#Education Leadership Council

[slyandthefamilybook]

since we now know that all those "my blog is safe for Jewish people" posts are bullshit, here are some Jewish organizations you can donate to if you actually want to prove you support Jews. put up or shut up

FIGHTING HUNGER

Masbia - Kosher soup kitchens in New York

MAZON - Practices and promotes a multifaceted approach to hunger relief, recognizing the importance of responding to hungry peoples' immediate need for nutrition and sustenance while also working to advance long-term solutions

Tomchei Shabbos - Provides food and other supplies so that poor Jews can celebrate the Sabbath and the Jewish holidays

FINANCIAL AID

Ahavas Yisrael - Providing aid for low-income Jews in Baltimore

Hebrew Free Loan Society - Provides interest-free loans to low-income Jews in New York and more

GLOBAL AID

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee - Offers aid to Jewish populations in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in the Middle East through a network of social and community assistance programs. In addition, the JDC contributes millions of dollars in disaster relief and development assistance to non-Jewish communities

American Jewish World Service - Fighting poverty and advancing human rights around the world

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society - Providing aid to immigrants and refugees around the world

Jewish World Watch - Dedicated to fighting genocides around the world

MEDICAL AID

Sharsheret - Support for cancer patients, especially breast cancer

SOCIAL SERVICES

The Aleph Institute - Provides support and supplies for Jews in prison and their families, and helps Jewish convicts reintegrate into society

Bet Tzedek - Free legal services in LA

Bikur Cholim - Providing support including kosher food for Jews who have been hospitalized in the US, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Israel

Blue Card Fund - Critical aid for holocaust survivors

Chai Lifeline - An org that's very close to my heart. They help families with members with disabilities in Baltimore

Chana - Support network for Jews in Baltimore facing domestic violence, sexual abuse, and elder abuse

Community Alliance for Jewish-Affiliated Cemetaries - Care of abandoned and at-risk Jewish cemetaries

Crown Heights Central Jewish Community Council - Provides services to community residents including assistance to the elderly, housing, employment and job training, youth services, and a food bank

Hands On Tzedakah - Supports essential safety-net programs addressing hunger, poverty, health care and disaster relief, as well as scholarship support to students in need

Hebrew Free Burial Association

Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services - Programs include early childhood and learning, children and adolescent services, mental health outpatient clinics for teenagers, people living with developmental disabilities, adults living with mental illness, domestic violence and preventive services, housing, Jewish community services, counseling, volunteering, and professional and leadership development

Jewish Caring Network - Providing aid for families facing serious illnesses

Jewish Family Service - Food security, housing stability, mental health counseling, aging care, employment support, refugee resettlement, chaplaincy, and disability services

Jewish Relief Agency - Serving low-income families in Philadelphia

Jewish Social Services Agency - Supporting people’s mental health, helping people with disabilities find meaningful jobs, caring for older adults so they can safely age at home, and offering dignity and comfort to hospice patients

Jewish Women's Foundation Metropolitan Chicago - Aiding Jewish women in Chicago

Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty - Crisis intervention and family violence services, housing development funds, food programs, career services, and home services

Misaskim - Jewish death and burial services

Our Place - Mentoring troubled Jewish adolescents and to bring awareness of substance abuse to teens and children

Tiferes Golda - Special education for Jewish girls in Baltimore

Yachad - Support for Jews with disabilities

#atlas entry #please add any more you know of an especially add fundraisers for you or people you know #if there are any fundraisers for synagogues please add those as well #jew #jewish #judaism #jumblr #punch nazis

[bfpnola]

Updated version! ID written by @swosheep (it won't let me tag you oof)

ID 1: All images are of an Instagram post by letstalkpalestine2. The first one is titled "Lets Talk. What is Hamas? Answering the basic questions".

ID 2: the second image is titled "What Are Its Origins?". the body text reads: "Hamas is a Palestinian political party and armed resistance movement based in the besieged Gaza Strip. It emerged in 1987, at the start of the First Intifada, as a reaction to intensifying israeli violence and as a religious alternative to the secular Palestinian parties that dominated the scene at the time. Hamas was originally a branch of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood but later cut ties with it and became an independent group. In 1992, Hamas formed a military wing called the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades to resist the israeli occupation. The Brigades carried out several significant operations against Israel during the Second Intifada, which established Hamas as a leading force in the Palestinian resistance."

ID 3: the third image is titled "Who Are Its Leaders?". The body text reads: "Hamas is composed of a political wing and a military wing. They each perform different functions but operate under the same leadership structure." There is a grid with four sections. The first section is titled "Political Bureau", and reads: "- Headed by Ismail Haniyeh from exile - Sets general policy". The second section is titled: "Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades" and reads: "- Commanded by Marwan Issa and Mohammed Deif - Conducts military operations". The third section is titled: "Shura Council" and reads: "- Led by Saleh al-Arouri in the West Bank and Yahya Sinwar in Gaza - Handles affairs in Gaza, the West Bank, diaspora, and israeli prisons". The fourth section is titled: "Gaza Government" and reads: "- Headed by Prime Minister Issam al-Da'alis - Enacts policies and provides social services to people in Gaza".

ID 4: The fourth image is titled: "What Does Hamas Want?" The body text reads: "Its 2017 charter states that its current political program is to: - Implement the right of return for all Palestinian refugees; - Establish a temporary Palestinian state along the 1967 borders (the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip) and arrange a long-term truce with israel. Hamas considers the establishment of a Palestinian state on the '67 borders as a temporary step. It refuses to recognize israel's legitimacy and advocates for the 'full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.' Hamas's 2017 charter states that its struggle is against the israeli state and the Zionist movement due to their occupation of Palestine, not Jewish people, and criticizes israel for associating its actions with Jewish values. Hamas's stated goals for its current operation are to - Free the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by israel, - End the Gaza blockade, - End the status quo where Israel continues its occupation without cost".

ID 5: the fifth image is titled: "Does Hamas Control Gaza?". The body text reads: "Not really. Hamas administers local affairs, while israel controls much of Gaza from the outside through its blockade. israel forcibly controls: - Airspace, - Sea access, - Movement of all goods and people in and out, - Telecoms networks, - Electromagnetic sphere, - Tax distribution, - Population registry, - Water, - Electricity and fuel. Hamas began governing Gaza in 2007, and has since managed: - Healthcare, - Education, - Infrastructure, - Social welfare, - Law enforcement, - Public employment. Hamas is not a sovereign government. israel's blockade prevents Palestinians from independently exercising sovereignty over Gaza's population, development, and economy."

ID 6: The sixth image is titled "Does Hamas Represent Palestine?" The body text reads: "Hamas is one of many Palestinian political parties. On the one hand, Hamas was democratically elected by voters in 2006, garnering a plurality of West Bank and Gaza votes (44%) for its social services and resistance efforts. Today. Fatah and Hamas, the two largest parties, are roughly tied, each enjoying the support of a third of the public. On the other hand, many Palestinians strongly criticize Hamas's political wing due to its corruption and repressive policies, and the last elections were in 2006. 43% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza believe that no party represents Palestine. The other polled Palestinians were split between parties, with no clear winner. We have no statistics for Palestinians in the heartland ("israel") or diaspora. However, Hamas is currently the only major group that pursues armed resistance, which is widely supported. So while most Palestinians might not support Hamas as a party, the overwhelming majority support acts of resistance in general, whether by Hamas or others."

ID 7: the seventh image is titled "Is Hamas a Proxy of Iran?". The body text reads: "No. Hamas is an independent group with a political program and military strategy distinct from Iran. Hamas and Iran are strategic allies, meaning that while Iran provides Hamas with significant financial, military, and political support, Hamas does not act or operate on behalf of Iran. It makes decisions based on its own interests, and independently manages relations with countries like Turkey, Qatar, and Egypt. For example: In 2012, Hamas cut ties with Syria because it opposed the Assad regime's violent crackdown on protesters. It took this decision despite angering Iran, a close ally of Assad. Regarding Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, even israeli officials admit there is no evidence that Iran was in any way involved. Iran was actually surprised by it. Hamas independently coordinated and launched the operation to achieve its own goals."

