#the convenant (2006)

[lostchildofthenewworld]

me trying to explain how ‘the covenant’ (2006) is everything that twilight wanted to be but wasn’t given enough enough opportunity to grow and in this essay I will explain that it was a conspiracy by distributor Sony because the world hates teenage girls and had we been given-

#WE NEVER GOT A SEQUEL AND IM STILL MAD ABOUT IT lile bitch I’m sorry but he covenant had the looks - they had a white boy that catered #to everyone taste - you had Taylor K character who was down for the swirl and Sabastian who had the gays and the girls wet so I mean… #I’m convinced it was a scheme that Todd set up cmskdnskaoww #no I’m convinced it was a conspiracy that the production company set up because they knew the convenant was too powerful and so they had to #neutralize it before it got too big but I promise you… *takes pull from blunt* we almost had something great #the convenant (2006) #the covenant 2006 #the convenant #the movie got buried because the world doesn’t like teenage girls and I’m still standing ten toes down for those white boy witches!!!

[vague-humanoid]

@quasi-normalcy @el-shab-hussein @dirhwangdaseul

A side of the story of Jeffrey Epstein’s creation and maintenance of a pedophilia ring and sex trafficking operation among the wealthiest, most famous, and most powerful Americans seems to have been forgotten. This is the fact that he was constantly surrounded with notable and influential members of the scientific community. 

One scientist, who remained anonymous, told Slate about lavish parties Epstein would host at his Upper East Side apartment. These parties often mixed the scientists with individuals from the world of high fashion, including many young models. “Sometimes he’d turn to his left and ask some science-y questions,” claimed the anonymous scientist, “Then he’d turn to his right and ask the model to show him her portfolio.” 

Epstein hosted this particular party in 2010, after he had been convicted for soliciting prostitution from a minor. In attendance was John Brockman, a literary agent who has represented Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, and Jared Kahneman, among other scientists turned authors. According to Slate: “At one point, a young female staffer stepped into the room to give Epstein a massage, rubbing his neck as he talked and listened.” “I have only two interests,” Epstein once said to a long time friend, “Science and pussy.” Indeed, when Epstein convened a meeting of 21 physicists on his private island in 2006, he “was always followed by a group of something like three or four young women,” according to one participant.

One of the physicists in attendance was none other than Stephen Hawking, who rode in a submarine specially modified by Epstein for Hawking. According to Epstein’s LinkedIn, Hawking is among the many “well known luminaries” Epstein financially contributed to in his role as a “science philanthropist.” Keep in mind that many of the legal documents produced in the course of Epstein’s trials alleged that photos of naked girls decorated the walls of his property. Professor Lawrence Krauss of Arizona State University, who organized the conference, has said that it, “wouldn’t have happened if Epstein hadn’t funded it” and that Epstein supported “some of the work at my institute.” Krauss remained close with Epstein during and after he was sentenced to prison for his pedophilia. “As a scientist,” Krauss told the Daily Beast in 2011, “I always judge things on empirical evidence and he always has women ages 19 to 23 around him, but I’ve never seen anything else, so as a scientist, my presumption is that whatever the problems were I would believe him over other people.”

Alan Dershowitz, a member of the legal team which helped negotiate a “non-prosecution agreement” to rescue Epstein from prison in 2008, alleges that Epstein once steered a lunch conversation between the two of them toward the issue of improving human genetics. Dershowitz claims he was appalled due to the similarity of what Epstein was proposing to Nazi rhetoric used to justify the Holocaust. Apparently it didn’t offend Dershowitz too much, as the two continued to work together. In fact, Dershowitz was named in court documents as one of the many men who participated in the rape of girls trapped by Epstein on Little St. James.

Epstein’s embrace of transhumanism and eugenics was also overtly Malthusian. Cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker claims that while at a Harvard meetup of scientists Epstein was critical of projects meant to promote healthcare or feed the hungry, warning that this would lead to overpopulation. The fear of “overpopulation” has a long history among bourgeois eugencistists and is rooted in the logic of imperialism. 

[twwpress]

Weekly Press Briefing #81

Welcome back to the Weekly Press Briefing, where we bring you highlights from The West Wing fandom each week, including new fics, ongoing challenges, and more! This briefing covers all things posted from January 7 – January 13. Did we miss something? Let us know; you can find our contact info at the bottom of this briefing! 

Challenges/Prompts:

There are no open challenges/prompts that we know of this week. Do you have a challenge or event you’d like us to promote or know of one we’re missing? Be sure to get in touch with us! Contact info is at the bottom of this briefing.

This Week in Canon:

Welcome back to This Week in Canon, where we revisit moments in The West Wing that occurred on these dates during the show’s run.

Season 1, Episode 12: He Shall, From Time to Time aired on January 12, 2000.

Season 2, Episode 11: The Leadership Breakfast aired on January 10, 2001.

Season 3, Episode 10: H-Con 172 aired on January 9, 2002.

Season 4, Episode 12: Guns Not Butter aired on January 8, 2003.

Season 5, Episode 10: The Stormy Present aired on January 7, 2004.

Season 6, Episode 12: Opposition Research aired on January 12, 2005

Season 7, Episode 10: Running Mates aired on January 8, 2006.

Photos/Videos:

Here’s what was posted from January 7 - January 13:

Bradley Whitford posted promo for a memorial screening of Not Going Quietly, the documentary about Ady Barkan.

Dulé Hill posted photos of himself and his daughter Kennedy on a USO trip. 

Josh Malina posted an AI-altered photo of himself with wings sprouting from his head. 

Marlee Matlin posted a slideshow of herself and her husband having date night at The Academy’s Governors Awards. 

Marlee Matlin posted a video sharing one of her favorite tattoos and celebrating 37 years of sobriety. 

Melissa Fitzgerald posted promo for Modern Warrior live in LA on January 17. 

Rob Lowe posted photos with the guys from NFL on Fox from his new game show, The Floor. \

Rob Lowe posted a photo from the last table read of the second season of his Netflix show, Unstable. 

Rob Lowe posted a promo video for The Floor. 

Rob Lowe posted a photo of himself napping with his dog Daisy.

Rob Lowe posted a video of himself singing with Robert Downey Jr. as they get ready for his episode of Rob’s podcast.  

Donna Moss Daily: January 7 | January 8 | January 9 | January 10 | January 11 | January 12 | January 13

Daily Josh Lyman: January 7 | January 8 | January 9 | January 10 | January 11 | January 12 | January 13

No Context BWhit: January 7 | January 8 | January 9 | January 10 | January 11 | January 12 | January 13

@twwarchive: January 7 | January 8 | January 9 | January 10 | January 11 | January 12 | January 13

Edits/Artwork

#joshdonna: heart eyes by @nacejisbon [VIDEO EDIT] #joshdonna: options by @nacejisbon [VIDEO EDIT]

Editors’ Choice: 

This week, we’re recommending fics with a found family component to them! Be sure to share your favorites as well!

fathers and sons by rearviewmirror | Rated T | Zoey Bartlet/Charlie Young, Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry | Complete | “It’s good to be a little scared. Scared means you care. Caring means you’re gonna do great.” the way old friends do by mikaylawrites for swancharmings | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | They’ve formed a natural trio at events like these; they’re the in-laws, so to speak. While everyone else is getting up to their usual antics, they’re likely to be the ones quietly observing in the corner of the room, or convening in the kitchen to catch up on each other’s lives and sneaking food when Abbey isn’t looking. Donna, Toby, Charlie, and the chaotic people they love. breathe by jazzjo | Rated G | C.J. Cregg/Andrea Wyatt, Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | She had never expected to see past her twenties, let alone this. She has her little brother and his family next door, music in all her days, and this family she's found in the midst of everything. Yes, she thinks, this is all she’ll ever need. now don’t lose your fight kid by sam_writes_fics | Rated T | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | The night of the Illinois Primary. a glamorous invitation by jeaniecregg | Rated G | C. J. Cregg/Toby Ziegler | Complete | CJ joins Toby, Josh, and Sam for Thanksgiving. brothers in arms by hufflepuffhermione | Rated G | Josh Lyman/Donna Moss | Complete | “Do you have any siblings, Joshua?” the teacher asked. Have. Present tense. He worried the faux wood of the desk with his fingers, his head pounding as the teacher raised his voice with another “Joshua”. Josh finally allowed a strangled, “No,” to escape, and put his head down on the desk, because saying that two letter word meant that it was true, that he was now an only child. Josh Lyman was no longer a brother, and he didn’t know who he was anymore. Josh Lyman and how he reclaims the title of brother. if you’re looking for the girl of your dreams, she’s in brooklyn with me by starsontheceiling for TheBreakfastGenie | Rated G | C. J. Cregg & Josh Lyman (No Pairings Listed) Complete | “Why do you talk to me like this?” “Because you never had a big sister, and you need one.” Snapshots of CJ and Josh, over the years.

