#seeing the comments on the Palestinian food post I had to..... | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thatdebaterguy · 2 months

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Usually I would go anon but I am at the point where I don't care what people think anymore. I would rather be honest and have these people off my blog than keep doing it in secret.

Anyways, I was scrolling through a post (because I hate myself). Tumblr wouldn't let me put the link for some reason:

This isn't the whole post, but 2/3 of it. It's about how Israel was "tricking" children into picking up bombs that looked like food cans. Someone corrected this in the comment section.

And in response to the correction (there was more than one person correcting):

This is a massive issue I've seen with that side of the conflict. They don't care if the information they spread is true as long as it fits the narrative of "Palestine = weak, helpless, 100% good and pure victim. Israel: evil, colonists, eats Palestine babies for breakfast." And it's almost scary the lack of critical thinking to make sure everything fits into this mindset.

I once corrected someone's mistranslation on Pinterest of all places, where someone said a Hebrew translation was ""May this (bomb) lands on innocent people". It was just the company name. I was attacked and told I was a "genocidal zionist" and there was my favorite, "well it doesn't matter if it's true or not, it's what they mean".

So basically, "yeah it doesn't matter if it's fake information, it fits with MY beliefs, so it's okay."

I hate the Pro-Palestinian cult.

It is genuinely depressing to see blatant misinformation spread, for example I've been given the link to a site that takes supposed quotes from Israeli officials completely out of context, half the time a complete lie, and told it's some kind of proof Israel is the epitome of moral sin, despite being the most equal state in the middle east. I saw this post and saw another one debunking how the imagine has been altered in a misleading way, just as I saw a post of a server room that's linked to a Hamas database under an UNRWA facility, and someone said it powered a solar panel. Keep in mind they didn't lie for the Palestinian civilians, that was to straight up cover for Hamas.

The screenshot of someone calling Hamas 'freedom fighters' is actually scary.

this is the first thing you see when you search for the ideology of Hamas. Yk the worst part? This would be called zionist propaganda just because it says Hamas have committed terrorism, and October 7th happened. These are literal facts though, Hamas are proud of October 7th, proud of killing thousands, kidnapping hundreds, committing acts of terrorism. If you have any sense of morality, you cannot defend Hamas, even if you see them as on the right side or as freedom fighters, their methods alone make them a monstrous organisation. They wear plain civilian clothes in war, a war crime, they have been verified to use civilian buildings for cover, a war crime, they've killed thousands of innocents purposefully, a war crime, they've openly called for the annexation and occupation of Israel, a sovereign country with millions of ethnic Jews who would be 3rd class citizens in a Hamas ruled Palestine.

Israel doesn't want Gaza. They don't want to destroy it, to own it, they wish they never had to hear about it again, let alone invade it to remove Hamas from power. And the fact that people are scared to voice their beliefs against a literal terror group, against misinformation, is insane. You know, the only reason I'm on Israel's side is because when it comes to debates I follow the science, the figures, the statistics, a fixed code of morality and logic, and that leads to me to Israel because they've never instigated a conflict in their entire history, they've voluntarily surrendered land in pursuit of peace, aided the countries that have invaded them, they're by the definition not committing genocide, they're legally and factually in a war of self defence to topple an extremist dictatorial government, the figures show as far as modern urban warfare goes, the civilian-military death ratio is lower than most conflicts, they factually have a historical claim to the land, they built Tel Aviv, built Jerusalem, 400,000 Jews lived the region of Israel before its existence as a modern state, it just all points to Israel.

But I support the people of Palestine, I empathise with them, I want them to be free of the dictators who lead them to this war and suffering they must endure, and I pray they'll get the liberation they deserve. They deserve better than the nightmare of a government that rule over Gaza. And yet none of the Palestinian supporters protest Hamas. They don't realise, protesting against Hamas doesn't weaken the right for civilians to receive aid, because they're forced into this mindset that the Palestinian government and movement has always been one of perfect ineffable morality and one that you must be insanely villainous to even have any contradicting thoughts on. I'm a more conservative guy who's best friend of 4 years recently told me that they're genderfluid, in a polyamorous relationship with a trans man, and have a 'fursona' but since I know they're a person with good intentions in life I support them in finding happiness and getting better. I'd say that makes me fairly open minded, without tooting my own horn too much. But I will never be open to the idea that Hamas have ever wanted what's best for Palestine. Their actions are selfish, their goals are psychopathic, their behaviour is unwarranted, and their care for being a successful governing body is minimal. Gaza, whether prospering before October 7th or not, was legally an independent, sovereign region of the nation of Palestine, who have their own government, constitution, voting system, currencies they operate with, culture, freedom of movement, unless it's to Israel of course, and have been so since Israel pulled out of Gaza.

Israel actually occupied Gaza once. It was better maintained, the people were more looked after. In the years before Israel pulled out of Gaza, the Palestinian economy grew by the largest margin in at least 20 years, and then under Hamas, became incredibly stagnant, with foreign aid being the only thing propping it up. They let unemployment skyrocket despite the opening of more high tech facilities, once again thanks to foreign aid. Now, Israel doesn't want Gaza back, nor should they have it, but when the people of the nationality that Hamas wish to destroy, governed their land even better despite not even being the sovereign owners of that land and just the occupiers, it says a lot. Don't be afraid to speak out against Hamas, since you have no love for the Palestinian people if you don't want them to be free from the suffering Hamas has brought.

#israel #politics #palestine #gaza #current events #hamas

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rome-roy · 3 months

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Fetin is a British Palestinian woman, mostly known for her content about working in the Film and Television Industry, who has been working with grassroots organisation SafeBow helping give aid to Palestinians in Egypt.

This video was posted on Feb. 10th. She has since updated to say that they have reached 100k in donations, which is not enough as evacuation prices have gone up. Some adults are being charged 10k to evacuate, even babies can be charged up to 5k. If the border closes and they can’t get everyone they want out, they’re going to use the funds for prosthetics for airstrike victims, as well as housing, rent, and food, for evacuees in Egypt.

[Transcript:

Hey guys, so I’m going to have to talk in code during this video, but this is very important. In the Watermelon County (Palestine), there’s over a million people at the moment trapped in a very, very small corner of that country by the border. I need your help. And time is of the essence. We have maybe a day, or two days, to try and get as many people out as possible. The Blue and White Illegal State (Israel) has come out with a new plan which is to close to that border and force all those people — over a million people — to walk across the desert to go through their section of the country. Now I could get into a lot of information about why this is going to be incredibly, incredibly catastrophic. A lot of people will die. There will be no documentation of who’s going through and what happens to them. They have already said that they will shoot on site anyone they claim to be from That Resistance Group (Hamas). Which, as we know, is basically all men and even male children they deem to be apart of that group. Now, getting people out is the last resort, because no one wants that. We don’t- we don’t want to take out people from this place, away from their homes. But this is life and death at this moment. And there are people who are not going to survive going through the Blue and White Illegal State. We have emergency fundraising, we started it yesterday. We literally have a few days to get as many people out — like vulnerable people out — as possible, safely, away from the other border. I’m also trying to get a relative out that I know is trapped.

I have a link in my bio, um, for a PayPal. If you can, please donate. Uh, if you can’t, just share. Share or interact with this in any sort of way, just make sure to put code stuff in the comments. Or questions about other things, because again I’m- I’m very, very vigilant on the fact that I really need this to go out and that’s why I’m speaking in code. We’ve had 100% success rate in previous “getting people out” — I can’t say the word — um, but it’s just the fact that we literally have like two, maybe three days, to get as many people out as possible before this is enforced. Also, if you know anyone that is looking to get out as well from the Watermelon City, uh, please let me know. You can DM me and we can see if there’s any way that we can help them get out as well, safely. You can follow everything on my instagram. I am posting everything, I’m updating everything. You can see how much we’ve raised so far. And yeah, it’s um- sorry this video is all over the place, just because I’m. I’m so emotional and uh, I- I’m also just, health wise, not doing so well. But yeah. Thanks guys. /end transcript.]

LINKS:

Fetin’s Instagram and Tiktok.

PayPal.

#Palestine #free palestine #ceasefire now #signal boost #israel palestine conflict #palestinian genocide

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fitgothgirl · 6 months

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I'm ethnically Jewish and a couple of my great grandparents were in concentration camps. But I need to put it out there with everything going on that I'm staunchly anti-Zionist. Even aside from the past and how many tens of thousands of Palestinian casualties there have been since 1948, and how Palestinian land has been eaten away to almost nothing over the years, I really can't understand why people are still supporting what Israel is doing currently. How many Israeli casualties have there been compared to Palestinians? It's so incredibly lopsided and always has been... All we see in the news about the current situation is the devastation of civilian life in Gaza. 6,000 bombs in 6 days, in a place with a higher population density than Tokyo. So many dead people, including children, who had nothing to do with what Hamas did (which I DO NOT condone either). Palestine is completely at the mercy of Israel as it is, they control everything... They cut off food, water, internet; they wouldn't let in humanitarian aid until today. Why?? How many innocent people need to be killed before revenge is served?? It's like after Hamas's attack, Israel decided "tight, now we have a reason to just finish them off and take the rest of the land." And it seems like anyone who criticizes Israel in the US is losing their jobs and shit... Like wtf...

I'm turning off reblogs and limiting who can comment because I honestly don't even want to talk about this. I just wanted a soapbox moment to get this off my chest. There is nothing to be said that can convince me to support the past and continued persecution and extermination of Palestinians, especially in the name of my people/ancestors. You can unfollow me if this bothers you too much, but I'll also say that I'm not going to continue to post about this.

Judaism ≠ Zionism. Anti-Zionism ≠ ant1sem1tism. Hamas ≠ civilians.

#mine

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yessoupy · 6 months

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the kind of conversations that bring me relief — a response to flag emojis.

this is a student i hadn't had contact with until this morning. he hasn't been active on Instagram.

I'm hyperaware of communication fatigue — whenever a natural disaster affects me, I have to revert to 'emergency' communication. that means I post updates to Facebook and unless I've messaged you, please don't send me a message anywhere but in the comments of that post.

