.

A thread: 

1) Mohammad Abu Warda, responsible for 2 bus bombings in the 90s which murdered 46 people.

He made it clear at his trial that he would never stop murdering until Israel was destroyed. He was given multiple life sentences.

Now he'll be freed. 

2) Arafat Irfaiya. In 2019 he raped Ori Ansbacher, a 19-year old, and stabbed her to death. He was sentenced to life in prison, plus 20 years.

Now he'll be freed, and no doubt treated as a hero.

3) Zakaria Zubeidi, former Jenin commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Responsible for the 2002 terror attack in Beit Shean in which 6 were murdered. In 2019 he was charged with shooting attacks on civilian buses.

There will be widespread rejoincing in Jenin when he returns.

4) Bilal Abu Ghanem. In 2015 he and a fellow terrorist boarded a bus and began shooting and stabbing passengers. Three died, and dozens were wounded. 

He received 3 consecutive life sentences.

Now he'll be freed. Here are two of the people in their 70s who he murdered.

5) Wael Qassem and Wissam Abbasi, leaders of the Hamas-affiliated Silwan cell. Responsible for the carrying out of multiple bombings in the Second Intifada, which killed dozens (one of these bombings, at the Cafeteria at Hebrew University in 2002, pictured).

Now to be set free.

6) Ahmed Barghouti, relative & close associate of Marwan Barghouti.

Ahmed is responsible for a number of terror attacks, including a notorious mass-shooting in 2002 at a reception hall in Hadera (pictured) where people were celebrating a Bat Mitzvah.

Now to be freed.

7) Mahmoud Atallah. Given a life sentence for murdering a Palestinian woman who was accused of collaborating with Israel. More recently, manage to sexually assault and rape female prison guards. 

Now to be freed.

8) Ashraf Zughayer. Hamas leader accused of involvement in the 2002 bus bombing on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv, which killed 6 and injured dozens.

Now he'll go free.

9) Tabet Mardawi of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Responsible for multiple terror attacks, including suicide bombings at stations in Binyamina (pictured) & Afula, a bombing at a bombing at a restaurant in Kiryat Motzkin (pictured).

Now he'll go free.

10) Nassim Zaatari. Received multiple life terms for his role in a 2003 terror attack when a suicide bomber detonated a five-kilogram device packed with ball bearings on a crowded bus in Jerusalem. 23 murdered, including 7 children.

Now he'll be free.

11) Ahmad Obeid, was sentenced to seven life terms for his role in sending out the suicide bomber responsible for the 2004 Café Hillel terror attack in Jerusalem.

Now he'll be free.

12) Leili Abu Ragila. Was serving life imprisonment for his role in the 2006 kidnap and murder of a high school student, Eliyahu Asheri (pictured).

Now he'll go free.

13) There are many more. Murderers. Terrorists. They will go free. They will be greeted as heroes when they do.

Israel is in an impossible situation. The hostages taken by Hamas *must* be freed. But a terrible price is being exacted for that to happen. 

14) Jews around the world rejoice with the families of those who have been reunited with loved ones released by Hamas yesterday.

We also grieve with the families who are seeing those terrorists responsible for their loved ones' deaths walk free. 

15) One more thought, if I may. You will see media outlets, certain commentators, even some politicians, trying to equate the hostages being released by Hamas with prisoners being released by Israel.

As the above thread shows, such a comparison is grotesque. Show them the truth. 

16) I know this thread will not have been pleasant to read or see. I hope, however, that if you have read this far, you found it informative. Please do share it if you found it helpful. 

*Thread ends* 

@Daniel_Sugarman

[betweenstorms]

Part Seven of Where We Part Catching On (previous chapter) (next chapter) (WWP Chapters) (masterlist) Childhood Friend!Simon x fem!Reader

The rest of November slipped by in a sombre hush, days folding into one another like pages of an old book left in the rain.

Except for that one day.

A gunfight rang out near Aimsley Street, slicing through the murmur of the city. It left London tense and shaken, paralyzed for days as subways shut down, and those who could, travelled by car, turning the streets into a grid of motionless headlights.

Fortunately, it wasn’t as lethal as the terror attack at Piccadilly in 2019, but still, the unease seeped in, threading through the city’s veins, casting shadows across familiar places. And just like that, November quickly disappeared, pulling its curtain of solitude and waiting, leaving the world stripped bare, exposed to the bites of winter’s approach.

December draped itself over London like a heavy, threadbare blanket, stifling and colourless, the kind of oppressive atmosphere that made everything feel lifeless. The cold settled in, not the crisp, biting chill of clear winter mornings, but a damp, penetrating coldness that seeped into your very bones and made you wonder if you’d ever feel warm again. The streets looked as though they’d been stripped bare, left open and exposed to the heavy, overcast skies above. Most days, a dull mist hung over the pavements, giving the buildings a washed-out, ghostly quality, like a city caught between sleep and waking.

The days bled into one another, each more bleak than the last, with early mornings arriving in murky shades of grey and fading too soon into evenings that swallowed the world whole in their darkness. People moved with that characteristic urgency that winter brings. You joined them begrudgingly, always tugging your coat closer, cursing yourself for always forgetting a scarf, or for the thin boots that always seemed to soak up icy puddles like a bloody sponge.

On especially cold nights, you could almost convince yourself that this was normal, that this was simply the way things were and had always been. But it was quite difficult to ignore the feeling that something was missing, that the hollow silence that lingered in the empty spaces between your days wasn’t just the eerie stillness of winter, but the absence of something, or rather, someone, you had grown painfully fond of.

Simon hadn’t been back since early November.

He had texted once or twice, short, clipped messages that somehow still made your heart flip, each one like a handful of pebbles tossed your way. “Busy these days,” and, later, “Might be back in a month. Can’t promise.” And with each message, you felt the quiet ache of hope and disappointment, an unsettling mixture that left you feeling more and more lonely with each passing week.

You’d taken to clutching your phone a little more often, your heart flickering with every buzz, only to sink again as other, mundane notifications filtered through.

It was a strange kind of torture, missing someone who was never truly yours to miss, whose life was a map marked with destinations and duties far beyond your reach. However, even knowing this, even acknowledging the distance he kept, you felt his absence like a stone lodged deep within you, heavy and unmoving.

You found yourself reaching for the phone countless times, fingers hovering over his name, wondering if a simple call or text would bridge the painful emptiness he’d left in his absence.

But something held you back, understanding that Simon would likely meet your words with a silence that would hurt more than any reply. He’d drawn his line between his work and his personal life, between the world that demanded his professionalism and the connection he somehow allowed to happen with you.

He’d made it clear, he wouldn’t let those worlds collide, wouldn’t risk them merging into something unpredictable, something neither of you could control. And you respected that boundary, even as it tore at you.

However, the days felt endless without him, each hour stretching into another shadowed ache that you couldn’t quiet, no matter how hard you tried. Your heart felt like an open wound, raw and unhealing, each sore beat a reminder of his absence, each moment a slow, silent bleed of longing. You wondered if he felt it too, the quiet fracture of separation that neither of you could mend, a wound that only his return could begin to close.

