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viscountoflondon · 8 months

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College Kavinsky 1.0

This story is based on 3 years post college admissions (So he’s a junior now). Peter and Lara Jean are not together; they broke up amicably (I am Covinksy stan but let a girl have a maladaptive daydream).

Reader is an afro latina curvy girl (Midsize or plus size the choice is yours) however as we have read multiple fan fiction and fictional books we all imagine ourselves as main character so feel free to do so 🥰

I’m sensitive about my shit but i hope you like it

Warnings: curse words, slight vulgarity.

GIF credits below

“Where’s Y/N, where’d she go?” Peter asked, looking around for you he was hoping for an opportunity to talk to you, seeing your last interaction was a bit awkward.

“Oh she left?” Ivy (your roommate)

“Why?” he asks taking a sip of his beer

“Oh that's because Cameron (Ivy’s boyfriend) said it was invite only” Ivy answers

Tonight the Fraternity was throwing a party, post new chapter president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and social chair as the previous seniors had graduated.

Peter had been mentioned as the new Treasurer a promotion from social chair and Cameron his best friend was given the position as Secretary as the board recognized Cameron’s efforts in assisting his pledge brother and best friend in chapter activities.

“CAM WHAT THE HELL?!” He asked giving Cameron an incredulous look

“Sorry shit I didn’t even think about it.” he shrugged in response You had helped Ivy and the other girlfriends set up for the party post the event, and typically this party was the only by invite only party due to the fact that the new leaderships would be discussing exciting plans for the new year and only long term girlfriends and family would be invited back to the Frat house. But honestly the new chapter leadership always got to invite who they wanted. Anyway 2 hours had passed and there was no way you were making your way back to the house.

Honestly you had no idea what she was talking about during your last interaction all Peter said was he liked your shoes and boy did Ivy scold you. Ivy knew Peter liked you; she didn’t want to tell you because it was like a secret between her, Cam, and Peter, however you were convinced she was a sucker for love looking at your recent interaction with rose colored glasses.

~Flashback~

“Why didn’t you say something back?”

“I did, I said thank you” “You were supposed to say oh thanks i like your watch your chain i don’t fucking know follow up with something!” you open your mouth to protest but she continues “What do guys like?”

You shrug “Cars, sports, fishing” you shrug not understanding her question

“So a guy complimenting your shoes would mean?”

“He thinks they are cool” you feel the thud of the pillow hit your body “HEY!”

“You are impossible! I am setting you up with one of the finest men on campus! And you fumble the damn play”

You roll your eyes and huff looking up to the ceiling “I think you are looking into this too much”

“I AM NOT!” she stresses

“Ivanna, why would Peter want me?”

“WHY WOULDN’T HE LOOK AT YOU! YOU’RE HOT IN FACT” she moves closer “MANY GUYS HAVE ASKED ME ABOUT YOU ESPECIALLY WHEN WE GO OUT TOGETHER!” she grabs your shoulders, shaking you a bit hoping to shake some sort of sense in your brain.

You hold a look of confusion “what?” you respond slightly above a whisper

“YES PEOPLE HAVE ASKED ME ABOUT YOU!” she takes in a deep breath to calm down realizing she was a bit too passionate “Guys have asked me if you have a boyfriend , can I hook them up, but I didn’t because they are fuck boys. Peter is not”

“So Peter asked you to hook us up?” “NO!” she responds quickly hoping she didn’t give away her scheme

Your brow quirks “okay so what makes you believe that he likes me?” “A girl knows things” “Uh-Huh” you smirk and walk away to grab the wine bottle.

“So next time you see him”You interrupt “If there is a next time”

“Oh there will be trust me” You roll your eyes “you need to work that charm”

You squeal “Ow” you say in response to her pinching your side

“And you need to work your charm, tu entiendes?”

“SI! Damn!”

“GREAT” she smiles

“So can we discuss the party now? How was it?” “Actually it was okay” She shrugs boring kinda because it was like a meeting with beer and food and games involved.

“Oh”

“Yea” she says snuggling into your side and focuses on the movie ahead.

It has been almost 3 years since your last relationship. Things were said to you that made you question yourself, question the value you could add in a relationship etc, so it was hard that, the Peter Kavinsky, one of the most popular frat brothers on campus, liked you. I mean you’ve seen the previous relationships/situationships/hookup girls they looked nothing like you so much so when Ivy hinted at him liking you made you think she was the most delusional person on this planet called earth.

She was right, there was a next time, this time it was the homecoming party and as we know each frat house would partner up and try to outdo not only the previous year but make it a party that no one ever stopped talking about.

“You have to come to the party!” Ivy insists

“Ivy, it’s gonna be a lot of people” “SO!?”

“Sooo, .......ugh......... I will come” you finally give in after she begged you for 2 days to go after your initial ‘no’

“YAY! Lets go shopping!”

“Okay!”

In true homecoming fashion you both had to adorn Stanfords alma mater colors. You both decide on an outfit that suits you best. Your body is buzzing with anxiety as you both get ready. Last minute runs to get nails, eyebrows done, running to the liquor store to get pregame (A/N: drink responsibly), running to grocery store to get last minute late night snacks(Ice cream, chips, fruit, cookies).

“Ready?!” Ivy asks you taking the last sip of her chaser “As I will ever be!” you respond

She smiles and links arms together as you both walk out to meet your uber driver (A/N: don’t drink and drive)

As you pull up to the house the line extends way beyond what you initially thought.

“OMG! Ivy” you look at the line feeling very overwhelmed and intimidated how were all these people going to fit in that house? How many kegs did they even buy to be sufficient for all these people? Isn’t there like a fire code or something? When the lines were small the house was packed you can’t even imagine all of them fitting.

“I know how it looks but trust me it’s gonna be fun!” she beams at you “Let me text Cameron”

In a few minutes he appears from the front “HI BABY!” she jumps in his arms “Look who I convinced to come” they both look at you

“Y/N! Glad you made it” he says giving you a side hug

“Yea, thanks for the invite.” you smile still feeling like this was a bad idea. To be fair you never attended any of the homecoming parties or activities. Too many people, drunk people, pissed people, sad people, happy people, everyone everywhere it just wasn’t your thing,

“Come on!” he says, ushering you two in you hear some groans and curse words as you two were allowed in. Inside the house you can breathe a little. It wasn't even full yet a few extra bodies were floating around, certainly not what you imagined. You hear the president give an order to move one Keg out to the backyard. Another voice is heard confirming all rooms are locked and secure.

“Alright last meeting!” You hear as you feel Ivy pull you back “We know the mission?” Mark the president comments

They respond “EPIC PARTY, EPIC FRAT HOUSE! TOP FRATERNITY OF STANFORD!” They cheer “LETS GOOO!!!” you look around and see Peter joining the cheering

“AND PLEASE NO GIRLS IN THE ROOMS I DON’T CARE HOW MUCH YOUR DICKS GET HARD SEND THEM HOME!” Sean the Vice President adds in making them all laugh

“Here we go '' Ivy whispers to you as they open the door, in a moment the room quickly gets filled up the music is so loud the base in the speakers is vibrating through you. You watch as people grab cups, grab bottles of beer, grab the premade jello shots and make their way to the dance floor as you nurse your liquor punch? That's what they called it anyway.

After a while your body loosens up you start to care less about the surroundings and you start moving to the music. Ivy had left your side and returned and left again so much so that you didn’t care anymore you were having your own mini party in the very distant corner of the living room which didn’t have any couches? How come you just realized? Actually all the seating was missing.

You tip your head back to get the last drop in your cup and frown you move from your corner hoping to find no one occupying it and make it to the kitchen

“SPEAK OF THE DEVIL! Y/N!”

You turn to look behind you and there stood Peter (of course you notice him first), Ivy, Cam, and a few of the other frat brothers. You wave before getting more of the liquor punch whatever they put in it was really working its way in your system. You walk over and greet them. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING?" Sean asks

“OH I HAVE I’VE BEEN AROUND!” “THIS IS OUR FIRST TIME SEEING YOU WE’VE SEEN IVY LIKE A BILLION TIMES” You roll your eyes “WE ARE NOT ATTACHED AT THE HIP” and you weren’t you didn’t need Ivy to babysit you, you had fun the introvert way you know observing people and their mannerisms, argument over there, dancing over here, conversation in that corner, oooh trip up the steps

You watch as Peter smirks and that makes you blush, you quickly look away “what are you drinking?” you ask Ivy

“Oh girl i don’t know” she takes a sip “beer?” she takes another “i think i mixed beer with punch” You make a face “ew”

“Gross right?” you nod “Too drunk to care” she throws it back. You laugh in response. When you turn back to the group Peter is gone and your heart drops a little but not enough to care.

You walk away from the circle and make your way around the crowd. A few guys stop you trying to flirt but it's a wash, they were way too drunk much more than you and were now just saying anything ‘like your tits, let me suck your pussy’ you cringe as you think about it. You spot Peter not too far away dancing. Of course he is surrounded by mostly girls and of course the one who he seems to be chummy with is the girl that fits the aesthetics of his recent situationships. You roll your eyes, fuck Ivy for making you think this guy even liked you. You were better off having a secret crush than hoping he had any interest. The night goes on and your mood is semi sour, not too much more so slight irritation. Thank God for your corner because you need a wall to lean on, heels, no seats, and alcohol are not the best combo. You look down at your clock and see it is 1am time for you to head out, you know Ivy wouldn’t mind hell you haven’t even seen her or texted her in the past 2 hours. You shoot a text saying you were going to The Crispy Bun, a hole in the wall burger bar that not many people knew about. It had a very retro vibe with a modern spin.

You push yourself off the wall, stand in line for way too long for the restroom and head towards the front.

“Y/N!” you hear Ivy and God did you roll your eyes

“YEA!” you fake a smile

“WHERE YOU GOING?”

You notice Peter and Sean, and what seemed to be Peter’s interest for the night walking up

“OH I UMM WAS GONNA GO TO CRISPY”

“OOOOH YESSS!” She pinches your side

You squeal again “OW WHAT THE FUCK IVANNA!” She squints and looks at you “YOU WERE GONNA GO WITHOUT ME??”

“I TEXTED YOU!” You feel yourself getting angry

She pulls out her phone “OH SHIT YOU DID, SORRY FRIEND!” She throws her arms around you

“WHAT’S CRISPY?” Sean asks

“YOU DON’T KNOW? THEY HAVE THE BEST BURGERS LETS GO!” she says rallying up the small group.

God no, this can’t be happening. You were happy to just walk and have a nice burger in your drunken state now you had to be there as Peter and this girl would be flirting right in front of you.

The group leaves, all 6 of you. You do your best to lighten up your mood, joining Ivy in her singing and giggling. Eventually you guys stop and she links arms with you pulling you close

“This is the time to make your move” she whispers in your ear You scoff “Please not this again” “What?” she looks at you and then back at the guys

“Ivy, he brought a girl, what are you even?”

She interrupts you “Olivia? That’s Sean’s girlfriend!”

You blush “oh” “You thought that was some girl he liked?”

“It look...” She interrupted again “Well you are wrong”

“What you two whispering about over there?!” Cameron asks

“NOTHING!” Ivy sings in response. Ivy goes back to singing, and this time you happily join in. Maybe she was right because why would Peter tag along. You finally make it to The Crispy Bun.

“Hi, how many?” the host asks “Hi Hannah!” you greet

“Y/N!, Omg i haven’t seen you in like forever” the older lady comments “I know class and all” She puts her hand on her chest “I get it girl”

“We have 6” “Ooooo I won’t be able to sit you guys for like an hour. But if you want there’s many seats by the bar I think you guys can sit in pairs, but as people leave just ask the bartender to move you closer to each other. Does that work?”