Like every other experience in my life, this pales in comparison to what my students are going through. This student is in Gaza, his cousin is a journalist visiting hospitals that are being bombed, and his entire family could be wiped out in a moment. What is my comfort knowing he is okay next to that?

So I update my spreadsheet, log today's date and the most recent time he messaged me, and keep sharing to social media hoping that my friends, family, mutuals, and followers see just ONE thing that makes them realize this is really happening, right now, and these are real people, not abstractions.

Palestinians don't have the luxury of turning away. Those who care about Palestinians in their lives don't have that luxury, either. I take breaks to do my job at work. I take breaks at home to complete my writing assignments for the last class of my master's degree. My kitchen is a mess. I need to sweep and do laundry and fold clothes. Every time I do a chore I think about my students without running water. Without electricity. Without food. You can see why it's difficult to keep a house right now, when I see rubble every time I pick up my phone.

I'm learning the Arabic alphabet so I can at least read the lists of martyrs for myself, scanning for the family names of my students.

Please. Please please please take some of this burden and share it.

#my kids

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ofcloudsandstars · 3 years

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Will just post some more Litha posts in a minute before calling it a night at like 17:30 cause I have been up since yesterday morning with lil naps in between and I am dyinggg haha.

Had such a beautiful night yesterday with incredible interactions that made me feel validated or really reflect on some things.

Yesterday was a wonderful witch friends birthday. It’s one of those spaces where not everyone is a witch but everyone is magical and aware of their sense of magic and ability to create, be expressive, be their full self etc. I tend to find that in a lot of femme queer spaces. Everyone was so vibrant and really genuine. I made like 6 new friends haha.

I always wanted to have a dance party on the Summer Solstice. I always felt it would be appropriate with the mounting energies as this time of the year is a big energetic climax. Last night I got the invite to this party impromptu like yes come thru.. and it was very much a CATHARTIC release.. Omg we did poetry workshops, so much dancing and it was incredible as this witch friend is Ugandan and a lot of witch friends in this group have African heritage so it felt very ritualistic in the way that in some afro spiritual communities they would beat drums to certain rhythms to evoke spirits and ancestors. This afro queer witch group that I have been blessed to become friends with have all started teaching each other how to DJ so when they would start spinning their sets the beats were so intense and rhythmic it was like you were dancing in a trance. (I mean the party was lit with big red pillar candles everywhere and had deep pink lighting so it felt ritualistic or like we were in another realm haha) And each person of course has their own style but it felt like they were entrancing us with their own magic and it felt kind of like the way guided meditation can guide you on a journey but instead it was with beats and dancing.

I reconnected with some friends of a friend there and I told them how I always take off work on the sabbats cause I may be a slave to capitalism but I deserve to have my fucking magical days off lol. (Like I don’t even take off Christmas let me have my solstices). I thought they would think this was strange but they actually said they thought it was inspiring 😂😭 I told them even if I don’t get to see friends I make a feast for myself and take time to go into nature and just be immersed in the energy and they are like wtf we want to do that. Turns out incredibly that they all also live by me!! And that they all have Monday off!! So We may actually have a feast tomorrow!! (Also shout out to service/hospitality workers cause we get random days off the week haha).

But really talking about it with them felt validating cause they say its nice to take a moment to really immerse yourself in the seasons and days or else life just passes you by in a blur and I was like YES EXACTLY!! It’s a grounding ritual!! You take stock as of where you are in life!! You take a pause to enjoy a new chapter/season of nature!! Some caucasian witch friend made a comment once at me like, ‘It’s just another day of the year, why does it matter that you celebrate on this day specifically??’ and it’s like IF yOU DON’T MAKE A TIME TO COMMIT THEN YOU WILL NEVER HAVE THE TIME!! Plus isn’t it nice to like gather friends just to just ‘be’ in nature?? And share season foods and have a feast?? Like isn’t this what life is about??

This sentiment was deepened especially by the Host. She was this gorgeous woman who’s spirit just glowed and has warmth that fills the room. She has loving mom energy like the type of person who loves cooking for you (she actually cooked traditional Palestinian food for everyone in the house and even recounted beautifully how she was so happy to get up in the morning to go to the market to pick out the fresh produce and cook for others with love omg). She was so happy to just host the party and have a group of wonderful people over. Anyway there was a crew of very stylish, very attractive palestinian wlw women/femme nbs there who could fucking dance cause their hips were doing some snake charmer shit and they could keep up with all the afro beats and have their bellies, booties and thighs twerk at the same time but obv right now whats happening in Palestine is devastating. Turns out later in the night she revealed that she was a refugee. This was revealed cause the asshole neighbour who was displeased at us having a party (11PM Sat night. Like I know its late but it’s London on a Sat night), was threatening to call the cops which is really aggressive when it’s towards a group of queer, mostly dark skinned afro/arabic group of people and when he got in her face she shouted back at him, “My people have to sleep through bombs and you can’t handle a little music??” omfg..

Yet anyway she said something beautiful as we were in the liminal space of the party somewhere between the twilight hours of 3-5AM on her bed high as hell. She first said it in Arabic than translated it loosely to, ‘What is life but not indulges?’ meaning what is life but not the experience of it all? Experiencing our senses, our joy of living etc. And she mentioned how we can take so much for granted like enjoying being out with nature, enjoying the company and safe space of being with friends, of having the freedom of self expression, especially to be queer, to be magical, to not have your entire life uprooted. Of course so many people there have racial and colonial trauma but that crew was experiencing it real time and were ready to fight that neighbour for trying to take away that moment of celebrating a cherished friend’s birthday.

I feel like I finally have the words to express why I love celebrations. I always thought it was a vapid Libra side of me but it wasn’t easy to dismiss as such cause I even liked celebrating things alone. It’s very grounding in the way that it helps to slow you down in the moment and really experience life. Especially when you celebrate with feasts and eat the gifts and labour you’ve given the earth to enjoy and indulge in divine food. And when you have the blessing to share these moments with friends you get to be reminded of what love feels like and what community feels like and how important these experiences are to be human. Especially when nothing is really guaranteed in this world anymore.

I wish everyone was in a position to take off from work on the solstice to just ground themselves in nature and even spend time with good friends at the beach or park but capitalism can be really abusive. I am just glad I’ve reshaped my life to get to a point where I can do that. As for now I am going to plan out my day tomorrow then sleep forever and hope my old-ass Life Alert knees stop burning cause they are mad at me for last night’s twerking reminding me that I am on the doorstep of my 30s.

#personal #long post #its also a practice of gratitude #when you celebrate things #so its an action of being grateful by being joyous #I just wish more people understood this #your time is precious #you deserve time off to reflect and be immersed in nature and have good experiences

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giftofshewbread · 3 years

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It’s Over! ( Biblical Update )

By Daymond Duck Published on: August 15, 2021

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come” (II Tim. 3:1).

Be aware that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (II Tim. 3:13).

The right of U.S. citizens to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to buy and sell, etc., is being challenged by the shadow government’s desire to restrict and/or control American’s freedom of religion, speech, right to buy and sell, etc.

Covid is a global medical crisis that the godless shadow government created to justify the establishment of a world government, world religion, and worldwide tracking system to enslave everyone on earth.

The public is being told that proof of vaccination (passports, I.D. cards, or whatever) is needed to bring Covid-19 under control when the truth of the matter is that Covid-19 and the variants are a tool that the rich and powerful are using to bring all people under their control.

It is possible and perhaps likely that this proof of vaccination will eventually be followed by the lockdown and persecution of Christian groups and institutions based on their support for Bible teaching and lack of support for the globalist agenda (the godless world government, godless world religion, abortion, gay rights, etc.).

Before the persecution reaches its peak, Christians will be removed (Raptured) from this earth, and the door will be thrown wide open for the godless shadow government to select a leader to take dictatorial power on earth.

Following his appearance, their so-called proof of vaccination will probably evolve into a data system that will be used to determine who can buy and sell, who can live or die, etc. (Don’t overlook the fact that some of the leaders that want to force everyone to be vaccinated are the same people that want to reduce the population of the earth from almost 8 billion to about half a billion; many support abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia, etc.).

God will allow these godless globalists to select a leader to rule for seven years, but God will ultimately cause them to regret what they have done for all eternity.

A reader recently sent an e-mail to this writer containing part of a message that Dr. Franklin Graham delivered at a Baptist Church in Florida.

Dr. Graham said, “The American Dream has ended.”

Readers need to understand that the one who said “The American Dream has ended” is one of the most highly respected preachers in the world, not a fanatic and not a prophecy teacher, but America must decline if the globalists are going to meet their goal of a world government and a world religion by 2030 or before.

Here is a repeat from the article I wrote last week: On July 27, 2021, former Sec. of State Mike Pompeo said, “Collapse from within is possible… Immigration without assimilation, illicit drugs, human trafficking, disputed elections, inflationary risks have become the tools to disassemble our republic in what must surely be an attempt at national suicide.”

I want to close my opening remarks this way: We are not seeing the Mark of the Beast yet (people are not being jabbed in their right hand or forehead; people are not taking the name, number, or Mark of the Beast; unvaccinated people can still buy and sell in most places; etc.).

On the other hand, we are seeing the global development and advancement of technology and policies that many excellent Bible prophecy teachers believe will lead to the Mark of the Beast (forced compliance, loss of one’s job, development of passports or passes, a demand for government databases to track people, a demand to prevent the unvaccinated from entering stores to buy or sell, the spread of anti-Christian rhetoric, etc.).

Also, keep in mind the fact that the Church will be Raptured a minimum of 3 ½ years (and perhaps more) before the global development and advancement of the technology and policies goes into effect as the Mark of the Beast (the Gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church).

Here are other reasons to believe that history is approaching end of the age Bible predictions and the American Dream is over.

One, when Jesus was asked about the signs of His coming, He listed famines, pestilences, earthquakes, etc. (notice that the words are plural as in more than one famine, more than one pestilence, etc.; Matt. 24:7).