Stay tuned for our reblog with this week's fics!

#the west wing #tww #tww fandom #tww fic #west wing #josh lyman #donna moss #cj cregg #sam seaborn #toby ziegler #found family #weekly press briefing

[bu1410]

Good afternoon TUMBLR - April 24th - 2024

''Mr. Plant has owed me a shoe since July 5, 1971."

Atyrau Kazakhstan – Dec 2004 – Oct 2010 - Kashagan Development Project

Part 4

OUR ISRAELI CLIENT After about a year and a half in which we had worked exclusively for AGIP, the so-called Early Works were running out. It thus became necessary for our company to find another client (and therefore other work). An Israeli company named BATEMAN had won the contract for the construction of Utilities & Power Generation for the Karabotan plant, where we had been operating since June 2004. BATEMAN was owned by an Israeli billionaire, with interests in South Africa in the field of gold and diamond mining. Experience in Oil & Gas: 0.00. So, you may ask, how did he manage to obtain a contract worth over 870 million dollars for the construction of an oil plant? Simple, you just need to have the ''right friends''. And Mr. Bateman had many good friends, one of whom was General Colin Powell. Yes, he was the one who presented to the UN the farce of the 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' that Saddam Hussein was ready to use against the West. We then began preliminary meetings to try to obtain at least part of that enormous order. Which came true at the beginning of October 2006, with the signing of an important agreement: we would be the so-called Main Sub Contractor for the Civil - Structural - Mechanical part of the Utilities! A job worth over 140 million dollars! In mid-December the first Bateman representatives arrived, and temporarily settled in a rented villa near our offices in Atyrau. And it was in that house that the ''kick off meeting'' was convened, which marks the official start of a project. We meet to get to know each other, to set rules and objectives, ways of discussing and communicating, etc. We spent an entire afternoon inside that house, together with fifteen Israelis and their leader, an Englishman who won't last long and will be ''kicken away'' by the ''Israeli mafia'' inside Bateman. Eventually we went out into the garden, some to smoke, others to stretch their legs and get some fresh air. At a certain point an Israeli who had participated in the meeting took me aside, with that ''conspiracy behaviour'' way of acting that I would later notice was part of the way many of them behave . So this individual named Zvi takes me by the arm, pulls me into a sheltered corner of the garden and then says:

Listen…I want you to know that of everything that was said this afternoon…few of us understood anything…almost all of us, including me, are ex-servicemen to whom the Government guaranteed a job after their service in the army or in the navy……only some are engineers…….

Really?? – I replied, waiting for the sequel.

Yes it is and you will notice it….

And then?

So I wanted to ask you a favor

Well…if I may…….

I would like you to explain to me what happens on the construction site… maybe I would come to your office for a couple of hours every afternoon… so I could understand… and not be thought of as stupid… especially towards that Mr. Colin… that B<ritish guy …he is only looking for a favorable opportunity to chase us Israelis away, and replace us with his fellows countrymen….

Well come on - I continued - we'll see what I can do… of course I can't assure you anything… but I'll try to give you a hand… I got away with it like this, remaining vague, because being at the beginning of our relationship with the Israelis I didn't know how to manage this thing. I was certainly astonished by Zvi's admission of 'ignorance'. If these were the premises, we were certainly not faced with an easy task with these characters.

OUR CONSTRUCTION BASE

We had officially become Sub Contractors of the Israelis for an important project. We were therefore authorized by AGIP to build our own compound within the perimeter of the construction site, where the local employees would be accommodated. Unfortunately, our company did not have large financial means, so we had to make do with second-hand housing containers, and the assembly of different modules to create canteens, changing rooms, warehouses, and everything needed to make people live up to 200 people. When the construction of the compound was finished, we underwent visits for testing and inspection evidence by not only the AGIP representatives, but also the officials of a whole series of municipal, regional and state bodies and organisations, whose aim was only one: to earn money and benefits on top of it. The day of the compound inauguration came, and a big party was organized. As Project Manager, I had to undergo a series of quite demanding ''task'', namely:

Pretend to ''help'' the muezzin to cut the throats of the two poor shhep who were sacrificed for the success of the project.

Get up from the head of the table and, after having delivered the usual speech full of rhetoric, show everyone that I was biting the ear of one of the aforementioned sheep.

Show that I appreciate the goodness of one of the sheeep's eye.

In the end I managed to do everything that was asked for (and above all what the Kazakh workers expected of me).

Mr. BRIAN J - Construction Manager This was another ''veteran'' of some Israeli war, bearded, small, and with one leg put together after having jumped on an anti-personnel mine somewhere in the Sinai. After removing the supply of carpentry from our scope of work (because they found a company in Russia that did it for 2 dollars x ton less than us, they said…) the structures began to arrive on site. Of course many of the beams and columns were wrong, with mistakes in measurements and drillings. So Brain called me and asked to provide a team to unload and check the carpentry and then report all the problems found. A morning I received a strange email from Brian on my cc, in which he asked his supervisor who controls the carpentry delivery to note down and then report to him the times of our crane real use. I called Brian and asked to see him and within 20 minutes I was sitting across from him in his office. Well, Brian was a simple and polite man, so I had to address him with direct questions, so without beating around the bush I ask him:

Brian, when you go from your home to Tel Aviv airport, do you call a taxi?

sure.

And when the taxi is taking you to the airport stops at a red light, or in a queue on the motorway, do you ask the taxi driver to stop the meter?

Ummm…no….

Well, then why did you ask your supervisor to note the downtime of our crane during the unloading work of your carpentry?

………silence …frowning of thick eyelashes……………….

Ahhh…nooo…says Brian – it's not what you think…my request is only for an internal check….

So if it's for an ''internal check'', why did you copy me on the email?

Noo…sorry…it was an Outlook error…

Ok Brian, I wanted to clarify this little setback, have a good day. Once, at a weekly meeting, exasperated by those guys behavior I asked:

But if we have to do everything, what are you doing here on the project?

Their Site Manager replied these exact words: ''To top up the invoices you send us by 25%, and then pass them on to AGIP.''

HITZAK SHKOLNIK The Israeli supervisor who was directly in charge of the carpentry was called Skolnik. Also a veteran of the Yom Kippur War, he was missing two fingers on his right hand, so we immediately nicknamed him ''three fingers''. A man of considerable stature, and with a large belly, weighing around 120 kg. An avid motorcyclist, he was riding his BMW 1200 cc. One day I was on the Istanbul – Atyrau flight (which in the meantime had passed under the aegis of the Air Astana company owned by President Nursultan's daughter) when returning from the toilet I heard a voice saying:

So now you don't say hello to your friends anymore?

I turn to the side where the voice came from - which I had recognized - but I don't see Skolnik, but a tall, thin, emaciated man. Then I look at him better, and I recognize the long scar on his jaw, the aquiline nose and yes! It's really Skolnik!!

Hey man! I teld him – what happened to you? We've not been seeing you for a while!

Yes – he says, shaking my hand with three remaining fingers – I took some time to recover from the stomach operation – can't you see how much shape I've recovered??

In fact I recognized you by your voice, certainly not by your appearance - what happened to the extra kilos?

I lost 47 kg after the operation, and I started using my motorbike again.

Well…happy to see you back, Mr. Skolnik! Unrecognizable…among other things, in cases where an individual loses all those kilos, it is better to always see him dressed…

MACCHI - BOILERS FACTORY - Porto Marghera, Italy Our scope of work on the Utilities project included the assembly of three boilers supplied by MACCHI of Porto Marghera. On the occasion of my return trip to Italy for holidays, a visit to the MACCHI factory was organised, in which, in addition to myself, Mr. D'Ascenzo AGIP Construction Manager and Mr. Marrone on behalf of BATEMAN, were participating. The visit lasted half a day, in which I essentially understood two things:

The first was that the boilers would be supplied in approximately 47,000 pieces/each and we would have to put them all together.