ID 8: The eighth image is titled "Does Hamas Negotiate with Israel?". The body text reads: "Hamas views armed struggle as only one of several tools to end apartheid & occupation, such as diplomacy. In 2006, in an op-ed for The Guardian, Hamas chairman Ismail Haniyeh revealed that israel refused Hamas's proposal for a truce. In 2008, former Hamas chief Khaled Meshal offered a 10-year truce in exchange for a sovereign Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital." israel rejected the proposal. In 2016, Hamas offered a long-term truce in exchange for simply ending the Gaza Blockade. israel rejected it. In 2018, Haniyeh revived this offer by sending a handwritten letter in Hebrew to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. But israel rejected it again. israel repeatedly rejected Hamas's diplomatic initiatives because israel saw no reason to end the oppressive status quo, which it believed gave it power & privileges over Palestinians with minimal downsides. israel's benefits outweighed the costs. Hamas is trying to change that."

ID 9: the ninth image is titled "Is Hamas Risking Palestinian Lives?". The body text reads: "Westerners often accuse Hamas of risking Palestinian lives by fighting apartheid and thus inviting a deadly israeli crackdown. But the reality is that israel's blockade is slowly killing everyone in Gaza. [quote] 'We have paid a high cost in lives in this conflict. But if that's the price for long-term changes - breaking the siege and obtaining freedom - it's one many of us feel we have no choice but to swallow.' [unquote] -Haytham Besalso, civil engineer from Gaza, 2014. [quote] 'We are bleeding here, anyway [..] The Gaza Blockade crushes any opportunity for peace.' [unquote] -Ismail, anonymous journalist from Gaza, 2021. The argument that Hamas is responsible for israel's killing of Palestinians is malicious. It blames the victims for resisting apartheid and absolves the oppressors of responsibility, treating the mass killing of children as a 'normal' israeli response."

ID 10: the tenth image says: "You don't need to support Hamas as a political party to support Palestine. Most Palestinians don't support it as a party. But Hamas is an effective political player in the struggle against apartheid, oppression, and colonization. It has achieved remarkable success in preventing israeli violence in Jerusalem and freeing Palestinian hostages abducted by israel. Hamas has institutions, ministries, student movements, and women's movements, and employs thousands of doctors, teachers, judges, and aid workers. It is part of the fabric of Palestinian society. So while you don't need to support Hamas to support Palestine, you cannot oppose oppression without supporting the resistance to it. You cannot support freedom while supporting israeli efforts to wipe out those who fight for that freedom, including Hamas, to leave Palestinians defenc Pales". End ID.

the original caption states that @/LetsTalkPalestine2 does not endorse any specific party, including Hamas, and that the last word on the last slide should be *defenseless.

#resources #reaux speaks #bipoc #free palestine #palestine #free gaza #gaza #west bank #genocide #ethnic cleansing #israel #ceasefire #hamas #instagram

[scottishcommune]

On Saturday the 14th of October 2023, at a rally for Palestine in Dundee, Scotland, 3rd year student Tánaiste had a speech read out in his absence. In his speech he called out the University of Dundee for refusing to release a statement condemning ethnic cleansing and war crimes against Palestinians, contrasting this with his university's speedy condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In this speech he declared that, if the university has not released an appropriate statement by Friday the 20th of October, then beginning on Monday 23rd Tánaiste fully intends to start a hunger strike. His stated aim is to organise the students and staff at the uni into a campaign that will cause the faculty leadership to reconsider whether silence in the face of genocide is truly in the best interests of the institution. Updates are likely to be shared on Tánaiste's instagram, which can be found here, and on the Dundee University Socialist Society's facebook page, which can be found here.

The full text of his speech is as follows:

I am in England and am unable to be here. Thank you to my comrades for reading this out for me.

My name is TAW-nish-ta (Tánaiste) I'm a 3rd year Community Education student at the University of Dundee. I remember when Russia invaded Ukraine on Saturday 20th February 2022, by Thursday my university and student union had put out a statement: "It is our sincere hope that, even at this stage, a more peaceful solution can be found to the current conflict that avoids bloodshed and tragedy."

A fortnight later, they put out a further statement outlining: "the University’s unequivocal condemnation of the invasion... We must continue to hope that international pressure on Russia will have a positive effect, however bleak the situation may look today."

No public statement has come this time, as we face the real prospect of a genocide, aided and abetted by our own government and so called Leader of the Opposition. I directly asked the Principal why we have put out no statement. This was the University’s response: "The current situation is tragic with a shocking level of unjustifiable violence against innocent people. But it is also very complex and there will be many different perspectives on it. For that reason the University will not be taking a public stance on the matter."

I have no words for this act of moral cowardice. No words. What is complex about ethnic cleansing? What is complex about collective punishment? Which syllable of genocide do they need repeating? I saw a tweet which summed it up so well: "Universities be like 'We support genocide and apartheid. Please seek mental health support.'"

The leadership of my university are making the judgment that it is not in their institutional interest to even condemn genocide. Perhaps they are right. Perhaps the balance of power and PR is that actually to remain silent is in Dundee University’s best interest.

Our task as students is to change their calculation by all means available to us. There are many methods available. We have a student council and student union. They can be used. We can organise mass letters. And other tactics exist.

Our cause is moral, is just, and is seen to be so by the majority of students and staff at my university. They are waiting to be stirred at action, to be mobilised, to be quickened. I would like to announce my contribution to this campaign.

If the university has not issued an appropriate statement by Friday 20th October, I shall not eat food until the University publicly denounces the war and calls for an immediate ceasefire. I do not pretend this will end the war, but as my Principal said, "We must continue to hope that international pressure" will work.

One thing we have learnt so brutally in the comparison of how Ukraine and Palestine have been treated is that Black Lives Don't Matter. The imminent extermination of 2 million Gazans does not provoke our governments let alone our universities, to offer even token support for universal human rights. In the circumstances, a hunger strike for an achievable victory is the least I can do.

I know the University cares about its public image. I gently suggest to them that "Dundee student dies on hunger strike because University won't denounce genocide" will be bad PR. Their open day on 28th October will be marred by day 6 of a hunger strike for all prospective students to see.

I hope that my University looks at the prospect of a white British student starving to death and extends its compassion to the millions in Palestine who, for only the crime of existing, are being hourly killed.

#Palestine #Dundee #University of Dundee #hunger strike #uk pol #scot pol

[stromuprisahat]

Second Army disorganization

Siege and Storm- Chapter 14

One of the most frustrating and famously nonsensical passages of Grisha trilogy, easily explained through doylist approach- the author's inability to write strategy or politics and demands of the genre, requiring a weak, unfit heroine to defeat immensely powerful opponent way out of her league:

Alina: Oh no, they dare to oppose me again! :(

Isn't that why would you want to establish a council in the first place? So you get constructive criticism and suggestions to do things better?!

My objections to the notion Alina came up with representation of Grisha can't be more obvious:

Army is a structured organization. There are ranks and councils by default. No amount of ignorant teens will persuade me calling it "Second" makes it otherwise.

Any big organization has a structure. Even if Second Army were only about education, there would be councils and posts on different levels. Hell, school system works that way.

Alina: I'm gonna have the useless ones represented, because we're not doing things like the Darkling, but that doesn't mean I'll respect them myself or abandon my prejudices. Fucking nerds. Weidos...

Another YA nonsense- you cannot put people into categories based on their physical predispositions, and expect the mental ones to fit accordingly. You can have a huge, muscled guy, skilled in delicate handiwork. You can have a tiny wisp of a girl beating the living shit out of you (popular trope by itself).

Now why should sensitivity to metals get you a spot in labs, if you're a strategic genius? Or incredibly skilled, witty rhetorician? Isn't it more likely you'd be required to complete basic training to stay healthy and prevent accidentally endangering others, while being assigned to whatever you're most useful at?

And what about those weak or less intelligent ones? Are they bringing coffee and arranging entertainment?!

It also fits this fan interpretation, that Materialki are often neuro-divegent, so they are tend to be kept away from battle for their own sake.

Alina wasn't involved in practical running of Second Army before. Just because she doesn't know about something, it's not a totally fresh idea.