“Yes it’s perfect!” Ivy responds. “And I’m starrrvviingg” You give her look what the hell does she mean by that's perfect? Was she planning on sitting with you and ignoring Cam

You feel her grab your hand and place it on Peter's hand. If the sky opened up and swallowed you now you wouldn’t even be mad.

“Peter take care of her!”

“Scouts honor” he responds in a calm manner

“Okay great here are the menus there’s a pair in the middle and and then on each side of the bar, I think”

“Dibs on middle!” Sean comments pulling Olivia along with him

Your heart races as Peter pulls you through the busy bar, unbeknownst to you he chose the area that seemed to be a bit more calm. He helps you sit on the stool. You thank him sheepishly as he sits on his.

“No problem, so what’s good to eat here Y/L/N?” Y/L/N you like that nickname “Oh umm there’s a lot actually!” you open up the menu so you can both look at it. Peter stands up and moves his stool closer. You blush but try to hide it behind your big bouncy hollywood style curls. You were a sucker for big hair so of course you had to put in those large rollers in your hair. “They have like gourmet burgers and then the classics”

“What do you get?” he asks You go to answer but are interrupted by the waitress “Hey guys what can I get you?” You two don’t say much, keeping the conversation light until the food comes out

“MMMM” He moans, throwing his head back.

“It’s good right”

“I can’t believe I didn’t know about this place, shit where have I been?”

“Under a rock” you respond sarcastically. He chuckles in response

It’s quiet for a while as you two eat, he then looks down at your shoes and smiles.

“So why you giving me the cold shoulder Y/L/N” he asks looking at you dead on

Your jaw drops as you watch him pick up one of your fries and plops it in his mouth

“I have not!”

“You were giving me the cold shoulder not too long ago” He adds picking up another fry

“I was not” you blush

He smirks and takes one last bite of his burger “So what was it then?”

You blush some more and say “I thought you were just complimenting my shoes and...” you pause to think

He quirks his brow “And?”

You respond in a soft tone almost whispering “I just didn’t think you... were... interested”

He scoffs amused “Well I am!” he confirms as he eats another one of your fries

“Do you want my fries?” you ask “Yes they are soo good!”

“You can eat my leftover burger full now” you offer pushing the plate towards him “Nice” Perfect reason to have boys around they finish your food

After he finishes he finally speaks “So now that you know I am interested” You blush “Can we get this show on the road, tired of looking at you from afar” “Sure” you blush

“Come here” he pulls you closer and angles your swivel stool to face him while both his legs cage you in

“What would you like to know about me Peter?’ you ask

“Everything” You blush and look “I love your smile” “Man you’re laying it in thick”

He chuckles, throwing his head back “Nah I just wanna know more, you know?”

“You gotta ask so I know what to tell you?” “Any love interests?” “No? Maybe”

“Last boyfriend?” “3 years ago?” “Why’d you break up?” “Long story short he cheated” “Favorite TV Show?” “Bob’s Burgers”

“Nice”

“Siblings”

“None” “Only child wow” you blush pushing the hair behind your ear

You two continue and eventually you loosen up and ask him the same if not similar questions

“What?” you ask, focusing back on his eyes. You had done the Marilyn Monroe Triangle method ( A/N: look at youtube, tiktok, etc), not that you did it intentionally just something you would do from close proximity or from a distance. You liked the details of things you noticed.

He smirked and pulled you even closer, hands caressing your outer things, your eyes widened a bit as he leaned in. “I said, if I asked you out what would you say?” “Oh!” you giggle “Yes duh”

“You guys want anything else?”

“Want dessert?” He asks you “Uh no I’m good” you say not wanting to look like a glutton

“We are good”

“Alright together or separate checks”

“Together!” he responds quickly reaching in his back pocket for his wallet

“Oh I was gonna..” you say reaching for your bag

He stops you “Consider this our first unofficial first date and if you pull out your card I swear to god Y/L/N”

You stop midway “Thanks Peter” you say sheepishly

“Don’t mention it, so about that first date” “What are you two love birds talking about?” Olivia teases

He smiles at her “private things, what's up?” he asks straightening, up looking across to see that Cam, Ivy, and Sean were making their way towards you two

“Oooh private things” She throws her arm around Peter, and caresses his face and you realize the uncomfortable expression

“You guys done?” “Yea we gotta go back bro, it's been 2 hours cleaning helping get home all that Frat house shit”

“Oh shit I forgot”

“Because you’re busy flirting your balls off!” Sean adds

“Fuck off” Sean “ready?” he asks you

“Oh yea” you say standing up

You guys walk in pairs now you two being in the middle

“So about that official first date” he asks lowly not wanting anyone else to hear

“Oh yea I would love to” you look up at him

“Yes! I need your number” He said handing you his phone. He smiles down at you and throws his hands around your shoulders pulling you in.

You guys reach the Frat house and he looks down at you. You look to your side and notice Olivia looking at you both you can’t read her expression, it was odd though “Text me when you get home safe” “Awww Peter” Olivia comes over and pinches his cheek. He rolls his eyes shrugging her off “what about me do you care if I make it home safe?”

He gives her a deadpan look “of course i do liv” he responds sarcastically

You smile and rub his arms “I’ll text you Peter” you say looking up at him he smiles and kisses your cheek.

#peter kavinsky #peter kavinsky x reader #peter kavinsky imagine #peter kavinsky fan fiction #peter kavinsky fiction #covinsky #noah centineo #noah centineo fan fiction #noah centenio #noahcentineoedit #noah centineo imagine #noah centineo icons #tatbilb #tatbilb fiction

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simshousewindsor · 6 days

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G5 - G6

[Buckingsim Palace, 11:12 AM WST]

(News anchor talking)

Cameron Dorly [SNN]: Well, the Bill is a long way from becoming Law, and with a Conservative-controlled House that is strongly against spellcasting, it has a long road ahead.

Queen Katherine: (typing)

(Martin enters)

Martin Lavelle [Private Secretary]: Members of the G5 have arrived, Your Majesty.

Queen Katherine: (typing) Where are they waiting?

Martin Lavelle [P.S.]: They are being escorted to the Southeast gardens, ma'am.

Queen Katherine: How long is the reception, again?

Martin Lavelle [P.S.]: 45 minutes, ma'am. Would you like the time increased? Decreased?

Queen Katherine: No. That time is fine.

Martin Lavelle [P.S.]: Lady Delilah will be accompanying you.

Queen Katherine: Thank you, Martin. Oh! I'd like to have a lunch with the family.

Martin Lavelle [P.S.]: The entire family, ma'am?

Queen Katherine: Yes. The Kents, Hastings, Boykins, and Queen Mother.

Martin Lavelle [P.S.]: When were you thinking? Your dowry has availability next Tuesday for lunch, if I recall.

Queen Katherine: Yes, next Tuesday. This is not an optional lunch, Martin. Help them reschedule any royal engagements had that hour, and manage the communications needed.

Martin Lavelle [P.S.]: Yes, Your Majesty.

- - - - - - LATER - - - - -

[Buckingsim Palace Southeast Gardens, 11:31 AM WST]

Linwood Keller [Prime Minister]: Welcome, Your Majesty. I'll introduce you to some of the other Sims world leaders. It will be imperative we continue to show we're a strong nation, especially after the last few days.

Queen Katherine: (annoyed) I do know how to schmooze, Prime Minister.

Linwood Keller [P.M.]: Of course, Your Majesty.

Queen Katherine: Madam President!

Paulina McNally [President]: (curtsy) Your Majesty. Always lovely to see you.

Queen Katherine: Lara and Anthony had such a lovely time in Americreek. I must schedule a tour myself soon! I hear Chick-fil-a is all the rage there.

President McNally: (laughs) It is!

Queen Katherine: Ah, Prime Minister Trido! How lovely to see you! Thank you for attending my coronation. I trust you are keeping Oasis Springs running smoothly?

Jason Trido [P.M.]: (bowing) It was a beautiful coronation, Your Majesty! Yes. Running Oasis Springs is no small tall task. One I'm sure Linwood knows all too well running Windenburg.

Queen Katherine: Indeed!

- - - - - LATER - - - - -

Linwood Keller [P.M.]: News of South Marvania joining the, now, G6 has brought even more global attention to Windenburg. It has caused an internatiosim scandal the past two days!

Queen Katherine: What?

Linwood Keller [P.M.]: The government is preparing for a North Marvanian retaliatory response. President Mikhaul feels the G5 granting South Marvania admission, in the midst of HIS war with them, is us joining the war. They have increased their attacks on South Marvania the past week, and could strike any other G5 nation in retaliation.

Queen Katherine: I... I didn't know.

Linwood Keller [P.M.]: (confused) Debriefs were included in your daily dispatch yesterday, Your Majesty. A cyber attack is highly expected!

Queen Katherine: Prime Minister, I can assure you...

Lady Delilah: Excuse me, Your Majesty. Prime Minister. It's time for the group portrait.

Queen Katherine: Thank you, Delilah. (pause) I'd like to finish this conversation, Prime Minister. A cyber attack is not a threat we should take lightly. I'd like to know what the government, my government, has planned.

Linwood Keller [P.M.]: Absolutely, Your Majesty.

Previous | Beginning | Next

Queen Katherine I posing with (L to R) the Sulani Prime Minister (Dakari Bessard), Oasis Springs Prime Minister (Jason Trido), Willow Creek President (Paulina McNally), Mt Komorebi Prime Minister (Taishi Kimura), Windenburg Prime Minister (Linwood Keller), and South Marvanian President (Mandela Ofoluwah).

#simshousewindsor #simshousewindsor ts4 #ts4 #simshousewindsor story #simshousewindsor simblr #simshousewindsor monarchy #simshousewindsor royalty #sims 4 monarchy #ts4 royalty #sims 4 simblr #simshousewindsor royal engagements #sims 4 royalty #ts4 royal family

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opencommunion · 5 months

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"In the United States, Hizballah is generally associated with the 1983 bombings of the US embassy, the Marine barracks, and the French-led multinational force headquarters in Beirut. The second bombing led directly to the US military’s departure from Lebanon. The movement is also cited by the State Department in connection with the kidnappings of Westerners in Lebanon and the hostage crisis that led to the Iran-Contra affair and the 1985 hijacking of a TWA flight. These associations are the stated reasons for the presence of Hizballah’s name on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. In 2002, then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage famously described Hizballah as the 'A-Team of terrorists,' possessing a 'global reach,' and suggested that 'maybe al-Qaeda is actually the B-Team.' But Hizballah’s involvement in these attacks remains a matter of contention. Even if their involvement is accepted, for several major reasons, it is both inaccurate and unwise to dismiss Hizballah as 'terrorists.' To characterize the group as a terrorist organization is problematic because of the vagaries of the label itself, which has become a catch-all term used to justify US and allied rhetoric and violence. Since it is only applied to non-state actors, this general usage of the word leaves the terror committed by Israeli (or US) military forces legitimate. Hizballah’s military activity has generally been committed to the goal of ending the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. ... Also, Hizballah is an organization that has changed and grown significantly since its inception in the mid-1980s from a militia dedicated to resisting the Israeli invasions and occupation of Lebanon to a multifaceted organization that is both a legitimate Lebanese political party and an umbrella organization for myriad social welfare institutions. ... In its politics, there is no doubt that Hizballah is a nationalist party. Its view of nationalism differs from that of many Lebanese, especially from the nationalism based on the Phoenician origins myth espoused by Lebanon’s Christian right, and from the neoliberal US-backed nationalism of Hariri’s party. Hizballah offers instead a nationalism that views Lebanon as an Arab state that cannot distance itself from Arab causes like that of Palestine. Its political ideology maintains an Islamic outlook, and the 1985 open letter that is often read as the party’s 'manifesto' does note the desire to establish an Islamic state, but only through the will of the people, stating 'We don’t want Islam to reign in Lebanon by force.' The party’s decision to participate in elections in 1992 not only underscored its commitment to working through the existing (sectarian) structure of the Lebanese state, but it also indicated a shift in the party’s focus toward internal Lebanese issues. Furthermore, since 1992, Hizballah leaders have frequently acknowledged the contingencies of Lebanon’s multiconfessional society and the importance of sectarian coexistence and pluralism within the country. It should also be noted that many of Hizballah’s constituents do not want to live in an Islamic state; rather, they want the party to represent their interests within a pluralist Lebanon."