December pressed on, relentless in its gloom.

Your world shrank, folding in on itself as you huddled in your flat, wrapped in oversized jumpers, your hands perpetually curled around a mug of tea to chase away the chill that lingered in your bones.

You fell into a sort of rhythm, almost like a ritual, as if by carrying out these small and mundane acts, you could keep the loneliness at bay. Mornings were spent buried under blankets, moving only reluctantly to start your day, while evenings were spent wrapped up on the sofa, the dim glow of a lamp casting a pale light across the room as you read, watched, and waited.

Your birthday and Christmas arrived, as dull as the winter sky outside. There was little joy in the chill, in the frozen ground that spread across Wimbledon, turning every cobbled street and brick house into an icy, unyielding facade. But you did find some comfort in being back with your parents, tucked into the warmth of their home, where the smell of spices and evergreen filled the air. Your mother, delighted to have you home, fussed over meals, bustling in and out of the kitchen with a determined cheerfulness that belied the weariness around her eyes. Your father sat by, his once-broad frame softened with age, but his gaze was still as sharp as ever.

You gave them the plane tickets to Thailand over Christmas dinner.

Your mum’s face lit up, eyes sparkling with the kind of excitement that was rare to see in the last few years.

You knew how long she’d wanted to return, how she’d looked at old photos of their honeymoon with a wistful smile, memories of a warmth and beauty worlds away from London’s dull cold. She held the tickets with reverence, tracing the letters with her finger as though they were a magical doorway back to her youth, when her husband’s sickness was just like a bad dream. Your father, whose health, thank God, had held up well in recent months despite some close calls, smiled, a look of contentment softening his face.

“Thailand,” your mother murmured, eyes distant. “Oh, dear, it’s been so long.” She gave your dad a nudge, eyes twinkling. “Been on about it for ages, haven’t I?”

He hummed and squeezed her hand. “You’ve been a right menace about it, that’s true.”

When you took them to the airport a week after Christmas, the terminal was filled with that strange, buzzing excitement that only comes with travel. People hugged each other, voices mixing with the static announcements overhead, foreign families pulling along suitcases, kids clutching stuffed animals and couples leading each other by each other’s hand.

You embraced your parents tightly, your mum’s hair smelling faintly of lavender and your father’s coat thick against you. You watched with a smile as they made their way through security, disappearing into the throng of travellers until they were out of sight.

And then, you were alone again.

New Year’s Eve crept up like a thief in the night, bringing with it a strange melancholy, like watching the embers of a once-bright fire slowly burn to ash. There was a hollowness in the air, a sensation that even the bright lights and the laughter of strangers couldn’t fill.

You’d been roped into joining your colleagues at a bar near the office. It seemed like a dreadful idea, but sitting alone in your flat, watching the hours crawl by, felt worse. You donned your best smile, the one that looked good enough in the mirror to fool even yourself, and you went, desperate for any mindless chatter that would at least keep your mind occupied.

But the bar was thick with heat and noise, the heavy bass of music thumping under the clatter of glass and the rise and fall of laughter. You found yourself swept into a circle of colleagues, all chattering about their plans for the new year, raising toasts, and making idle promises that would likely dissolve by February. They laughed easily, voices drifting over you in waves, and yet it all felt distant, like you were submerged in water, hearing only the echo of sound.

Then a young man from finance cornered you.

You only blinked at him, barely listening, caught in the comedic rhythm of his bouncing curls as he nodded along to his own words.

He launched into a passionate speech about the bloody sanctity of traditional gender roles. His words blurred together, his voice almost muted by the weight of your thoughts. Occasionally, you threw in a polite nod or a mumbled a barely audible “I see,” but your mind was far from this harrowing event. Then he leaned closer, mistaking your silence for interest, his voice picking up with enthusiasm as he rambled about his mother’s perfect domesticity.

He was going on about how his parents’ marriage thrived on ‘proper’ roles, his mum content at home, his father in the workplace, as if time hadn’t moved on. 

Instead of focusing on the man in front of you, whose name you didn't even know, your mind drifted back to Simon, as it always did, caught in the same endless orbit around him.

It was a quiet tragedy, really—how he occupied every corner of your thoughts, each waking hour, and even seeped into your dreams.

Last night, you dreamt of him again. You were back in Manchester, in the schoolyard where your lives had first touched, sitting side by side, sharing a slice of cake with the casual intimacy of old friends. Yet, in the dream, you were adults, marked by the years that had carved distance and longing between you.

You couldn’t help but wonder where he might be.

What distant place held him at this very moment? Did he feel the same biting loneliness that haunted you, or did the distance barely register for him? Did he notice the empty spaces you left behind, the echo of your absence? Did he miss you in that quiet, aching way you missed him, as though without him, the world felt hollow, missing something essential?

The evening dragged on, your drink untouched on the table, its amber hue glinting in the dim light of the bar.

Suddenly, the noise around you became too much so you left without a word. The countdown spilled out of the bar, each passing number a drumbeat reminding you of how misplaced you felt. The voices grew louder, almost drowning out the thoughts you clung to so desperately, but there was no shaking Simon’s image from your mind. You excused yourself to the blur of faces, slipping out into the cold just as the crowd reached “Three… two…” and a cheer erupted inside, muffled by the heavy door that closed behind you.

The cold air bit at your cheeks, sharp and unforgiving, but there was a strange relief in it. The chill worked its way through your coat, wrapping around your limbs, but you barely felt it.

Your mind was still somewhere else—wandering across continents, or maybe just a few miles away, lingering wherever Simon might be, wherever he was spending this strange moment of resumption. You tried to imagine him in his world, far from the lights and laughter, caught in some clandestine mission, navigating the edges of danger.

It felt wrong to picture him anywhere else but beside you.

You walked down the street slowly, trembling hands shoved deep in your pockets, blurry eyes trained on the pavement.

A fine layer of frost glistened under the dim streetlights, turning the world silver. It felt surreal, almost like you were moving through a dream. The faint sound of fireworks echoed in the distance, colours bursting against the night sky, their light reflecting in fragmented patterns on the layer of ice below your feet.

You looked up absentmindedly, the fireworks dying behind your eyes, feeling more alone in that moment than you had in years.

Perhaps loving him in silence was no longer possible.

The feelings had slipped beyond your control, as if they had a life of their own—spilling over like water from a crack in glass, flooding every part of you, soaking into your bones. The walls you’d so carefully built around your bleeding heart felt like little more than tissue now, flimsy barriers against the torrent that pressed and surged within. There was no holding back, no silencing the quiet ache that had become a steady, insistent pulse beneath your skin, a longing that refused to remain hidden, that sought him out even in the hollow silence.

No, you needed to love Simon Riley openly—

—without shadows or restraint.

You needed to bring this love into the light, where it could finally catch its first breath, where it could be heard and be seen, where it could thrive unhidden, unafraid. You needed him—not in fragments or stolen moments, not as a quiet ache buried in your chest, but wholly, fiercely, as something alive and unshackled.

You had wasted so much time.