I'd be afraid of a girl, who almost murdered a bunch of people for asking questions, too.

At this point, I'm gonna run with the idea that all the older Grisha are torn between face-palming and silently laughing their assess off (so Alina doesn't overhear and her clique doesn't resort to violence).

“But what do they do in there?” I asked, not entirely sure I wanted to hear the answer. “Only the Corporalki know. But there are rumors that they’ve been working with the Fabrikators on new … experiments.”

Shadow and Bone- Chapter 8

... and that says nothing about the field, or the little groups in noble houses. People tend to stick together with their own, when in strange enviroment. I'm sure such bonds dissolve immediately after their return "home".

I've also delved a little into the sitting order here.

A few lines earlier, Alina noted Materialki didn't show up to complain. Who is so horrified then?! Not them, for sure.

Ironically, this fits into Fabricator-brain theory linked above AND the most logical explanation- Materialki have basic self-defense training, but only those, who are able to, continue. Alina isn't particularly friendly with any of them, so how would she know no one had EVER bothered to teach them? Alright, there are none in her class, but as far as we know, it consists of a Squaller, an Inferni and a Heartrender. Not the most saying sample.

Having a third of all Grisha helpless doesn't fit into the picture of Aleksander's leadership:

“That’s what Botkin always says. ‘Not showy, just to make pain,’” I said, imitating the mercenary’s heavy accent. “Smart guy.” “The Darkling doesn’t think Grisha should rely on their powers for defense.”

Shadow and Bone- Chapter 17

You don't have to become another Bruce Lee, you only need a chance, when they drag you out of bed in the middle of the night.

What tradition?

This is rather well-written group of angry, disorganized people. It might start with a reasonable goal, but soon everyone talks about something else than others, and the message gets lost in the noise.

Tradition doesn't equal "the way things are done". Neither of them is the same as "the need for structure and people knowing their places". The third one is a legitimate concern, although one could argue it's exactly what Alina's attempting.

This whole scene very much reads like:

The author is desperate to prove the Heroine isn't quite useless- she has good ideas! Look! *whacks a hundreds of years old stategist and survivor par excellence with stupid stick*

#Grishaverse #S&S Chapter 14 #The Darkling #Alina Starkov #Second Army #Materialki #grishanalyticritical #Second pseudoArmy #S&B Chapter 8 #S&B Chapter 17 #meme #V #Siege and Storm #Grisha trilogy #books #quotes #Leigh Bardugo #anti Leigh Bardugo

[fairuzfan]

Something I can't figure out about IU from a lot of conflicting information, is whether or not the school as a whole, like faculty and student body, supports Palestine. I don't understand, is it mainly an administrative problem, or is it something common with faculty/students and basically an issue to the core of the school? You've mentioned having friends who go to IU, would you be able to ask them for their opinions on this? Totally understand if not, I'd just like to hear from someone who's been there for more than a superficial tour. IU was one of the universities I've been looking at for school in the future, but if they're going to support a genocide I obviously don't want to give them thousands of tuition dollars.

This is a more complicated question than you'd think because there are multiple IU campuses across the state and each one kind of has a different vibe from what my friends tell me. I'm talking mostly about IU Bloomington, which is the main campus, but there are like 5 different campuses across Indiana.

It depends on what you're studying tbh, like I heard the business school has a huge racism problem from both students and faculty. From what I understand these days, the leadership is overwhelmingly zionist so like the president and the board of trustees and stuff. The president actually took back her initial statement on "the conflict in the middle east" (not naming any specifics) to focus solely on "Jewish Students" (in other words, emphasizing that Israel represents all jews) and didnt mention palestinians at all. Like she went out of her way to be zionist and IU Hillel all pressured her to do this, as mentioned in the article. There are a bunch of students who are Israeli zionists. Actually, the article talks about how IU students went to the kibbutz near Gaza for a tour a couple semesters ago, which to me is absolutely disgusting that a university would fund a trip to the area around a concentration camp.

Also on the IU woman's basketball team there's an Israeli student who apparently cheered on the carnage of Gaza on her social media and I don't think there's been much reprimanding of her.

At the same time, I've heard it's mostly a leadership issue. The student council I believe released some sort of statement about Gaza that was Pro-Palestine and I've seen some professors publish things in newspapers calling the entire thing ridiculous and racist. So it depends.

I will say that if you're basing your educational career off of which universities support Palestine or not, you will have a very hard time finding a school. So you'll have to do some cost-benefit analysis of what you're able to handle.

[anexperimentallife]

A few things you should know about shitty US electoral politics (long post)

Neither party gives a fuck about you, and the leadership of BOTH parties support the genocide in Gaza, but you already knew that.

HOWEVER, various prominent GOP figures ALSO supported a right-wing domestic coup attempt, want to ban abortion nationwide (overturning Roe v Wade was a step along the way to that), want draconian restrictions on birth control, to ban same-sex marriage, ban sex education, ban any and all queer-positive literature, want to "phase out" social security and medicare, to completely rewrite US history textbooks nationwide with a nationalist agenda that erases US crimes against non-white peoples (already done in some states), allow US law enforcement to stop anyone darker than mayonnaise and demand to see their papers, start a nuclear war, abolish the minimum wage, outlaw their political rivals, weaponize the justice department, FBI, and other federal agencies against their political rivals, outlaw dissent of any kind, and remove restrictions against using US troops against US citizens (see Tuberville's blocking of top military appointees so that a future GOP president can appoint GOP/Trump loyalists to those positions, the way they blocked judicial/SCOTUS nominees in order to get Roe v Wade overturned).

The GOP openly states that they know the only way they win elections is by keeping non-right-wing voters away from the polls, and they invest heavily in, among other things, online psyops to convince people not to vote. And it works, because right wing voters ALWAYS show up to the polls.

Every time a right wing candidate wins, Dem leadership goes, "Huh, I guess we need to field more conservative candidates if we want to win elections." The idea being that if they can somehow "meet in the middle," they'll get the conservative vote. (Hint: They won't.)

So what convinces the Dems to run more progressive candidates? Overwhelming support at the ballot box for leftist candidates on the local and primary levels--school board elections, senators and representatives at the state and federal level, sheriffs, judges, mayoral and city council races, and various other local and regional elected positions. That's it. The only two things they understand are money and winning.

Whomever wins the presidency and gets enough congressional support gets to appoint federal and supreme court judges, top military officials, and various other decision-makers. THIS IS HOW THE GOP WAS ABLE TO OVERTURN ROE V WADE.

The US can't be fixed in a single election cycle. Every cycle in which the GOP wins, however, pushes the Dems further to the right AND allows the GOP more power to enact their vision.

Yes, we need viable third parties. Unfortunately, barring a miracle, third parties and independents are right now viable only in some local, and possibly a few congressional races.

In order for third parties to be viable for things like presidential elections, we're most likely going to need ranked choice voting--which, again, we may eventually get by pushing progressive candidates at the state and local level--publicly-funded elections, the abolition of the electoral college (both Bush and Trump lost the popular vote, and were only awarded victory because of the electoral college), and the repeal of Citizens United (which essentially legalized large-scale corporate bribery of candidates).

Look, we all hate Biden, and refusing to vote for him (or whatever other shitbag candidate the Dems run) might feel good, but it is also likely to result in a GOP win--which means MORE support for genocide the world over, and the GOP gaining more power to enact their wish list, which I partially enumerated above.

How many people do you think will die under a nationwide abortion ban? How do you think it's going to work out if a far-right president has the authority to unleash US troops on protesters? How many seniors and disabled folks do you think will suffer and die if Social Security and Medicare are abolished? How many will suffer and die if Trump gets his wet dream of a nuclear war?

I mean, the US has already bombed its own people for not toeing the capitalist/white supremacist line, sponsored coups against foreign leaders and replaced them with dictators, and invaded or threatened to invade foreign countries for not bowing to US corporate interests (look up the origins of the term "banana republic," "overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom," and "1953 Iran coup," for just a few examples), experimented on US citizens without their knowledge (look up "tuskegee syphilus study," among many other things) and so on, and so on.