Today, the world is trying to deal with Covid-19, the Delta (India variant), Lambda (Peru variant), and Epsilon variant (pestilences plural).

Two, on Aug. 6, 2021, California announced that a low water level caused by drought has forced the shutdown of the state’s second largest hydroelectric plant for the first time since the dam was completed in 1977.

The state will be able to get electricity from other systems.

More: On Aug. 4, 2021, the Dixie wildfire destroyed Greenville, Cal., a gold rush town of about 1,200 people (5 days later, Fox News reported that about 600 buildings have burned and about 13,000 are in danger).

More: On Aug. 6, 2021, it was reported that Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border, the Great Salt Lake in Utah, and Lake Mead in Nevada have hit record lows this summer.

FYI: Drought is having a devastating impact on crops, cattle, hog, and sheep production in the U.S. (a very large part of America’s food supply).

FYI: Unprecedented wildfires are also taking place in Greece, Italy, Turkey, Lebanon, and Russia.

Three, during the Tribulation Period, the world will be divided into two groups: those that take the Mark of the Beast and those that refuse to take the Mark of the Beast.

Today, the world is being divided into two groups: those that have been vaccinated and those that have not been vaccinated.

Four, on Aug. 9, 2021, World Net Daily posted an article by Wayne Allen Root that said:

Republicans asked for “papers” from migrants who had broken into our country. Criminals. Democrats said, “No, that’s racism.”

Republicans asked for “papers” once every two years for federal elections to prove you have a right to vote. Democrats said, “No, that’s racism.”

Now Democrats want American citizens, not illegal aliens, not criminals, but patriots born in this country to produce papers 24/7. We’ll need papers to enter restaurants, bars, nightclubs, concerts, casinos, conventions, and hotels and to board a train, plane, or bus. We’ll need papers to enter a supermarket, or we’ll starve to death—all for the crime of being unvaccinated.

Note: U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said the U.S. is at a crossroads, and he is urging U.S. citizens to “resist the mandates, lockdowns, and the harmful policies of the petty tyrants and bureaucrats.”

Five, on Aug. 6, 2021, Natural News reported that the U.K. has admitted that it is building storage areas for bodies in the 32 boroughs of London and the city itself.

These storage areas are being built because the government expects an increase in deaths over the next five years due to their attempts to force people to be vaccinated (some people that are not allowed to buy and sell will go hungry, get sick, etc.).

Writer’s Comment: It is common for some people to ask how bad will God let it get before He Raptures His Church. No one knows the answer to this, but the situation is worsening, and Christians everywhere need to pray about it.

Six, on July 31, 2021, the Carnival Cruise Ship Vista left Galveston, TX with everyone or board vaccinated (every guest, every crew member, every staff member, everyone vaccinated; no unvaccinated people on board).

On Aug. 8, 2021, it was reported that a small number of people on the ship have tested positive for Covid.

Seven, God promised to bless those that bless Israel and to curse those that curse Israel (Gen. 12:3).

On Aug. 4, 2021, the Iranian-backed terrorist group that controls Lebanon, Hezbollah, fired three rockets into Israel.

On Aug. 5, 2021, Israeli jets struck terrorist targets in Lebanon for the first time in 15 years, and Pres. Biden announced that he will give the terrorist government $100 million dollars in economic aid (borrowed money that will add to inflation in the U.S.).

On Aug. 6, 2021, Hezbollah forces fired 19 rockets from Lebanon into Israel, and Israel responded with artillery fire.

On Aug. 8, 2021, new hardline Iranian Pres. Raisi met with leaders of the terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and the Houthis, and promised to support their terrorist activities until Israel is defeated.

Writer’s Comment: This could easily get out of hand and lead to the fulfillment of several prophecies (Psa. 83 if that is a war; the Destruction of Damascus as prophesied in Isa. 17; the Battle of Gog and Magog as prophesied in Ezek. 38-39; time will tell.).

Eight, violence is on the increase, and some politicians want to defund the police and take the guns away from law-abiding citizens, but the globalist goal is only partly to prevent citizens from defending themselves against criminals.

The globalist goal is primarily to prevent citizens from defending the U.S. against the shadow government’s takeover of the U.S.

For whatever it is worth, thousands of people have marched in Paris and other French cities four weeks in a row to protest the loss of their freedoms.

On Aug. 6, protests erupted in Turin, Italy.

Nine, on Aug. 6, 2021, a guest on Fox & Friends said the strongest outbreak of the Covid Delta Variant is in Texas and Florida, and those two states are where the Biden administration has taken the largest number of Covid-infected migrants.

Ten, concerning global pandemics and the Mark of the Beast, on July 25, 2021, The Times of Israel reported on a study that found that people vaccinated before Feb. 2021 are twice as likely to get Covid as those vaccinated in June 2021 for two reasons: 1) Their vaccine effectiveness decreases over time and is becoming less effective every day; and 2) The Delta Variant is more contagious than the original Covid-19, and therefore more able to overcome the resistance of their declining vaccination.

The doctor that headed up the study said, “We definitely need to think about a third vaccine.”

It is the opinion of this writer that the globalists will want people to take a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. vaccination until they bring in the Mark of the Beast.

Update: On Aug. 5, 2021, Moderna said data shows a noticeable drop in antibody levels 6-8 months after a vaccinated person’s second jab, so vaccinated people will need to get a booster shot this fall.

Writer’s Comment: Just a reminder to U.S. citizens that Pres. Biden said, “You’re not going to get Covid if you have these vaccines.”

Eleven, concerning world government: it is widely known that the World Economic Forum (WEF) wants to establish a world government and eliminate private property ownership by 2030 or before.

The WEF even produced a video saying, “You will own nothing, and you will be happy.”

My article “Developing Now,” posted two weeks ago, quoted Tony Koretz who said, “A global medical dictatorship is rising.”

I added that “It is hard to deny that the shadow government is using unelected individuals to dictate policies to nations all over the world.”

On Aug. 3, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended the U.S. government’s eviction moratorium, a document that allows renters in areas that have a high level of Covid to not pay their rent.

Put another way, property owners that have rented their house, apartment, etc., to someone else must make the mortgage payments (if the property owner has a mortgage payment), pay to keep the house, apartment, etc., repaired, and the property owner cannot evict the renter for not paying their rent (the renter can live in the house free, and the property owner must pay the bills).

The fact that the CDC (a medical group) can force private property owners to make the property payments and let renters live in the property free sure looks like a global medical dictatorship has taken over.

The real owners of the property are not happy with making the payments and receiving no rent.

Twelve, on Aug. 4, 2021, concerning a Mark on the forehead to buy and sell, it was reported that Amazon is now using palm scanners at 53 Amazon-owned stores, and it plans to expand the program to other stores in the U.S.

Customers can use a simple hand scan to pay, enter or I.D. themselves, and Amazon will give them a $10 promotional credit to sign up.

Before my final word, pastor Keith Watts asked me to include this paragraph in my article (something I can’t start doing for ministries all over the world): “I am asking all prayer warriors from around the world to join with us for a day of prayer, fasting, and repentance on August 16, 2021, for the sake of the Philippines and on behalf of over 110,950,213 precious souls. We will be fasting from the time we wake up until we go to bed, interceding on behalf of the lost souls in the Philippines.”

Finally, are you Rapture Ready?

If you want to be rapture ready and go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.

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bountyofbeads · 5 years

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With Trump as President, the World Is Spiraling Into Chaos https://nyti.ms/305ERbG

With Trump as President, the World Is Spiraling Into Chaos

Trump torched America’s foreign policy infrastructure. The results are becoming clear.

By Michelle Goldberg, Opinion Columnist | Published August 16, 2019 | New York Times | Posted August 16, 2019 |

Earlier this week, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan, visited The New York Times editorial board, and I asked him about the threat of armed conflict between his country and India over Kashmir. India and Pakistan have already fought two wars over the Himalayan territory, which both countries claim, and which is mostly divided between them. India recently revoked the constitutionally guaranteed autonomy of the part of Kashmir it controls and put nearly seven million people there under virtual house arrest. Pakistan’s prime minister compared India’s leaders to Nazis and warned that they’ll target Pakistan next. It seems like there’s potential for humanitarian and geopolitical horror.

Khan’s answer was not comforting. “We are two big countries with very large militaries with nuclear capability and a history of conflict,” he said. “So I would not like to burden your imagination on that one, but obviously if things get worse, then things get worse.”

All over the world, things are getting worse. China appears to be weighing a Tiananmen Square-like crackdown in Hong Kong. After I spoke to Khan, hostilities between India and Pakistan ratcheted up further; on Thursday, fighting across the border in Kashmir left three Pakistani soldiers dead. (Pakistan also claimed that five Indian soldiers were killed, but India denied it.) Turkey is threatening to invade Northeast Syria to go after America’s Kurdish allies there, and it’s not clear if an American agreement meant to prevent such an incursion will hold.

North Korea’s nuclear program and ballistic missile testing continue apace. The prospect of a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine is more remote than it’s been in decades. Tensions between America and Iran keep escalating. Relations between Japan and South Korea have broken down. A Pentagon report warns that ISIS is “re-surging” in Syria. The U.K. could see food shortages if the country’s Trumpish prime minister, Boris Johnson, follows through on his promise to crash out of the European Union without an agreement in place for the aftermath. Oh, and the globe may be lurching towards recession.

In a world spiraling towards chaos, we can begin to see the fruits of Donald Trump’s erratic, amoral and incompetent foreign policy, his systematic undermining of alliances and hollowing out of America’s diplomatic and national security architecture. Over the last two and a half years, Trump has been playing Jenga with the world order, pulling out once piece after another. For a while, things more or less held up. But now the whole structure is teetering.

To be sure, most of these crises have causes other than Trump. Even competent American administrations can’t dictate policy to other countries, particularly powerful ones like India and China. But in one flashpoint after another, the Trump administration has either failed to act appropriately, or acted in ways that have made things worse. “Almost everything they do is the wrong move,” said Susan Thornton, who until last year was the acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, America’s top diplomat for Asia.