So many precious years that now felt like mere flickers in the dark, small glimpses of life that slipped through your grasp before you’d even had a chance to hold them, like a newborn. The weight of it settled heavily upon you, like the slow realisation of a loss so deep it seemed to stretch back through all the years you’d been alive.

You could feel it in the pit of your chest, that dull ache of regret, as you thought of all the things you had left unobserved, the fleeting moments you had let drift by without truly seeing them for what they were.

You should have taken the time to appreciate your mum’s rose bush in full bloom. You should have sat with her in the garden, asking her all kinds of questions about those roses and why she loved them, about her own dreams and what she longed for.

You should have lingered a little bit longer in conversation with Mrs. Riley when she waved at you from her porch after school. She had been there every day, asking after your mum or commenting on the weather, hoping for a second of connection. But you had always been too absorbed in your own world, too eager to rush home, and now, those lost conversations seemed like small, precious jewels you’d tossed aside without even realising their worth.

There was that joyful summer in Sicily, too, when you’d stood on the shore with friends, the Mediterranean sun turning the sea into shimmering glass. You’d laughed, feeling invincible, the salt breeze tangling your hair and the waves lapping at your feet. But you were always thinking ahead, already planning the next thrill, and you never truly let yourself savour the gentle kiss of the sea or the warmth of those friendships, believing, foolishly, that there would always be more summers like that one.

Now, those days felt like faded photographs, captured and stowed away, a version of you that felt impossibly distant, almost unreal.

And all those dreams you’d held so tightly in your youth—they felt almost absurd and foolish now. Those grand plans, the visions of who you’d become, had seemed so important once, so urgent. However, life had drifted by, filled with pathetic attempts, with moments you passed over for the promise of a future that never quite materialised. All the dreams you’d clung to now seemed like toys left in a forgotten corner, things that once shimmered brightly but now only reminded you of all you hadn’t achieved, all you hadn’t dared to reach for.

And Simon.

God, you should have kept in touch.

All those years stretched between you like an untraveled road, a distance marked by silence and missed chances. You’d shared so much as children and somehow, as life tugged you in different directions, you’d let him slip away, thinking perhaps that time would wait, that there would always be a someday to reconnect.

But that day never came.

How could you have let all those years pass without him in your life?

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

And so, your resolve sharpened as the final traces of colourful fireworks flickered in the sky, fading like smiles, leaving you alone on that empty street. Heart pounding, you reached into your bag, fingers trembling as they closed around your phone. The reality of what you were about to do seized you, filling you with a giddy sense of reckless abandon. You needed to tell him—to reach across this vast, impossible distance and let him know what he meant to you.

You couldn’t wait for another moment to slip by, couldn’t let another chance vanish into the empty air of this cold evening.

Your fingers hovered over the screen, heart hammering as you stared at his name, the contact you’d saved so long ago but had so rarely dared to use. It felt monumental, like all the words you’d swallowed down like bitter pills, all the years of quiet yearning and repressed emotions were resting in a single message.

Happy New Year, Si.

You paused, staring at those three words.

It felt too simple, too unremarkable, yet somehow too much at the same time. However, you weren’t done. No, you couldn’t just wish him a happy New Year and leave it at that, not with everything you felt pressing on your chest, a weight so heavy it felt as though it might crush you. The words were there, bubbling up, desperate to spill out. Your thumbs lingered on the keyboard, hesitating, heart thundering as you finally, almost timidly, typed:

I love you.

Three more words.

They settled perfectly beneath the first message, as if they had always belonged there, tucked away beneath the safety of the New Year’s greeting. Somehow, the two messages fit together, one nestled beneath the other like layers of meaning, entwined, as though love was just a natural extension of your wish to start another year with him.

And, in a way, it was.

Two minutes passed. Then another two. And another two. But those words flew into the void, a confession to the ether, carrying with them every unspoken feeling you’d harboured, every quiet longing and desperate hope you had clung to through those long, empty days. However, it was fitting because love was never too loud between you and Simon. It was quiet, patient, a silent constant that filled the spaces between words. And yet, in this moment, as you stared at the screen, it felt too small. Because God, how you wished he were here beside you.

You wished, with a quiet ache, that he was here, that you could say these words to him aloud, that he might look at you with that steady, unreadable gaze of his and hear them for what they were—an offering, small but true, from your heart to his.

You checked your phone obsessively, but there was no reply, only the empty screen reflecting your own hesitance back at you. Each second felt like an eternity, stretching on, thick and heavy with doubt. Had he seen it? Was he even awake? Or worse, had he simply chosen to ignore it, to leave your confession to languish in the unknown, unacknowledged?

You tucked your phone back into your pocket, hoping to put some distance between yourself and the gnawing anxiety blooming in your chest.

The street was easeful, your only company the faint sound of revellers in the distance, their laughter drifting away like smoke on the wind. And there you stood, small and solitary, your message carried away into the silence of the night. You’d given a piece of yourself away, a part you could never take back, and the ache of that realisation settled within you, but there was no regret. You couldn’t live in the shadow of regret anymore. You could feel your pitiful heart thud painfully, a rhythm of yearning, wondering if you’d gone too far, if you’d crossed a line that could never be mended.

For a moment, you let yourself imagine his reaction—his gaze lowering to his phone, those unreadable hazel eyes flickering with some emotion he’d keep hidden behind his stoic mask. Would he read it? Would he feel the weight of those words? Or would he look away, placing your soft confession with all the other things he couldn’t face? A thousand questions swirled within you, each one carrying the potential of hope or heartbreak, yet none held an answer.

New Year’s slipped by, leaving you alone in your small, silent flat.

The cheers, the drinks, the fireworks, your coworkers—they all felt like shards of a broken life happening elsewhere, a distant world removed from your solitude. You made some mint tea and curled up on your sofa, wrapping a blanket around your shoulders, letting the muted glow of a mindless romcom you’d seen a hundred times fill the room. Every now and then, your eyes flicked toward your phone, longing for a reply that never came. Even though the screen remained dark, indifferent, you held onto the hope that it might light up with his name, with a message that would close the distance, however briefly, between your heart and his.

But days turned into weeks.

London slipped back into its own rhythm, its pulse steady and unchanging, as if the new year had come and gone without so much as a murmur. You, too, fell into the cadence of it all, returning to the apologetic rituals that had once felt like anchors but now seemed more like weights, pulling you through the days with a muted inevitability. There was work, with its familiar faces and deadlines, the cold commute, where breath rose like ghosts in the air, and the small tasks you clung to—brewing your morning tea, buttoning your coat, watching the frost glisten on your windowsill. Each small motion, each quiet routine, tethered you to the present, even as part of you remained lost somewhere else.

The ache in your chest persisted, a constant, unyielding reminder of your confession hanging in the silence. You busied yourself with distractions, trying to smother the gnawing ache of unreciprocated love, but it lingered, like a wound you couldn’t heal, as early January passed in a blur of frozen mornings and grey afternoons.

Another week began, still with no sign of Simon.