The second is that workplace safety in Italy – at least in July 2007 when our visit took place – was at the level of 3rd world! The enormous MACCHI facory where the boilers were assembled was looking like a Dante's circle of Hell! Full of fumes (and therefore unhealthy for the workers who worked there) there were kilometers of electrical cables on the floor (they were used for the welding machines) the workers smoked while working - and dozens of other dangerous situations that I won't even list: I was shocked ! The factory looked directly onto a canal connected to the open sea, so we witnessed the exit of a huge boiler from the workshop, which was later loaded onto a barge – it would then be transported to the port, and later shipped to Libya. I then asked the AGIP Construction Manager why the same method had not been chosen for our boilers. The answer was:

''MACCHI had made three proposals - the first to send the boilers completely assembled (it had been rejected due to transport problems along the Volga-Don canal).

The second proposal envisaged sending the boilers semi-assembled, i.e. in packages to be assembled on site.

The third proposal consisted of sending the boilers disassembled''.

And why did AGIP opt for the third proposal? I asked

Because it's the cheapest, obviously.

Yes – I said – but then we will have to assemble all those thousands of pieces.

Of course - replied D'Avanzo - there are always poor people who undergo this ordeal……

Thank you… you're too kind… (D'Ascenzo perfectly in line with AGIP policy: you work for them and they consider you ''a necessary evil'')

[nightfall-1409]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @valkeakuulas and @marbled-polecat— thank you!

How many works do you have on ao3? Right now, it's 16! I've gotten more, but it's...you know. scattered about!

What’s your total ao3 word count? 565,822! I think though if you consider everything I've ever written it's probably over a million. I've gone scorched earth before.

What fandoms do you write for? Currently, Star Wars in general. I don't think I've felt the urge to write for other fandoms in a while.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? (Re)convene The Botched Job Like Resonance from a Plastoid Cup Rebuilding from Broken Glass And I couldn't Recognize myself in the Mirror

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes! Though I like to wait until I update because I enjoy seeing them in my dashboard between updates. I think its fun to talk back to people who enjoy stuff.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending the 16th fic which is anonymously posted, but of those actually linked to the profile, it's likely Vulture.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I'm a sucker for happy endings, but almost certainly Rebuilding From Broken glass...because it's done.

Do you get hate on fics? Yes ! :( I get a lot of very positive comments, don't get me wrong, but I've gotten hate just the same.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I try to, in theory. I'll plead guilty to being a little prudish.

Do you write crossovers? Nope! I've considered it.

Have you ever had a fic stolen? Wholecloth, no, never. I did have a bitch who was running a zine, who turned down my proposal...and then her fic for the zine was eerily similar to my pitch. But that's not actionable. Just irritating.

Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes, a few times!

What’s your all-time favorite ship? A great question. It's even funnier because I don't write for it nor is it in the fandom I'm currently in. Zack/Cloud from FF7.

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? There's a fic I started writing early early on in Clone Wars that basically amounted to Rex having the roughest time adjusting to his position with a then-padawan anakin. It was called "The benefits of drawing the short straw" and it's probably going to remain perpetually 4 lines on a word doc.

What are your writing strengths? I like to think that I am good at getting into the minds eye of characters and seeing things from different angles and even conflicting angles....

What are your writing weaknesses? I'm very bad at killing my darlings and knowing when to cut lines of dialogues and scenes for clarity or flow.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? Fraught. There are times where I can see it, and the benefit of it, and then times of needing to go back and forth from the author's notes to the fic's text and getting a little irritated. I can also be...concerned with non-fluent authors attempting to write in real world languages, and the way that they can end up...sort of kitschy.

First fandom you wrote for? ...formally, Final Fantasy VII, all the way back in 2009. Or Inuyasha, in my journals, back in...woof. 2006.

Favorite fic you’ve written? I really do love (Re)Convene... it does give me a little brain worms.

I'll tag... @crown-of-winterthorne @inconocible and @third-generation-female-warrior

As this is smart u are correct Kuulas, the questions unanswered below;

How many works do you have on ao3?

What’s your total ao3 word count?

What fandoms do you write for?

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Do you get hate on fics?

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Do you write crossovers?

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

What are your writing strengths?

What are your writing weaknesses?

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

First fandom you wrote for?

Favorite fic you’ve written?

#ask game #nightfall chats

[balilikhaite]

The Bitter Struggle of Israel and Palestinians

The Middle East contains a land that is steeped in history, conflict, and aspirations and whose name has reverberated throughout millennia of human civilization. The seemingly unsolvable and entrenched Israel-Palestine issue continues to hold the attention of the entire globe. It is a complex, protracted conflict with wide-ranging effects on not only the local populace but also on international politics and diplomacy.

Early in October 2023, Israel and Hamas, the militant Islamist organization in charge of Gaza since 2006, went to war. Along with murdering and injuring hundreds of soldiers and civilians, Hamas fighters invaded southern Israeli cities and villages across the Gaza Strip border and fired rockets into Israel. They also took scores of hostages. Israel was caught off guard by the strike, but it soon launched a lethal counterattack. The Israeli cabinet officially declared war on Hamas the day after the attack on October 7, and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were then given orders by the defense minister to impose a "complete siege" on Gaza. Since then, Israel has ordered the evacuation of over a million Palestinian inhabitants, and the two sides have engaged in regular rocket exchanges.

Beginning around the end of the nineteenth century, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has existed. The partition plan, also known as Resolution 181, was adopted by the UN in 1947 and aimed to create separate Arab and Jewish states inside the British Mandate of Palestine. The State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948, which precipitated the first Arab-Israeli War. Israel won the battle in 1949, but 750,000 Palestinians were forced to flee their homes, and the area was partitioned into the State of Israel, the West Bank (west of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip.

Tensions in the region increased during the ensuing years, particularly between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Egypt, Jordan, and Syria signed agreements on mutual defense after the 1956 Suez Crisis and Israel's invasion of the Sinai Peninsula in preparation for a potential Israeli force deployment. Following a series of moves by Egyptian President Abdel Gamal Nasser, Israel launched a preemptive strike against Syrian and Egyptian air defenses in June 1967, igniting the Six-Day War. Following the conflict, Israel seized control of the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt. Six years later, Egypt and Syria launched a surprise offensive in what is known as the Yom Kippur War or the October War.

President Joe Biden issued a resounding statement of solidarity for Israel on October 7, 2023, following the start of hostilities between Israel and Hamas. The United States announced that it would deliver fresh shipments of armaments and move its Mediterranean Sea warships closer to Israel on the same day that Israel proclaimed war against the terrorist organization. Although the UN Security Council convened an emergency meeting to discuss the recent violence, no common statement was reached. International organizations immediately raised worry for the safety of citizens in Israel and the Palestinian territories as well as those being held captive by terrorists in Gaza, given the history of brutality when Israel and Palestinian extreme groups have engaged in combat in the past.

The Middle East contains a land that is steeped in history, conflict, and aspirations and whose name has reverberated throughout millennia of human civilization. The seemingly unsolvable and entrenched Israel-Palestine issue continues to hold the attention of the entire globe. It is a complex, protracted conflict with wide-ranging effects on not only the local populace but also on international politics and diplomacy.

Although accusations that Iranian intelligence and security personnel personally assisted Hamas in planning its attack on October 7 were not immediately confirmed by the United States, Iran has a long-standing patronage connection with Hamas and other extreme groups throughout the Middle East. Experts have expressed concern that Hezbollah, another extremist group backed by Iran, will be drawn into the conflict, taking it beyond the borders of Israel and Palestine. This concern is in addition to worries that the attacks were a sign from Iran that it is prepared to increase its negative influence in various Middle Eastern conflicts. Reports that the IDF was firing at locations in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is situated, arose on October 9. The goal of the cross-border operation was not made explicit in an Israeli statement on the subject.

The October conflict shattered a 2023 American attempt to assist in mediating a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. For many years, Saudi Arabia has fought for the security and rights of Palestinian Arabs living in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. These populations, particularly in Gaza, are now in the way of IDF operations, threatening the strides Israel and Saudi Arabia had made toward understanding one another.

Israel's most extreme right-wing and religious administration ever took office in late December 2022. The coalition government is headed by Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu and his Likud party and consists of three far-right parties, including the Religious Zionism party, an ultranationalist group linked to the West Bank settler movement, as well as two ultra-Orthodox groups. Netanyahu made a number of compromises to his far-right partners in order to secure a governing majority. The government's expressed preference for the growth and development of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank has drawn criticism from opponents. The ruling coalition has also supported discrimination against LGBTQ+ persons based on their religion, and after a delay caused by widespread protests in March, it agreed to reduce judicial control over the government in May 2023.