And if the GOP gains control of all three branches of government, it's going to get even worse.

Today's GOP is more rabidly extremist than at any other time in my life. And as I said, I'm OLD, dude. I was born the year Kennedy was assassinated. Among my early memories are watching the first lunar landing, watching Nixon's "I am not a crook" speech, and seeing news footage of the US withdrawal from Vietnam. And I'm telling you, today's GOP makes the GOP of my youth look practically benign in comparison.

I used to roll my eyes at the refrain of, "this is the most important election of your life," and the "blue no matter who" folks, but man... The 2016 election really WAS the most important, but only SO FAR.

Because the GOP--due to the facts that GOP/Trump supporters voted, and many others didn't--will most likely control the Supreme Court for DECADES to come, and currently control the Senate. If they gain the presidency, retain control of the Senate, and take control of the House, all may be lost.

Again, the far right openly states that keeping non-conservatives from voting is how they win, and they invest a lot in gerrymandering, voter roll purges, and online psyops to make that happen. Doing exactly what the fash want "but for leftist/progressive reasons" isn't the own you think it is. Funny--I hear the same folks who mock far right voters for voting against their own best interests say they're "protesting" by refusing to vote--when that's exactly how the far right wins.

Look, I'm old. I was planning to live my final years outside the US, eventually immigrating to the Republic of Ireland or Uruguay or somewhere like that, but now that I have a child, I'm being forced to return to the US for at least a few years so I can use my medical benefits to live long enough to see her grow up. If she ever needs an abortion, or birth control, or to fight a discrimination or sexual harassment case, or simply to speak her mind without fear of being arrested or killed for it, or needs social security or Medicare because of a disability, I want her to have those things.

Another argument I've heard is that, "Voting doesn't change anything." Well, when I was a kid, mixed-race marriages were FINALLY legalized across the US, and schools became multiracial. More recently, same-sex marriage was made the law of the land. Conservatives fought all of those things, but voting made them happen.

On the flip side, thanks to the far right takeover of SCOTUS, Roe v Wade was overturned as an end result of the far right winning elections. (And again, this is just part one of their plan for a nationwide abortion ban.)

So don't look at it as voting FOR whatever shitbag the Dems run; look at it as voting AGAINST a full-on right-wing takeover of the US and buying time to make some fundamental changes. Voting doesn't mean you can't ALSO march, etc.

Or I mean, if you want a nationwide abortion ban, a nuclear war, MORE genocide, and all the other stuff of right-wing wet dreams, and want a far right takeover of the US while you tell yourself, "Yeah, but I maintained my moral purity," then by all means withhold your vote. Just don't delude yourself about the outcome.

#rob gets political

[palms-upturned]

For US unions like the UAW — which has thousands of members in weapons factories making the bombs, missiles, and aircraft used by Israel, as well in university departments doing research linked to the Israeli military — the Palestinian trade union call to action is particularly relevant. When the UAW’s national leadership came out in support of a cease-fire on December 1, they also voted to establish a “Divestment and Just Transition Working Group.” The stated purpose of the working group is to study the UAW’s own economic ties to Israel and explore ways to convert war-related industries to production for peaceful purposes while ensuring a just transition for weapons workers.

Members of UAW Labor for Palestine say they have started making visits to a Colt factory in Connecticut, which holds a contract to supply rifles to the Israeli military, to talk with their fellow union members about Palestine, a cease-fire, and a just transition. They want to see the union’s leadership support such organizing activity.

“If UAW leaders decided to, they could, tomorrow, form a national organizing campaign to educate and mobilize rank-and-file towards the UAW’s own ceasefire and just transition call,” UAW Labor for Palestine members said in a statement. “They could hold weapons shop town halls in every region; they could connect their small cadre of volunteer organizers — like us — to the people we are so keen to organize with; they could even send some of their staff to help with this work.”

On January 21, the membership of UAW Local 551, which represents 4,600 autoworkers at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant (who were part of last year’s historic stand-up strike) endorsed the Palestinian trade unions’ call to not cooperate in the production and transportation of arms for Israel. Ten days later, UAW Locals 2865 and 5810, representing around forty-seven thousand academic workers at the University of California, passed a measure urging the union’s national leaders to ensure that the envisioned Divestment and Just Transition Working Group “has the needed resources to execute its mission, and that Palestinian, Arab and Muslim workers whose communities are disproportionately affected by U.S.-backed wars are well-represented on the committee.”

Members of UAW Locals 2865 and 5810 at UC Santa Cruz’s Astronomy Department have pledged to withhold any labor that supports militarism and to refuse research collaboration with military institutions and arms companies. In December, unionized academic workers from multiple universities formed Researchers Against War (RAW) to expose and cut ties between their research and warfare, and to organize in their labs and departments for more transparency about where the funding for their work comes from and more control over what their labor is used for. RAW, which was formed after a series of discussions by union members first convened by US Labor Against Racism and War last fall, hosted a national teach-in and planning meeting on February 12.

Meanwhile, public sector workers in New York City have begun their own campaign to divest their pension money from Israel. On January 25, rank-and-file members of AFSCME District Council (DC) 37 launched a petition calling on the New York City Employees’ Retirement System to divest the $115 million it holds in Israeli securities. The investments include $30 million in bonds that directly fund the Israeli military and its activities. “As rank-and-file members of DC 37 who contribute to and benefit from the New York City Employees’ Retirement System and care about the lives of working people everywhere, we refuse to support the Israeli government and the corporations that extract profit from the killing of innocent civilians,” the petition states.

In an election year when President Joe Biden and other Democratic candidates will depend heavily on organized labor for donations and especially get-out-the-vote efforts, rank and filers are also trying to push their unions to exert leverage on the president by getting him to firmly stand against the ongoing massacre in Gaza. NEA members with Educators for Palestine are calling on their union’s leaders to withdraw their support for Biden’s reelection campaign until he stops “sending military funding, equipment, and intelligence to Israel,” marching from AFT headquarters to NEA headquarters in Washington, DC on February 10 to assert their demand. Similarly, after the UAW International Executive Board endorsed Biden last month — a decision that sparked intense division within the union — UAW Labor for Palestine is demanding the endorsement be revoked “until [Biden] calls for a permanent ceasefire and stops sending weapons to Israel.”

#palestine #free palestine #labor #union strong #recommend reading the whole article bc as the author points out #us labor has had a long history of collaborating with israel and imperialist projects in general #pressure to stop the genocide is not going to come from union leadership #it’s coming from rank and files who are organizing their own initiatives and putting the heat on their leadership #uaw’s divestment and just transition group is intriguing to me bc it sets a precedent to pressure other machinist unions to follow #and bc part of their efforts involves building solidarity with palestine among rank and files nationwide

[goodqueenaly]

Hi! Do you think the average noblewoman gets any education concerning the actual governance of lands? Margaery, Catelyn and Rohanne Webber seemed well informed, but Cat and Rohanne were both considered heirs by their fathers. But, even if girls don’t inherit in their own right, they always stand the chance of being widowed and having to manage things for their kids. I feel like Sansa and Arya might too young for us to know what their full education would have been like at home. (TBC)

(Continuation) Cersei did not seem to think much of her education. Do you think it depends on the family?

As we see (albeit to a limited and mostly post facto extent) with Sansa and Arya, it’s not that aristocratic daughters are given no practical (for a feudal aristocrat, anyway) education whatsoever. Indeed, the expectation of such girls eventually overseeing the running of (marital) establishments is often there from the start; in her very first chapter in the series, for instance, Arya considers that she would be better at Sansa at “manag[ing] a household”, because “Sansa had never had much of a head for figures” (even wryly thinking that if Sansa “did marry Prince Joff, Arya hoped for his sake that he had a good steward”). Westerosi aristocratic daughters appear to be given much (though importantly, not all or the same - more on that in a second) of the education afforded to their brothers or other male relations: reading, writing, High Valyrian, history, heraldry, and arithmetic, to name the basic subjects. 