Lara Deeb, "Hizballah and Its Civilian Constituencies in Lebanon," in The War on Lebanon: A Reader, eds. Nubar Hovsepian and Rashid Khalidi (2007)

#lebanon #resistance #history #imperialism #library

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usafphantom2 · 4 months

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US launches dozens of retaliatory attacks in Iraq and Syria for deadly attack

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 02/03/2024 - 00:13in Military, War Zones

The U.S. launched dozens of airstrikes against the Quds Force of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran-aligned groups in Iraq and Syria on February 2, in retaliation after a drone attack killed three U.S. military personnel in Jordan earlier this week.

The January 28 attack on Tower 22, a small outpost in northeastern Jordan, also injured dozens of U.S. military personnel and marked a major escalation amid growing unrest in the Middle East.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed and more than 40 wounded in a drone attack on Tower 22 in Jordan.

Immediately after the attack, President Joe Biden said the U.S. would respond, but offered no details. Days later, the counterattacks began hours after Biden participated in a dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Base, Delaware, when the remains of the three dead soldiers were returned to the United States.

President Joe Biden receives the Presidential Daily Briefing, January 29, 2024, in the Situation Room of the White House. (Photo: White House / Adam Schultz)

In a statement, the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin III, said the attacks reached 85 targets in seven facilities. In a subsequent briefing with reporters, the spokesman of the National Security Council, John F. Kirby said that four of the facilities were in Syria and three in Iraq.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says in new statement that strikes tonight are “the start of our response” to the killing of three US soldiers on Sunday.

“The President has directed additional actions to hold the IRGC and affiliated militias accountable for their attacks.”pic.twitter.com/mv0fg8jmR7

— Haley Britzky (@halbritz) February 2, 2024

Breaking: The US has begun conducting strikes on targets in Iraq and Syria, the start of what will likely be a series of larger scale US strikes on Iranian-backed militias who have carried out attacks on US troops in the Middle East, according to two US officials.

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 2, 2024

B1 bombers involved in the strike, per DOD officialhttps://t.co/ntichxFIco

— Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) February 2, 2024

Lieutenant General Douglas A. Sims II, director of operations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that U.S. Central Command combat planes and B-1 bombers flying from the U.S. continental territory conducted the attacks, mobilizing more than 125 accurately guided ammunition.

Multiple strikes have reportedly hit the Rahbah Fortress in Al-Mayadeen city. pic.twitter.com/BH97UUpo6o

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) February 2, 2024

“The facilities that were hit included command and control operations centers, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, and storage of unmanned aerial vehicles, and logistics and ammunition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors that facilitated attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces,” added a statement from CENTCOM.

NEW — @skynewsarabia is quoting a @DeptofDefense official stating that multiple U.S. B-1 heavy bombers are in the air for a “mission” in the #MiddleEast.https://t.co/5hMk7Bk3P5

— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) February 2, 2024

Sims said that the attacks seemed to have been successful and that all U.S. aircraft were safe.

Seems like odd timing for a bomber to cross the pond with everything in target range in the daylight now.https://t.co/fGTqeHQ7j3

— TheIntelFrog (@TheIntelFrog) February 2, 2024

Sims and Kirby said that the decision to attack on February 2 was motivated by the weather and the desire to avoid unnecessary victims. Sims said, however, that the authorities expected there to be victims of militants on the premises.

CLOSE11 or COAST11 ? ( B-1B Bombers ) refueled with DEED11 flt (KC-135) over Nova Scotia 1008 Zulupic.twitter.com/SVF1vtPGqf

— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) February 2, 2024

In a statement from the U.S. Air Forces Central, Lieutenant General Commander Alexus Grynkewich said he was “extremely proud of the discipline and professionalism with which our aviators carried out tonight's mission. These defensive attacks highlight America's commitment to defending our troops anytime and anywhere."

CENTCOM Statement on U.S. Strikes in Iraq and Syria

At 4:00 p.m. (EST) Feb. 02, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups. U.S. military forces... pic.twitter.com/HeLMFDx9zY

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 2, 2024

More attacks will come, Austin said, following up on previous comments suggesting that the United States would not be a passive witness to Iran-sponsored violence.

“This is the beginning of our response,” Austin said. "The President directed additional actions to hold the IRGC and the affiliated militias accountable for their attacks on the U.S. and the Coalition Forces. These will happen at times and places of our choice. We do not look for conflicts in the Middle East or anywhere else, but the President and I will not tolerate attacks on American forces."

Kirby repeatedly refused to say when and where more attacks would be launched.

“I'm extremely proud of the discipline and professionalism with which our Airmen executed tonight's mission. These defensive strikes highlight America's commitment to defending our troops anytime, anywhere” – Gen Alex Grynkewich, AFCENT Commanderhttps://t.co/fzqmwujluZ

— US AFCENT (@USAFCENT) February 2, 2024

Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, leading Israel to declare war on the group in Gaza, Iranian-backed militia groups throughout the region have used ballistic missiles and drones to attack U.S. forces countless times. This includes groups in Iraq and Syria, as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who launched dozens of attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.

Video showing the U.S strikes taking place on militia locations in Al-Qaem , Iraq pic.twitter.com/UDAUHB14X6

— Steven Nabil (@thestevennabil) February 2, 2024

Another footage of secondary explosions following U.S. airstrikes targeting IRGC-linked PMF rocket warehouse in Al-Qaim, Iraq.pic.twitter.com/Dwb6uI03Mk

— Clash Report (@clashreport) February 2, 2024

However, it was only on January 28 that some of the attacks killed the American military. The only previous death in the U.S. during the current wave of violence was that of a contractor who died of cardiac arrest while protecting himself from an attack.

Multiple secondary explosions after US airstrikes hit an ammunition depot in the area of Al-Bukamal in eastern Syria.

The fire caused munitions cook-off as projectiles can be seen launching uncontrollably into the air. pic.twitter.com/Uv6jDf8QGC

— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (@Archer83Able) February 2, 2024

The U.S. responded to these attacks with waves of targeted attacks, most recently hitting sites on January 11 “associated with the Houthis' unmanned aerial vehicle, ballistic and cruise missiles, and coastal radar and air surveillance capabilities,” the Pentagon said at the time.

The U.S. attacked and killed an important figure in the Iraqi militia who was involved in the planning and execution of attacks against the U.S. military on January 4. American forces also launched attacks in response to direct threats to personnel.

A senior administration official confirm to CNN that the US will not strike inside #Iran - only focusing on targets outside of Iran.

Striking inside Iran would have been a huge escalation, and officials have telegraphed that that was unlikely to happen. #Syria#Iraq

— Hamdi (@HamdiAlkhshali) February 2, 2024

The February 2 attacks did not even attack Iran itself, a measure that some Republican lawmakers have called for as a way to hold Iran responsible for the actions of its representatives and partner forces. Pentagon officials said they hold Iran responsible for the attack on Tower 22, because Iran provided weapons and training to the groups.

Source: Air & Space Forces Magazine

Tags: Military AviationUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air ForceWar Zones - Middle East

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Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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kwebtv · 8 months

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Mary Lamar Rickey (October 27, 1938 – October 12, 2023), better known as Lara Parker. Television, film and stage actress known for her role as Angelique on the ABC-TV serial Dark Shadows, which aired from 1966 to 1971.

Parker played the role of "Laura Banner" in the opening sequence of the pilot for the television series The Incredible Hulk (1977), and the fashion model-witch "Madelaine" in the Kolchak: The Night Stalker episode "The Trevi Collection". Her other television work includes appearances on Emergency "One of Those Days"(1975-S5Ep8), Kung Fu, The Six Million Dollar Man (1976-S3Ep17: "The Secret of Bigfoot Part 1"), Police Woman, Kojak, Alice, Quincy, M.E., Hawaii Five-O, The Rockford Files, Highway to Heaven, Switch, Baretta, Galactica 1980 ("The Night The Cylons Landed", Parts I & II), Barnaby Jones (1980-The Price of Anger), the CBS daytime serial Capitol, and the ABC daytime serial One Life to Live. She played secretary Wanda in the 1977 television miniseries Washington: Behind Closed Doors and had a recurring role in the short-lived television series Jessica Novak. (Wikipedia)

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#Lara Parker #TV #Obit #Obituary #O2023 #Dark Shadows #Jessica Novak #Washington: Behind Closed Doors

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theculturedmarxist · 6 days

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In his book In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin, Erik Larson cites a cable sent to the State Department in June 1933 by a U.S. diplomat posted in Germany that provided a far more candid assessment of the Nazi leadership than the one that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration was then conveying to the public. “With few exceptions, the men who are running this Government are of a mentality that you and I cannot understand,” read the cable, which was written five months after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor. “Some of them are psychopathic cases and would ordinarily be receiving treatment somewhere.”

I’ve thought about that passage from the cable many times over the past several weeks as I’ve been reading excerpts from a private WhatsApp group chat established last December by Erik Prince, the founder of the military contractor Blackwater and younger brother of Betsy DeVos, the secretary of education during President Donald Trump’s administration, who invited around 650 of his contacts in the United States and around the world to join. Prince, who has a long track record of financing conservative candidates and causes and extensive ties to right-wing regimes around the world, named the group—which currently has around 400 members—“Off Leash,” the same name as the new podcast that he’d launched the month before.

Among the group’s hottest topics:

• The “Biden Regime,” which a consensus of Off Leash participants who weighed in view as an ally of Islamic terrorists and other anti-American forces that needs to be crushed along with them and its partners in the deep state, such as former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, who “deserves to burn in hell,” Lara Logan shared with the group chat.

• The shortcomings of democracy that invariably resulted from extending the franchise to ordinary citizens, who are easily manipulated by Marxists and populists. “The West is at best a beautiful cemetery,” lamented Sven von Storch, whose aristocratic German family fled the country after World War II to Chile, where their son was raised before returning to the land of his ancestors, where he married the granddaughter of the Third Reich’s last de facto head of state, who was convicted at Nuremberg.

• Israel-Palestine, a problem that Michael Yudelson, Prince’s business partner at Unplugged, which markets an allegedly supersecure smartphone, said should be handled by napalming Hamas’s tunnel network. “I would burn all those bastards, and have everything above ground, everything left of Gaza, collapse into this fiery hell pit and burn!” he wrote.

• The Houthi rebels in Yemen, whom Yoav Goldhorn, who was an Israeli intelligence officer until last year and now works for a Tel Aviv–based security contractor headed by former senior national security veterans, thinks should be “dealt with” as soon as possible to ensure they don’t grow from “an inconvenience to a festering mess [that] will eventually require an entire limb to be amputated.”

• And most of all, Iran, which participants agreed, with a few exceptions, also needed to be wiped out. Saghar Erica Kasraie, a former staffer for Republican Representative Trent Franks when he served on the House Armed Services Committee and whom, according to her LinkedIn profile, she advised on Middle East issues, urged that the Islamic Republic’s clerical leaders be targeted by weaponized drones that “take them out like flys 😎.”