Consider Trump’s role in the Kashmir crisis. In July, during a White House visit by Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Trump offered to mediate India and Pakistan’s long-running conflict over Kashmir, even suggesting that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to do so. Modi’s government quickly denied this, and Trump’s words reportedly alarmed India, which has long resisted outside involvement in Kashmir. Two weeks later, India sent troops to lock Kashmir down, then stripped it of its autonomy.

Americans have grown used to ignoring Trump’s casual lies and verbal incontinence, but people in other countries have not. Thornton thinks the president’s comments were a “precipitating factor” in Modi’s decision to annex Kashmir. By blundering into the conflict, she suggested, Trump put the Indian prime minister on the defensive before his Hindu nationalist constituency. “He might not have had to do that,” she said of Modi’s Kashmir takeover, “but he would have had to do something. And this was the thing he was looking to do anyway.”

At the same time, Modi can be confident that Trump, unlike previous American presidents, won’t even pretend to care about democratic backsliding or human rights abuses, particularly against Muslims. “There’s a cost-benefit analysis that any political leader makes,” said Ben Rhodes, a former top Obama national security aide. “If the leader of India felt like he was going to face public criticism, potential scrutiny at the United Nations,” or damage to the bilateral relationship with the United States, “that might affect his cost-benefit analysis.” Trump’s instinctive sympathy for authoritarian leaders empowers them diplomatically.

Obviously, India and Pakistan still have every interest in avoiding a nuclear holocaust. China may show restraint on Hong Kong. Wary of starting a war before the 2020 election, Trump might make a deal with Iran, though probably a worse one than the Obama agreement that he jettisoned. The global economy could slow down but not seize up. We could get through the next 17 months with a world that still looks basically recognizable.

Even then, America will emerge with a desiccated diplomatic corps, strained alliances, and a tattered reputation. It will never again play the same leadership role internationally that it did before Trump.

And that’s the best-case scenario. The most powerful country in the world is being run by a sundowning demagogue whose oceanic ignorance is matched only by his gargantuan ego. The United States has been lucky that things have hung together as much as they have, save the odd government shutdown or white nationalist terrorist attack. But now, in foreign affairs as in the economy, the consequences of not having a functioning American administration are coming into focus. “No U.S. leadership is leaving a vacuum,” said Thornton. We’ll see what gets sucked into it.

If You Think Trump Is Helping Israel, You’re a Fool

By barring Representatives Omar and Tlaib, Netanyahu made the president happy. But he has poisoned relations with America.

By Thomas L. Friedman, Opinion Columnist | Published Aug. 16, 2019 | New York Times | Posted August 16, 2019 |

I am going to say this as simply and clearly as I can: If you’re an American Jew and you’re planning on voting for Donald Trump because you think he is pro-Israel, you’re a damn fool.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. Trump has said and done many things that are in the interests of the current Israeli government — and have been widely appreciated by the Israeli public. To deny that would be to deny the obvious. But here’s what’s also obvious. Trump’s way of — and motivation for — expressing his affection for Israel is guided by his political desire to improve his re-election chances by depicting the entire Republican Party as pro-Israel and the entire Democratic Party as anti-Israel.

As a result, Trump — with the knowing help of Israel’s current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu — is doing something no American president and Israeli prime minister have done before: They’re making support for Israel a wedge issue in American politics.

Few things are more dangerous to Israel’s long-term interests than its becoming a partisan matter in America, which is Israel’s vital political, military and economic backer in the world.

As Dore Gold, the right-wing former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and once a very close adviser to Netanyahu, warned in a dialogue at the Hudson Institute on Nov. 27, 2018: “You reach out to Democrats, and you reach out to Republicans. And you don’t get caught playing partisan politics in the United States.’’

Trump’s campaign to tar the entire Democratic Party with some of the hostile views toward Israel of a few of its newly elected congresswomen — and Netanyahu’s careless willingness to concede to Trump’s demand and bar two of them, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, from visiting Israel and the West Bank — is part of a process that will do huge, long-term damage to Israel’s interests and support in America.

Netanyahu later relented and granted a visa to Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, for a private, “humanitarian’’ visit to see her 90-year-old grandmother — provided she agree in writing not to advocate the boycott of Israel while there. At first Tlaib agreed, but then decided that she would not come under such conditions.

Excuse me, but when did powerful Israel — a noisy, boisterous democracy where Israeli Arabs in its parliament say all kinds of wild and crazy things — get so frightened by what a couple of visiting freshman American congresswomen might see or say? When did Israel get so afraid of saying to them: “Come, visit, go anywhere you want! We’ve got our warts and we’ve got our good stuff. We’d just like you to visit both. But if you don’t, we’ll live with that too. We’re pretty tough.’’

It’s too late for that now. The damage of what Trump and Bibi have been up to — formally making Israel a wedge issue in American politics — is already done. Do not be fooled: Netanyahu, through his machinations with Senate Republicans, can get the United States Congress to give him an audience anytime he wants. But Bibi could not speak on any major American college campus today without massive police protection. The protests would be huge.

And listen now to some of the leading Democratic presidential candidates, like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders — you can hear how unhappy they are with the behavior of this Israeli government and its continued occupation of the West Bank. And they are not afraid to say so anymore. As The Jerusalem Post reported on July 11, “Sen. Elizabeth Warren, whose presidential candidacy has rallied in recent weeks, told two Jewish anti-occupation activists ‘yes’ when they asked her for support.’’

But who can blame them? Trump is equating the entire Democratic Party with hatred for Israel, while equating support for Netanyahu — who leads the most extreme, far-right government that Israel has ever had, who is facing indictment on three counts of corruption and whose top priority is getting re-elected so that he can have the Israeli Knesset overrule its justice system and keep him out of court — with loving Israel.

How many young Americans want to buy into that narrative? If Bibi wins, he plans to pass a law banning his own indictment on corruption, and then, when Israel’s Supreme Court strikes down that law as illegal, he plans to get the Knesset to pass another law making the Supreme Court subservient to his parliament. I am not making this up. Israel will become a Jewish banana republic.

If and when that happens, every synagogue, every campus Hillel, every Jewish institution, every friend of Israel will have to ask: Can I support such an Israel? It will tear apart the entire pro-Israel community and every synagogue and Jewish Federation.

Then add another factor. By moving the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — and turning that embassy, led by a Trump crony, Ambassador David Friedman, into an outpost for advancing the interests of Israeli Jewish settlers, not American interests — Trump has essentially greenlighted the Israeli annexation of the West Bank.

Again, should Netanyahu remain prime minister — which is possible only if he puts together a ruling coalition made up of far-right parties that want to absorb the West Bank and its 2.5 million Palestinians into Israel — Israel will be on its way to becoming either a binational state of Arabs and Jews or a state that systematically deprives a large and growing segment of its population of the democratic right to vote. Neither will be a Jewish democracy, the dream of Israel’s founders and still the defining, but endangered, political characteristic of the state.

Don’t get me wrong. I strongly oppose the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement — which Representatives Omar and Tlaib have embraced — because it wants to erase the possibility of a two-state solution. And I am particularly unhappy with Representative Omar.

I know a lot about her home district in Minnesota, because I grew up in it, in St. Louis Park. Omar represents the biggest concentration of Jews and Muslims living together in one district in the Upper Midwest. She was perfectly placed to be a bridge builder between Muslims and Jews. Instead, sadly, she has been a bridge destroyer between the two since she came to Washington. But anytime she is legitimately criticized, Democrats automatically scream “Islamophobia’’ and defend her. That’s as disturbing as Trump.

I know that more than a few Somali immigrants in Minneapolis, who face so many challenges — from gang violence to unemployment — are asking why is Omar spending time on the West Bank of the Jordan and not on the West Bank of the Mississippi?

I love Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs — but God save me from some of their American friends. So many of them just want to exploit this problem to advance themselves politically, get attention, raise money or delegitimize their opponents.

In that, Trump is not alone — he’s just the worst of the worst.

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eretzyisrael · 5 years

Link

Let's talk about anti-Semitism at @GeorgeMasonU. The second time I came to campus was for accepted students day. I ran into a club tabling called @GMUSAIA. I didn't really have too much of an opinion on the conflict, but when I told them I was Jewish the clammed up and wouldn'tspeak to me. They shoved a flyer in my hand and basically just stared at me. I came to Mason and got involved in the Jewish community, only to hear constant stories of the anti-Semitism students experienced. In Nov that year, the national SJP conference was hosted at my school.

The Jews were told to leave campus because no one could assure our safety. Lo and behold, attendees were posting about assaulting Zionists all over Twitter and FB. Everyone was scared shitless and hid in their rooms for days. But that's not even the worst of it.

After Trump's election, a petition was put together to say that GMU opposes all forms of hate... Except Anti-Semitism was completely missing, and Zionism was right in the center. It took two meetings with Student Power to get them to consider including anti-Semitism.

A couple months later was Israel Week, and we started off with an event bringing a Palestinian and Israeli to campus. Both the Palestinian group there, and the speaker, asked SAIA not to protest. But they did anyway. They listened to the Palestinian and shouted down the rabbi.

When he tried to reach out and hold one members hand, he turned around and swung his hand out at the rabbi. They stormed off, only to show up later that week at more events in "good faith." During this time I was also forced to leave @transparentGMU because of anti-Semitism intheir group chat. I expressed some of the things they were saying made me uncomfortable, such as asserting all Jews in land conflicts were colonialists (even outside Israel). So in response they brought it random people to lecture me on how I didn't know what anti-Semitism was.

So I said, "this is ridiculous and I've had enough of the pettiness" and when they came to our events I decided to try and actually build a relationship with them. It was nice for all of about two seconds. At the first event they invited me to, a Pakistani guy sat down next to me

and said that the two stripes of the Israeli flag were the Nile and the Euphrates, because the Jews' plot was to take the whole Middle East. To their credit, they told him that probably wasn't the case. The next week, they helped host the "Muslim-Jewish Alliance.