The year 2022 saw an uptick in conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. A consistent pattern of conflicts in the West Bank, including practically daily Israeli raids, defined the first nine months of 2023. In June 2023, Israel approved 5,000 new settler dwellings, which academics and international organizations believe violate international law because they are located in Palestinian land and neighboring settlements. The Israeli military also intensified its activities, conducting two simultaneous raids on the Al-Aqsa mosque, injuring 35 people during an operation in Ramallah, and launching missiles from a helicopter at the Jenin refugee camp. In May, Israel battled Gazan militants for five days, with nearly two thousand combined missile launches by Hamas and Israeli forces.

The October 2023 conflict between Israel and Hamas marks the most significant escalation of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict in several decades.

#palestine #israel #conflict #war #israel and Palestine

[nicklloydnow]

“Kennedy crowed to me about his horseshoe coalition gathered round a campaign he views as fundamentally populist. And it’s quite a band he has put together: crunchy Whole Foods–shopping anti-vaxxers, paunchy architects of hard-right authoritarianism looking to boost a chaos agent, Nader-Stein third-party perma-gremlins, some Kennedy-family superfans, and rich tech bros seeking a lone wolf to legitimize them. Their convening can give the impression of weightiness, but if you so much as blew on them, the alliance would shatter into a million pieces. The only thing that seems to bind them is Kennedy, the current embodiment of a warped fantasy of marginalization and martyrdom that has become ever more appealing — and thus politically significant — in an age of disinformation and distrust in government and institutions.

That’s not to say Kennedy’s campaign is a joke. He is both an addled conspiracy theorist and an undeniable manifestation of our post-pandemic politics. He is an aging but handsome scion of America’s most storied political family, facing off against an incumbent who many in his own party worry is too old and too unpopular to win a second term. Far from an exile, he is an extremely well-connected person with unparalleled access to the centers of influence in New York, Hollywood, and Washington, D.C., who either has no idea what kind of fire he’s playing with, or does and is therefore an arsonist.

He is running a surprisingly potent campaign that, thanks to the lurid dynamics of social media and the boosts he is receiving from some of the wealthiest, most listened-to people in America, stands to grow even more disruptive, his deep thoughts on Rogan’s podcast translating into overflow crowds at his rallies. Lesser threats than Kennedy have played spoilers in elections before, and if he succeeds in helping burn us all to the ground, it will not be because he is an outsider, as he claims, but because of a political and media culture that has protected and encouraged and fawned over him his whole life — handing a perpetual problem child, now 69 and desperate for attention, accelerant and matches.

(…)

His vaccine beliefs hooked him up with a broader world of conspiracy theorizing. In 2006, Kennedy wrote a lengthy story, again for Rolling Stone, claiming the Republican Party had “mounted a massive, coordinated campaign to subvert the will of the people in 2004,” stealing the election in Ohio via Diebold voting machines — a specious claim that was seductive to Democrats who simply could not believe George W. Bush had won his reelection bid against John Kerry. Kennedy’s doubts in electoral results have persisted, and he recently equivocated to the Washington Post’s Michael Scherer about the 2020 election, saying, “I don’t know. I think that Biden won.”

Kennedy has also come to believe many other things that run the gamut from unproven to ludicrous to dangerously irresponsible. They begin with his conviction that the CIA played a role in the murders of both his uncle and his father and that Bobby Sr. was killed not by Sirhan Sirhan but by a security guard assigned to protect him; he actively campaigned for Sirhan’s release from prison against the wishes of most of the Kennedy family, including his mother.

(…)

Kennedy has also suggested that 5G high-speed-internet towers are being used to “harvest our data and control our behavior”; posited a link between mass shootings and antidepressant use; told Rogan that Wi-Fi pierces “the blood-brain barrier,” causing “leaky brain”; and claimed the presence of atrazine in the water supply has contributed to depression and gender dysphoria among boys since atrazine is known to clinically castrate frogs when dumped into their tanks.

Again: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been polling as high as 20 percent.

(…)

But he does not really emphasize reducing costs and making medicine and health-care treatments more broadly available to more people. If this were important to him, he would not have allowed Rogan to pit him against Dr. Peter Hotez, the Texas physician-scientist making open-source, patent-free vaccines available to poor populations around the world, undercutting the extortionate pharma companies. Kennedy’s fight is about vilifying lifesaving medical treatments in favor of others that he has decided, based on inscrutable metrics of his own, are more holistic.

(…)

American Values is also a laundering of a lot of dirty Kennedy linen. There is but one mention of Chappaquiddick and lots of florid encomiums about how devoted everyone was to one another with little mention of the famously chronic infidelity that ran rampant in the family. He lauds ancient Grandma Rose for her “curiosity about people of all backgrounds,” including “fishermen, actors, cabbies, political leaders, bus drivers, tourists, movie stars, heads of state, strangers in elevators,” a list that suggests that the full and dazzling range of humanity may fall into three categories: famous people, people who transport them to places, and others they may meet by chance on Cape Cod.

(…)

He is leaning hard into his family in this contest; his logo even borrows the iconography of his father’s 1968 campaign. It makes it all the more awkward that almost no members of the Kennedy family are supporting him. Many have already publicly endorsed Biden, who employs at least three Kennedys in his administration. Kennedy’s sister, the filmmaker Rory Kennedy, told CNN, “Due to a wide range of Bobby’s positions, I’m supporting President Biden.” On the day Kennedy filed his paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, his cousin Bobby Shriver tweeted that it was “a good day” to remind everyone he had been an early supporter of Biden in the 2016 primary.

(…)

Kennedy and his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, the best friend of his sister Kerry, announced their separation in 2010. In 2012, Mary hanged herself in an outbuilding of their home in Mount Kisco. More than a year later, the New York Post published excerpts of a diary from earlier in his marriage in which he kept an account of the 16 women he’d had sex with that year. In 2014, he married Hines.

One of the keys to Kennedy’s appeal with a certain segment of the population is his view of himself as an outcast and victim. When his inaugural campaign speech went long, he joked with the crowd, “This is what happens when you censor somebody for 18 years.”

(…)

Being shunned in any way for ideas that, when it comes to vaccines, are not just about individual choice but about our collective responsibility is perhaps anathema to people raised to assume their voices would be heard and understood as legitimate. Public-health directives during COVID were crude and sometimes wrong — messaging on masking changed repeatedly, masking outdoors now seems silly, the school closures lasted longer than they should have — but the objections made by people like Kennedy were not rooted in special advance scientific knowledge. Rather, they stemmed from the fury of normally powerful people affronted by the argument that their individual impulses put them on the wrong side of a moral question of communal engagement and compassion. It is a dynamic many managed to reframe as their willingness to stand in patriotic challenge to weak-minded, compliant, vaccinated sheep. And it is the type of environment in which men born with immense wealth and power — the kind who casually mention that governors have called and offered them Senate seats that they have turned down — can recast themselves as martyred heroes.

(…)

But of course he’s a poser. This entire campaign is a pose, as is his outsider stance. He is a Kennedy. He is the fifth member of his family to run for president. His sister Kerry was married to the man who would become the governor of New York, whose brother was a television journalist; his cousin Maria was married to the governor of California, who also happened to be a movie star. His grandfather owned a movie studio. He has written, in American Values, of attending the 1960 Democratic convention at which his uncle was nominated; he was 6, and his family stayed at the home of Marion Davies, the actress and the mistress of his grandfather’s good friend William Randolph Hearst. At that convention, Frank Sinatra hosted cocktail parties celebrating his family. Kennedy’s own wife is a star whom he met through another television star, his friend Larry David, who recently offered the Times this classic clarification about his relationship with the candidate: “Yes love and support, but I’m not ‘supporting’ him.”

Over lunch in New Hampshire, I asked Kennedy how his conversation with Republican New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu had gone following his address to the state legislature; Kennedy told me, “It was nice. I knew his father” — who was also governor. It can seem as if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. knows the father of every powerful person in America. Perhaps more important, they knew his father and his uncles and his grandfathers.

So he gets traction where no one else would. His relationship with the political media, which has published him, written about him, and seen him as a full and flawed and interesting human, has always been guided by his core identity as an insider, a member of the family that this country was taught to love above all others and to pity in their many public tragedies. As a journalist who has been told for decades that my empathy for the female candidates I often cover is probably overemotional and built too strongly on personal identification, let me just tell you that you should never stand between a white male political journalist over the age of 40 and his feelings about the Kennedys.