It was strange, feeling his absence so acutely, even after so many years of silence. You found yourself slipping into daydreams, remembering those late nights in his flat, the smoke curling between you as he listened quietly to your ramblings, his presence steady and grounding. You missed the glint in his eyes when he teased you, the rare moments when his hard exterior softened, revealing the person beneath. You missed the comfort of his company, the sense of being truly seen and being heard, of sharing space with someone who, despite his walls, had let you glimpse parts of him no one else had.

But the silence stretched on, longer than you ever thought you could bear, each empty day settling like dust over your heart. Slowly, painfully, you began to accept the truth that lay beneath that silence—that this time, he might not return.

It was a dull ache, this acceptance, not a sharp, searing pain but a slow, sinking sorrow that settled into your bones, filling the spaces where hope had once lingered. It wasn’t defeat; it was a kind of surrender, yielding to a reality you had tried to keep at bay. You felt it weigh on you with a familiar heaviness, pressing down in a way that made everything seem just a little bit dimmer, a little more distant, as if the world itself had taken on his absence and softened to match the ache in your chest. You carried on, each day a quiet testament to the resilience of the heart, even as it broke under the strain of loss.

Then one evening, weeks after you’d given up on a reply, your phone vibrated.

The screen glowed softly, casting a dim, ethereal light over the shadows of your bedroom. It was a quiet, almost fragile glow, as though the device itself knew the weight of what it held, the significance of that single name illuminating the dark. You blinked, your eyes adjusting to the light, your mind reeling in disbelief. His name was there, clear and unmistakable, like something conjured from a dream, a figment you’d imagined in those long, empty hours.

And yet, it was real.

For a heartbeat, you couldn’t move, your hands hovering just above the screen, frozen by a mixture of hope and fear. It felt surreal, the kind of moment you’d only dared to imagine. But there it was, right in front of you. So you reached for the phone, fingers trembling, the screen warm under your touch, grounding you in this unexpected, almost magical reality. You felt it thrum in your ears, in your fingertips, in your whole body, as though every cell in your body was attuned to this moment, as if the world itself held its breath, waiting.

Took me far too long to catch on.

I’ll be in London in a few days.

Got hell more to say than I know what to do with.

Where We Part Chapters

[wokealqaeda]

Stephan Balliet accused of attacking a synagogue in Halle, Germany, in 2019, was recaptured by German authorities after attempting a prison escape on Saturday.

He climbed an 11-foot fence during a walk through a prison courtyard, but was caught shortly after and taken back into custody. By Wednesday he had been transferred to a maximum security prison.

The Halle synagogue shooting occurred on 9 October 2019 in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, and continued in nearby Landsberg. After unsuccessfully trying to enter the synagogue in Halle during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the attacker, 27-year-old Stephan Balliet, fatally shot two people nearby and later injured two others. Federal investigators called the attack far-right and antisemitic terrorism.

[artbyblastweave]

I've been thinking about Garth Ennis' "Of thee I Sing" and it's read on Superman, and wondering if Homelander is an inverse of that. Mostly because of curious of whether Homelander is a commentary on Superman specifically, or if he is a commentary on Superheroes as a whole and the similarities to Superman are just a consequence of Superman's monumental influence on the genre

"The Opposite of Superman in "Of Thee I Sing" isn't a bad read.

A lot of Garth Ennis's written oeuvre concerns, in some way or another, the impossibility of truly living up to the narratives around which we build meaning in our lives. Preacher, when it isn't a comic about Literally Killing God, rapidly oscillates between a sincere love of the mythology of the Cowboy and The American Dream and an acute awareness of the incredible violence that propelled both of those things, and Superman's crisis in issue 34 of Hitman has to do with the realization that his own infallibility as a hero is becoming part of that same bogus tapestry- how, when he fails to save someone who knows that he's trying to, that functionally constitutes their entire worldview being shattered just before they're killed horribly. To which, at least in the 90s, Ennis's synthesis-response to this tension was pretty consistently that the impossibility of living up to a good idea isn't a reason to stop trying, because at the end of the day you have to stand for something. Tommy Monaghan (who's on the same rooftop as Supes in order to snipe a slumlord) pins Superman and what he stands for as the best shot that anyone will ever have to genuinely embody the supposed ideals of America- and "if a chance is all we can hope for, well, maybe that ain't so bad."

By the time he got around to The Boys, though, a decade had passed, Bush had been elected twice, and the Great War on Terror was grinding millions into mincemeat for the sake of making the number go up for Cheney's boardroom buddies, and I think Ennis's ability to muster enthusiasm about aspirational symbols had taken a pretty serious hit. From here we derive the depiction of a Superman figure who's an utterly self-absorbed corporate-attack-dog turned lukewarm wannabe ubermensch- a contrast to Garth's consistent characterization of Superman as someone whose principle issue is that he cares about others beyond what's possible for his behavior to ever reflect:

Indeed, a fairly common criticism of Homelander is and was that beyond extremely superficial aesthetic signifiers he had next to nothing in common with Superman as a character, and as a consequence quite a bit of his vileness was viewed as mere shadowboxing. But, as you said, Homelander was never really about Superman so much as he was being used as a synecdoche for America-as-it-actually-is- this big, gaudy, self-important corporate extrusion of unity, moral certainty and wholesomeness slapped like a band-aid over the unfixable, unsalvagable morass of systemic abuse, graft, self-interest, and mass murder that rules over us all. And I think that this is basically a fair cop, because we can argue all day over which specific element of the mythos best represents Superman or any other character, but the reality is that the mythos got as big as it did hand-in-hand with the corporate engine that feeds them and feeds off of them in turn.

I believe that this, in turn, is a major element of why Amazon's version of The Boys went gangbusters; Homelander still doesn't pattern-match to Superman particularly well beyond the superficial, but what he can be is an amalgamation and a face for the capeshit blob that was marginal in 2006 but had eaten the media landscape wholescale by 2019. It's sufficiently big and overexposed that everyone is at least peripherally aware of the complaints levied at the project- the focus-grouping, the sanding, the two-faced lukewarm progressivism, the ten thousandth first gay character while ticket money is getting funneled to frothing reactionaries, actors who're cyclically deified and pilloried when their grotesque politics and personal conduct enter the public eye, the constant churn of self-justifying content, the knowledge that after whatever wholesome redditbait Big Damn hero moments they feed us Disney is still off in the background Being Disney to everyone, with all the horror that entails. I wholeheartedly believe that Homelander and what he's a shorthand for would be totally legible to someone who's never actually seen an entire MCU flick- the comic had some biting remarks about the state of an industry that was ultimately a nonentity for most people, but you can't miss it now.

[mariacallous]

Jewish groups are offering mixed reactions to President Donald Trump’s latest executive order on antisemitism that suggests that foreign-born anti-Israel student protesters could be deported.

Some say the order is taking advantage of Jewish fear to erode civil liberties and stoke fears about immigrants. 

Others, including some of the largest U.S. organizations, say they welcome efforts to improve the climate on college campuses — as long as civil and immigrant rights protections are applied. 

And a few say they are ready and eager to help — and have even started supplying the Trump administration with names of protesters to target. 