"At this meeting, there was a total of three Jews, and many more Muslims. The speaker was @TaherHerzallah and he spent the entire meeting blaming Jews for Islamaphobia in America and saying that the only way we could ever fix this was by giving up Zionism. I tried to question it

but was talked over and refused to be called on again. They all friended me on Facebook after that, and proceeded to fill up my wall with comments on my posts about Israel and the occupation, and harassed my friends. When I asked them to stop, they told me I should police my friends, not them. When I went to Israel a month later for the first time, they attacked me as a settler on all of my photos, posted images of me calling me a white supremacist, and blocked me. Sophomore year, I found pretty much most of the progressive community would refuse to speak to me. So whatever. Twice my sophomore year I was assaulted for wearing while wearing a Magen David on campus. At a Holocaust Remembrance table, students draped in Palestinian flags and scarves approached and tried to LIGHT OUR TABLE ON FIRE. When we stopped then they

pointed and laughed at us and sent people over to harass us. This year was no different. It started with the Boycott Sabra petition. We were out there trying to inform people why the petition was harmful, and two members of SAIA both body checked one of our members and stomped on

my feet repeatedly. When we tried to engage with the people around us, people came and physically intimidated us, insulted us for being Jewish, spit at us, called us "Fucking Yahoodi" to our faces and behind our backs as if half of us don't understand Arabic. You ain't slick.

Later this year while tabling, we had girls come up to us and scream in our faces, and another guy came up to tell us why JEWISH lives don't matter at all. When I was tabling for charity, guys came up behind me and made jokes about how "the Yahoodi are asking for money again."The Middle East Studies department hosted an event on anti-Semitism, which did not invite the Jewish community, hosted no Jewish professors (but plenty of anti-Semitic ones), and when asked about this simply deflected and said we were attacking them on because of Zionism.

It was kind of a sick joke when SAIA did the same exact thing a couple weeks later, but this time found two anti-Zionist Jews who were uninvolved in Mason's Jewish community to pretend they weren't pulling the same shit. Complaints fell on deaf ears.

During this time, my girlfriend and I went to AIPAC and went to speak with protestors (who spat on me) and my girlfriend took a photo of me speaking to people with her tongue out. People on Twitter asked for proof we went to speak with them, and when she gave it, they cropped the

photos and a bunch of Mason students doxxed her. @gmupolice did nothing. They didn't do anything when the campus preacher was calling for violence against Jews either, so ignoring Jewish plights seems to be a trend amongst them.

I spent Good Deeds Day this year being screamed at by a girl who told lies that we had told her "Fuck Palestine" after one of her friends spat on a soldier. She then peddled lies claiming I insulted her in text messages when I had never spoken to her. 🤷‍♂️And this only my experience. Countless Jews at Mason have been targeted by anti-Semitic professors like Sumaiya Hamdani and Ahsan Butt. We've been assaulted by students in stairwells. Bias incident reports have been completely ignored. There's no avenue for Jews to feel safe.

Thanks for the kosher food, but I'd like to not have to worry about having a target on my back in class for the kippah on my head. I'd like you to address Mason's deep-seated anti-Semitic sentiments for once, like you said you would after Pittsburgh but then failed to.

Can I get some insight as to how you allow this level of harassment and bigotry to occur at your school @GeorgeMasonU @CabreraAngel ? I'm kind of tired of being consistently harassed and lied about because I'm Jewish and don't completely disavow my people at every intersection.

I hope someone sees my experience here and knows they're not alone, and that Mason's Jewish community is here to support you.

Original Twitter thread here.

#dan kling #george mason university #antisemitism

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joannalannister · 6 years

Note

Another ask, this time regarding dorne - I was under the impression that the people, in regards to skin tone and appearance, were based of the Spanish? If so, why does the majority of fan art seem to draw them (and lots of fan castings) with an Indian/middle eastern appearance? I noticed that they also have typically Indian clothing (sari and veil) and jewellery - is this true for their intext descriptions?

Hi. So this is a controversial subject, not least of which because GRRM has said in extra-textual comments that he imagined the Martells as “Greek, Spanish, Italian, Portugese”. I think this is a situation where “Death of the author” applies, because I think GRRM’s is obviously wrong here.

I think there is significant evidence in the text that Dornish people, if they existed in the real world, would not be European.

My friend @lyannas has written extensively on this topic, and I highly recommend her posts:

“Dorne’s Not White”

“Dorne is more similar to MENA than India“

These posts on @asoiafuniversity are also good:

POC fans and Western fantasy

A collection of official ASOIAF artwork that portray the Dornish as non-European (this addition by @nobodysuspectsthebutterfly is good too)

The Case for Dorne being Nonwhite

“I’m worried about Oberyn Martell”

Dornish clothing

These posts go through many textual descriptions, so I will leave the quotes to them. I also recommend going through these tags on @asoiafuniversity, because I only linked some highlights above. If you want more, I suggest you look through:

#dorne (there are 14 pages there, go aaaaall the way)

#dornish racism

#racism

Also, many people fancasted Alexander Siddig (who was born in Sudan) as their dream fancast for Doran Martell, loooooong before the show casted him. So that casting / fancast has influenced the way fandom thinks about the Martells.

I’m aware of this comment by GRRM:

In the case of Dorne, yes, Wales was definitely an influence, for all the reasons you cite. But there’s also some distinctly unWelsh elements down there. South of the wall of mountains you have a hot, dry country more like Spain or Palestine than the cool green valleys of Wales, with most of the settlements along the seacoast and in few great river basins. And you also have the flavor given the culture by the great Rhoynar influx led by Nymeria. I suppose the closest real life equivilent to that would be the Moorish influence in parts of Spain. So you could say Dorne is Wales mixed with Spain and Palestine with some entirely imaginary influences mixed in. Or you could just say it’s Dorne….

and I think @lyannas does a good job addressing the “Spain” part in the links I gave above.

(When I think of sandy deserts and armies being engulfed by sand storms, I do not think of southern europe, even if that is what GRRM thinks of.)

Regarding Wales, I’ve talked before about this with my friend @girlwholovesherwords, who is my expert on Wales, and she explained to me that Wales historically had strong female inheritance laws, similar to Dornish female inheritance laws, so I think GRRM’s comment about Wales had more to do with legal traditions than skin tone. (A lot of people like to take GRRM’s Wales comment and use it to whitewash the Dornish, but those people are obviously wrong, when the text describes the Dornish as brown-skinned.)

(@ Gemma, I thought you made a post about this? But I can’t find it? idk if you would like to share your thoughts again if you see this?)

So anyways I think there’s a very strong case to be made that Dornish people most resemble Palestinians, or at least people from the Middle East.

Why do some people imagine the Dornish as southeast Asian rather than Middle Eastern?

Well, for one thing, GRRM told Janina Gavankar, who has Indian ancestry, that she looks like Nymeria Sand. (GRRM fancast Apollonia Kotero, who has Mexican ancestry, as Arianne Martell, so GRRM is kind of … all over the place … with Dorne, and someone needs to tell GRRM that pocs aren’t interchangeable.)

The official art of Sunspear was based on the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, which is in Brunei (southeast asia), while the domed architecture of Sunspear has been compared to Mughal architecture.

The Dornish paint their silk - painted silk is a tradition that originated in east Asia. “Silk painting in India touched great heights during Mughal rule in 17th – 19th centuries.”

When I was first reading ASOIAF, before I became involved in the online fandom, I personally associated Dorne with southeast asia / India for various reasons:

Dornish subcontinent // Indian subcontinent

Dorne becoming part of the Targaryen empire (elitist/racist white people) // India becoming part of the British Empire (elitist/racist white people)

Dornish desire for independence // Indian desire for independence

(Obviously Palestine also has a history of British occupation, I’m just saying that it was India I thought of while reading, rather than Palestine.)

In India, the British made arbitrary distinctions based on colorism // In Dorne, Daeron I arbitrarily divided the Dornish based on skin color (“salty Dornish” and “stony Dornish” and “sandy Dornish”)

Martell princes retaining royal status under Targ rule // Indian princes under British rule

the Ganges as a sacred river of great cultural and life-sustaining significance made me think of both “Mother Rhoyne” in Essos from which the Rhoynar came, and now the Greenblood which the Orphans go up and down in their boats

When someone asks me to think of a snake, the first one that comes to my mind is Kaa from the animated Jungle Book, this is just who I am, ok, that snake scared me as a child. I know that Kaa is a python and Oberyn called himself a viper, I know these things, I’m just explaining how my mind works

Dornish deserts // Indian deserts

Important agricultural products as exports (British really like drinking tea from India // Westeros really like drinking Dornish wine)

food cooked with lots of spices

I’m not saying these are the best associations, I’m not saying these are even all that accurate. I’m only saying that these were the associations I brought to the text as a reader, and these are the associations that shaped my imagination of Dorne as drawing a lot of inspiration from India. In the words of Ursula Le Guin,

As you read a book word by word and page by page, you participate in its creation, just as a cellist playing a Bach suite participates, note by note, in the creation, the coming-to-be, the existence, of the music.

Your reading experience depends on what you bring with you to the text and that shapes how you imagine it, how you create the world inside the book.

So whatever associations and backgrounds and personal experiences readers are bringing to the text, the important thing to keep in mind is that the Dornish aren’t white people, especially when the text describes the Dornish as dark-skinned and “brown” skinned.

I don’t necessarily think it’s wrong if some people want to imagine the Martells as Moroccan, and other people want to imagine them as Palestinian, and other people want to imagine them as Egyptian, and other people want to imagine them as Indian, and still other people want to imagine them as Chilean. (Pedro Pascal was a wonderful Oberyn Martell.) Different people are bringing different things to the text, and they’re “creating” the world of ASOIAF in different ways, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

The other thing to keep in mind is that making quality gifs / graphics / fanart is hard and poc are unfortunately very underrepresented in Western media. Photoshoppers might imagine something really amazing, but not be able to execute it very well, because they’re limited by the movies and tv shows that are already out there. (Fanartists have more flexibility, but they still often need references.) Photoshopping difficulties aren’t an excuse for whitewashing, but it does explain why, for example, gifs/graphics/fanart of Elia often depict her in a saree when she should probably be wearing a more medieval style gown, if we’re going by how GRRM describes Dornish clothing. (The closest thing to a saree in ASOIAF is probably the Ghiscari tokar.)