I was a young person in journalism in New York at the turn of the millennium when a lot of people I worked for and with were Kennedy’s dining companions, buddies, and neighbors. Peter Kaplan (another of my former bosses), then editor of the New York Observer, had been his roommate at Harvard and was one of his best friends. Kennedy and his cousin John Jr. — who ran the magazine George — were big handsome puppies who frolicked among a generation of political junkies who had grown up worshipping their dads and then wound up at the same schools, jobs, and parties as the sons. I saw this at Talk and the Observer and Salon; it was true at The New Yorker and the New York Times and The New Republic and The Atlantic and the places that published Kennedy from the 1970s on, providing him the mainstream credentials he cited when I asked him about his preparation for the presidency. For what it’s worth, in those same years, I was often asked to cover Trump, then a local celebrity and bargain-basement version of a Kennedy himself, an easy call to get a quote to fill a column, with every mention making his name more recognizable, his words more legitimate. How do we think these guys got here?

(…)

If he can have that effect on me, what must his draw be for those who have not spent hours reading about thimerosal and AZT and Diebold machines just double-checking that all this stuff he says with such assuredness is, indeed, nonsense? Imagine how strong it could be for millions of scared Americans who look at him and see shadows of people they’ve lost, of men the country has lost.

If he were your uncle, you would likely consider that he is fighting some serious psychological headwinds. His own uncle was assassinated when Bobby was 9. He was pulled from school at 14 and flown to the deathbed of his father, also assassinated. His cousin drove a plane into the sea on the way to Bobby’s sister’s wedding. One brother died in a skiing accident, another of a drug overdose. His wife died by suicide. All this in a family in which his grandfather’s dictum was “There will be no crying in this house.”

(…)

And it’s not benign. Because while, no, he is certainly not likely to win the Democratic nomination or ever become president, he could do well in a rogue New Hampshire primary in which Biden is declining to participate, and his performance in that state could trigger further distrust in our elections and throw more fuel on the legitimacy crisis that is raging across this democracy — a crisis that is dangerous, insurrectionist, violent, and terrifying. This campaign will mean his views gain a broader audience, and that too is terrifying when it comes to the erosion of the public’s understanding of disease, science, and public-health measures.

And then there is the bracing reality that, here in Trump’s America, another clearly damaged man, a man whose own close-knit family has waved red flags about his fitness for office, is getting this far in the anti-Trump party.

(…)

Not so distant from this performance of retro white machismo is the fact that at least some of the blame for this wretched state of affairs lies with Biden and the Democratic Party. When elected, Biden promised to be a bridge president: to formulate, alongside the equally senescent leadership of his party, a succession plan of some sort. But these aging leaders have not done that, so here we are with some of the anti-Biden energies among Democratic voters getting directed toward a man who looks like the saviors of old, a glitchy hologram of fabled politicians who once represented youth and hope.

He never, ever, ever should have been here. In this position. In these pages, in this context. He should never have been a politician or a public figure at all. He should have been a veterinarian.

In American Values, amid all his bizarre hagiography of his family members and rehashing of the Bay of Pigs, is story after story after story of pure delight and joy and love and fulfillment: There are the falcons and hawks and pigeons, the Komodo dragons, the matricidal coati, a red-tailed hawk named Morgan. There’s a California sea lion, Sandy, who “took up residence in our swimming pool” and “ate mackerel by the barrel, devouring everything but the eyeballs, which we found scattered like marbles across the pool, patio and lawn.” One day, after causing a traffic jam on the Georgetown Pike, Sandy, like the dragons, winds up at the National Zoo. And how about Carruthers, the 16-pound leopard tortoise brought back from Africa under the diplomatic protection of his uncle Sargent Shriver in Ethel Kennedy’s Gucci suitcase? Carruthers spent 21 years roaming the house at Hickory Hill in Virginia alongside “ten horses, eleven dogs, a donkey, two goats, pigs … a 4-H cow, chickens, pheasants, ducks, geese, forty closely related rabbits” and Hungarian homing pigeons, a nocturnal honey bear who “slept away his days in the playroom crawl space,” and a jill ferret who “fed her pups under the kitchen stove.”

(…)

But this country, with its political system built around white patriarchal ideals of who powerful men are supposed to be, and its very limited view of what other kinds of power might look like, has created too irresistible an opportunity for someone with a famous name, a tremendous ego, and a persecution complex. So here we are, eight years after Trump descended the elevator in Trump Tower, listening to a man talking about ivermectin and the fascism of Fauci and the castration of frogs and watching him run riot in a Democratic primary.”

“I’ve been doing my best to ignore the farcical presidential candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. His noxious views on vaccines, the origin of AIDS, the alleged dangers of wi-fi and other forms of junk science deserve no wide hearing. Polls showing he’s favored by 20 percent of likely Democratic voters over President Biden are almost as laughable as Kennedy’s views. It’s early; he’s got iconic American name recognition; and there’s almost always an appetite, among Democrats anyway, for anybody but the incumbent. His lies have been thoroughly debunked by Judd Legum at Popular Info, Michael Scherer in The Washington Post, Naomi Klein in The Guardian, and Brandy Zadrozny on NBC News.

But I’ve come to believe I have a responsibility to write about Kennedy because of my own shameful role in sending his toxic vaccine views into public discourse: I was the Salon editor, in partnership with Rolling Stone, who 18 years ago published his mendacious, error-ridden piece on how thimerosal in childhood vaccines supposedly led to a rise in autism, and how public health officials covered it up. From the day “Deadly Immunity” went up on Salon.com, we were besieged by scientists and advocates showing how Kennedy had misunderstood, incorrectly cited, and perhaps even falsified data. Some of his sources turned out to be known crackpots.

(…)

Now, Kennedy insists, as the The New York Times paraphrases him, that “Salon caved to pressure from government regulators and the pharmaceutical industry.” He repeated the false claim in his three-hour podcast conversation with Joe Rogan, another conspiracy loon, rehashing the debunked claims of “Deadly Immunity” and claiming that Salon pulled the piece after “pressure from the pharmaceutical industry.”

That’s just another lie. We caved to pressure from the incontrovertible truth and our journalistic consciences.

(…)

The pushback began almost immediately. I’ve already linked to our corrections, which with hindsight seem not to correct what were revealed to be the worst errors. Seth Mnookin, who happened to also write for Salon occasionally, was one of the most dogged debunkers, and his 2011 book The Panic Virus, which features a chapter on Kennedy and the Salon/Rolling Stone mess, ultimately helped convince us to retract the piece entirely.

Mnookin showed, among other things, how Kennedy misrepresented what went on at a 2000 meeting on vaccine safety convened by the Centers for Disease Control, at the Simpsonwood conference center outside Atlanta, where the claims of a link between Thimerosol and autism were discussed. Mnookin wrote, “Kennedy relied on the 286-page transcript of the Simpsonwood meeting to corroborate his allegations—and wherever the transcript diverged from the story he wanted to tell, he simply cut and pasted until things came out right.”

(…)

I tell this story, incompletely and imperfectly given the 18 intervening years, because Kennedy continues to peddle the lies he published and claim that dark forces cowed us and forced us to retract his story. The odious Joe Rogan has been going after vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez on Twitter, after Hotez tweeted that the Kennedy interview was “awful,” “absurd,” and promoting “nonsense.” He offered Hotez “$100,000.00 to the charity of your choice if you’re willing to debate [Kennedy] on my show with no time limit.” Twitter troll and site owner Elon Musk has been amplifying Rogan and Kennedy and going after Hotez. On Sunday a Q-Anon believer came to Hotez’s Houston home demanding that he debate Kennedy.

(…)

I regret the role I played in spreading Kennedy’s anti-vaccine propaganda, and however it helped foment the harassment of Hotez. The vaccine-autism lie isn’t the only big lie Kennedy’s told. But it’s the only one I can debunk personally.”

“I'd prefer to explore what a noted misogynist who reportedly tormented his second wife — and then vilified after she killed herself — says about the 2024 election.

Here was actor Billy Baldwin on Twitter in April, posting a photo of RFK Jr. and his late wife Mary — who, he said, spent many a time crying on his shoulder about her terrible husband:

'If Bobby were half a man she would still be alive today. It will all come out. His campaign will be over in weeks. If these walls could talk.'

Mary, according to those who knew her well, was in agony over RFK Jr.'s ceaseless womanizing. He kept sex diaries, which Mary discovered and gave to a trusted friend. Should anything happen to her, the world might know who we're really dealing with.

In the back of each diary were ledgers listing all the women Bobby had been with — many friends of Mary's or women in their social circle — numbered from one to ten, indicating, like a teenage boy, how far each sexual encounter had gone.