In the order issued Wednesday, Trump directed government departments to take “actions to remove” students who are not citizens and who endorse terrorism. The order is framed as an update on Trump’s 2019 executive order on antisemitism and includes several other provisions. It would fulfill some of Trump’s campaign promises to combat antisemitism on college campuses. 

It would also sharply escalate the methods the government uses to fight antisemitism on campuses and beyond. It would link that effort with Trump’s vast campaign to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, which a range of Jewish groups oppose. Some of his allies had been pushing for such a move for months before his election. Marco Rubio, now Trump’s secretary of state, had called for such visas to be revoked while still a senator, as had Rep. Elise Stefanik, now the president’s nominee for United Nations ambassador.

Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel “unleashed an unprecedented wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses,” the order says. “Jewish students have faced an unrelenting barrage of discrimination; denial of access to campus common areas and facilities, including libraries and classrooms; and intimidation, harassment, and physical threats and assault.”

The order also gives federal agencies 60 days to issue recommendations for fighting antisemitism. It also asks government officials to inventory Title VI antisemitism complaints and lawsuits alleging antisemitic discrimination on campus.

As with many of the executive orders issued by Trump in the 10 days since he took office — more than any other president has signed in the same period — relatively little is clear about how his administration plans to implement its most dramatic components.

The executive order cites a law that deems a non-citizen “inadmissible” who, among other things, “endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.” 

The order comes amid widespread concern about the climate on college campuses. Pro-Palestinian protests last spring caused many Jewish and pro-Israel students to feel unsafe; disrupted classes and activities at times; and, in some cases, included physical violence against Jewish and pro-Israel students. 

Amid the groundswell of campus activity were some documented cases of pro-Palestinian students or other protesters expressing open support for Hamas or calling for the deaths of Israelis and Zionists. It’s unclear how many of those protesters are not citizens.

It is also unclear how the Justice Department under Attorney General-designate Pam Bondi would determine whether a protester had expressed support for terrorism. Decisions about issuing or revoking of student visas would fall under the purview of the State Department.

One question is whether anyone who has ever been arrested while participating in a pro-Palestinian protest would be vulnerable. Many protesters who were arrested were later not charged or charged with misdemeanors.

Critics of the order have maintained that Republicans and many in the pro-Israel camp use too broad of a definition of supporting terrorism — particularly when it comes to pro-Palestinian activism — and that cracking down on pro-Palestinian speech would hurt American Jews in the long run.

“It is both possible and necessary to directly confront and address the crisis of antisemitism, on campus and across our communities, without abandoning the fundamental democratic values that have allowed Jews, and so many others, to thrive here,” Amy Spitalnick, head of the liberal Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said in a statement opposing Trump’s executive order.

Mainstream Jewish groups have so far broadly applauded Trump’s stated desire to fight antisemitism while expressing concern over the more controversial aspect of the order. 

In a statement, the American Jewish Committee said it would “endorse without hesitation” Trump’s push to apply existing laws to addressing antisemitism. But the group was more circumspect about the deportation concept, stating, “It is vital that other provisions in the Executive Order which have the potential to be broadly interpreted to threaten certain ethnic and religious groups be implemented with strict adherence to existing law.”

The Anti-Defamation League, too, also broadly supported the goals of Trump’s order. But the group added a cautionary note, saying, “Obviously, any immigration-related ramifications must be consistent with due process and existing federal statutes and regulations and should not be used to target individuals for their constitutionally protected speech.” 

Jewish Federations of North America told JTA late on Thursday that it supported the order, and downplayed its deportation aspects. “While much attention has been paid to the section of the order that seeks to revoke visas for students involved in supporting terrorist activity, the order does not—and indeed could not—add criteria for removing resident aliens beyond what is already written into current law,” a spokesperson wrote in an email, adding, “We thank President Trump for this important step.” (The ADL and JFNA had, as recently as December, declined to comment on Trump’s stated plans to deport protesters.)

Some Jewish groups are embracing the order without hesitation.

Betar US, a reboot of a century-old militant Zionist youth movement, has launched an effort to track foreign-born college students who have engaged in protest activity. In part by using artificial intelligence, the group has compiled dossiers on the most active protesters to submit to the Trump administration for deportation. 

The group’s executive director, Ross Glick, told JTA this week that he has received “countless” submissions since launching the campaign. A Betar spokesperson said the group was “very happy” about the new order and said the group has already submitted more than 100 names to Trump administration officials. 

Glick maintains that those on the list are egregious offenders.

“These aren’t people being reported just for wearing a keffiyeh,” he said, referring to the scarf that is a symbol of Palestinian solidarity. “They’re being reported because they have been espousing anti-Zionist, anti-Israel, anti-American behavior, masking up in protests, participating in Intifada-led protests, and then are here as guests of our country, in some cases getting grants or funds.”

Glick added that he is supportive of free speech for American citizens, but that he doesn’t believe foreign students should have the right to go after the American government. 

“Nobody’s looking to deport somebody who is legal. A citizen has rights, no doubt. Free speech,” he said. “But a foreign student, I don’t know of a country where you can, as a foreigner, participate in protests that are against the government.” (The Supreme Court has generally held that foreigners on American soil are entitled to at least some First Amendment protections.)

The question of deporting non-citizen pro-Palestinian students was already on the radar last spring. The Jewish president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was heavily criticized by some pro-Israel voices after she declined to suspend foreign-born protesters for fear their visas would be jeopardized.

Now, some Jewish groups want to see the executive order applied more widely, beyond the colleges and universities where the federal government has sway because of the funding it supplies.

Earlier this month, the Secure Community Network, which coordinates security for Jewish institutions, urged Trump to take “action against non-citizens who materially support terrorism and threaten Jewish Americans.” 

The group’s director and CEO, Michael Masters, argued that existing law already permits the government to take such action when a student is found to have provided “material support” to a registered terror group like Hamas or ISIS.

“We cannot allow individuals to take advantage of America’s liberties to attack, threaten, and intimidate law abiding American citizens in the name of terrorism,” Masters wrote in an open letter. “The law forbids it. The time has come for the United States government to stand up for our citizens and our country – and to take meaningful action to protect the people of our country by enforcing those laws.”

Masters’ stance was opposed this week by rabbis and cantors via an open letter circulated by the progressive Jewish human rights network T’ruah. 

“We do not deny that in select circumstances, immigrants have carried out and attempted terrorist attacks,” reads the letter signed by hundreds of rabbis across the country. “But to frontload them as the primary threat to Jewish security is not only morally irresponsible, but dangerous for the Jewish people and for American society.”

In addition to reflecting his anti-immigration views, the order dovetails with Trump’s stated intent to move aspects of addressing campus antisemitism from the Education Department to the Justice Department. 

The deportation plan has roots in Project Esther, a policy proposal to combat antisemitism released by the right-wing Heritage Foundation during the campaign season. Prior to the election, many Jewish groups had declined to work with the Heritage Foundation on the initiative and criticized the program as an attempt to clamp down on left-wing political activism without meaningfully addressing antisemitism on the right. 

But a small number of conservative-leaning Jewish groups, including the Zionist Organization of America, the Coalition for Jewish Values and the Combat Antisemitism Movement, endorsed Project Esther.