Where Westerosi aristocratic sons critically differ in their typical education, however, is in their access to training in both military skills and the daily business of governance. Because Westeros is both a military aristocracy and (directly relatedly, of course) a patriarchal and ableist society, the general expectation is that the ruling class will be comprised of able-bodied men who can lead armies in war and other martial ventures. While it’s not completely without precedent that a Westerosi noblewoman would lead her own troops or fight in battle, Westerosi aristocratic daughters are not generally going to be afforded this sort of training in the same way that their brothers or male relations would have it as part of the expected educational program. Consequently, Westerosi aristocratic women are not typically going to raised to be the wartime leaders that other Westerosi aristocrats usually expect from their ruling class.

Likewise, Westerosi aristocratic daughters may not typically be afforded the opportunity to have right-hand experience with their (typically male) ruling predecessors. Think of, say, Jon’s recognition that “Lord Eddard had often made Robb part of his councils back at Winterfell”, or Randyll Tarly’s desire to bring young Dickon when he, Randyll, went to pay homage to Lord Tyrell, or even Ned’s inclusion of Bran in the party that accompanied him to execute Gared (and, pointedly, Ned’s exclusion of Bran’s older sisters at the same event). Again, this is not to say it would be impossible for a lord (or lady) to include a daughter in these sort of events, but that sort of direct grooming for future wielding of power seems to be the exception rather than the rule with aristocratic ladies.  

And of course, education of any sort or level only goes so far in a patriarchal world. As Rohanne Webber sadly relates, the mere fact of a woman in charge of an aristocratic holding can encourage male rivals to undermine or pick away at her authority, in the belief that a woman would be too weak to assert herself. This doesn’t mean Westerosi aristocratic women are completely incapable of ruling in their own right, of course, but it does mean that women in Westeros have that much more difficult of a time asserting themselves in a world where - thanks to patriarchal expectations - they do not possessed the qualities assumed necessary for leadership. Even among fathers who recognize daughters as their heirs, there can be a sense in which they expect or want a male figure to rule with or through her: Selwyn Tarth tried three times to marry Brienne to aristocratic partners, after all, while Wyman Webber explicitly made Rohanne’s inheritance of Coldmoat conditional on her marrying within two years of his death. In a world where (outside Dorne) the expectation among the aristocratic classes is that power will flow from males, through males, to males, daughters are often raised to be not so much heirs in their own right but more as managers of male households and mothers of future male heirs (which was certainly true of Tywin's view of Cersei as well).

#asoiaf meta #westerosi culture #gender in asoiaf

[fdrlibrary]

First Lady of Struggle - Mary McLeod Bethune

“The responsibility rests on us. We can get better results thinking and planning together. We must think about each other’s problems. Let us band together and work together as one big brotherhood and give momentum to the great ball that is starting to roll for Negroes.”

—Mary McLeod Bethune, Remarks at 1st Meeting of the Federal Council on Negro Affairs (Black Cabinet), August 7, 1936

Mary McLeod Bethune in her office at Bethune-Cookman College, 1943: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017843210/

Much of the success of the Black Cabinet was due to the influence of its leader, Mary McLeod Bethune. In 1936, FDR appointed Bethune as Director of the Division of Negro Affairs in the National Youth Administration (NYA). She served there from 1936 until the agency’s demise in 1943. The highest ranking African American in the federal government, Bethune was also the first Black woman to administer a federal program. A forceful and inspiring leader, she helped make the NYA the New Deal’s most racially progressive agency.

Bethune occupied a uniquely powerful position among Black officials in Washington. Before joining the New Deal, she had forged a distinguished career as an educator, women’s club movement leader, and civil rights advocate. Bethune was the founder and president of Bethune-Cookman College and the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). In 1940, she would become a vice president of the NAACP. Her speeches and regular contributions to Black newspapers further raised her public profile, helping her earn the title “The First Lady of the Struggle.”

During this time, Bethune became a close friend and confidante of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She used her connection to ER to bring racial discrimination issues directly to President Roosevelt’s attention and FDR held her in high regard. At Bethune’s invitation, ER spoke at the National Conference on the Problems of the Negro and Negro Youth that Bethune and other Black Cabinet members organized in 1937. In 1938, the two friends co-hosted a major White House conference on the problems of Black women and children.

Members of the Black Cabinet acknowledged the power of Bethune’s dynamic personality and White House ties and usually deferred to her leadership. Her offices at the NCNW served as a hub for Black Cabinet meetings and she provided critical support to other Black racial advisers.

“I am writing to urge your support of H.R. 10340.”

-- Mary McLeod Bethune to Franklin Roosevelt, June 3, 1938

In June 1938, Bethune solicited FDR’s support for a bill to increase federal funding for African American education in the South. A handwritten note from FDR’s personal secretary Grace Tully on the upper right instructed the President’s assistant Marvin “Mac” McIntyre “to prepare reply after taking up with the Congressman who is responsible for it.”

AR 2023.1.71/Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

Learn more about Bethune in our current special exhibition BLACK AMERICANS, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND THE ROOSEVELTS, 1932-1962: https://www.fdrlibrary.org/civil-rights-special-exhibit

#mary mcleod bethune #black cabinet #women's history month #international women's day #iwd2024 #eleanor roosevelt #civil rights #black american history #american history

[dailyanarchistposts]

France, 1968

This has undoubtedly been the greatest revolutionary upheaval in Western Europe since the days of the Paris Commune. Hundreds of thousands of students have fought pitched battles with the police. Nine million workers have been on strike. The red flag of revolt has flown over occupied factories, universities, building sites, shipyards, primary and secondary schools, pit heads, railway stations, department stores, docked transatlantic liners, theatres, hotels. The Paris Opera, the Folies Bergères and the building of the National Council for Scientific Research were taken over, as were the headquarters of the French Football Federation — whose aim was clearly perceived as being “to prevent ordinary footballers enjoying football’.

Virtually every layer of French society has been involved to some extent or other. Hundreds of thousands of people of all ages have discussed every aspect of life in packed-out, non-stop meetings in every available schoolroom and lecture hall, Boys of 14 have invaded a primary school for girls shouting “Liberté pour les filles”. Even such traditionally reactionary enclaves as the Faculties of Medicine and Law have been shaken from top to bottom, their hallowed procedures and institutions challenged and found wanting. Millions have taken a hand in making history. This is the stuff of revolution.

Under the influence of the revolutionary students, thousands began to query the whole principle of hierarchy. The students had questioned it where it seemed the most ‘natural’: in the realms of teaching and knowledge. They proclaimed that democratic self-management was possible — and to prove it began to practice it themselves. They denounced the monopoly of information and produced millions of leaflets to break it. They attacked some of the main pillars of contemporary ‘civilisation’: the barriers between manual workers and intellectuals; the consumer society, the ‘sanctity’ of the university and of other founts of capitalist culture and wisdom. Within a matter of days the tremendous creative potentialities of the people suddenly erupted. The boldest and most realistic ideas — and they are usually the same — were advocated, argued, applied. Language, rendered stale by decades of bureaucratic mumbo- jumbo, eviscerated by those who manipulate it for advertising purposes, suddenly reappeared as something new and fresh. People re-appropriated it in all its fullness. Magnificently apposite and poetic slogans emerged from the anonymous crowd, Children explained to their elders what the function of education should be. The educators were educated, Within a few days, young people of 20 attained a level of understanding and a political and tactical sense which many who had been in the revolutionary movement for 30 years or more were still sadly lacking.

The tumultuous development of the students struggle triggered off the first factory occupations. It transformed both the relation of forces in society and the image, in people’s minds of established leaders. It compelled the State to institutions and of established reveal both its oppressive nature and its fundamental incoherence. It exposed the utter emptiness of Government, Parliament, Administration — and of ALL the political parties. Unarmed students had forced the Establishment to drop its mask, to sweat with fear, to resort to the police club and to the gas grenade. Students finally compelled the bureaucratic leaderships of the ‘working class organisations to reveal themselves as the ultimate custodians of the established order.