(…)

After Mary's death, Bobby sanctioned friends, relatives and at least one sympathetic Kennedy historian to tell his version of events: Mary was a drunk, a hysteric, a crazy woman. It was a miracle he even survived the marriage.

The greatest smear job came via a Newsweek cover story, which branded Mary's suicide part of the Kennedy Curse — oh, the terrible things that just keep happening to this family!

Somehow, the author got access to a sealed 60-page affidavit in which Bobby accused Mary of having a personality disorder, of beating him in front of their son, of drunkenly face-planting into her dinner.

Mary's siblings called the report 'scurrilous' and 'full of lies.'

(…)

Nonetheless, Bobby went to court to fight Mary's siblings, who hated him, for her remains.

Once he won, he made a big show of having Mary buried in the Kennedy family plot in Massachusetts, the media getting unobstructed photos of Mary's casket.

Not two months later, without the required permits, Kennedy secretly had Mary's coffin exhumed from her grave and buried alone on the other side of the cemetery, no gravestone.

He didn't tell her siblings. In my opinion, this was his final revenge — if Mary dared to humiliate him by killing herself — because it's all about Bobby Jr., all the time — in life, he would do the same to her in death.

(…)

This is a man who smeared the mother of his four children in the most public way possible, who made her life a misery and who gaslit the nation into thinking he was the victim.

He is, in my opinion — and I'm not alone — not just mentally ill. He's a bad man.

The Kennedys have this generational sickness, their abhorrent treatment of women.

Why aren't we talking about it?

How is it that no one's drawing parallels to Bobby's Uncle Ted, the last famous Democrat to challenge an incumbent Democratic president — you know, the uncle who left a young campaign aide named Mary Jo Kopechne to die alone after driving off a bridge at Chappaquiddick?

The party line on Ted was always that he was terrible to women in his personal life but great at legislating for us.

Tell that to the women he destroyed, his wife Joan among them, painting her as the family drunk, the political liability. Sound familiar?

Women, to Kennedy men, are scapegoats.”

“By now, you undoubtedly know presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said at a press dinner last Tuesday night that COVID-19 was an “ethnically targeted bio weapon” designed by the Chinese government to be deadly for Caucasians and Blacks, but spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.

(…)

The stunning moment was surreal and incomprehensible. But I’ve seen the video and heard the audio, so I know it’s true.

“COVID 19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people,” said Kennedy. “The races that are most immune to COVID-19 are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”

Sitting next to Kennedy at that moment was an Ashkenazi Jew, New York Post reporter Jon Levine. Check out his baffled expression on the video.

Contrary to Bobby’s hair-brained theory, I got the coronavirus. My son, brother, sister-in-law, aunt, uncle, nephews, niece, cousins and friends also got COVID. My neurologist’s medical partner got COVID and died. Ashkenazi Jews all.

Bobby knows who I am. My wife, Liz, and I donated to his Riverkeeper nonprofit organization and watched him fly falcons at the Hudson River home of then-Gov. George Pataki. Bobby should also know that Frydman is a Jewish name of European ancestry. I’m not Sephardic. I’m fair-haired and light-skinned. That makes me Ashkenazi.

You’d think his campaign manager, former Ohio congressman and Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich, and staff would’ve prepped Bobby about the probability of Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese journalists being in attendance. In fact, there was a Chinese reporter from the Epoch Times at the table.

(…)

But even Klein, a prominent anti-vaxxer and good friend of RFK Jr. who’s advised him on Israel, is reportedly “worried” about Bobby’s kooky COVID comments.

“This is crazy,” Klein was quoted as saying. “It makes no sense that they would do that. I read everything. I was totally against the vaccine…I wanted to convince myself it was correct not to take it. I have never seen anything like this.”

The Anti-Defamation League also weighed in. “The claim that COVID-19 was a bioweapon created by the Chinese or Jews to attack Caucasians and Black people is deeply offensive and feeds into sinophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories about COVID-19 that we have seen evolve over the last three years.”

StopAntisemitism added, “We have no words for this man’s lunacy.””

#kennedy #robert kennedy jr #rfk jr #conspiracy theory #conspiracy theories #anti vaccination #anti vaxxers #antisemitism #misogyny

[rabbitcruiser]

Downtown Denver (No. 10)

In the summer of 2006, LoDo hosted the cast members of MTV's popular reality show The Real World, as season 18: The Real World: Denver. Several movies have also been filmed, wholly or in part, in the neighborhood, including the Eddie Murphy film Imagine That (2009). LoDo's combination of contemporary architecture sprinkled among historic buildings, beautiful mountain views, access to Cherry Creek and nearby parks, plus its proximity to two major sporting venues, make it an attractive location for television and movie filming. The 70+ bars and restaurants in the historic district provide a positive economic impact for the city. However, late night violence, including a fatal shooting, has caused concern. The police are increasing foot patrols and asking private security officers to assist with the 2:00 am "let out" period. A security task force, made up of members of the public, Denver Police, neighborhood and business associations, and bar and club owners has convened to examine the issue.

The LoDo District, Inc., a non-profit neighborhood and business association, represents both the residential and commercial communities, and functions as a LoDo-specific chamber of commerce, visitors bureau, registered neighborhood organization, advocacy agent, and marketing entity. The Lower Downtown Neighborhood Association, the residential association, is a non-profit organization committed to seeking quality living conditions amid the mixed uses of the Lower Downtown area.

Because of the numerous bars and clubs in the area, LoDo is also a popular location for the nightlife of Denver.

Source: Wikipedia      

#Liebhart-Lindner Building #RNL Design #GE Kettle Building #Block 162 #USA #reflection #evening light #LoDo #downtown #original photography #exterior #architecture #cityscape #16th Street #vacation #travel #Denver #detail #Mile High City #Mountain West Region #Colorado #tourist attraction #landmark #skyscraper #window #façade

[davidfakrikian]

DVDvision - La Collection Épisode 2

Entre 2006 et 2008, j'ai posté sur DVDvision.fr une série d'articles retraçant l'histoire des 12 premiers numéros. Voici l'épisode 2, les coulisses mouvementées du deuxième numéro du magazine !

La couverture alternative de DVDvision n°2 version A.

Numéro 2 - Décembre 1999 - 

64 pages

Editeur : Seven Sept

Directrice de publication : Véronique Poirier 

Rédacteur en chef : David Fakrikian

Rédacteurs principaux : Stéphane Lacombe, Jean Sébastien Decamp, Fathi Beddiar, Benjamin Rozovas, Rafik Djoumi, Patrick Nadjar, Nicolas Rioult, Johhan Lapeyre.

Sommaire : Interview Van Ling part I, Schwarzenegger DVDgraphie, Dumb & Dumber, Mary à tout prix, Taxi Driver.

DVD : Collector A. Schwarzenegger / La fin des temps, comprend une interview d'Arnold en multi-angles, et en autres bonus les bandes-annonces VF de Terminator et Terminator 2, conception par David Fakrikian. Lien vers les menus.

Notes : En mineure amélioration par rapport au précédent, globalement, la maquette fait penser à un fanzine de luxe fait par des geeks (ce qui est en partie vrai !). Je suis encore à ce stade toujours tout seul avec mon téléphone, mon ordi et mon bureau, pour tout gérer.

Le problème de ne pas avoir une équipe rédactionnelle sur place continue à peser gravement.  Aujourd'hui, les éditeurs préfèrent évidemment n'avoir qu'un seul salarié par magazine, mais c'est pour faire des mags de fiches, où la maquette n'évolue pas, et où il suffit d'effacer les images et textes, et de re-remplir les cases d'un numéro à l'autre. Je continue à croire que l'on ne peut produire une presse de qualité, qu'en étant obligatoirement entouré d'une solide équipe rédactionnelle (ce qui viendra, mais plus tard...). Pour moi, les pigistes ne doivent intervenir qu'en complément, la cerise sur le gateau en quelque sorte. 

En regardant ce numéro aujourd'hui, je le trouve, comme à l'époque, indigeste : aucune accroche dans les articles, aucune gestion de l'espace blanc, tout est maquetté au chausse pied, limite lisible. A ce stade, je commençais à vraiment être mécontent du travail de l'équipe maquette. L'énergie que je devais déployer, pour arriver à un résultat convenable, était autant de temps perdu à ne pas travailler le rédactionnel. Il y avait aussi encore plus de pression pour que le numéro suivant soit réussi, puisque entre le numéro 1 et celui-ci, on avait sorti notre premier hors-série, le magazine officiel du film James Bond 007 Le monde ne suffit pas, en collaboration avec James Bond Magazine, avec un DVD collector inclus, qui avait fait un très gros carton, au point d'être épuisé en kiosques au bout de 15 jours.