IfNotNow, a left-wing Jewish group that is harshly critical of Israel, also opposed Trump’s plan Wednesday, saying it was “fueled by anti-Palestinian racism” and in service to anti-democratic ideals.

“Empowering the far right endangers Jews,” IfNotNow spokesperson Eva Borgwardt said in a statement. “We call on fellow Jewish organizations and leaders who are committed to freedom of speech and safeguarding civil rights to vigorously oppose this dangerous executive order.”

[ajqwrites]

Kyle "Gaz" Garrick

Age: 31

Nationality: British

Occupation: Sergeant in Task Force 141

Personality: Gaz is the steady hand and voice of reason within Task Force 141. 

Calm, collected, and analytical, he excels at reading the battlefield and adapting when situations shift.

He carries himself with quiet confidence, often serving as the bridge between the team's varied, sometimes different personalities. While serious when duty calls, Gaz has an understated charm and humor that happens when least expected—especially when bantering with Soap, Ghost, or Gabby.

Where some soldiers seek glory, Gaz focuses on execution. His loyalty runs deep, and his determination to protect both teammates and civilians makes him invaluable to Task Force 141.

——

Background

Born and raised in London, Gaz grew up witnessing the harsh realities of terrorism and the toll it took on his community. Wanting to make a difference on the front lines, he joined the Metropolitan Police Service, becoming a Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officer (CT-SFO).

His early career in the police force honed his tactical decision-making, de-escalation skills, and his ability to perform under extreme pressure during high-stakes urban operations.

But after witnessing the increasing global reach of terrorist networks—and feeling the limitations of law enforcement bureaucracy—Gaz transitioned into the British Army. His sharp instincts and adaptability earned him a place in the Special Air Service (SAS), where he excelled in counter-terrorism and hostage rescue operations.

In 2019, during the Al-Qatala terrorist attack at Piccadilly Circus, Gaz's leadership and quick action caught the attention of Captain John Price. Impressed by Gaz's composure and commitment to protecting civilians, Price personally recruited him into the reformed Task Force 141.

Since then, Gaz has become a part of the team, operating globally to dismantle terrorist threats and safeguard innocent lives.

Hobbies

Maintains peak fitness and sharpens his marksmanship skills regularly.

Uses his phone to capture landscapes and candid team moments during missions or downtime.

Regularly plays online with Soap (and occasionally ropes Simon into matches).

Collects LEGO sets, finding the process of constructing complex models both relaxing and mentally engaging. (Soap once teased him for it until he helped build one—and got hooked himself.)

——

Likes

Well-executed strategies.

Spending downtime with the team (sometimes over tea, gaming, or social gathering).

Exploring new cultures and cuisines while deployed abroad.

Advanced tactical gear and staying current on the latest military tech.

A properly brewed cup of British tea (he takes this very seriously).

Quiet problem-solving activities—like building LEGO models to unwind.

——

Dislikes

Reckless or impulsive decisions that endanger the team.

Bureaucratic interference and delays.

Arrogance or disrespect from outsiders and soldiers.

Seeing innocent civilians harmed or endangered.

Bad tea 

Poorly executed plans.

Teammates in Task Force 141

Gaz's relationships with his teammates are defined by respect, friendship, and trust.

John Price: Gaz sees Price not as a superior officer but as a mentor and, in many ways, a father figure in the field.

He respects Price's experience, tactical genius, and unwavering moral code. While Gaz isn't afraid to voice concerns or offer alternate strategies when needed, he knows Price's decisions always aim to protect both the mission and the men under his command.

Gaz also observes how Price's leadership extends beyond tactics—into the emotional welfare of the team, something Gaz quietly strives to take on as lessons.

Johnny "Soap" MacTavish: What began as a professional partnership quickly grew into a friendly rivalry.

Gaz and Soap constantly try to outdo each other, whether on the shooting range or in multiplayer gaming matches. Their banter lightens tense situations, but beneath the teasing lies deep mutual respect.

They'd take a bullet for each other without hesitation.

Since Soap started dating Cam, Gaz has maintained a careful, protective watch—not because he doubts Soap's intentions but because he understands how important Cam is to both Soap and Price.

Simon "Ghost" Riley: Though Simon is reserved and often avoids personal conversations, Gaz has built a strong, professional rapport with him.

Gaz respects Simon's deadly efficiency and discipline. Occasionally, he does draw Simon into lighthearted team moments, but he knows when to back off and give Simon the space he needs.

When things go quiet between missions, it's not unusual for Gaz to sit in the same room as Simon, saying nothing—sharing a comfortable silence that few can maintain with the masked operator.

Gabrielle Marisol Knocks-Riley: Gaz and Gabby share a relationship built on trust, sharp wit, and battlefield competence.

He values her intelligence, adaptability, and her ability to cut through nonsense during tactical discussions. Even though she's shifted into a more strategic role, Gaz often seeks her input on mission planning and intel analysis.

Their sarcasm-laced banter adds humor to difficult operations, especially when Soap's antics are involved. Gaz also enjoys quietly observing Simon trying to handle Gabby's sass—though he'd never admit that out loud.

Cameron "Cam" Faith Price: Gaz immediately recognized Cam's resilience and skill when she joined Task Force 141.

While their banter isn't as sharp as his with Soap or Gabby, their friendship is solid. Gaz respects her not because she's Price's daughter but because she's proven herself in the field and in recovery after her near-fatal accident.

He was among the first to welcome her into 141 and quietly keeps an eye on Soap—not out of mistrust, but out of loyalty to both Cam and Price.

If Soap ever needed backup, Gaz would be there. But if he ever broke Cam's heart, Gaz would be the first to hold him accountable.

———

Other relationship

Kate Laswell: Gaz respects Laswell's intelligence and her ability to navigate mission cases and political landscapes without losing sight of what matters—the team and mission success. He appreciates her candor and her willingness to cut through bureaucracy to get the job done.

While they don't always agree, Gaz trusts her judgment and her loyalty to the team.

Elizabeth "Diane" Nutt: Though not very spiritual himself like she is. Gaz values Diane's compassion and wisdom. She has a way of grounding even the most battle-hardened soldiers, offering guidance without judgment.

He admires her for caring about the team's emotional well-being when most outsiders would only see them as operatives.

Charlotte "Charlie" Daniels: Gaz appreciates Charlie's wit and kindness. She brings out a softer side in Price that few ever get to see.

He occasionally teases Charlie about her relationship with the Captain, but beneath the jokes, he's one of her biggest supporters. He's seen how much happier—and more balanced—Price has become since Charlie entered his life.