Not all of the group’s members are conspiracy theorists in the mold of Logan, the former CBS correspondent. I know many people who are in roughly the same political ballpark as the average Off Leash participant, including some of the chat group’s members, who are razor-sharp, even if I strongly disagree with a lot of their opinions. I don’t know Prince other than having been in the same room with him on a few occasions, but we have mutual acquaintances who say he’s not a one-dimensional evil mercenary as typically portrayed but brilliant and funny, and over drinks greatly prefers to discuss business and history rather than expound upon the latest developments in right-wing political circles.

Frank Gallagher, a former Marine who once provided security for Henry Kissinger and who worked in a high-level position at Blackwater in Iraq following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, isn’t a fan of Prince but offered a similar assessment. “We had issues from time to time, but I can’t deny that he’s extraordinarily smart,” he recounted. “When he came to Iraq, he’d cover 10 topics, and he had command over all of them.”

All of which makes Off Leash arguably more concerning, because the group can’t be dismissed as merely a collection of harmless cranks. Many of the participants, though not all household names, are wealthy and politically wired—which makes their incessant whining in the group chat about being crushed under the bootheel of the deep state particularly grating—and they will collectively become wealthier and more influential if Trump wins the November election. That’s especially true of the Americans in the group, but the same holds for the international figures because the global right will become immensely more powerful and emboldened if the former president returns to the White House. That prospect is a source of great hope to Off Leash participants. “Trump, Orban, Milei, it’s happening,” former Blackwater executive John LaDelfa posted to the group during a trip to Argentina on December 4, two days after Prince created it. “Around the Globe, we are the sensible, the rational, the majority. Don’t give in to fear. We will defeat the Marxists.”

His hopes were shared by many other Off Leash participants, among them Horatiu Potra, a Romanian mercenary who has recently been operating in the mineral-rich, conflict-plagued Democratic Republic of Congo. “The globalists want to control the entire planet [and] the only chance to get rid of them is a spark from a great power (the USA),” Potra wrote. “Surely there will be a strong man like Erik who will initiate it, otherwise there is no chance of regaining our freedom. If this spark is started, all countries will follow suit.… We were waiting for the signal, the spark!!”

A December 2023 United Nations report alleged that Potra owns a company that has provided combat support and fighters to Congolese government troops fighting a vicious rebel insurgency. Prince unsuccessfully sought to negotiate a deal with the DRC government to fly 2,500 mercenaries from Colombia, Argentina, and Mexico into the country to fight alongside Potra’s men, the report said.

About three-quarters of the people Prince invited to the group chat are from the U.S. or live here. The largest overseas blocs are from Israel (32 members), the United Arab Emirates (20 members), and the United Kingdom (20). There are smaller contingents, sometimes a single person, from 33 other countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Collectively, Off Leash provides an informal virtual gathering place for current and former political officials, national security operatives, activists, journalists, soldiers of fortune, weapons brokers, black bag operators, grifters, convicted criminals, and other elements in the U.S. and global far right. The roster of invitees includes:

• Icons of the MAGA ecosphere such as Tucker Carlson, the most revered figure among group chat participants, with the exception of the Supreme Leader himself; Kimberly Guilfoyle, the longtime fiancée of Donald Trump Jr.; and retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, Trump’s convicted-then-pardoned first national security adviser. Flynn has participated, Carlson only minimally, and Guilfoyle not at all.

• Current and former lawmakers and aides, such as Tennessee Congressman Mark Green of the House Freedom Caucus; Vish Burra, who was director of operations for Congressman George Santos; and Stuart Seldowitz, a national security adviser to Barack Obama from 2009 to 2011 who was arrested last November after harassing an Egyptian halal street cart vendor in New York City for two weeks, during which time he called him a “terrorist” and said, “If we killed 4,000 Palestinian kids, it wasn’t enough.”

Prominent figures in the Off Leash crew are well known for their paleoconservative political views, but the private opinions expressed in the group chat are even more extreme and jarring than we normally see voiced publicly. Participants chirpily discussed the desirability of clamping down on democracy to deal with their enemies at home and regime change, bombings, assassinations, and covert action to take care of those abroad. The group’s overall bloodlust periodically proved to be too much for a few more judicious individual members, who in almost any other setting would be considered ultraconservatives but in the context of Off Leash sound like hippie peaceniks‎. One of the dissidents—a National Rifle Association firearms instructor who runs a weapons company—joked that he was worried about an “unsupervised” subgroup of especially enthusiastic military adventurers that formed to discuss topics too “hot” for WhatsApp, saying, “I imagine their ‘to be bombed’ list is over 49 countries and growing.”

Many other Off Leash participants have also stated that they don’t view the group chat as merely a forum to exchange ideas but want it to become a vehicle to put their theories into action. “If we band together … we can damage the other side like no one has ever seen before!” exclaimed Jeff Sloat, who worked with a U.S. Army psyops unit in Central America during the Reagan era.

I don’t want to disclose much about how I learned of the group chat and the nature of its discussions, but I will say that multiple sources in the U.S. and elsewhere shared information, including two journalists who I discovered had learned about Off Leash, which nearly gave me a heart attack for fear I’d lose my scoop. Participants did occasionally express concerns about security, but their worries were mostly centered on the possibility that their conversation was vulnerable to hackers. It apparently never occurred to any of them that their confidentiality might be compromised not by sophisticated cyberwarfare specialists but by old-fashioned leakers, which was virtually inevitable given the group’s size.

Off Leash was still active as of Wednesday, though I expect it won’t be, at least in its current form, for much longer, given that the conversation Wednesday included much discussion about their security being breached, which became evident after I reached out to participants for comment. Fortunately, I obtained details about a large slice of the chat group’s discussions over the past six months. Here’s some of what they discussed.

Solving the Middle East Crisis: Nukes, Napalm, and Other “Extreme Measures”

Off Leash was launched less than two months after Israel commenced its assault on Gaza following Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack on Israel, and that topic has been one of the group chat’s main concerns since it was established by Prince on December 2. Five days later, Omer Laviv, an executive with the Mer Group, a private security company with many former Israeli intelligence officials in its senior ranks, posted a story to the group that ran two days earlier in The Times of London and reported Prince had been seeking to sell the Israel Defense Forces equipment for a plan he’d devised to flood Hamas tunnels with seawater.

“I was involved,” remarked Moti Kahana, the Israeli American businessman who runs GDC, the firm where Off Leash member Stuart Seldowitz previously worked. Kahana pointedly added that at least one part of The Times’ story was false—for example, Prince had offered to donate the equipment, not sell it, he said.

“Why do you expect accuracy from journalists?” retorted Laviv, who during the Trump administration retained 27 U.S. lobbyists and consultants to run a $9.5 million lobbying campaign on behalf of President Joseph Kabila, the corrupt, brutal leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who used surveillance equipment supplied by the Mer Group to monitor his regime’s opponents. Among those Laviv involved were Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former personal lawyer, fixer, and dirt-digger, and Robert Stryk, whose clients have included Saudi Arabia and El Salvador’s state intelligence agency under crypto-fascist President Nayib Bukele.

Yudelson, who also reportedly partnered with Prince in an attempt to buy weapons for resale from Belarus dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko (whom the two men praised for bringing “peace, stability, and prosperity to your country”), predicted the tunnel-flooding proposal would be shot down by the “Israeli left,” a force he labeled the country’s “biggest enemy,” ahead of Hamas and Iran, over concerns about the environmental impact in Gaza. “Who gives a shit about that,” Yudelson posted to the group. “If it was up to me … I would flood them with Napalm! I would burn all those bastards, and have everything above ground, everything left of Gaza, collapse into this fiery hell pit and burn!”

Even that was deemed to be insufficiently hawkish for some Off Leash participants. In a lengthy tirade on February 14, Tzvi Lev, who formerly worked in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said it was rare to see a people as “twisted” as Palestinians, whose culture “worships death and bloodshed.” The only solution, he wrote, was to “completely uproot the radical Islamic Palestinian nationalism,” which was possible to do based on the historical precedent of Japan, which “went from being nuked twice to one of the world’s strongest economies within two decades.” Dropping nuclear weapons on what’s left of densely populated Gaza, which is roughly the size of Detroit, would be a war crime and kill huge numbers of civilians.

Yoav Goldhorn, the former Israeli intelligence officer, also cited “fucking nukes in Japan” as an appropriate remedy to the Palestinian problem. Sadly, wrote Goldhorn, whose LinkedIn profile says he has “a passion for strategic planning,” there was no one in the Israeli government with “the balls nor vision to go all those extra miles.”

Iran: Off Leash’s Public Enemy No. 1

It was hard to keep track of all the wars, invasions, covert operations, coups, and assassinations Off Leash members favored. One region ripe for a bit of good old-fashioned Western intervention was Africa, which was described as a “pot about to boil over” by Emma Priestley, who posts as “Customer” in the group chat and is the CEO of GoldStone Resources Limited in Jersey, the English Channel island that is one of the world’s most popular offshore secrecy havens. China would have to be taken down a peg as well, particularly as Biden wasn’t going to stop the country “from doing a damn thing,” and indeed he would pave the way for it to do “whatever it is they want to accomplish,” posted Randy Couture, the former UFC heavyweight champion and actor who had the role of arsonist and killer Jason Duclair in the TV series Hawaii Five-0 and starred in the 2011 movie Setup with 50 Cent and Bruce Willis.

But the No. 1 target on Off Leash’s hit list, by orders of magnitude, was Iran. “Follow the source of evil,” wrote Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke, who served as interior secretary under Trump. “Hamas. Hezbollah. Houthis. Iran is the center of gravity.”

“Zinke is right,” agreed Tennessee Congressman Mark Green of the House Freedom Caucus.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels were most immediately in the group’s crosshairs, due to their attempts to halt arms shipments to Israel. Finishing them off would be a cakewalk, but time was of the essence as the Houthis were “relatively limited in strength” at the moment but could become a major problem if swift action wasn’t taken, wrote Yoav Goldhorn, a former Israeli intelligence operative.

To Goldhorn’s way of thinking, the Houthis were best compared to “rot [that] stinks a lot more than the flesh it ate”:

As we’ve seen countless times in the Middle East, if you don’t treat rot it will grow and spread and turn from an inconvenience to a festering mess, and will eventually require an entire limb to be amputated. The Houthi threat has to be dealt with now, while they’re still relatively limited in strength. Otherwise it’ll become a problem too big to handle without extreme measures, or worse yet—remain a problem for future generations to come.

As for moving against Iran itself, the leading cheerleader in the group chat for military action is Kasraie, who worked for Representative Franks of Arizona until 2017, when he resigned amid charges of sexual harassment by two female staffers. “The IRGC is the head of the snake,” Kasraie wrote in one post, referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “It’s time to cut the head of that snake.”

An Iranian American who converted to Christianity after her family moved to the U.S. following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Kasraie has worked closely with fellow exile Amir Abbas Fakhravar, the co-founder of the Confederation of Iranian Students, which claimed to represent a worldwide pro-Western movement in support of domestic opponents of the Islamic government.

Fakhravar was hailed by the neoconservative think tanks American Enterprise Institute and Foundation for Defense of Democracies—which were leading advocates of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and are currently leading the drumbeat for regime change in Iran—as his country’s 2.0 version of Ahmed Chalabi, the CIA-backed Iraqi exile whom the Bush administration promoted as a beloved figure among citizens of his native land during the run-up to the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. That didn’t pan out as promised when Chalabi 1.0 led a political coalition in parliamentary elections two years after his triumphant return that won less than 1 percent of the total vote.

Now Kasraie, who organizes congressionally hosted “global conferences in Washington for activists to plan the constitutional future of a free, democratic Iran,” according to an online bio, is touting Reza Pahlavi, the shah’s oldest son and crown prince of Iran, as “the only viable opposition leader” and the man the U.S. should install in power after seeing to the formality of dispatching the current government.