But the revolutionary movement did still more. It fought its battles in Paris, not in some under-developed country, exploited by imperialism. In a glorious few weeks the actions of students and young workers dispelled the myth of the well-organised, well-oiled modern capitalist society, from which radical conflict had been eliminated and in which only marginal problems remained to be solved. Administrators who had been administering everything were suddenly shown to have had a grasp of nothing. Planners who had planned everything showed themselves incapable of ensuring the endorsement of their plans by those to whom they applied. This most modern movement should allow real revolutionaries to shed a number of the ideological encumbrances which in the past had hampered revolutionary activity. It wasn’t hunger which drove the students to revolt. There wasn’t an ‘economic crisis’ even in the loosest sense of the term. The revolt had nothing to do with ‘under-consumption’ or with ‘over-production’, The ‘falling rate of profit’ just didn’t come into the picture. Moreover, the student movement wasn’t based on economic demands. On the contrary, the movement only found its real stature, and only evoked its tremendous response, when it went beyond the economic demands within which official student unionism had for so long sought to contain it (incidentally with the blessing of all the political parties and ‘revolutionary’ groups of the ‘Left’). And conversely it was by confining the workers’ struggle to purely economic objectives that the trade union bureaucrats have so far succeeded in coming to the assistance of the regime.

The present movement has shown that the fundamental contradiction of modern bureaucratic capitalism isn’t the ‘anarchy of the market’. It isn’t the ‘contradiction between the forces of production and the property relations’. The central conflict to which all others are related is the conflict between order-givers (dirigeants) and order-takers (éxécutants). The insoluble contradiction which tears the guts out of modern capitalist society is the one which compels it to exclude people from the management of their own activities and Which at the same time compels it to solicit their participation, without which it would collapse. These tendencies find expression on the one hand in the attempt of the bureaucrats to convert men into objects (by violence, mystification, new manipulation techniques — or ‘economic’ carrots’ and, on the other hand, in mankind’s refusal to allow itself to be treated in this way.

The French events show clearly something that all revolutions have shown, but which apparently has again and again to be learned anew. There is no ‘inbuilt revolutionary perspective’, no ‘gradual increase of contradictions’, no ‘progressive development of a revolutionary mass consciousness’. What are given are the contradictions and the conflicts we have described and the fact that modern bureaucratic society more of less inevitably produces periodic ‘accidents’ which disrupt its fuctioning These both provoke popular intervention and provide the people with opportunities for asserting themselves and for changing the social order. The functioning of bureaucratic capitalism creates the conditions within which revolutionary consciousness may appear. These conditions are an integral part of the whole alienating hierarchical and oppressive social structure. Whenever people struggle, sooner or later they are compelled to question the whole of that social structure. These are ideas which many of us in Solidarity have long subscribed to. They were developed at length in some of Paul Cardan’s pamphlets. Writing in Le Monde (20 May 1968) E Morin admits that what is happening today in France is “a blinding resurrection: the resurrection of that libertarian strand which seeks concilation with marxism, in a formula of which Socialisme ou Barbarie had provided a first synthesis a few years ago...”. As after every verification of basic concepts in the crucible of real events, many will proclaim that these had always been their views. This, of course isn’t true.’ The point however isn’t to lay claims to a kind of copyright in the realm of correct revolutionary ideas. We welcome converts, from whatever sources and however belated. We can’t deal here at length with what is now an important problem in France, namely the creation of a new kind of revolutionary movement, Things would indeed have been different if such a movement had existed, strong enough to outwit the bureaucratic manoeuvred, alert enough day by day to expose the duplicity of the ‘left’ leaderships, deeply enough implanted to explain to the workers the real meaning of the students’ struggle, to propagate the idea of autonomous strike committees (linking up union and non-union members); of workers’ management of production and of workers’ councils. Many things which could have been done weren’t done because there wasn’t such a movement. The way the students’ own struggle was unleashed shows that such an organization could have played a most impotent catalytic role without automatically becoming a bureaucratic ‘leadership’. But such regrets are futile. The non-existence of such a movement is no accident, If it had been formed during the previous period it certainly wouldn’t have been the kind of movement of which we are speaking, Even taking the ‘best’ of the small organizations — and multiplying its numbers a hundredfold — wouldn’t have met the requirements of the current situation. When confronted with the test of events all the ‘left’ groups just continued playing their old gramophone records, Whatever their merits as depositories of the cold ashes of the revolution — a task they have now carried out for several decades — they proved incapable of snapping out of their old ideas and routines, incapable of learning or of forgetting anything.

The new revolutionary movement will have to be built from the new elements (students and workers) who have understood the real significance of current events. The revolution must step into the great political void revealed by the crisis of the old society. It must develop a voice, a face, a paper — and it must do it soon. We can understand the reluctance of some students to form such an organization. They feel there is a contradiction between action and thought, between spontaneity and organization. Their hesitation is fed by the whole of their previous experience, They have seen how thought could become sterilizing dogma, organization become bureaucracy or lifeless ritual, speech become a means of mystification, a revolutionary idea become a rigid and stereotyped programme. Through their actions, their boldness, their reluctance to consider long-term aims, they had broken out of this straight-jacket. But this isn’t enough.

Moreover many of them had sampled the traditional ‘left’ groups. In all their fundamental aspects these groups remain trapped within the ideological and organizational frameworks of bureaucratic capitalism. They have programmes fixed once and for all, leaders who utter fixed speeches, whatever the changing reality around them, organizational forms which mirror those of existing society. Such groups reproduce within their own ranks the division between order-takers and order-givers, between those who ‘know’ and those who don’t, the separation between scholastic pseudo-theory and real life. They would even like to impose this division into the working class, whom they all aspire to lead, because (and I was told this again and again) “the workers are only capable of developing a trade union consciousness”.

But these students are wrong. One doesn’t get beyond bureaucratic organization by denying all organization. One doesn’t challenge the sterile rigidity of finished programmes by refusing to define oneself in terms of aims and methods. One doesn’t refute dead dogma by the condemnation of all theoretical reflection. The students and young workers can’t just stay where they are. To accept these ‘contradictions’ as valid and as something which cannot be transcended is to accept the essence of bureaucratic capitalist ideology. It is to accept the prevailing philosophy and the prevailing reality. It is to integrate the revolution into an established historical order. if the revolution is only an explosion lasting a few days (or weeks), the established order — whether it knows it or not — will be able to cope. What is more — at a deep level class society even needs such jolts. This kind of ‘revolution’ permits class society to survive by compelling it to transform and adapt itself. This is the real danger today. Explosions which disrupt the imaginary world in which alienated societies tend to live — and bring them momentarily down to earth help them eliminate outmoded methods of domination and evolve new and more flexible ones. Action or thought? For revolutionary socialists the problem is not to make a synthesis of these two preoccupations of the revolutionary students. It is to destroy the social context in which such false alternatives find root.

#May Day #labor #solidarity #anarchism #history #france #paris #french politics #resistance #autonomy #revolution #community building #practical anarchism #anarchist society #practical #anarchy #daily posts #communism #anti capitalist #anti capitalism #late stage capitalism #organization #grassroots #grass roots #anarchists #libraries #leftism #social issues #economics #anarchy works

[muzzleroars]

I feel like V2 would like living in Heaven, it was made for peacekeeping/security and Heaven is probably still unstable from the councils destruction so it could use its pre-programmed expertise plus it went through its own personal growth which would allow it to adapt better to the needs of the angelic citizens, the fear of machines may be offset from just how V2 embraces fully its 'human' programming. Which really is where V2 is superior to V1 who has an uphill battle to get to where V2 naturally starts (V1 doesn't care about that but shhh let V2 have this).

Micheal or more likely Raphael could sell it's inclusion in Heaven as it being an experimental angel-made model (not mentioning the 'fallen'-ness status of the angel who 'made' it) thus lacking the bloodthirst of its human-made predecessors (V2 has self-control) and that Micheal will be keeping a close eye on it. It could also act as a symbol of Heaven's new direction of being more forgiving and probably helps to later cover for Mike's accidental Ferryman promotion, 'the machine was a positive addition so we are now trialing repentant sinners, yes this was absolutely planned beforehand, don't worry.'