Finally, I’m white, so my thoughts here might not be the most valuable ones to have in this discussion. I’ve tried to give as many links as possible to poc discussing this topic, but you might want to ask a poc directly what their thoughts are. @lyannas is always very eloquent and insightful, so you might want to send more questions about this to her.

EDIT #1 - Yes, I am aware that medieval Spain was not necessarily white and there was a significant Moorish influence (including people from North Africa) in medieval Spain. That’s why I linked to lyannas’ posts above discussing this issue (did y’all click on all my links??), and that’s why I specifically mentioned Moroccan and Egyptian up above. This ask was in the context of fancasting, ie what ethnicity/race of actors alive today should be fancasted as Dornish.

EDIT #2 - @nobodysuspectsthebutterfly also recommended this post of hers.

@nobodysuspectsthebutterfly replied to your post:

[wales is] only a reference to their guerilla warfare, not their ethnicity

also, for further Wales influence on Dorne: www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/Asshai.com_Forum_Chat

Thanks!

#i received your other asks but i have not gotten to them yet #liashara-river #replies #/#//#dorne #grrm #dornish racism #house martell #lannister thoughts

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newstfionline · 3 years

Text

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Mapping quest edges past 20% of global ocean floor (BBC) The quest to compile the definitive map of Earth’s ocean floor has edged a little nearer to completion. Modern measurements of the depth and shape of the seabed now encompass 20.6% of the total area under water. It’s only a small increase from last year (19%); but like everyone else, the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project has had cope with a pandemic. The extra 1.6% is an expanse of ocean bottom that equated to about half the size of the United States. The achievement to date still leaves, of course, four-fifths of Earth’s oceans without a contemporary depth sounding.

Watchdog: Nursing home deaths up 32% in 2020 amid pandemic (AP) Deaths among Medicare patients in nursing homes soared by 32% last year, with two devastating spikes eight months apart, a government watchdog reported Tuesday in the most comprehensive look yet at the ravages of COVID-19 among its most vulnerable victims. The report from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services found that about 4 in 10 Medicare recipients in nursing homes had or likely had COVID-19 in 2020, and that deaths overall jumped by 169,291 from the previous year, before the coronavirus appeared. “We knew this was going to be bad, but I don’t think even those of us who work in this area thought it was going to be this bad,” said Harvard health policy professor David Grabowski, a nationally recognized expert on long-term care, who reviewed the report for The Associated Press. “This was not individuals who were going to die anyway,” Grabowski added. “We are talking about a really big number of excess deaths.”

Brazil passes half a million COVID-19 deaths, experts warn of worse ahead (Reuters) Brazil’s death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 500,000 on Saturday as experts warn that the world’s second-deadliest outbreak may worsen. Only 11% of Brazilians have been fully vaccinated and epidemiologists warn that, with winter arriving in the southern hemisphere and new variants of the coronavirus circulating, deaths will continue to mount even if immunizations gain steam. Brazil has registered 500,800 deaths from 17,883,750 confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to Health Ministry data on Saturday, the worst official death toll outside the United States.

Spanish prime minister says Catalan separatists convicted of sedition will be pardoned (Washington Post) Calling it a “huge step toward reconciliation,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said his cabinet on Tuesday will approve pardons for nine separatists from Catalonia who were convicted of sedition for their role in a 2017 independence bid. The decision, opposed by a slight majority of Spaniards as well as the country’s Supreme Court, will mark the biggest political shift from the central government toward Catalonia since the chaotic referendum on independence four years ago. The move is aimed at defusing tensions in what has become Spain’s greatest political crisis since the transition to democracy after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975. For some Catalans, the nine jailed leaders have become an emotional symbol for what they say is a right denied by Madrid to choose their region’s destiny. But it is unclear how dramatically the pardons will change the dynamic. Some pro-independence figures in Catalonia say the only proper peace offering is full amnesty—which would strike the crimes from the record, something that the pardons will not do.

Berlin expands bike lanes as COVID cycling boom continues (Reuters) Berlin is making permanent the extra bike lanes it added during coronavirus lockdowns as it seeks to support the cycling boom that started in the pandemic. The German capital has marked about 25 km (15 miles) of extra "pop-up" bike lanes since COVID-19 hit in 2020 as commuters switched to cycling to avoid crowded public transport. Other European cities—like Paris and London—have also been adding bike paths. The German Cyclists Association (ADFC) says bike traffic rose by 25% in Berlin due to the temporary lanes and the pandemic.

Russians’ return boosts Turkish tourism prospects (Reuters) Thousands of Russian tourists began arriving in Turkey on Tuesday, boosting hopes for its tourism sector after a two-month suspension in flights imposed by Moscow due to concerns about a surge in COVID-19 cases in April. Turkey’s tourism prospects have been revived by a sharp fall in daily coronavirus cases to around 5,000 from a peak of more than 60,000 two months ago, as well as an acceleration in vaccinations to more than 1 million a day. The first plane arrived in Antalya from Moscow around dawn, carrying 132 passengers. Some 12,000 Russians were expected to arrive on 44 planes in the Mediterranean tourist hub of Antalya on Tuesday, state-owned Anadolu news agency said.

Iran president-elect takes hard line, refuses to meet Biden (AP) Iran’s president-elect staked out a hard-line position Monday in his first remarks since his landslide election victory, rejecting the possibility of meeting with President Joe Biden or negotiating Tehran’s ballistic missile program and support of regional militias. The comments by Ebrahim Raisi offered a blunt preview of how Iran might deal with the wider world in the next four years as it enters a new stage in negotiations to resurrect its now-tattered 2015 nuclear deal with global powers.

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily could shut under government pressure (Washington Post) In the 26 years since its founding, Hong Kong’s Apple Daily newspaper has been unrestrained in its criticism of the Chinese Communist Party and unwavering in its support for the pro-democracy movement. It has survived multiple raids, boycott campaigns and the arrest of its founder, Jimmy Lai, under the draconian new national security law. But now with its assets frozen by the Hong Kong government, the Chinese-language Apple Daily could cease operations as soon as Friday. The news outlet is unable to pay staff members or vendors and will be forced to close if the government declines to release its funds—shuttering the territory’s largest independent newspaper. “It is more than surreal to see,” said Ed Chin, a hedge fund manager and longtime Apple Daily columnist. “These so-called executors of the national security law—they have lost it. They are destroying the autonomy of Hong Kong.” The fate of Apple Daily and its chief editor, top executives and founder Jimmy Lai—all either detained or arrested under the national security law and facing life in prison—are emblematic of the staggering changes underway in Hong Kong. Freedoms guaranteed in Hong Kong’s Basic Law, including freedom of speech and the press, have become secondary to Beijing’s will as it re-engineers the once-autonomous territory and uses the new law to force subservience.

Australia’s runaway mouse plague targets prisons, forcing mass evacuation (Washington Post) Hundreds of prisoners at Wellington Correctional Center in Australia’s New South Wales state are being forced to move out of the facility as officials scramble to repair the damage caused by mice chomping through cables, scurrying across ceiling panels and embedding in the building’s walls. Corrective Services New South Wales Commissioner Peter Severin confirmed that “vital remediation work” needed to be carried out at the jail, which is located about four hours from Sydney, along with a thorough clean and review of the prison’s infrastructure. An estimated 420 male and female prisoners will be relocated over the next 10 days, along with at least 200 staff members. Pest control services have been summoned to remove the dead creatures from the walls, which authorities say is sending a potent stench into the air. Australia has a mouse problem. A plague, in fact. A mass invasion occurs every decade or so, wreaking havoc across communities and destroying the crops and stock of farmers who are worried about what the future holds for their livelihoods.

In times of crises, Lebanon's old must fend for themselves (AP) Tiny and bowed by age, Marie Orfali makes the trip five times a week from her Beirut apartment to the local church, a charity and a nearby soup kitchen to fetch a cooked meal for her and her 84-year-old husband, Raymond. Their only support—Raymond’s $15,000 one-time end-of-service payment from when he retired more than 20 years ago—long ago ran dry. They have since depended on charity to cover almost everything: rent, cleaning supplies, pain killers and food for their white dog Snoopy. But charity covers less and less as Lebanon’s currency collapses. The cash they get from a benefactor and the church every month, once amounting to $400, is now barely worth $40. The 76-year-old Marie broke down in tears when asked how she’s doing. With virtually no national welfare system, Lebanon’s elderly are left to fend for themselves amid their country’s economic turmoil. In their prime years, they survived 15 years of civil war that started in 1975 and bouts of instability. Now, in their old age, many have been thrown into poverty by one of the world’s worst financial crises in the past 150 years. Lebanon has the greatest number of elderly in the Middle East—10% of the population of 6 million is over 65.

Palestinians, settlers clash in tense Jerusalem neighborhood (AP) Palestinians and Jewish settlers hurled stones, chairs and fireworks at each other overnight in a tense Jerusalem neighborhood where settler groups are trying to evict several Palestinian families, officials said Tuesday. The threatened evictions fueled protests and clashes in the runup to last month’s 11-day Gaza war and pose a test for Israel’s new governing coalition, which includes three pro-settler parties but is hoping to sideline the Palestinian issue to avoid internal divisions. The Red Crescent emergency service said its crews treated 20 Palestinians, including 16 suffering from pepper spray and tear gas and others wounded by rubber-coated bullets. Two other people were wounded, including an elderly man who was hit in the head, it said. The eruption of violence is the latest friction in Sheikh Jarrah, where weeks of unrest captured international attention ahead of the 11-day Israel-Hamas war last month. The cease-fire took effect on May 21, but the long-running campaign by Jewish settlers to evict dozens of Palestinian families continues.