“I assure you, the Iranian people want nothing more than to be free from the bloodthirsty mullahs,” Kasraie wrote in the group chat on January 27, and added with equal certainty that younger Iranians were “pro-Israel and pro-America” and that millions in the country felt a deep “sense of nostalgia” for the former royal dynasty. If Reza Pahlavi received strong international support—he would merely be a “mouthpiece” to be handled by a team of “good advisors,” Kasraie stated—the internal opposition “would be much more inclined to rise up and we would see far more defectors.”

For his part, Reza Pahlavi, who hasn’t stepped foot in Iran for 45 years and lives in a lavish estate in the Washington suburbs, said in an interview last year he wasn’t sure he wanted to have an official role in a future government if the current one was overthrown, or even live in the country. This didn’t dampen the ardor of Kasraie, who in one post labeled the mullahs a “cancerous venom that need to be eradicated from … the planet,” with her preferred method to accomplish that being weaponized drones that would “take them out like flys 😎.”

That type of approach was endorsed by others in the group, including Gabriel “Kaz” Kazerooni, a former U.S. intelligence officer, Special Forces veteran, and Blackwater employee in Iraq, who described Iran’s religious leaders as “pedofile [sic] Mullahs” and a “bacteria to humanity” who he hoped would soon “die away.”

“EP [Erik Prince] has the right people in place,” Kazerooni added cryptically, saying it was only a matter of time before the “Mullah Pigs” would be removed from power.

Washington should “take out” the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force that replaced Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a 2020 operation ordered by President Trump, Lara Logan said. Prince had urged he be targeted for killing four years earlier, when he was informally advising the Trump campaign, in a memo to White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.

Logan proposed the U.S. also assassinate other “key targets” in the Middle East, specifically mentioning “the head of Hamas,” whose name she didn’t mention, but she presumably was talking about Mohammed Deif, who leads the group’s military wing. “That will send a message,” she said.

Nathan Jacobson, a 69-year-old Canadian Israeli businessman who told The New Republic he is a longtime friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and fought with the IDF as a young man, had a more ambitious proposal. In order to topple the Islamic regime, he said blithely, “We need to hit” Iran’s nuclear facilities, ports, Qom, where the mullahs reside, IRGC headquarters and bases, and oil industry production facilities, which would shut down the country’s economy for months.

The calls for carnage elicited pushback from two Off Leash members. “The problem is while doing nothing could empower them, bombing might empower them more,” warned Mark Farage, who owns a firearms and ammunition manufacturer in Virginia and made the joke about the “unsupervised” subgroup’s ever-growing list of countries they wanted to be targeted for airstrikes. “I don’t think we have successfully bombed anyone into an ally since WWII.… Maybe we should consider more tools than just a hammer?”

“Huge mistake to attack Iran directly,” concurred Matt Heidt, a Special Forces veteran who deployed to Africa, South America, and Asia, including a 2007 stint in Iraq’s Anbar Province. “We would be inviting 10/7 here.”

Jacobson was infuriated by the criticism of his blueprint for war.

“We don’t want them as an ally,” he said in a comment directed at Farage. “Let them spend their time stoned on qat and screwing their sheep.”

He was even more contemptuous of Heidt’s opinions. “You remind me of the Jews in Germany in the 30’s that thought that by being quiet that the problem would go away,” he sneered. “We have no choice but to hit them hard and then kill these cells if they raise their ugly heads. Why are you taking a coward’s standpoint?”

“So you’re going to waddle your fat ass over there and put some skin in the game or are you content to put others at risk?” retorted Heidt.

“Unlike you, I’ve had skin in that game for years,” said Jacobson, who served in the IDF in the 1970s. “What have you done?”

“Retired SEAL Senior Chief with a Bronze Star with V,” shot back Heidt. Bronze Stars are awarded for heroism in a combat zone, and are not uncommon, but a Bronze Star with V, for Valor, are relatively rare.

Those in Off Leash’s overwhelmingly dominant hard-line faction were having none of the namby-pamby defeatism from Heidt and Farage.

“Bomb the hell out of them,” Kazerooni insisted. “Mess with US and you will eat your Sh_t. We the United States Of America is still the strongest Country in the world.”

More recently, the Off Leash crew has been in a chronic state of agitation over political developments that have led them to further ratchet up their calls for jihad against their worldwide enemies. In mid-April, after Tehran fired missiles into Israel in retaliation for an airstrike in Syria that killed two of its generals in a diplomatic building, Sloat, the psyops specialist, excitedly declared it was “time to disintegrate Iran.” In May, their fury turned to Biden’s brief pause in arms shipments to Israel, though none were surprised by the president’s treachery, as his “Regime is infiltrated by Muslim Brotherhood” (Yudelson) and “compromised … by Iranian regime influencers” (Zinke).

The group finally got good news recently with the helicopter crash that killed Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, though nerves frayed as they awaited confirmation he was dead. If he’d tragically survived, wondered Tzvi Lev, perhaps it would be possible to dispatch a Special Forces search and rescue unit to “disappear” him before he was found.

The Future of American Democracy: “It’s Trump or Revolution!”

Even more worrying to group chat members than the state of global affairs was that democracy was under attack across the world, especially in the West and most of all in the U.S. They blamed the same barbarians at the gate science fiction writer Robert Heinlein pointed to in To Sail Beyond the Sunset, which was published in 1987, the year before his death. “Democracy often works beautifully at first,” but the day the franchise is extended “to every warm body … marks the beginning of the end of that state,” Heinlein wrote. “For when the plebs discover that they can vote themselves bread and circuses without limit and that the productive members of the body politic cannot stop them, they will do so, until the state bleeds to death, or in its weakened condition … succumbs to an invader—the barbarians enter Rome.” The passage about bread and circuses was posted in its entirety on February 16 by former Virginia Congressman Tom Garrett, who offered it as an explanation for why democratic governance made it impossible to address the problems facing the United States.

“Definitely an issue,” agreed Scott Taylor, another former House member from Virginia, and Republicans were responsible as well. Too many GOP lawmakers campaigned as principled opponents of government spending, Taylor wrote on the list, but were “more concerned about their individual selves then actually advancing conservative policy” and chased federal money for their home districts like common Democrats in hopes of currying favor with their pleb constituents.

Former President Trump’s campaign to return to the White House posed an even graver and more imminent threat to American democracy. It wasn’t Trump, per se, or his efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election that troubled the group, needless to say. The danger was that following his landslide victory this November, which was a foregone conclusion, the deep state would “steal it again,” just as it had four years ago, Yudelson posted. “I just hope and pray that they will not JFK Trump before the elections, physically, or with some of their other methods.”

Despite such trepidations, Congressman Zinke spoke for the group when he wrote, “There is only one path forward. Elect Trump.”

“It’s Trump or Revolution!” Yudelson chimed in from the chorus.

“You mean Trump AND Revolution,” a right-leaning Canadian businessman shot back. “The Left is too violent to sit back and let Trump win again.”

John Mills, a retired Army colonel who held a cybersecurity post at the Pentagon under Trump, was overcome with emotion when his hero appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February. “Tears streamed down my face,” he wrote to the Off Leash group chat from the event. “DJT and the J6ers are in the house.”

The view that Trump represented a unique hope was shared by group chat members outside of the U.S. “He is the best thing … even in Africa,” offered N.J. Ayuk, a native of Cameroon who currently lives in Johannesburg, where he founded a law firm that assists clients with interests in the oil and gas sector. “Trump all the way 💯”

“I live in darkest west Africa,” posted Emma Priestley of GoldStone Resources Limited. The overall situation was such an irredeemable mess, Trump himself might not be able to “save this shithole of a continent.”

“Completely agree,” replied Ayuk, who once worked as an intern for the late New Jersey Democratic Congressman Donald Payne but was deported in 2007 after pleading guilty to using his boss’s stationery and signature stamp to illegally obtain visas to the U.S. for citizens of his home country. The Biden administration had been “a disaster” for Africa. “They only give us lectures and talk about renewables,” said Ayuk. “These latte liberators are actually the problem.”

That was a minor offense among the long litany of crimes Off Leash participants laid at Biden’s door. “Looks like the globalists are enabling this mass illegal immigration,” Yudelson, citing an article at Zerohedge, wrote in one post. “Surely with tremendous assistance from the Biden Regime.” But Biden was merely a figurehead controlled by “elements that are actually ruling for the Deep State,” he continued. The real problem was that Democrats had been “in cahoots with the Muslim Brotherhood and infiltrated by their proxies and agents, as well as Ayatollah sympathizers” ever since President Bill Clinton’s administration.

With the Democratic Party captured by Islamic terrorists, Marxists, globalists, and other foreign and domestic evildoers, the U.S. was “being destroyed from within,” warned Kasraie, whose fears were shared by many among the Off Leash crew.

“The insurgency within our country today is going to bite us,” said Scott Freeman, the CEO of a Virginia company called International Preparedness Associates, which designs “unique special programs” that help defend U.S. national security, friendly foreign governments, and private-sector interests, according to its website.

Many Off Leash participants were even less restrained. When a chat group participant posted a story that revealed JPMorgan Chase had hired General Mark Milley—whom Trump appointed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff but clashed with during and after his presidency—as a senior adviser, Lara Logan went off the rails. “Milley is a piece of shit and a traitor and he deserves to burn in hell,” posted Logan, who holds a seat on the board of America’s Future, a conservative nonprofit chaired by Off Leash member and former Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser for less than a month.

At a February 23 America’s Future event, Logan shared that she’d originally been skeptical of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which spread in far-right circles during the 2016 election and proposed that Hillary Clinton and other Democratic Party officials were running a child sex trafficking ring out of the pizzeria Comet Ping Pong. However, after conducting her own independent investigation, Logan told the audience at the event, she’d discovered, “Holy guacamole! This actually is all true.”

What, then, was to be done?

The answer was clear to Freeman, a.k.a. “ScottyF” in the group chat. “Apply all tenets of warfare internally against the many enemies living among us. America is capable of being fully capable again. Do we have the will to levy the toll?”

Jesse Barnett, a retired Navy SEAL specializing in “Active Shooter Prep ... and Crisis Prevention” who ran the Indianapolis-based indoor shooting simulator Poseidon Experience, offered a harsh but necessary recipe. “We need a Nuremberg style clean up of this global cabal,” he proposed. “Only through accountability can we cleanse our spirits.” Once the cleansing was out of the way, security could be maintained by using “technology to identify sociopaths and keep them in their place.”

On the roster of Off Leash participants, there was one—a poster with the handle of “S,” whom it took me weeks to identify—who stood out as a particularly dark character. There were some in the group who expressed more unhinged views and others who more casually called for violence against their enemies; what made S distinctive was his dry, bloodless manner and businesslike espousal of a disciplined worldview that was unmistakably fascist.

“This is no longer politics, this is an open war against freedom and human nature. And wars aren’t won with more balloons and confetti as we know,” S wrote. “It’s no longer a ‘game’ either.… It is time to adapt strategies to reality and stop pretending that we live in a free democracy in the West.”

S was later revealed to be Sven von Storch, born to a German family that left for Chile after World War II, whose wife, Beatrix von Storch, is the granddaughter of Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Hitler’s finance minister from 1933, the year he took power, until he killed himself in Berlin in April 1945, as Russian troops closed in on the bunker where he and the dregs of his loyalists were holed up. In his last will and testament, Hitler appointed von Krosigk to serve under Joseph Goebbels, his handpicked successor as chancellor, but since his minister of propaganda committed suicide the day after Hitler, von Krosigk became the Third Reich’s head of state during its final days. “Von Krosigk never wavered in his enthusiasm and labors for the Nazi cause,” prosecutor Alexander Hardy said during his trial at Nuremberg, where he was sentenced to 10 years for financing the concentration camps and other crimes.