Ce qui sauve ce numéro, c'est l'incroyable interview de Van Ling par Jim Millick, qui retrace l'aventure des premiers coffrets collectors de James Cameron. Je la mettrai volontier en ligne, mais la sauvegarde CDR de ce numéro a disparu des archives.

Essai de couverture alternative de DVDvision n°2 version B.

Un accident majeur s'est produit pendant la conception de ce second opus, l'équipe maquette (qui travaillait indépendamment), a accepté en mon absence (pendant que j'étais occupé à faire l'authoring du DVD une fois le mag bouclé), de modifier la couverture sur suggestion de la directrice de publication Véronique. Ce qui s'est passé, c'est qu'on voulait Arnold Schwarzenegger en couve depuis le début, puisqu'un dossier lui est consacré à l'intérieur. On a fait plusieurs essais, avec des images tirées de Terminator 2. Je préférais celle tout en haut de ce billet, la version A, qui pour moi était la couverture parfaite, mais on a pas pu trouver l'image en bonne qualité, un vrai problème récurrent pour les vieux films qu'on a eu tout au long de l'existence du magazine. De plus, le visage d'Arnold n'était pas reconnaissable dessus, ce qui était déjà le cas pour Harrison Ford sur la couve du premier numéro. On s'était donc arrêté sur la couverture juste là au-dessus, la version B, tirée d'un poster dépliant inclus dans un Laserdisc japonais. Et puis quand on a reçu les CDR de la campagne promo pour La fin des temps, Véronique s'est dit que la qualité des images du poster était bien meilleure. On a donc fait une version C, avec juste le profil de Arnold, pour voir. Mais sans être convaincus puisque si placé à gauche, son visage était recouvert par le DVD. Finalement, en dernière minute, elle a demandé à la maquette une autre version D (la finale), qui était le poster, complet avec le logo du film, juste posé comme ça, qu'elle a envoyé à l'imprimerie, mais sans me consulter, puisqu'il n'y avait plus le temps. (C'est la raison pour laquelle la couverture finale n'a aucune accroche titres).

La version finale de la couverture version D, et le visuel du DVD.

Le magazine est donc sorti des presses avec l'apparence d'un DVD kiosque contenant le film, puisque le DVD avait en visuel La fin des des temps, et la couverture, qui était le poster du film, aussi ! Ce que nous firent remarquer de nombreux lecteurs. Véronique s'est immédiatement rendue compte de son erreur, mais c'était trop tard, la couve était déjà imprimée, et la réimprimer aurait coûté trop cher, sans parler du décalage de date de sortie, qui nous aurait fait rater les fêtes de fin d'année. Ça n'a heureusement pas eu d'effet négatif sur les ventes, au contraire, puisque des gens ont vraiment cru que le film était disponible en kiosques en même temps qu'en salles pour le prix d'une place de cinéma ! On a eu ensuite une discussion sérieuse où l'on a déterminé que rien à l'avenir ne partirait à l'imprimerie sans notre double validation, même en dernière minute, ce qui a été le cas sur tout le reste de l'existence du magazine.

L'équipe maquette avait par contre du coup perdu ma confiance, puisqu'ils ont modifié la couverture sans m'en faire part, alors que c'était moi qui leur avait refilé le job. Ce sont des amis, et je ne leur en ai jamais voulu personnellement, (il faut séparer le travail de l'amitié), mais cumulé au résultat laborieux de la charte graphique, (les plus alertes noteront qu'on a dû réimprimer la jaquette du DVD du n°1 dans le n°2, parce-que le maquettiste ne l'avait pas mise en page au bon format dans le premier numéro !), on a décidé avec Véronique de ne pas reconduire le contrat.

Plusieurs candidats étaient sur les rangs pour la succession, mais ceci est une autre histoire : celle du numéro 3 ! 

La citation de ce numéro : "Courage, tu vas y arriver"  (David Martinez - Décembre 1999)

copyright © David Fakrikian 2006-2008 / DVDvision.fr

#DVDvision #Terminator2 #Story #Episode2 #Youtube

[seoteamusa]

A Step-by-Step Guide to Changing Owners Corporation Managers in Melbourne

In the vibrant city of Melbourne, many property owners find themselves needing to change their owner’s corporation managers or body corporate managers for various reasons. Whether it’s dissatisfaction with the current service, seeking better management, or simply wanting a change, the process of switching managers can seem daunting. However, with the right guidance, it can be a smooth and straightforward transition. Here’s a step-by-step guide on How to Change Owners Corporation Managers Melbourne:

· Assess Your Needs: Before initiating the change, it’s crucial to assess your needs and identify why you’re seeking a new owners corporation manager. Consider factors such as service quality, responsiveness, expertise, and overall satisfaction with the current manager.

· Research Potential Managers: Begin your search for new owner’s corporation managers by researching reputable firms or individuals in Melbourne. Look for companies with a strong track record, positive client reviews, and expertise in managing properties similar to yours.

· Request Proposals: Once you’ve identified potential managers, reach out to them and request proposals outlining their services, fees, and approach to management. Compare the proposals carefully to determine which manager best aligns with your needs and preferences.

· Notify Current Manager: Inform your current owners corporation manager of your decision to make a change. Review your contract with the current manager to understand any notice periods or termination clauses that may apply.

· Hold a Special General Meeting (SGM): As per the Owners Corporation Act 2006, a special general meeting (SGM) must be convened to formally vote on the change of managers. Provide notice to all owners and invite them to attend the meeting, where the decision will be made by a majority vote.

· Vote on the Change: At the SGM, owners will have the opportunity to vote on the resolution to change owner’s corporation managers. Ensure that the vote is conducted in accordance with the rules and regulations outlined in your owner’s corporation’s constitution.

· Notify the New Manager: Once the resolution is passed, notify the selected new owners corporation manager of their appointment. Provide them with all necessary information, including access to relevant documentation and contact details for key stakeholders.

· Transition Management: Work closely with the new owner’s corporation manager to facilitate a smooth transition. Provide them with any necessary information, documentation, and access to the property management system to ensure continuity of service.

By following these steps, property owners in Melbourne can navigate the process of changing owner’s corporation managers with confidence and ease. Remember to conduct thorough research, communicate effectively with all stakeholders, and adhere to legal requirements throughout the process. With the right approach, finding the Best Owners Corporation Managers Melbourne for your property can lead to improved service, enhanced property value, and greater peace of mind.

#Best Owners Corporation Managers Melbourne #How to Change Owners Corporation Managers Melbourne

[allael]

"UNIDO even hoped to create an international “federation of free trade zones” that would convene representatives of governments around the world.

Counting the number of free zones globally is, however, fraught with difficulty, since the form has been mutating as it migrates around the world.

In 2006, 130 countries hosted 3,500 zones employing 66 million

As a legal and economic instrument, the zone presides over a cocktail of enticements and legal exemptions that are sometimes mixed together with domestic civil laws, sometimes manipulated by business to create international law, and sometimes adopted by the nation in its entirety."

📘 Keller Easterling - Extrastatecraft: The Power of Infrastructure Space, 2016.

[reddancer1]

There were jubilant scenes of celebrations all over France as women’s rights activists hailed the measure, which was approved in an overwhelming 780-72 vote.

PARIS (AP) — French lawmakers on Monday overwhelmingly approved a bill that will enshrine a woman’s right to an abortion in France’s constitution, a historic move designed to prevent the kind of rollback of abortion rights seen in the United States in recent years.

In an exceptional joint session of parliament convened at the Palace of Versailles, the bill was approved in a 780-72 vote. Abortion enjoys wide support in France across most of the political spectrum, and has been legal since 1975.

The vote makes France the first country to have a constitutional right to abortion since the former Yugoslavia inscribed it in its 1974 constitution. Serbia’s 2006 constitution carries on that spirit, stating that “everyone has the right to decide on childbirth.”

[vtjian-blog]

Is Tumblr considered a public sphere?

The public sphere, as conceptualised by Jürgen Habermas, denotes a societal domain where individuals convene to partake in logical deliberation, conversation, and contention on shared concerns. This domain provides a platform for anyone, regardless of their socioeconomic status, to engage in the exchange of ideas, opinions, and information. This active participation contributes to the shaping of public opinion and has an impact on political decision-making.