✨Return to Main Post (RTMP)✨

[ohsonewtome]

idk why my hyperfixation spiked today but i’m so intrigued with the logistics behind the reunion 😭 i can’t even concentrate on work lol i know in the end it all worked out BUT STILL

jan 2023:

noel’s divorce, liam makes his “my-brother-is-getting-divorced” playlist, “how are you and your kid getting along these days?” “oh, brilliantly! genuinely, yeah, apparently he’s taking the rest of the year to figure himself out” - noel interview (i’m paraphrasing and i’m sure he was talking about liam’s double hip replacement)

end of jan 2023:

peggy’s birthday, paul uploads a picture of a cake with three hearts on it, liam’s double hip replacement surgery

feb 2023:

“he’s coming over later to wipe my arse and change the bedding he’s a good lad really” - liam about noel visiting after his surgery (this might be true or might be liam’s wishful thinking idk)

march 2023:

after a tweet where liam says a reunion is happening noel said on a radio show “liam should get his people to call my people; they know who they are, they know where we are. stop talking on the fucking internet, and let’s see what you’ve got to say.” the first time of many he’d said the same thing (sometimes he’ll refer to liam as a coward “he knows what would happen if we were in the same room”)

HERE is where i’m guessing things got a bit… gallagheresque

may 2023:

noel goes to talkSPORT and says the same thing liam should call him blablabla someone tweets liam this and he responds “fuck him he don’t call the shots no more bumbaclart”

another person tweets at him telling him that noel called him a coward and liam responds “he’s the coward who wishes aids on people and doesn’t show up to play music for his hometown after a tragedy you want more cunty boll” which OKAY liam used to make the same argument when trashing noel in 2018/2019 but we’re talking post pandemic post “oh brilliantly, genuinely, yeah”

after those twitter exchanges he goes and tweets “i don’t wish AIDS on people I turn up and play the MUSIC for the people of MANCHESTER who have just had a terror attack while you sit on your dingy sipping champagne and you got the audacity to call me a COWARD sit down you 🛎 end” somebody replies “reunion dead in the water” to which liam responded “reunion he hates oasis fans he’s full of shit” after that he replies to another tweet of someone telling him that is NOEL who needs liam and not the other way around “exactly soon as the witch 🧙‍♀️ has took HALF hell be the 1 doing the calling”

after that noel continued answering the same thing anytime oasis/liam was brought up in any interview and liam continued his standard liam behavior on twitter ALSO noel was still going through with his divorce (custody, alimony, etc)

which brings us to 2024:

jan 2024:

liam and john squire give a bunch of interviews to different outlets regarding their collaboration speaking to the guardian in 2024 liam still talked bitterly about the end of oasis “after Oasis, I could barely tie my shoelace let alone run my business. All that was taken away, but little Noely G had it all.” and gives this quote that i found interesting “I know I’ve been humbled. And thank fuck for it because it’s made me a better person. But he’s not. He’s still going round thinking he’s the man, but we’ll see.”

and things remain kind of the same until march 2024 when liam and john went to the jonathan ross show and his behavior was very VERY interesting when he got asked about speaking to noel (good interesting, lots of smiling while denying talking to him “haven’t talked to him for … 15 years ? 😀)

and then blablabla “no one sounds like rkid” , “this one’s for my little brother who is still playing hard to get”, “liam’s like a shot of tequila”, “i never did like that word former” and then BANG reunion

everything worked out okay in the end and we got the reunion but WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED FROM MAY 2023 to JAN 2024 ahshsksjndnddbdbs i guess we’ll never truly know

EDIT: we probably do know, noel didn’t let liam use oasis songs in his Knebworth 22 documentary that was released in 2023 lol sorry i just scrapped that whole period from my memory

[raayllum]

The Mage Wars

How could I not know that? What really happened? History has a way of burying the ugly truths of those who write it.

So it was supremely satisfying to finally have a textual answer to something fans have been curious about since S2 aired in 2019, and definitely after S3. There was speculation at the time that the West being so different from the East was likely due to two options:

Xadian forces took magic out of the west as a preventative measure when the elves / everyone was leaving, and then sent the humans in. This would mean a more difficult path for humanity in terms of stripping away Xadia's natural abundance, but better protect all the unique creatures/beings who lived on the western half of the continent by shepherding them somewhere safer

Xadian forces left the West untouched, and sent humans into that same natural abundance. Humanity consumed and destroyed it over long term dark magic use and infighting (calling back to Viren's line in 2x05 of "After centuries of fighting amongst ourselves...") because dark magic is a personal, subjective morality free-for-all of terror and consequences

We now definitively know it's the second one... but why? Why tell us this at all?

Well there's a few potential reasons:

Now that we're fully opening up the border between the Pentarchy and the Xadia, with the caveat that the Pentarchy can defend themselves from future dragon attacks, we could see encroaching war of more powerful humans who wish to plunder magic from the remaining magical side of the continent. All the previous guardians of Xadia's land and seas (the Archdragons) have also been taken out by Aaravos.

Side note: I forget where, but I saw people speculate that the coral-horned creature could be the Empress of the Deep mentioned in Deep Below, who was a dear friend of Domina Profundis, and who was hunted by a collection of elves and humans.

The history of the Mage Wars is also likely relevant to the Staff of Ziard. We see it featured prominently in the flashback and that it seemed to denote powerful mages in particular. This makes sense as it's something Aaravos crafted and then gave to humanity, along with dark magic itself earlier on. We also know that (particularly human) mages were his preferred prey and that the Mage Wars are exactly the kind of conflict he'd be more than ready to nudge along. His imprisonment being 300 years ago (depending on when the fighting came to an end) could also line up.

Going back to the Staff, we know that the staff metal itself came from the Starscraper (alongside 8 others that remain there), the quasar diamond was stolen from the Corona of the Heavens and placed in the staff, and that it eventually became attributed to the High Mage position in Katolis, passing from generation to generation. We know that traditionally it would've passed from Kpp'Ar to Viren, and has now gone to Callum, who seems to no longer be High Mage, but retains ownership over the staff anyway. We don't know why Kpp'Ar believed that the staff should never be used again, so it seems that's an arc 3 question.

I'm also curious if the end of the mage wars, given the volcanic setting is reminiscent of the arc 1 intro with Avizandum, might be something we see some day / in further detail. If the timeline matches up where it was coming to a close around 300 years ago, that could be part of the reason why the Orphan Queen journeyed into Xadia and why she had reason to be suspicious of Aaravos.

[idk-what-im-doing-with-my-life-2]

If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

It's frustrating to watch how easily the world cherry-picks facts to suit its narrative, especially in times of war. Everyone has a moral compass now-until it's inconvenient.

Let's be clear: India and Pakistan haven't exactly been neighborly since the British packed their bags and left behind a fractured subcontinent. But beyond historical baggage, the pain runs deeper. A long, bloody list of terror attacks on Indian soil-executed by groups trained and sheltered in Pakistan-speaks volumes.

Here's a hard-hitting recap-

1993 Bombay Blasts: 257 fatalities

1996 Lajpat Nagar Blast: 13 fatalities

2001 - J&K Assembly Blast: 38 fatalities

2001- Parliament Attack: 9 fatalities. Democracy itself under siege.

2002 - Raghunath Temple Attack: 12 fatalities

2002 - Kurnool Train Crash: 20 fatalities

2002 - Akshardham Attack: 33 fatalities

2003 - Mumbai Bombings: 52 fatalities

2005 Delhi Blasts: 62 fatalities

2006-Varanasi Blasts: 28 fatalities

2006 - Mumbai Train Blasts: 189 lives lost in minutes.