AUUUGHHH I LOVE THIS....i've definitely thought about v2 at least going on visits to heaven with michael, and i do have the idea as well that if things settle down enough, the archangels are left with picking up the pieces of what's left of heaven and where it might go. so v2 getting to be an asset in that adds a needed dimension imo - it understands humanity and could help much further integrate the human angels with their true counterparts. like honestly...the scenario is kind of ideal for how i characterize v2, with its ever present, ever ephemeral dream of achieving peace. heaven is destabilized, quite similar to a world recovering from war with the remaining leadership more than a little adrift - raphael and uriel, while commanding angels, are suited to direction rather than planning, while michael has the capacity to govern but is obviously dealing with an overwhelming amount personally. in this, v2 could finally find its place the way it wants to. these people need peace, they wish for security, and all v2 was ever trained to do was to establish and maintain those exact goals. on its very first visit it sees so much that it could help with, so much it could improve, its mind rampant with ideas that it's sure to rattle off to michael in great detail but...this is heaven. it's angels. it knows they would likely reject it and so it couches everything in hypotheticals "i'm not THAT invested, just thinking out loud"...but it gets a response it didn't expect

michael tells it that they need assistance and that v2 might be the one to provide it. he wants it to finally have its chance, he knows its passion and how much it wants to make the peace its held in its mind all this time...and he's humbled himself enough to admit that he and the other archangels left don't know the proper way forward. so let them handle their public, let them educate the angels about its purpose and see what it can do for them (LOVE raphael doing the spin because again, he's....he's a bit of a little liar when it comes to maintaining harmony) while it worries about the real work. and like weirdly. v2 gets to experience what it had thought it was cheated out of forever, it begins to see its potential, so long in stasis, actually come to some kind of fruition. michael, though stubbornly reclusive at this point, is still now the highest authority in heaven and so his word goes a long way in establishing acceptance among the true angels, while the humans are proud to see their work embraced by the heavenly host. it's not exactly EASY nonetheless, but michael is viewed as the last bastion of god's will, so he's difficult to dispute. and he sees v2 really begin to shine fully, when it can hearken to its nature and facilitate peace rather than force itself into hell's mold. after all its given him...it's nice to be able to give back to it.

also SO incredibly real for the ferryman incident too lmaoooo there would definitely be a less strict air about things in heaven, with michael trying to reinstate a more luciferian rule and v2 bringing a humanity to heaven, which all nicely lays the groundwork for any uh. new plans. because this IS all on purpose. the damage control is something v2 finds VERY amusing, especially considering the circumstances ("you ACCIDENTALLY blessed a guy???? you barely talk???????? HOW LMAO") - it does kind of think that mike could use admitting to the mistake, but it also understands his ego can probably only take so many hits at a time. v2 doesn't hold the perspective that this was a technicality though, since it doubts even an angel of michael's position could bless or damn as he pleases and the only thing that kept the ferryman bound was their condemnation from god rather than their true morality. it's just. not entirely sure if the angels are ready for that conversation

#EVERYTHING YOU SAID WAS SO GOOD...sorry i more rambled than added but you got it in one!! #there are DEFINITELY high up angels that get snippy about it #both v2 and the ferryman lol #well then what's next the DEVIL coming back too???? #michael: hm. actually- #cake answers #v2 #rise and fall au

[mariacallous]

(JTA) — A handful of Israeli government officials — but not Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — have acknowledged and taken responsibility for the failures that contributed to the Hamas attack Oct. 7 that left more than 1,300 Israelis dead, thousands wounded and nearly 200 people captive in Gaza.

The official line, widely repeated by people of all political orientations, is that the time for inquiries and assigning of blame will come after Israel concludes its war against Hamas. But a simmering rage over how Israel’s vaunted security apparatus could have been surprised by the attack, and over how the government has responded since, has repeatedly broken through.

Families of victims have castigated government officials who have come to hospitals. Supporters and family members of hostages protested outside an army base in Tel Aviv last week.

And on Monday, the mayor of Ashkelon, a southern Israeli city that has been pummeled by rocket fire from Gaza, castigated Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a Knesset meeting about allocating aid in the wake of the attack. “After everything is over we will settle accounts with whoever is necessary,” Mayor Tomer Glam said.

Smotrich was one of at least three members of Knesset so far to acknowledge responsibility related to the attack. A minister who leads a faction of the government on the far right, he has been appointed to oversee a special council to distribute funds during the war.

“I take responsibility for what was and what will be. We have to admit with pain and with a bowed head — we failed,” Smotrich said on Sunday. “The country’s leadership and the security system have failed in maintaining the security of our residents.”

Also on Sunday, Miki Zohar, the minister of culture and sports, said plainly on Israel’s Army Radio that the country had been unprepared.

“The preparations were not in place for an attack like this…. The government, the state, was not ready for an attack like this,” Zohar said, according to Times of Israel.

He added, “In the name of the government of Israel, and in the name of the whole State of Israel, we ask your forgiveness for what happened. Because the responsibility is on the government of Israel and the whole State of Israel.”

The apologies follow what was reportedly the first, by Education Minister Yoav Kisch, on Thursday, five days after the attack. Kisch suggested in his comments that the government was distracted by other priorities. Until the Hamas attack, the main issue occupying Israelis was the government’s effort to weaken the judiciary.

“No one will escape responsibility. We are responsible — I am responsible as a member of the government,” Kisch told Ynet on Thursday. “We were busy with nonsense. We forgot where we live.”

Polling shows that the vast majority of Israelis, including those who previously supported the government, believe Netanyahu and his fellow ministers deserve the blame for the attack.

On Saturday, Netanyahu visited some of the communities near Gaza that bore the brunt of the attack, in some cases seeing 10% of their populations murdered. It was his first visit to the area since the onslaught.

[horizon-verizon]

What’s fascinating about Elizabeth I is that she was never actually properly trained to rule England. When she was legally heir of England for those three short years, she was too young to receive the rigorous education of a princess. By the time she properly began her studies, she was already legally declared a bastard and thus was only given a humanist education, the best one money could buy of course, but it was a bastard’s education nevertheless, not a princess’. There’s no indication that I’ve seen that she was taught statecraft, how to manage the economy or anything else that would denote the education of the next ruling monarch, something both Mary and Edward would have been taught. And yet, she was successful as a monarch nonetheless. Part of it might be chalked up to her innate talent at leadership and her shrewd appointment of able men who were experts in their fields but I think there might have been a certain amount that Elizabeth taught herself by simply observing the world around her. Some of her decisions made early in her reign seem to be reactions to her siblings’ or father’s rule: Mary and Edward’s religious fanaticism had caused discord so Elizabeth favoured the middle road, Henry’s marriages had caused strife abroad and Mary’s had caused strife internally so Elizabeth decided against marrying to limit foreign influence, the obsession with naming an heir early in Edward and Mary’s reign had resulted in uprisings surrounding those heirs so Elizabeth steadfastly refused to publicly name an heir all the way to her deathbed, the clipping of coins in Henry and Edward’s reign had ruined the English economy and so Elizabeth implemented economic reform and essentially created the pound sterling (the basis of which were begun in Mary’s reign). Elizabeth was brilliant and extremely intelligent but it seems she carefully observed what was going on in the political world, makings mental notes on what decisions were successful and which ones brought disaster and then used that to learn how to rule effectively. Naturally not all of her decisions were successful either but there’s something to be said for the fact that she held the throne for so long while steadily improving England’s lot.  After the short, ineffective, and disastrous reigns of her siblings, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped to forge a sense of national identity. Video et Taceo, I don’t think she could have picked a motto that described her better: I see and say nothing. 

“She certainly is a great queen and were she only a Catholic she would be our dearly beloved. Just look how well she governs; she is only a woman, only mistress of half an island, and yet she makes herself feared by Spain, by France, by the Empire, by all.” — Pope Sixtus V

I can see why people get excited when Daenerys or Rhaenryra mentioned then, with the latter being less written to be adaptable. Still, the aspect of being "properly" trained matters, as I have been implying and arguing for a year now that we need to not put as much emphasis on how Rhaenyra hadn't been that "trained" "properly" in statecraft, since she had ruled Dragonstone for nearly 20 years before the war broke out. That, plus her having been at council since she was a small child when she was literally listening to those around her speak of state, economics, etc.--PLUS, and most importantly, she ruled Dragonstone for years--I doubt she was incompetent at ruling or would have been.