Beatrix von Storch is a leader and Bundestag member with Alternative for Germany, arguably the most radical of Europe’s far-right parties, which calls for a crackdown on immigration into the country to protect its “Western Christian culture,” a variant of the “great replacement” theory espoused by white supremacists in the United States. Sven von Storch doesn’t hold elected office, but he’s considered to be a prominent figure in the AfD. An admirer of Steve Bannon, von Storch has close ties to Chile’s pro-Pinochet political bloc; he and his wife met with Jair Bolsonaro, the country’s former president, at the presidential palace in Brazil, and the latter’s powerful son Eduardo gave the couple a bottle of the first family’s brand wine as a gift.

“Law and justice no longer mean anything in the West,” von Storch wrote during the same conversation. “Stupid and naive people may still believe it. And probably not even them anymore.”

It’s not clear how many in the group knew S’s real identity, but he was clearly a pedigreed German fascist who even within the rarefied far-right ecosphere of Off Leash sat at a distinctly extreme end. No one seemed troubled by his views, and indeed von Storch was warmly embraced. “This is getting interesting,” Kazerooni wrote in response to his post. “Love this Group.”

Freeman was one of a number of group chat participants who, like the former psyops specialist Sloat, wanted to look for ways to implement their policy ideas. A group with so much “experience, accomplishments and resources” should look for a few issues we “might be able to influence together,” Freeman proposed. “Not to save the world or the idiots in the USA but rather a core of us or perhaps a broader group of like minds/patriots of some sort. 🤷‍♂️”

Reading the group chat’s conversations would be comical if it wasn’t so pitiful and disturbing in equal measure. Group members clearly regard themselves as natural elites who are more intelligent, virtuous, and honorable than Heinlein’s tired, poor, unwashed plebs.

Yet none of the four current and former members of Congress who are active in the group distinguished themselves as model public servants. In 2018, Zinke resigned as Trump’s secretary of the interior after an Inspector General’s report concluded he was a serial violator of ethics laws. Green withdrew his nomination to be Trump’s army secretary after being criticized, including by GOP John McCain, for past statements he’d made that called for his fellow citizens to “take a stand on the indoctrination of Islam in public schools” and labeled transgender people “evil.” Garrett resigned his House seat in 2018 after it was alleged he and his wife used his congressional staff to run errands, chauffeur their children, and clean up after their dog, though he denied those charges and cited alcoholism as the reason he had stepped down. Four staffers who worked on Taylor’s 2018 reelection campaign were subsequently indicted for election fraud, which he said he knew nothing about, but he lost that race and did again when he ran for his old seat two years later.

Even more farcical was the manner in which group chat members portrayed themselves as rightful guardians of democracy, even as they proposed employing military force against their unarmed domestic political opponents and rounding up members of the “global cabal” for trial at a Nuremberg-style tribunal. It’s blazingly evident that many in the group can’t even define democracy, and those who can don’t like it.

Dallas real estate developer Scott Hall informed the group he was moving his family to the UAE, which is ruled by an authoritarian monarchy, because “freedom is real” there. When President Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, was running for office two years ago, the rural oligarch Sergio Araujo Castro publicly declared that his employees “have the right to vote freely for whoever they want,” but he’d fire any who supported Petro. After protests against the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s assault on Gaza erupted at Stanford in January, Goldhorn wondered how it was legal that students who took part weren’t summarily expelled as they received benefits from the U.S. government, but “[wished] for its destruction,” which he evidently equated with criticism of its policies.

I sent messages seeking comment to Prince and the 29 participants whose comments in the group chat are cited in this story. Prince did not respond. Of the others, only Barnett, Jacobson, and Goldhorn were willing to be interviewed.

Barnett, who once worked for Blackwater, said participants in the group chat “love the country and want good solutions” and that he was not an ideologue and favored “checks and balances, and transparency.” A “centrist who leans libertarian” and Barack Obama voter in 2008, Barnett said the 9/11 attacks seven years earlier were an “inside job 100 percent,” and that they “woke me up” and triggered the political evolution that led to his current “conspiracy observationist perspective.”

Barnett said he was a Trump fan in part because “the establishment hates” the former president, adding that the Russiagate scandal that led to his first impeachment had been cooked up by Democrats as part of a politically motivated attack to drive him from office. (An opinion I share.) When I told Barnett his remarks about the need for a new Nuremberg tribunal sounded like a call for an attack of the same type but against enemies of the group chat, he said he didn’t favor a politically driven kangaroo court but envisioned a scrupulously fair judicial process that “truly enables our country to move forward,” which could be ensured by establishing panels with impartial experts such as journalist Matt Taibbi, psychologist and commentator Jordan Peterson, and others of similarly “high integrity” to help determine who would be prosecuted.

Jacobson also said his remarks in the group chat sounded harsher than he’d intended. Despite having been friendly with Netanyahu for many years, he said the Israeli prime minister and his government were “long past their expiry date,” and he considered the military attack on Gaza to be “a complete failure.” On Iran, Jacobson said he “loved Iranian culture, cuisine, and people” and noted that he’d spent time with Reza Pahlavi last week when the latter was in Toronto, where he lives.

“I hate the mullah’s regime,” Jacobson added, but “I’m not calling to go to war” but to help the domestic opposition bring the regime down by bombing Iranian oil infrastructure and related targets. About a month ago, he’d proposed that during an informal discussion with an unnamed Israeli official, telling his interlocutor that Iran’s missile strikes against Israel were “our opportunity to hit their oil facilities so they can’t make money to finance terrorism.” About Off Leash itself, Jacobson said, “I enjoy the banter of the group, but it’s not a political conspiracy.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Goldhorn, who told me he knows Prince “very tentatively,” replied when I paraphrased his remarks about dropping nuclear weapons on Gaza and regarding the Houthis. “I didn’t see anyone proposing or discussing such actions in the group, so I can’t really comment on these claims.” When I sent him the relevant excerpts, his memory was refreshed regarding the Houthis, though he said he was “referring to the naval threat mostly,” as the group was seeking to sink merchant ships. “I was not [referring] to the Yemenese [sic] people as a whole, only the military organization.” He continued to insist he’d “never suggested to nuke Gaza, which is a laughably dumb idea,” though I had excerpts of the respective conversations about both topics, which were faithfully recounted earlier, and the quotes from Goldhorn are verbatim.

Off Leash’s participants want a “democracy” where the “plebs” vote the way they want in every election and the government only approves their preferred policies, which would give them the absolute certainty they want that their outsize wealth, privileges, and influence will be protected. That’s not the way democracy works, it’s the way dictatorships do, which no doubt feels comfortable to group chat members who have thrived doing business with corrupt, repressive regimes and leaders, which is the way many met each other and Prince, and how they came to be part of Off Leash in the first place.

To paraphrase the assessment of Nazi officials made by the U.S. diplomat from Erik Larsen’s In the Garden of Beasts, during ordinary times, people who hold such opinions would be receiving treatment somewhere. However, to continue with the analogy, many Off Leash participants currently hold powerful political roles or are intimate allies of those who do.

The key to expanding their influence, in the collective view of the group chat, and not only its American members, is a victory by Trump in the November election. “The freedom of the Western world is decided in the USA,” as von Storch put it. “As long as the USA lets the globalists do whatever they want, we patriots in the rest of the world can only try to maintain and survive our positions.”

Comparing the contemporary United States to Nazi Germany is an admittedly imprecise analogy. Nevertheless, it’s impossible not to be alarmed by the crypto-fascist, off the leash views expressed by Trump’s allies in the group chat about exterminating their foreign and domestic enemies and needing to “find the will to levy the toll.” However imprecise the comparison, as a model political capital, Berlin 1933 is far more compatible with the worldview of Off Leash participants than Washington 2024, and in the event they and like-minded associates gain power in the U.S. or elsewhere, they’ll be pushing backward in that general direction.

#erik prince #off leash #israel #iran #blackwater #guillotine #eat the rich

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fangirlmary · 9 months

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Info about my second attempt at my own take on a Figment movie in fanfic form:

Figment winds up meeting the Patterson family, consisting of 11-year-old twin sisters Sharon and Skylar, their 17-year-old brother Justin, and their mother Vivian, a neurologist, after leaving the Imagination Institute to search for Dreamfinder. Unfortunately, Fear and Doubt kidnap Vivian as part of a revenge plot. Now Dr. Channing, Dreamfinder, and Figment must help the three siblings save their mother from the two terrifying beings.

Fantasy voice cast:

Ron Schneider as Dreamfinder

Corey Burton as Figment

Eric Idle as Dr. Nigel Channing

Frank Welker as Fear

Anthony Warlowe as Doubt

Eileen Stevens as Dr. Vivian Patterson

Josh Keaton as Justin Patterson

E.G. Daly as Sharon and Skylar Patterson

Tara Strong as Colleen (Dr. Channing's secretary)

Lara Jill Miller as Lena (a girl that Justin has a crush on)

Other info:

The story will be posted on fanfiction.net and will have twelve chapters. I will be doing multiple drafts of each one before posting them. Also, "One Little Spark" will be sung at the beginning and the end of the story as bookends.

#my fanfiction #random stuff #journey into imagination #dreamfinder #figment #dr. nigel channing #fear #doubt #original characters

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thespoliarium · 1 year

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ANNOUNCEMENT!

Hello, everyone! As you may all know, I have been quite noisy about this, but I have been writing a book. I am finally happy to present to you the title of the book...

"The Tired Red Swans: A Secret Love Story from Soviet Russia."

What's it all about? Well...

"USSR, 1931: Irina Shulzhenko was chosen by General Secretary Joseph Stalin to be the governess of his children, when she meets Vyacheslav Molotov, who was the 3rd Premier of the Soviet Union. Amused by each other, the two became friends and later became lovers. A story of love, lust, power, politics, and communism, witness one of the controversial yet legendary love stories hidden for years in Soviet Russia." Whoa!

Disclaimer: The author deeply condemns Stalin’s atrocities, and hopes it never happen again. The casting here would be as is from Armando Iannucci’s movie The Death of Stalin (2017), although it closely follows the real-life chronology of events.

So, who are the characters? Well, most of them are Soviet figures like: Molotov, Stalin, Khrushchev, Beria, Zhukov, Bulganin, Malenkov, Mikoyan, Kaganovich, Svetlana and Vasily, and some more!

But our main character is a woman, and her name is Irina Shulzhenko!

Irina Shulzhenko is the main character of TTRS. She is the governess to Stalin's children, Molotov's secretary, once Foreign Minister and Soviet Ambassador to the UK. She is played by none other than Lara Fabian!

More details? Okay! It's got 50K+ words, and 36 chapters. I worked on it for like 2 months, while balancing schoolwork. Whoa, juggler!

This will be released on Archive of Our Own, next Saturday, June 10, 2023! Mark your calendars! I will shamelessly promote this so bear with me.

I'll post the link once it is all done!

And here's the playlist!

#viv writes #the tired red swans #wip #viv's post #vyacheslav molotov #joseph stalin #nikita khrushchev #lavrentiy beria #georgy zhukov #georgy malenkov #nikolai bulganin #anastas mikoyan #lazar kaganovich #svetlana alliluyeva #vasily stalin #WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH #SUPER EXCITED!!!#Spotify

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comeonamericawakeup · 2 months

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Donald Trump is setting off on a new round of "in-your-face nepotism," said Michelle Cottle. Having given Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel "the heave-ho," he now wants his daughter-in-law Lara Trump to cochair the RNC with Michael Whatley, the head of the North Carolina GOP. "Lara is an extremelv talented communicator and is dedicated to all that MAGA stands for," Trump gushed of his son Eric's wife, a former Fox News contributor and failed pop star. You might think Whatley's "energetic embrace of Trump's election-fraud baloney" would suffice to secure the GOP as a MAGA fiefdom, but in matters of fealty, "Trump is a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy. And, after all, family is family." That's why he brought daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, into his White House last time, and why he could go further if he wins again. We could see Don Jr. "knocking heads as chief of staff," and daughter Tiffany, a recent Georgetown Law School graduate, as attorney general. Ivanka could be secretary of state, and while Kushner says he has no more government aspirations, "plans change." Whether any Trumplings are fit to serve isn't the point. "The MAGA king doesn't care about any qualification other than blind loyalty."