Habermas introduced the notion of the public sphere in his influential publication, "The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere" (1962). Habermas posits that the public sphere originated during the 18th-century Enlightenment in Europe. It was distinguished by venues such as coffeehouses, salons, newspapers, and other platforms where individuals could partake in analytical conversations concerning matters of society.

Tumblr, as a social media platform, overlaps with the concept of the public sphere by providing a digital arena where users actively participate in discussions, exchange varied viewpoints, and contribute to conversations on a wide range of issues. Although Tumblr may not fully conform to Jürgen Habermas' classic concept of the public sphere, it does embody characteristics of a digital public sphere, serving as a distinct digital community for the exchange of ideas and viewpoints.

Within the realm of the online public space, individuals on Tumblr possess the opportunity to establish blogs, showcasing a diverse range of content formats including written text, visuals, and multimedia. The creation of diverse content fosters a dynamic and decentralised interchange of ideas, aligning with the core concepts of the public sphere where individuals actively engage in developing communal understandings. Tumblr's inclusive platform enables users, regardless of their backgrounds, to freely express themselves and participate in discussions, reflecting the democratic principles of the public domain.

An examination of Tumblr's function as a digital public space can be conducted by considering the affordances and platform vernacular, which reveal how the platform's design elements and communication dynamics influence user engagements. Affordances, which encompass both the perceived and actual capabilities of a platform, have a significant impact on user behaviour and engagement (Burgess et al., 2018). Furthermore, the notion of platform vernacular, which includes collective activities, language, and cultural norms within a particular digital setting, contributes an additional dimension to comprehending the dynamics of Tumblr as a digital public sphere. Zhou (2011) contributes to this discussion by examining the involvement of individuals in online communities, emphasising the effect of social factors and common language in determining the specific language used on the platform (Zhou, 2011).

When examining Tumblr, it becomes clear that the platform's capabilities, such as tools for creating content, features for reblogging, and functionality for developing communities, have an impact on the way interactions and content are shared inside the site. These features, in return, contribute to the development of a distinct platform language and habits among Tumblr users as they participate in online conversations. This is consistent with Wellman's (2006) examination of the social opportunities provided by the internet, highlighting how technological characteristics impact communication patterns and social exchanges (Wellman et al., 2006).

In conclusion, this work highlights the resonance between Habermas' classic concept of the public sphere and the digital public sphere on Tumblr. Despite not fully aligning, Tumblr serves as a dynamic online space for diverse discussions. The examination of affordances and platform vernacular underscores how Tumblr's design elements shape user engagement, impacting content sharing and community development.

References

Burgess, J., Marwick, A., & Poell, T. (2018). The SAGE Handbook of Social Media. SAGE Publications Ltd.

Calhoun, C. J. (1992). Habermas and the public sphere. Mit Press.

Habermas, J. (1989). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge Polity.

Jostein Gripsrud, & Eide, M. (2010). The Idea of The Public Sphere : A Reader. Lexington.

Wellman, B., Quan-Haase, A., Boase, J., Chen, W., Hampton, K., Díaz, I., & Miyata, K. (2006). The Social Affordances of the Internet for Networked Individualism. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 8(3). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2003.tb00216.x

Zhou, T. (2011). Understanding online community user participation: a social influence perspective. Internet Research, 21(1), 67–81. https://doi.org/10.1108/10662241111104884

#mda20009 #week 3

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.4 (after 1950)

1951 – Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time. 1956 – The Greek National Radical Union is formed by Konstantinos Karamanlis. 1958 – Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, falls to Earth from orbit. 1959 – Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon. 1972 – Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, UK. 1975 – This date overflowed the 12-bit field that had been used in TOPS-10. There were numerous problems and crashes related to this bug while an alternative format was developed. 1976 – The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force shoots dead six Irish Catholic civilians in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The next day, gunmen would shoot dead ten Protestant civilians nearby in retaliation. 1987 – The Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, United States, killing 16 people. 1989 – Second Gulf of Sidra incident: A pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation. 1990 – In Pakistan's deadliest train accident an overloaded passenger train collides with an empty freight train, resulting in 307 deaths and 700 injuries. 1998 – A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction. 1999 – Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota, United States. 2000 – A Norwegian passenger train departing from Trondheim, collides with a local train coming from Hamar in Åsta, Åmot; 19 people are killed and 68 injured in the accident. 2004 – Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC. 2004 – Mikheil Saakashvili is elected President of Georgia following the November 2003 Rose Revolution. 2006 – Ehud Olmert becomes acting Prime Minister of Israel after the incumbent, Ariel Sharon, suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke. 2007 – The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history. 2008 – A Let L-410 Turbolet crashes in the Los Roques Archipelago in Venezuela, killing 14 people. 2010 – The Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building in the world, officially opens in Dubai. 2013 – A gunman kills eight people in a house-to-house rampage in Kawit, Cavite, Philippines. 2018 – Hennenman–Kroonstad train crash: A passenger train operated by Shosholoza Meyl collides with a truck on a level crossing at Geneva Station between Hennenman and Kroonstad, Free State, South Africa. Twenty people are killed and 260 injured.

#Events

[bobmccullochny]

History

November 25, 1783 - At the end of the Revolutionary War, the last British troops left New York City.

November 25, 1936 - Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, an agreement to collaborate in opposing the spread of Communism.

November 25, 1963 - Three days after his assassination, John F. Kennedy was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

November 25, 1974 - Britain outlawed the IRA (Irish Republican Army) following the deaths of 21 persons in a pub bombing in Birmingham.

November 25, 1992 - The parliament in Czechoslovakia voted to divide the country into separate Czech and Slovak republics.

November 25, 1995 - By a margin of less than one percent, Ireland voted to legalize divorce, the closest vote in the nation's history.

Birthday - American financier Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. He emigrated to America, made his fortune in steel, then became a major philanthropist. Among his gifts; over 2,500 libraries, Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Foundation, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He once wrote, "The man who dies rich dies disgraced."

Birthday - American temperance leader Carry Nation (1846-1911) was born in Garrard County, Kentucky. She was famed as a hatchet-wielding smasher of saloons.

Birthday - Pope John XXIII (1881-1963) was born in Sotte il Monte, Italy (as Angelo Roncalli). He became the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church in 1958 and served until his death in June of 1963. During his reign, he convened the Second Vatican Council which modernized the mass and increased openness to other religions and denominations.

Birthday - Chilean military leader Augusto Pinochet (1915-2006) was born in Valparaiso, Chile. He overthrew President Salvador Allende in 1973 and remained in power until he lost the elections in 1990.

#today's smile

[homonationalist]

In 1991 the United States convened the Madrid Peace Conference in the aftermath of the first Gulf War and the expulsion of Saddam Hussein’s troops from Kuwait. With Arabs everywhere fragmented because of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the ensuing war, and a weakened Palestinian position because the PLO had sided (verbally and politically) with Iraq against the American-led coalition troops, the PLO’s negotiating position in Madrid was fragile. Not unexpectedly, the Conference failed to produce a Palestinian/Israeli peace treaty, but succeeded in confirming the historic shift on the side of the PLO towards negotiation instead of armed struggle as its preferred strategy to end the conflict. In 1993 an initial agreement was reached between the PLO and Israel, the Oslo Agreement, after months of secret talks in Norway. Endorsed in Washington by the Clinton Administration, the agreement was in theory divided into two phases: a five-year interim phase (essentially meant to explore and test the competence of the Palestinians to peacefully rule themselves and control ‘illegal’ armed resistance factions) starting in 1994, which if it proved successful would be followed by a second phase of negotiations on a ‘final settlement’. The Palestinians were almost evenly divided in response to the Oslo Accords. Those who supported Oslo argued that it was the best deal that the Palestinians could hope to achieve given the unfavourable conditions they faced and the tilted balance of power that remained unassailably propitious to Israel. Those who opposed it argued that it simply constituted surrender to Israel, by recognizing the Israeli state and officially dropping the armed struggle without any concrete gains. In the five-year interim period there was to be no addressing any of the major Palestinian issues such the right of refugees to return, the status of Jerusalem, the control over Palestinian borders, and the dismantling of the Israeli settlements build intensively in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. According to the Accords, these issues were all to be relegated to the final talks, which as it turned out, would never take place anyway.

Khaled Hroub from the introduction to Hamas: A Beginner's Guide (2006)

#khaled hroub #hamas: a beginner's guide #hamas #palestine #reading #i do not currently have access to the newer edition unfortunately