They disappeared after encounters with Nigeria’s security forces (Washington Post) Her last sighting of her son was in a photo on social media. His eyes were shut. His face was covered in blood. He was dead. Now Ndifreke Ibanga is tormented by a recurring nightmare: her 26-year-old weeping. Victor’s soul will not rest, she worries, until his body is found. Victor is one of the hundreds of civilians who rights groups say are killed or disappear each year after encounters with Nigerian security forces—and one of more than a dozen still missing after a demonstration against police brutality in the city of Lagos in October. Some vanish after being taken into custody; others, like Victor, are presumed dead after public confrontations with police or soldiers. The families of victims are haunted by a singular question: What happened to their bodies? Local rights groups and international watchdogs have long accused Nigerian forces of carrying out extrajudicial killings and disappearing the corpses. Many are never found. But some are. Interviews with family members and friends of Nigerians who disappeared in similar circumstances shed light on a gruesome pattern: As a result of intense search efforts, or happenstance, or both, the bodies of their loved ones turned up at mortuaries and anatomy labs, nameless and without an easy explanation of how they arrived—or how they died.

#headlines #news

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westsemiteblues · 7 years

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This guy is a professor at Rutgers. This is Jasbir Puar’s coworker, BTW. Untangle the threads of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism here, I dare ya.

A Rutgers University professor has published multiple social media posts containing antisemitic canards and caricatures, including blaming the Armenian genocide on Jews, describing Judaism as “the most racist religion in the world,” and calling Israel a “terrorist country.”

As first reported by the Israellycool blog, Michael Chikindas — a microbiology professor at Rutgers’ department of food science and director of the school’s Center for Digestive Health — promoted dozens of anti-Jewish conspiracies and comments on his Facebook page this past May, among them references to “international fat Jewish pockets,” and descriptions of “orthodox Judaism” and Zionism as “the best of two forms of racism.”

In one post, Chikindas claimed, “Israel is the terrorist country aimed at genocidal extermination of the land’s native population, Palestinians,” and added: “we must not forget that the Armenian Genocide was orchestrated by the Turkish Jews who pretended to be the Turks.”

He argued that Israel was failing in this attempted “extermination” mainly “because of the number of the Jews of ‘alternative’ sexual orientation (25% of the Tel Aviv inhabitants are gay/lesbians and Israel has more of these than the Netherlands).”

In an earlier post, Chikindas wrote “that Israel, the country of the Jews and for the Jews, has one of the highest percentage of gays in the world.”

The professor also called Judaism “the most racist religion in the world” and shared an interview with Christopher Bollyn, a conspiracy theorist who has claimed American Jews and Israel orchestrated the 9/11 attacks.

Chikindas’ Facebook timeline is filled with images depicting classic antisemitic libels, including a graphicsuggesting Jews — portrayed by the Happy Merchant, a caricature of a hook-nosed Jewish male with a kippah — control the Federal Reserve, Hollywood, the “cancer industry,” “pornography,” “wars for Israel,” and “sex-trafficking,” among other things.

Another image featured the Jewish caricature — representing Israel — being carried by American soldiers and saying, “I am God’s chosen people, you filthy goyim.” A third cartoon showed a Jewish man with a large, hooked nose and a yellow “Jude” star on his suit jacket stealing money from a hungry American boy, and exclaiming, “be a patriot, goy! Somebody’s got to pay 10 billion to Israel.”

Other images depicted an Israeli flag overlaying the White House; accused Zionists of playing “the Anti-Semitism Card”; quoted former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters leveling charges of “apartheid” against Israel; and expressed supportfor the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign.

Chikindas also published multiple posts referring to women — including Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev, First Lady Melania Trump, and President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka Trump — as “b**ches” and in some cases “sl*ts.”

After sharing an article claiming to expose the “global elite,” he wrote, “These jewish motherf*****s do not control me. They can go and f**k each other in their fat a***s — you see, I really do not have anything to loose (sic), hence nothing to be controlled.”

In an interview with The Algemeiner on Tuesday, Chikindas rejected accusations of antisemitism, indicating that he was once married to and had a child with a Jewish woman, and had some 25 percent Ashkenazi Jewish lineage himself.

When read comments he made about Judaism, Chikindas pointed to the Talmud — a text containing Jewish law and tradition — which he claimed features racist and supremacist passages, as well as to “extremely degrading racist messages” he said he received on YouTube from accounts with Hebrew-language handles.

These messages — written in Russian, sent from “Jews who were originally from Russia,” and containing vulgar, personal insults, according to Chikindas — were provided as further evidence of the religion’s supposed racism.

Chikindas also said that he was open to having a “civilized” discussion on these issues, and claimed that his postings did not violate any of Facebook’s policies.

Neal Buccino, a spokesperson for Rutgers, told The Algemeiner that “Professor Michael Chikindas’ comments and posts on social media are antithetical to our university’s principles and values of respect for people of all backgrounds, including, among other groups, our large and vibrant Jewish community. Such comments do not represent the position of the University.”

He added that while Rutgers respects the free speech rights of its faculty members, it also seeks to “foster an environment free from discrimination, as articulated in our policy prohibiting discrimination.”

“The university is reviewing this matter to determine if actions taken in the context of his role as a faculty member at Rutgers may have violated that policy,” Buccino added.

This is not the first time that a professor at Rutgers — New Jersey’s largest publicly-funded research university — was caught making comments that were criticized for being antisemitic.

Jasbir Puar, an associate professor of women’s and gender studies at Rutgers, has come under fire for comments she made at a 2016 faculty-sponsored event at Vassar College, where she repeated allegations that the bodies of “young Palestinian men … were mined for organs for scientific research,” according to a transcript of the talk provided by the Vassar alumni group Fairness To Israel.

She asserted at the time that Israel’s actions could be called a “genocide in slow motion,” and said, “We need [the boycotts, divestment and sanctions movement] as part of organized resistance and armed resistance in Palestine as well.”

In a 2015 essay, Puar also wrote that “Palestinian trauma is overshadowed” because “Israel in particular and Jewish populations in general have thoroughly hijacked the discourse of trauma through exceptionalizing Holocaust victimization.”

Mark G. Yudof, former president of the University of California and current chairman of the Academic Engagement Network (AEN), and Kenneth Waltzer, executive director of AEN, wrote in response to Puar’s 2016 comments, “Wild charges against Israel have often been aired on U.S. campuses over the past several years, and their moral perversity pointed out. But Ms. Puar’s calumnies reached a new low.”

“Characterizing Israel and Zionism in ways that anti-Semites formerly characterized Jews has become a stock in trade among anti-Israeli activists on college campuses,” they added.

Puar is set to publish a new book through Duke University Press next month, which argues that Israel seeks to injure and maintain “Palestinian populations as perpetually debilitated, and yet alive, in order to control them.”

The article has been updated to reflect comments by Neal Buccino, a spokesperson for Rutgers University.

#antisemitism #anti-semitism #jasbir puar #homonationalism #pinkwashing #armenian genocide #holy fuck I am so done #rutgers #michael chikindas

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nataliesnews · 3 years

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Hanna Barag 6.12.2020

By the way this is a loose translation by Google and myself.

My friend wrote on her post:

Yesterday, Saturday, I took part in a demonstration in Balfour every week. I parked my car on Sokolov Street as after many weeks of experience I knew would be easiest to get home.

On my way to the demonstration I came across a group of 5 guys with kippot and payot who decided that I was a lousy left-wing prostitute. The achievement is not small for an 85-year-old woman, 1.45 cm and 42 kilos !!! Since my first years at the checkpoint, I have not received such a "compliment" -!!! I continued on to the demonstration , as every week. There were police there in every hook and cranny and in the most unbelievable crowds of them all along all the streets around the demonstration. Four of whom on horseback accompanied me on my way to the square of democracy. Beautiful horses that will soon become wild animals – as befits a police horse.

I demonstrated along with many others . After about two hours I decided it was time to go home. I went down to Sokolov Street and there I met a huge border policeman who shouted at me, "Ma'am, you can not go here." I continued to walk a few more steps, not as a defiance but because I did not think there was a problem in a street that was completely empty. . "Mrs. Are you deaf?" I'm not deaf although at my age hearing is no longer what it used to be - it's true !. I stopped "Yes, what's the matter." "You can’t walk here”

" "What?" "You do not understand?" "Here is my car, I want to leave".

"Idiot ( loose translation of a word meaning clogged)You do not understand what I am saying.?"

"I understand very well, but I'm trying to explain to you that here's my car - it's the gray Hyundai standing here."

“ Supid woman !!! It is forbidden""

I said, “Sorry, why does not your name appear, I want your name and rank "(truth, maybe for the first time in a long time I was a little scared, after all I am barely David and he is the size of two Goliaths. And most importantly - he has the power).

Then a policeman in blue shouted “Let the lady go to her car.”

Then, albeit quietly the key to the whole story appeared, “Go, you stinking leftist. All of you are liars and you have no car.”

To my shame I stopped for a moment, thought for a moment and went home. And if I did not know before what sort of police we were dealing with, I received a simple explanation that ended without further violence.

Me: Just as well she controlled herself. Last week a woman in her sixties was dragged along the ground at a demonstration and practically stripped of her clothing.

And now for the mundane;

I find walking in the demonstrations a bit frustrating now. There are fewer people. People are now demonstrating on the bridges as the procession of cars come up to Jerusalem, in their own neighborhoods, the cold and let’s face it ….the gradual wearing away of demonstrating without seeing any difference. I would like to ask all those who are still cheering Bibi if they are still working or simply enjoying the benefits of the unemployment, how many have lost their businesses. I understand that in the months to come they will have to start paying back the benefits how they will then feel. Now I can not keep us and I do not want people to feel that they have to stay behind because of me. I have to fight with them to go on as I have not problem being alone. But on the other hand it is pointless to walk not in the procession. There is one lady who is very active and I am in contact with her. This Saturday there are to be four different routes but I will go to the nearest one.