THE WEEK March 1, 2024

#vote blue #us politics #lock him up!

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 10 months

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* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 4, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

AUG 5, 2023

Army Chief of Staff General James McConville, the 40th person to hold that position, retired today. Because Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has put a hold on military promotions for the past 8 months, there is no Senate-confirmed leader to take McConville’s place. There are eight seats on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the group of the most senior military officers who advise the president, homeland security officials, the secretary of defense, and the National Security Council. Currently, two of those seats are filled by acting officials who have not been confirmed by the Senate.

Politico’s defense reporter Paul McLeary wrote that as of today, there are 301 senior military positions filled by temporary replacements as Tuberville refuses to permit nominations to go through the Senate by the usual process. Two more members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will retire before the end of September.

Politico’s Pentagon reporter Lara Seligman illustrated what this personnel crisis means for national security: “U.S. forces are on high alert in the Persian Gulf,” she wrote today. “As Tehran attempts to seize merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. is sending warships, fighter jets and even considering stationing armed troops aboard civilian vessels to protect mariners. Yet two of the top senior officers overseeing the escalating situation aren’t where they’re supposed to be.”

Two days ago, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in a memo that the “unprecedented, across-the-board hold is having a cascading effect, increasingly hindering the normal operations of this Department and undermining both our military readiness and our national security.” Today he reiterated: “The failure to confirm our superbly qualified senior uniformed leaders undermines our military readiness.” He added, “It undermines our retention of some of our very best officers. And it is upending the lives of far too many of their spouses, children and loved ones.”

Tuberville, who did not serve in the military, likes to say "there is no one more military than me.” And yet, thanks to him and the Republican conference that is permitting him to hold the nominations, we are down two chiefs of staff tonight.

Meanwhile, on July 26, when soldiers took charge in Niger, a country central to the fight against Islamic terrorists and the security of democracy on the African continent, the U.S. had no ambassador there. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was blocking the confirmation of more than 60 State Department officials the same way that Tuberville was blocking the confirmation of military officials.

Paul claimed he was blocking State Department confirmations because he wanted access to information about the origins of COVID, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the department had “been working extensively” with Paul, providing the documents and other information he had requested. “But unfortunately, he continues to block all our nominees.” Paul complained that he had been only given private access, and wanted to “take those documents out.”

As of July 17, the current Senate had confirmed only five State Department nominees. On that day, Blinken wrote to each senator to express “serious concern” about the delays. He told reporters that he respects and values the Senate’s “critical oversight role…[b]ut that’s not what is happening here. No one has questioned the qualifications of these career diplomats. They are being blocked for leverage on other unrelated issues. It’s irresponsible. And it’s doing harm to our national security.”

Ambassadors “advance the interests of our country,” he said, and not having confirmed ambassadors “makes us less effective at advancing every one of our policy priorities—from getting more countries to serve as temporary hubs for [immigrant visa] processing, to bringing on more partners for global coalitions like the one we just announced to combat fentanyl, to support competitive bids for U.S. companies to build…critical infrastructure projects around the world.”

Our adversaries benefit from these absences, not only because they offer an opening to exploit, but also because “[t]he refusal of the Senate to approve these career public servants also undermines the credibility of our democracy. People abroad see it as a sign of dysfunction, ineffectiveness—inability to put national interests over political ones.”

Blinken noted that “[i]n previous administrations, the overwhelming majority of career nominees received swift support to advance through the Senate by unanimous consent. Today, for reasons that have nothing to do with the nominees’ qualifications or abilities, they are being forced to proceed through individual floor votes.” More than a third of the nominees had been waiting for more than a year for their confirmation.

Late on July 27, the day after the conflict began in Niger and the day before the senators left for their summer recess, Paul lifted his hold, tweeting that the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an independent agency that administers foreign aid, had agreed to release the documents he wanted. The Senate then confirmed career diplomat Kathleen A. FitzGibbon as ambassador to Niger, as well as ambassadors to other countries including Rwanda, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Guyana, Ethiopia, Jordan, Uganda, and Italy.

But FitzGibbon did not arrive in Niger before the U.S. government on Wednesday ordered “non-emergency U.S. government personnel” and their families to leave the country out of concerns for their safety.

The attack on our nation by individual Republicans seems to be a theme these days. After yesterday’s arraignment on charges that he conspired to defraud the United States, conspired and attempted to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspired to overturn Americans’ constitutionally protected right to vote, Donald Trump today flouted the judge’s warning not to try to influence jurors. He posted on social media: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!”

Prosecutors from the office of Special Counsel Jack Smith tonight alerted the court to Trump’s threat when they asked the court for a protective order to stop him from publishing information about the materials they are about to deliver to his lawyers. They expressed concern that publishing personal information “could have a harmful chilling effect on witnesses” or taint the jury pool by telling potential jurors too much before the trial.

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#letters from an american #heather cox richardson #TFG #Radical Republicans #US Military #US State Department

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the-antiapocalyptic-man · 1 year

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Multi-Award Winning Journalist and Author Lois Lane and her occasionally alter ego, Super-Lois Superwoman

Daughter of US Army General (later Secretary of State) Samuel Lane and Ella Okada, a poet and author who passed away when Lois and her sister Lucy were quite young, Lois never liked how her father kept secrets and devoted much of her time to discovering what he and his lackeys--particularly anyone in the Corben family or her own sister--were getting up on any given day. This led her to an early interest in journalism that led her to brief stints at the Smallville Gazette and the Daily Star before catching the eye of Perry White, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet.

While the military, human rights, emerging super-technologies, and the still unclear intentions of various alien civilizations were all of interest to Lane, the figure she would become known for covering was The Superman of Metropolis, Kal-El of the Doomed Planet Krypton.

While fellow reporter Clark Kent was first to report on Superman’s actions in diverting disasters and fighting off various threats, Lois seemed to always get the interviews with the Man of Steel that Kent wouldn’t or couldn’t push for, work that went a long way in establishing the alien hero as someone to be trusted and admired by the people he saved, not just a distant alien “god” or uncaring metaphorical savior as figures like Lex Luthor and Morgan Edge were pushing in their media outlets.

As is public record now, Superman and Mister Kent were, in fact, one and the same, a revelation that led to Lois reconciling her conflicting feelings for the sweet, intelligent but unreliable Clark and the strong, charming, but all too mythic Kal-El. After becoming a couple, Lois would occasionally use a special serum to emulate Kryptonian powers, either to help Kal in emergencies or just experience the joy of them.

Along with Clark, Lex, and Diana Prince, Lois would eventually become one of the biological bases of Lara, PROJECT’s Ultimate Superhuman.

#dc #headverse #fanart #lois lane #LOIS LANE REPORTER

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simshousewindsor · 2 months

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APOLOGIES AND MISTAKES

[Buckingsim Palace, Buckingsimshire 7:24 AM WST]

[??]: The Earl and Countess of Boykins seem to have made a splash in Americreek.

[??]: Have they?

Martin Lavelle [Private Secretary]: They're all over the news, and papers for appearing at the Academy Awards. Their recent pregnancy announcement, on the heels of the coronation, has increased their popularity in the country.

Queen Katherine: Good for them! Lara deserves some good press. She's always in my shadows. It's not easy being the younger. The spare. Look at Uncle Louis! He was the spare to my father until I was born. Now, his lack of control has allowed one of the families restaurants to be permanently closed.

Queen Katherine: Lara deserves to be seen as more than second place to me.

Martin [P.S.]: Absolutely, Your Majesty! My apologies. Their Royal Highnesses have had quite a busy visit of Americreek the last few days. The U.S. press has treated them warmly.

Queen Katherine: They have a Presidential election this year?

Martin [P.S.]: In November, ma'am. President McNally will be here in August for the G6 Summit. It is Windenburg's year to host.

Queen Katherine: I'd like to schedule a private audience with the Grand Duchess of Glimmerbrook for tomorrow.

Martin [P.S.]: Private, ma'am?

Queen Katherine: Off the books, Martin. Private. She will know what the audience request is for, and the need for privacy.

Martin [P.S.]: Yes, Your Majesty. Your first of two audiences starts at 8, before a host of investitures, ma'am.

Queen Katherine: Thank you, Martin.

- - - - - LATER - - - - -

[6:58 PM WST]

Queen Katherine: (reveals amethyst necklace) Oh, daddy. What should I do? This all started because of you. Is this what you wanted? Talk to me!

[??]: Your Majesty?

Queen Katherine: (surprised)

Martin [P.S.]: Apologies, ma'am. I didn't mean to startle you. The Grand Duchess has accepted your audience request.

Queen Katherine: Thank you, Martin.

Martin [P.S.]: (bows) Your Majesty.

- - - - - LATER - - - - -

[8:09 PM WST]

Queen Zarah: Something on your mind?

Queen Katherine: What makes you say that?

Queen Zarah: (sighs) Just like your father. You both pace when you have a lot on your mind. You're in my room silently pacing at night, child.

Queen Katherine: (chuckles) Daddy is who I was thinking about. Wondering what he would do.

Queen Zarah: About?

Queen Katherine: My powers. I have 48 hours left to decide. I never wanted this for me. I wanted this for my children; to prepare them for what's to come. Spellcasters are making their way into Windenburg.

Queen Zarah: You have different desires of the stones power than of my dear son. He needed the powers to heal his body, and the amethysts for their wealth. You didn't choose this path. His late Majesty did. It is your choice now on how to proceed.

Queen Katherine: (crying) I feel selfish and greedy. Did I make a mistake?

(Manipulation Orb forms)

Queen Zarah: Calm down, Kate. The Crown must come first.

Previous | Beginning | Next

#simshousewindsor #simshousewindsor ts4 #ts4 #sims 4 simblr #sims 4 story #ts4 royalty #sims 4 royal family #sims 4 monarchy #simshousewindsor monarchy #simblr #simshousewindsor royalty #simshousewindsor story #ts4 story #the sims 4 royalty #the sims 4 #the sims royalty

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typingtess · 2 years

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Tiptoeing through the “Dead Stick” guest cast

Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier as NCIS Reserve Agent Shyla Dahr Last seen in “Game of Drones”, the season 14 premiere.

Richard Gant as Raymond Hanna Back from last week’s “The Body Stitchers”.

Tye White as Aiden Hanna Back from “Watch Over Me”, the 17th episode in season 11.

Joanna Bacalso as Navy Lieutenant Commander Kristina Hirsch Bacalsco was Christine on SEAL Team. Appeared in episodes of Forever Knight, La Femme Nikita (1997), Veronica’s Closet, The Jamie Foxx Show, The District, Son of the Beach and Lost Girl.

Gabriel Burrafato as Navy Commander Jose Espinoza Guest roles include T and T, The Hitchhiker, Degrassi High, Scales of Justice, Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop, Catwalk, Top Cops, Robocop: The Series, Street Legal, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Due South, Relic Hunter, Switched at Birth, Criminal Minds, Extreme Measures, You’re the Worst, The Young and The Restless, The Boys, 9-1-1, Fairly Odd Parents: Fairly Odder and The Lincoln Lawyer.

Ryan Radis as Jake Primiani Played Beckett in Ray Donovan. Appeared in episodes of Days of Our Lives, House, Mr. Sunshine, Partners, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and was Andrew Lewis in the “Fake It Until You Make It” NCIS season 15 episode.