#asoiaf asks to me #elizabeth i #rhaenyra in dragonstone #fiction vs reality #rhaenyra's characterization #rhaenyra targaryen

[lboogie1906]

Juliette Derricotte (April 1, 1897 – November 7, 1931) was an educationist and political activist. Her death, after being turned away from a white-only hospital following a car accident in Chattanooga, sparked outrage in the African-American community. She was the Dean of Women at Fisk University.

She was born in Athens, Georgia, the fifth of nine children. Her parents were Isaac Derricotte, a cobbler, and Laura Derricotte, a seamstress. She wanted to attend the Lucy Cobb Institute in Athens but the school was segregated and did not accept African American girls. This denial helped shape her perception of the world and her desire to change people’s racial prejudices.

Her public speaking earned her a scholarship to attend Talladega College. After graduating in 1918, she enrolled at the YWCA Training School. She became the YWCA secretary of the National Student Council, where her responsibilities included visiting colleges, planning conferences, and fostering ideas and leadership. She is credited with re-establishing the council’s ideology, helping it become more balanced, open, and interracial.

In 1924, she became a member of the World Student Christian Federation and began traveling the world as a delegate representing American colleges. In 1927, she received an MA in religious education from Columbia University. Her travels included a seven-week trip to Mysore, India starting in December 1928 to attend the World Student Christian Conference. Seeing British colonialism in India, she drew parallels with the subjugation of African Americans, as a growing network of African American and Indian activists were doing at that time. She wrote about the insights and inspiration she gleaned from the trip in the African American magazine, The Crisis.

She resigned from her YWCA position in 1929 to become Dean of Women at Fisk University.

She was an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and affiliated with the sorority’s first graduate chapter in New York City. After her death, Delta Sigma Theta established a scholarship fund in her honor, awarded to members of the sorority employed in the social work field. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #deltasigmatheta

[ordinorultor-if]

Tarot pt.2

Okay I got distracted playing Mount & Blade yesterday, but here's part 2 of the tarot associations.

B/Bertie is XV - The Devil. The Devil is a card of ambition, sensation and temptation, oppression, and corrupting figures. I think of all the characters, B plays into the dualism between the Reversed and Upright meanings the most. B is jealous of MC, and I wouldn't put it past them to stage a coup if they feel MC is dealing with the Liege poorly, hence the ambition and temptation readings. However, they're probably the member of the Council most against the Liege, and the Reversed meaning of The Devil is all about freeing oneself from oppression and divorcing oneself from corrupting figures. And if MC gets a high enough relation with B, then B is able to (mostly) let go of their jealousy, letting go of their own internal temptations.

A/Alb is XVIII - The Moon. The Moon is a card of trickery, illusion, imagination, and the messages that can be found in one's dreams. Alb is MC's chancellor and diplomatic advisor, responsible for hosting other rulers and communicating with them, hence the association with dream messages. However, they're almost a second spymaster - extremely underhanded and willing to go behind everyone's backs if it furthers their family's goals and/or the deposition of the Liege.

M/Mel is XII - The Hanged Man. The Hanged man is a card of sacrifice, martyrdom, and knowledge. Mel, due to their issues, works themselves to the bone as MC's spymaster, dealing with a spy network that feeds them information from as far away as the capital of the empire or the northern border of Sayland. However, The Hanged Man in its Reversed position is specifically a card of pointless sacrifice, leading back to how the rest of the family would prefer if Mel chilled out.

E is a mix of V - The Hierophant and XVII - The Star. The Hierophant is a card of spiritual authority, conformity, and occasionally mercy, compassion, and education. The Star, meanwhile, is a card of 'the light at the end of the tunnel', joy and hope during a dark time. E, as MC's religious and legal advisor, has a link to the church, especially through their mentor, Bishop Rosalie. Personally, they are a source of great comfort to their family, and a good source of interpersonal advice.

P/P'enfant is XI - Justice. Justice is a card of... well, I don't think you need me to tell you. Once MC decides how to depose the Liege, P begins to become one of the Liege's most vicious opponents, constantly demanding justice for all of their crimes, representing the Upright meanings of karma and justice; additionally, P, as Akize's highest tax official, is the one dealing with the brunt of the Liege's pettiness and abuse of authority (aside from MC), and they also were there to find out when the Liege attacked one of MC's siblings, both of which represent well the Reversed meanings of abuse and miscarriage of justice. Admittedly, this is one of the shakier associations.

The Liege is IV - The Emperor. The Emperor is a card of temporal authority (contrasting with V - The Hierophant, which is similar but more spiritual), leadership, and control. However, the Liege is more associated with the card's Reversed meaning than its Upright meaning: they're a tyrant, they're petty and immature, they're domineering, they're stubborn - all things associated with The Reversed Emperor. There's also minor associations with XVI - The Tower in that by destroying them and upending the old order, MC paves the way for something better... probably.

#interactive fiction #ordinor ultor if #tarot #sibling b #sibling a #sibling m #sibling e #sibling p

[girlactionfigure]

The Brave Headmaster: Dr. Erich Klibansky

He saved five entire classes.

Dr. Erich Klibansky was the headmaster of a Jewish high school in Germany who saved dozens of his students by teaching them English and arranging for them to join the Kindertransport to safety in Great Britain.

Born in Frankfurt to a religious family in 1900, Erich was an exceptional student who studied history, German literature and Romanian languages at university. He married Meta David and together they moved to Breslau, where they both taught at Jewish schools. Their son Hans-Rafael was born in 1928, and the next year the family moved to Cologne, where they had two more sons, Alexander and Michael. Erich became headmaster at the Yavne Jewish gymnasium (high school) in Cologne. It was the only Jewish high school in that part of Germany, the Rhineland. Yavne was a co-ed school teaching both Jewish and secular subjects. His wife Meta also worked at Yavne teaching English. The family found a spacious apartment in Volksgartenstrasse, a desirable part of town.

Erich – known to his students as Dr. Klibansky – was immediately popular with students and staff at the school. They appreciated his warm manner and personal interest in every student, as well as his strong leadership at a difficult time.

Germany was in a severe economic crisis, and as a private school Yavne didn’t get any subsidy from the state. Erich’s job as headmaster became focused on fundraising. Motivated to ensure that any Jewish student in Cologne could get a good education despite financial hardship, Erich successfully raised money to keep the school open. As his reputation grew, young Jews started coming to Yavneh from outside Cologne and soon the newcomers made up a quarter of the student body.

As the Nazis came to power in the 1930’s the situation grew grim for Jews in Germany. In 1937 the Klibansky family was forced out of their nice apartment in Volksgartenstrasse and relocated to a tiny flat in a squalid slum. After the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938, it became clear there was no future for Jews in Germany. At this point, Erich’s mission as headmaster of Yavne changed. Previously, the school was focused on training the students for exams and university but now the only important thing was survival. He heard about the Kindertransport, an organized rescue effort bringing Jewish children from Nazi-controlled areas to safety in England. Erich determined to get his students on the Kindertransport, and in fact hoped to relocate the entire school to England.

He re-focused the school curriculum to provide intensive English-language instruction for all students in preparation for their escape. Erich reached out to prominent Jews in London and got support for his plan to move Yavne high school to England. The Central British Council for Refugees arranged for the students to stay in a college dormitory.

By summer 1939, Erich was able to send five entire classes of students – a total of 130 people – on the Kindertransport to England. His plan was to get all the students out and then join them in England with his family. However everything came to a halt when war broke out in 1939. The borders were sealed, as was the fate of the Klibansky family and those students who hadn’t left yet. Erich, his wife and three young sons managed to hide from the Nazis until July 1942, when they were arrested and transported to an unknown location. On July 25, the family of five was shot in a wooded area in Belarus and, dying, dumped in a prepared pit.

The brave headmaster’s story has been largely forgotten, but in 1990 a square in Cologne where Yavne high school used to be was dedicated to him and renamed the Erich Klibansky Platz.

For saving the lives of 130 Jewish students, we honor Erich Klibansky as this week’s Thursday Hero.

#Thursday Hero