In Nofim the restrictions are becoming more and more illogical. Let me stress that I keep to the rules even those which I think there is no logical reason for. They are last put up some extra meeting places but one has to arrange with the social worker to receive guests, only two at a time, for one hour and no food or even coffee and now they also have the receptionist filling in extra hours making sure that only those who have made arrangements with the social worker come in. Soon they will probably call in the secret service too. The most stupid of these restrictions is that if you sleep out one night you have to isolate yourself for two weeks. In other words I can during the day or night go on the buses and the light train which are packed with people who cannot keep social distance, I can go to the mall if I want to, I can meet with however many friends I want ….and I can eat with them or drink and that is fine. But if I go to a friend out of town even if I get a lift and sleep over and am only with her or maybe one or two other people I have to isolate. The stupid comment from the director is how do I know what you are doing when you are not in Jerusalem!!! The holy city. He now is trying to be very nice to me but besides saying good morning I do not speak to him. I despise him for giving in to complaints about me which he knows there is no legal basis for. I lost all respect for him anyway during the Corona panic when he skulked in his house even after his period of isolation ended and he left 4 of our staff to deal with all the problems. He and the head of the council who wags his tail also gave me no support when the head of the cleaners charged me an exorbitant amount.

My credit card was hijacked and I had to tear it up and wait for a new one. Everyone knows how efficient our postal service is. Without thinking I ordered Gett and only afterwards realised that the ride had not been paid for. I explained to them that I do not have a second credit card.....which I have now ordered in case of such an emergency, and that for me it is a problem either to go to the bank or pay through the net. I asked if a friend could pay for me and how to do this. They informed me today that they had cancelled my debt, that the driver had received his payment and that I could once more order for which I will pay cash until the card arrives Thank you Gett. If before I used you because it was convenient , I will now use you because you are considerate and understanding…..and that for once I have something good to report

This statue was removed by the police …I wonder why? No wonder the flag looks tattered

It was done in the dead of the morning…and on the news no one seems to know where it was taken…..Destroyed?

And to “sugar” it all….

Don't Say We Didn't Know 724

The demolition wave in the Occupied Territories persists in full force.

On Wednesday, November 25, 2020, Israeli soldiers came to the Palestinian village Fasail in the occupied Palestinian Jordan Valley, and demolished 2 dwellings of one family and two dwellings under construction of another family. In addition, they demolished structures serving as sheep pens, storerooms and outhouses. At Tel A-Samadi (near Jiftlik) they confiscated a dwelling shack, an outhouse and a water tank.

On the same day, Israeli soldiers demolished houses in Palestinian villages in the Massafer Yatta area (Firing Zone 918). In Rakiz village they demolished 2 dwellings. In Sarura they demolished an outhouse. At Khalat A-Dhaba they demolished 2 dwellings, an outhouse and a kitchen. At Mughayar Al Abid they demolished a dwelling and an outhouse. Near Jinba they demolished a large water tank and water pipes. They demolished 2 kilometers of water pipe distributing water to villages in the entire area of Massafer Yatta.

***

On Wednesday, November 25, 2020, Israeli government agents escorted by police came to the Negev Bedouin village of Tel Al Maleh, and demolished two houses.

For further information: [email protected]

The paperback edition of the book "Don’t Say we didn’t know" is live in the Amazon Store. It is available for readers to purchase here.

In kindle you can read it for free.

#Hanna Barag 6.12.2020

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pregnantinpalestine-blog · 7 years

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Mothering Communally.

Last week I posted our blog on a Facebook mom’s group I am a part of. It is a community of mothers in Victoria, BC who have had babies born in 2016. It is a confidential place to ask questions, express frustration and share joys. It exemplifies the way technology can actually bring people, who may not have otherwise connected, together.

There was a lot of response to the blog, namely encouraging words. Some expressed they thought we were brave for traveling so far/long with our baby, some were inspired and excited about their own upcoming travels, some said they were happy to be informed about the situation here that they did not have much previous knowledge.

Why am I telling you this? Well it illustrates a number of things. First of all, the power of community. I often encouraged by the comments on this group and feel loved by a league of (mostly) strangers. I think (and sometimes write) about the extreme sense of community that we have experienced here in Palestine. Though a different type than a group of new mothers on Facebook, we have experienced the power of community in its ability to transcend cultural, religious and schema differences. The feeling of being welcomed into a group of people is definitely a good one, whether it be mother’s online or Palestinians face to face.

Secondly, I can really relate to some of what the mum’s are posting about back in Victoria. Only I am currently living an entirely different lifestyle over 10,000km away. As a first time mom I have the same questions that are border line embarrassing to ask, or can laugh at stories similar to our own experience, or feel for a mother who is overtired and needing some extra support. I am sure a lot of the mum’s in Palestine could relate to some of these posts too.

Thirdly, it highlights that it is easy to get caught up in our own lives. While we may be super concerned that our child’s sleeping pattern has changed or that they haven’t started crawling yet, here another mother, though probably worried about the same things, might also be concerned that her child’s sleep space might be demolished. I am not writing this to diminish the issues that trouble us in Canada, but only seek to encourage people to have open eyes that seek to learn about the problems of those in other worlds as well.

That was a long introduction to write about the joys and struggles of being a mother in Palestine to our little goose. Being a mother in Palestine is both so similar and also very different. Some examples…

Leaving her with a babysitter for the first time: Presumably, like many other first time parents of a young child, there came a time when we had to leave Anaija with a babysitter. We most often take her with us wherever we go, from restaurants to soccer sidelines to yoga class, she is our little buddy. Of course both Landon and I have been away from her (together) at the same time, but that happened organically. This event was planned, and naturally we felt a little trepidacious. The reason for the babysitter, is perhaps unique, but that angst of leaving your child isn’t. Either way, there was absolutely no chance she could come with us; the event was a demonstration on Nakba day, where we marched from Bethlehem to the wall. We knew with almost complete certainty that, although the demonstration is non-violent, Israeli Occupation Forces would be firing tear gas, rubber bullets and perhaps live ammunition; an environment that would be lethal and unsafe for an infant. So we left Anaija with our dear friend, and it worked out perfectly; Landon inhaled gas and stayed close to the front of the demonstration, I stayed far back (running shoes on) away from the gas, and Anaija slept and played with our friend. For all she knew, we went out for a nice lunch… Disclaimer: there is absolutely no way that our friends would have let us go to the demonstration with Anaija; their love for her is so abundant and care for her well-being so profound that at times it feels like she is the safest baby in the world (in the middle of a refugee camp in occupied Palestine). That juxtaposition is not lost on us!

Flexibility and predictability: We feel very fortunate that Anaija is so chill! The first 2 months of her life were a different story, and like many other first time parents, you don’t really have a benchmark to compare her against. We tried not to complain, even after completely sleepless nights, because we figured: “this is parenting.” We’ve heard it from our parents and countless other parents: “parenting can be the greatest joy, but most difficult challenge of your life.” So, when Anaija cried constantly for the first 2 months, we reassured each other, if billions of other people can do this, so can we. Then, when she was 8 weeks old, everything changed. She stopped crying (unless there was a predictable reason), started sleeping through the night soon after and became a generally “easy” baby! Given our initial experience, I think it is important to express the profound differences between the two Anaijas. Quite simply, some baby’s are more difficult than others, and we feel very lucky that she has given us so much sleep and so few problems over the last 4 months. If we’d tried to travel during the first two months, we’d have seen the inside of a lot of hotel rooms, but been too exhausted to get out. Anaija recognized early on, days are more fun if you get a good nights sleep!

The first fall: You hear the stories of babies falling off the couch or bed, or bonking their head on the ground when learning to sit solo, and I always knew the day would come that something similar would happen to Anaija. Of course, it did. Landon had just started playing in a soccer game, with Anaija safely babbling in her car seat on the sidelines, waiting for me to get there as I was coming back from a run. When I got there, Anaija and I continued watching the game. Landon subbed off the field and both of us were sitting on a step, with Anaija beside us in her seat (without the belt on). All of a sudden we heard Anaija’s ‘hurt’ cry, and we were horrified to see that she had flipped face forward onto the field, the car seat now on top of her. Instantly (I didn’t know how fast my reflexes could be until this moment), we picked her up and began consoling the panicked baby, checking her for any real injury or signs of concussion. Eventually she calmed down and napped in my arms, tired from the trauma she had just endured. Thankfully, she was fine and the face plant only resulted in some scratches on her nose and a bit of a fat lip. Oh, and a nice surprise in her diaper two days later… turf beads.

Growth and change: Babies grow and change at alarming rates. When we spend everyday with Anaija, however, it is more difficult to recognize these changes than for people who don’t see her all the time. I am so excited for our loved ones at home to spend time with Anaija at this happy, giggly, smiley, interactive, rolly, not-yet-crawling stage. She is definitely physically growing, her hips (legs) don’t lie. She is still only breastfeeding, as we didn’t want to be introducing foods in Nepal, where the water is not safe to drink and food related bacterial infections are common. Anaija is developing in other ways too. She easily grabs things and is learning to control her gross and fine motor skills. But let’s be real, she still spazzes all the time, fluttering her hands like a crazy bird, but hey, we are making progress. She loves to move and jump in the Jolly Jumper for long periods of time and rolls over. And over. And over again. Landon and I rejoice in all of her developments, often looking like ‘those parents’, who oogle and aww at their baby. We definitely have all eyes for her. And today? She got her first tooth, somehow making us the proudest parents in all the land.

All of these Anaija examples could be written by a Palestinian mother. Or a Nepali father. Or Canadians like us. More and more traveling with our little one makes me realize how much I value community, not only for the help and support it can provide, but also because life is better when joys are shared. I am super grateful that I get to ‘mother’ communally with others; seeking wisdom from parents who have done it before, comfort from a group of women doing it now, exposure to other ways of doing it from mothers and fathers abroad, and love and support from my partner. That is what I call a blessed mama.

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