Christopher Amitrano as Navy Maintenance Master Chief Brian Frazier Played Officer Hollis on ER. Was a Local LEO in the “Daughters” episode of NCIS, the season 16 finale.

Guest starred in episodes of Third Watch, NYPD Blue, 24, Lie to Me, Criminal Minds, Jane the Virgin, Shameless, For the People, Hawaii Five-0 (2019), All Rise, Good Trouble and The Lincoln Lawyer.

Sean Freeland as Marco Madsen Guest starred in episodes of Nashville, Constantine, The Game, Ozark, The Walking Dead, Layers, Star Trek: Picard and Westworld. Freeland was touting his guest starring gig here. Brittany Freeth as Navy Air Controller Was in episodes of Heartbeat and General Hospital. Played a pilot in the “Pledge of Allegiance” episode of NCIS in January.

Erik R. Norris as Patrick Guest starred in episodes of The League and Touch.

Linara Washington as Nurse Constance Harper Was Lara Morgan, the nanny for Leon Vance’s children on NCIS and Cassie on Casting The Net.

Appeared in episodes of ER, American Dreams, Jack & Bobby, Cold Case, Prison Break, Without a Trace, Prison Break, Close to Home, Wrigleyville, Standoff, Veronica Mars, Life, CSI, Castle, Ghost Whisperer, Private Practice, The Defenders, Touch, Masters of Sex, Code Black, Grey’s Anatomy, Madam Secretary, Station 19, Monogamy, Criminal Minds, Dirty John, Shameless, The Rookie and 9-1-1: Lone Star.

Written by: Lee A. Carlisle wrote or co-wrote “Golden Days”, “Reentry”, “Into the Breach”, “Concours D’Elegance”, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”, "Sundown" and “Pandora’s Box”.

Directed by: Dennis Smith directed “Fame”, “Standoff”, “Rocket Man”, “Cyberthreat”, “Exit Strategy”, “Patriot Acts”, “Out of the Past” part one, “The Livelong Day”, Between the Lines”, “Deep Trouble” part two, “Black Budget", “Black Wind”, “Blame it On Rio”, “Defectors”, “Matryoshka” part one, “Granger, O”, “The Queen’s Gambit”, “Hot Water”, “From Havana With Love”, “Plain Sight”, the lighthearted “Monster”, “Superhuman”, “One of Us”, “Smokescreen” part one, “Decoy”, “Mother” (episode 250), “Alsiyadun”, “The Bear”, “Angry Karen”, “Signs of Change” and “Fukushu”.

#tiptoeing #NCIS: Los Angeles #NCIS: LA #NCIS Los Angeles #ncis la

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dowhatisaynotwhatido · 1 year

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4. FBT - The end

Description: This was the end of FBT that I wrote months back. Posting 'cause I didn't want to leave the series unfinished, but I haven't really edit it back than and it doesn't feel right to do it right now. So that is the ending we will get to that series. If you read it, sorry it took me so long to post it.

Warning: None

Two weeks has passed after the orchard incident. Wanda was back to Farmsville and you have yet to talk. Neither of you had the courage to initiate the conversation or to pick up your friendship from where it was before. So all you had was awkward moments on the corridors and teacher’s lounge.

None of your coworkers had noticed the vibe between both of you, as you pretended to be just too busy to talk or socialize. That is why Principal Jennings thought nothing wrong about letting Wanda take a bleeding Billy to the hospital.

You and your mother were in the custody hearing as it was costumary after an year of adoption. Initially you had asked Wanda to pick up the kids from school, but after the latest events you decided to ask your coworker instead - Lara Jennings was a dear to you, knew the boys and... honestly? She didn't keep creepy photos of herself and your kids on a illusionary suburbian home. But you didn't know that would be the day where Billy would decide to climb up a tree and fall down opening a cut in his forearm during recess.

When the elementary school dialed the Principal, she was busy in a meeting across town and Wanda was at a hearing shot when she heard Jenning' secretary picking up:

"She is not avaiable, can I take a message?"the secretary asked politely...

"Did he got hurt? I will call her"

...

"No, his mother is out of town, Jenning is looking after them"

...

"Let me try to reach her" she said turning off the phone

"Is everything OK, Glenda?" Wanda approached slowly

"Oh, yeah, Ms . Maximoff" She humpfed when she couldn't reach her boss over the phone "stupid meeting" she whispered to herself dialing again

"Is this about Ms. Tothes kids?" Wanda knew she heard something about someone getting hurt

"Billy got a scratch in his arm. They need to take him to the hospital but they need the tutor to go." She turned the phone off again frustrated "and Jennings is in a meeting and I can't reach her"

"I will go" Wanda said simply getting her bag "tell Jenning I went to pick up Billy"

"Are you sure, Ms. Maximoff? I can.."

"Don't worry, Glenda " Wanda said leaving the building not waiting to hear her response.

----- Wanda's point of view

When you got to the nursery on the elementary school, it was easy to see it wasn't a simple scratch. The little boy was whimpering softly and the bandage showed a small amount of alive red blood - it was still bleeding.

"Hey, Billy." You gave your best friendly smile. Your heart was pounding noticing how similar to your Billy that boy looked like. Yes, a different haircut and a little thinner, but they were the exact same person. "I am Wanda, you mom's friend"

"Where is my mom?" He looked at you with a tamed voice, showing that he was afraid

"Your mom will be here soon, sweetie. But we need to let the doctor see that now, ok? I promise she will be here in a flash, as soon as she get out of that super important meeting, ok?" You tried to appease him lowering your stand to be at his eye level

"I won't go! I am fine!" He acted out

"Billy, your arm needs to be cared for, darling. You were so brave climbing that tree, can you be brave again?" You cooed

"I am brave!" He whispered softly

"I know you are. Come, I will show you some cool magic tricks once we get to the hospital" you opened a reassuring smile and guided the little boy to your car.

---

As Wanda and Billy waited for the surgeon to evaluate him, she kept him entertained and distracted from the pain. She used all the tricks in the book, avoiding to use her actual magic. To be honest, Wanda could have fixed him up with her pinky: no stiches, no scars, no pain, definitely no bleeding. But she was sure you were not trusting her magic right now, and that you wouldn't like to know she used her magic near your kids. So Wanda avoided. Not even a little show of colors, or disappearing rings, noses, little party tricks - but even without it, Billy was comfortable and his scrunched up face had light up since Wanda arrived.

Wanda's phone rang and she smiled when she saw you were the one calling her:

"Hi, Y/N"

You barely heard Wanda's voice and already went on a worrisome rampage:

"How is Billy? Is he okay? Did he break something? Is he hurt? I am just getting in the car I will be there in a..."

"Honey, breathe. He is just fine." Wanda tried to calm you

"Don't tell me he is fine!! He fell! And I am not there!" You exasperated, frantically trying to push the car key in the lock and failing over and over again.

"But I am, Y/N. He is safe. He had a scratch in his arm and will probably need some stitches. The doctor is just finishing up with one more patient and we are up, ok?" Wanda said with confidence

"O-okay." You breathed and rested your head in the car seat. You let calm wash over you, still too unsettled to drive yourself the 100km back home. "Let me speak with him, please"

"Promise me you will come back to us slowly and safe?" Wanda cooed like she would do a child

"I will, Wands" Your brain hadn't register the "to us" part of Wanda's ask

"Me, Billy and Tommy will be waiting for you with some pizza and ice cream, ok?"

"And wine" You chuckled heartlessly. You had a long day. The hearing didn't went well as they kept asking about your relationship and financial status, openly questioning your ability to provide. Just the thought of having Wanda back in your life like the last few months were enough to take a little of the tension of your shoulders.

"It is a date" Wanda chuckled and handled Billy the phone "Your mom wants to talk to you, sweetie".

----

Later that day, Billy got 2 stitches and proudly displayed his "war scars" to his brother, friends and basically every single person on their way home. Wanda got your house keys from the principal and reassured her she would take the boys home and wait for you there. Wanda was selfish in her action. She was missing you and she knew you were avoiding her out of fear - not that you disliked her or were suddenly disgusted. But she also were enjoying her time with the kids - missing how it felt to have children not only as her own, but also in her life. Since Westview, she hadn't interacted with many children, and that night, spoiling them with pizza, icecream, a long bath and very exagerated bed night stories made her heart swell.

She had planned on letting the kids wait up for you - but you called them from the middle of the road telling you were late due to traffic and rain. So when you came home at 9h30 - both kids were already fed, bathed, sang to and dreaming.

You were so stressed of the hearing and Billy's situation, that as soon you crossed the door and saw a perfectly calm home, a chilled glass of wine and Wanda helding a small smile, you started sobbing and ran to her arms.

"Hey, is everything ok... " She held you close for what it seemed like eternity. Gently ranking her fingers over your hair, neck and back, whispering sweet nothings and slowly soothing you. "You are ok, he is ok... Everything is going to be just fine."

Her perfum reminded you of the autumn, just like her red hair and her soft voice. You felt completed and at home - something you haven't felt for so long. Your sobing slowly calmed and was replaced by gratitude and peace.

"You are an amazing mother, Y/N. You can do this, ok? Whatever it is, you can do it"

It was only natural for you to nuzzle on her neck and enjoy her proximity. it wasn't weird or intense. You felt safe, loved, cared for. All your worries were gently soothed and locked away.

"Thank you" you whispered still on her arms

"I missed you" She said softly tugging you chin up to look at you

You smiled shyly as she wiped away your tears with her thumb. "Sorry for pushing you away. I.. " You shurreged off, suddenly feeling shy with the proximity

"You don't need to explain, Y/N." Wanda smiled and handled you your glass "I imagine you have some questions about the Orchard?"

"Há" You laughed sarcastically "I don't even know where to start"

"Why don't you start from the beggining?" Wanda smiled softly sitting next to you on the couch.

"Ok. Who the hell is Scarlet and why does she looks like you and why is she that creepy and where is she AND WHY DOES SHE HAVE A PICTURE WITH MY KIDS?" You exaspareted and stared breathlessly at Wanda. She kept her body expression open and touched your free hand trying to reassure you.

"That is a very hard to explain. But lets put her as a magical being that once possessed me and my powers and did a lot of bad things. So now I am responsible for keeping her locked away."

"And you let her scape" She took her hand away

"I did." She humpfed "I was trying to make Stephen see reason, but instead he ... he crossed the line"

"What reason"

"That I am too dangerous to be kept" She whispered "But it seems they believe Scarlet would just possess another person once I am dead, so I am a 'worth the risk' situation"

"You are not a situation, Wands."

"You don't know what I did."

"You didn't do anything. She did."

Silence

"Can you tell me about the picture?" You asked reaching for her hand.

She took a deep breath and collected herself as your touch made her feel lighter.

"That is not Scarlet's. That is mine."

"How so?"

"Is too complicated"

"I am a smart person"

"Yes, you are" She squezzed your hand smilling "To make a long story short, there is something called multiverse - an infinitude or another universes where we all exist with different lifes and contexts. In all of those I have visited, I had children - all of them, expect this one, Earth 616. In every single one of them, they were called Billy and Tommy, and they were... Very much alike your Anthony and Thomas." She took a breath and looked at you with saddness "Then I found them here." She got up from the couch and fidget with her fingers "That is why I ran away"

"You ran away from Billy and Tommy?"

"I ran away to protect the three of you from me, Y/N" You could see tears prickling up her eyes, although she kept her stern look of selfcontrol

"I don't want that"

"You don't know..."

"Stop telling me I don't know! I know you, Wanda. You are loving and kind, you respect me, you took care of my children when you didn't have to, you are always taking care of me. You make me feel whole, complete and secure." You got up and kissed her "And I fucking love you".

The end

#wanda fluff #wanda x y/n #wanda maximoff

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