2007 Samjhauta Express Blast: 68 fatalities

2007 - Hyderabad Blasts: 42 fatalities

2008 Jaipur Blasts: 63 fatalities

2008- Ahmedabad Blasts: 56 fatalities

2008 - Mumbai Attacks (26/11): 166 civilians gunned down.

2013 - Patna Bombings: 6 fatalities

2016 Pathankot Attack: 7 fatalities

2019 Pulwama Attack: 40 soldiers martyred.

2025- Pahalgam Attack: 26 or more civilians added to a long list of casualties.

The pattern isn't just coincidence-it's calculated, and often state-enabled.

Now, let's rewind to 1971, when Pakistan unleashed Operation Searchlight to brutally crush the Bengali liberation movement. Universities were turned into execution grounds, and civilian populations were massacred en masse. Millions fled to India. Where was the global outrage then?

India has its own problems-no denying that. It's a nation of contradictions, often struggling with its own diversity. But equating India's counter-terrorism efforts with Israel's approach in Palestine? That's not just wrong-it's lazy.

India doesn't drop bombs to settle ancient scores. It targets camps, not communities. Civilian casualties are tragic and never intended (while Pakistan is straight up bombing schools!). Can the same be said about a state invoking a 2,000-year-old promise to justify modern-day occupation and bombardment?

India's ties with Russia? Historical, strategic-not ideological.

India's cooperation with Israel? Tactical, not theological.

This isn't blind allegiance-it's diplomacy shaped by national interest.

Let's not forget, India was a founding voice of the Non-Aligned Movement. Not neutral out of fear, but out of principle. Sometimes the "Switzerland" way isn't cowardice-it's choosing sanity over slogans.

Pakistan, a state that was carved out in the name of religious identity, has built much of its national narrative on fostering animosity toward Hindus and Sikhs. Its educational curriculum continues to promote distorted and false portrayals of these communities, even misrepresenting the Indian independence movement as solely a "Hindu movement"—an ironic stance given the diverse and inclusive nature of that struggle.

When slogans like "Free Kashmir" are raised, it's important to confront the hypocrisy: it is not India but Pakistan (since 1947) and China (since 1962) that have occupied parts of Kashmir. So before preaching about freedom, it would be more honest for these nations to reflect on their own acts of invasion and territorial aggression.

So yeah, India's military operations were directed specifically at dismantling terrorist infrastructure, not upon innocent civilians or a specific community. Whereas Pakistani army men are busy attending funerals of the same terrorists that were targets of the mission.

As of now, the ceasefire agreed upon by the two countries, that the MAGA guys were taking credit for, was violated by Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of Indian civilians.

So before passing judgment on South Asia's complexities through a Western lens, dig deeper. Learn the region's trauma, its political chessboard, its scars. War is not a scoreboard-it's a catastrophe. And in the end, everyone bleeds, especially those with no stake in the fight.

Stay safe everyone, regardless of which side of the shadow lines you belong to.

[lcdrarry]

LCDrarry 2025 Round-Up Post | Week 2

On Sundays during our posting period, we won't post a new work, instead you have time to catch up with the works that posted during the week and hopefully leave lovely comments for our creators.

Happy reading, commenting and sharing! ;)

~Your LCDrarry Mods

PS: Please have a look at the author notes and tags on AO3 for additional information. Thank you!

PPS: Please share far and wide! Thank you!!

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Podfic

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When Harry Met Draco by emmettsforest

Prompt: "Stardust", 2007 Written by: emmettsforest Narrated by: Anonymous Length: 3:39:49 Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Summary: A long-timeline story of Harry and Draco post-war, inspired by and with homages to When Harry Met Sally. Will they? Won't they? Buckle up, baby!

Listen to it now on AO3.

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Art

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[ART] From a Little Spark May Burst a Flame

Prompt: "Promare", 2019, Hiroyuki Imaishi Prompted by: @Fantalf Artist: Anonymous Medium: Digital Art Rating: General Audiences Warnings: None

Summary: Harry Potter, a survivor of a burnish attack, has lived his whole life seeking justice for his parents and all the people that the burnish have hurt. However, his encounters as a new recruit of the Burning Rescue team lead him to doubt the preconceived notions he has of the enemy, especially after a chance-meeting with one Draco Malfoy.

View it now on AO3.

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Fic

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what could this thing possibly do?

Prompt: "Zombieland", 2009, Ruben Fleischer Prompted by: Gnarf Authors: Anonymous Word Count: 2,519 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply.

Summary: Draco works with muggle artifacts, Harry is bored, and they end up inside of a zombie film.

Read it now on AO3.

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The Little Merman

Prompt: "The Little Mermaid", 1989, Ron Clements, John Musker Prompted by: Anonymous Authors: Anonymous Word Count: 5,286 words Rating: Teen and up Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply.

Summary: Draco Malfoy as Ariel in this Little Mermaid inspired HP AU! Harry as a Prince, Voldemort as Ursula and some interesting twists to the Little Mermaid story as well. Also Draco just doesn't want to be a merman, he doesn't feel like it is who he is. So he doesn't just change for love. Though a hot prince definitely helps.

Read it now on AO3.

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Love is All Around

Prompt: "Four Weddings and a Funeral", 1994, Mike Newell Prompted by: Anonymous Authors: Anonymous Word Count: 24,266 words Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply.

Summary: Everyone is getting married, except for Harry. Over the course of five social occasions he figures out how to change that.

Read it now on AO3.

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Treat me like a dog, Take me out back, Tell me that my hunting days are done

Prompt: "Crazy Rich Asians", 2018, Jon M Chu Prompted by: Anonymous Authors: Anonymous Word Count: 29,271 words Rating: General Audience Warnings: Canon compliant racism, One (1) dead fish

Summary: What is lineage, if not a gold thread of pride and guilt. The Hurting Kind, Ada Limon.

A.K.A The Drarry Crazy Rich Asians retelling in which everyone learns that to get what you need does not mean that you get what you want.

Read it now on AO3.

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Will Do So Gently

Prompt: "The Last Of Us", 2023 Prompted by: Anonymous Authors: Anonymous Word Count: 138,444 words Rating: Explicit Warnings: Depictions of war, bombing, heavy angst

Summary: Following a coup organised by Voldemort, England's society collapses. Initial attempts by the government to regain power are thwarted by Death Eaters, and a rebellion group called ‘The Order’ forms to fight against them. The country divides, people flee, and those left are trying their best to survive. Draco Malfoy, raised since birth to believe in Voldemort, grows wiser with age and abandons his home after he realises the terror Voldemort intends to inflict on the world. Afraid of what The Order might do to a marked Death Eater, he goes into hiding where he remains for years until Harry Potter finds him and sparks his long-lost will to fight. Their paths separate, and Draco goes out to join The Order or die trying, not realising that his Death Eater status will be the least of his concerns when he arrives.

Read it now on AO3.

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Please help promote the fest by sharing your favourite submissions, so more people can enjoy all the amazing new Drarry works of LCDrarry. Thank you!

Creator reveals are on 1 June 2025.