@quinfero / quinfero.tumblr.com
HP provide computer hardware to the Israeli army and maintain data centers through their servers for the Israeli police. They provide the Itanium servers to operate the Aviv System, the computerized database of Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority.
Source: Sofiasamarah Instagram.
Akiko Ooishi is a member of the House of Representatives. She is a politician in Reiwa Shinsengumi and is both a co-representative and policy council chairperson in this political party. Here, she shows solidarity with Palestine and calls out the mass genocide being committed by Israel.
I also just learned Reiwa Shinsengumi is a progressive, left-wing party founded in 2019. They are anti-establishment, anti-nuclear, and support minority rights. They also want to raise the minimum wage, implement laws protecting free education, disability rights, LGBTQ rights, to name a few. I just did a little research, and by no means is this encompassing but I hope to learn more.
Also, when she told someone to be quiet, I love her for that ✊🏻❤️
IOF soldiers killed their own people on October 7
I'm so glad. Sorely needed indeed.
"On Tuesday [November 7], election results poured in and within minutes of polls closing, it became apparent that Democrats were going to have a good night. Kentucky's Governor Andy Beshear surged ahead, despite the over $2 million in anti-trans ads deployed against him. As the evening progressed, Democrats clinched victories in numerous contests, including taking control of the House and Senate in Virginia, securing a pivotal Pennsylvania Supreme Court seat, affirming a constitutional right to abortion in Ohio, and capturing mayoral positions in several municipalities. Another narrative began to emerge, though: the overwhelming defeat of Moms For Liberty and anti-trans school board candidates across the country, including pivotal districts like Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Loudoun County, Virginia—areas critical to the 2024 election landscape. After championing a significant anti-trans agenda in 2023 and proposing more legislation against the LGBTQ+ community than the past decade, Republicans running on that platform faced unexpected and widespread defeats.
The most intense scrutiny over transgender issues was seen in Kentucky, where Governor Andy Beshear faced a barrage of more than $2 million in anti-trans advertisements from the American Principles Project. These ads included a spot titled “Real Man,” featuring Lia Thomas and anti-trans swimmer Riley Gaines. Other ads insinuated that Beshear would covertly assist children in gender transition and sanction surgeries for trans minors as young as nine, despite no evidence of such procedures being performed on young transgender youth in the state. This followed Governor Beshear's veto of legislation prohibiting all gender-affirming care for transgender youth, including hormone therapy and puberty blockers, which was overridden by the state’s Republican supermajority. Notably, Beshear secured his position by a substantially larger margin than in 2019. Moreover, in 2019, the very same organization launched a significant anti-trans advertisement against Beshear, which similarly did not tip the scales. It appears that Kentucky's electorate has grown increasingly opposed to such tactics targeting transgender individuals in the state...
Governor Beshear’s reelection would be the first sign of what was to become a long night for anti-trans Republicans. In Virginia, where Glen Youngkin heavily pushed a controversial “model school policy ” that mandated discrimination against transgender students, Democrats took both the House and the Senate. Transgender candidate Danica Roem became the state’s first openly transgender senator. These victories occurred despite Governor Youngkin’s team prioritizing policies targeting transgender people in sports in flyers handed out at political rallies for Republicans in the state.
The rejection of measures aimed at transgender students was starkly evident in the defeat of school board candidates endorsed by Moms For Liberty and those who advocated for policies against transgender students. In Virginia, by Wednesday [Nov 8.] morning, five out of six school board candidates supported by Moms For Liberty were trailing in their races. In Loudoun County, a critical battleground in the debate over transgender policies, Democrats gained a 6-seat majority on the school board. This district had been at the center of national attention, spotlighted by conservative media following a sexual assault incident involving a purportedly transgender student—a claim for which there was no substantiated evidence.
Triumphs for school board candidates advocating for transgender rights extended beyond Loudoun County. In Albemarle County, Justice Scalia's daughter, Meg Scalia Bryce, was defeated in her bid for the local school district board. Her campaign was marked by opposition to transgender rights and anti-"CRT" rhetoric. Meanwhile, in Fairfax County, where the school board declared its refusal to enforce Governor Youngkin's policies directed at transgender students, right-leaning candidates in favor of Youngkin’s policies were unsuccessful as Democrats swept every seat. This election was deemed a critical indicator of the "parental rights" movement’s targeting of trans students. In the Livingston school district, the incumbent Kirk Twigg was unseated following his controversial proposal to burn LGBTQ+ books.
The narrative of candidates aligned with Moms For Liberty suffering electoral defeats played out nationwide. In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, an electoral bellwether, Democrats clinched every seat on the Central Bucks School Board election results. This race became one of the costliest in U.S. history for a school board, with campaign spending reaching $600,000. The district was a battleground over book ban and anti-trans policies...
This pattern repeated itself across the nation. In Pennsylvania's Central York School District, Democrats overturned the previously Republican-held school board amidst controversies over book bans and anti-LGBTQ+ policies that led to packed school board meetings. A similar victory for Democrats unfolded in Perkiomen Valley School Board, which saw national attention over a trans bathroom ban in schools there; Democrats swept this race on Tuesday. Similarly, in Iowa's Linn-Mar School District, a focal point for national conservative media due to debates over transgender student policies, all three Moms For Liberty-endorsed candidates were defeated. This trend was echoed throughout Iowa, with 12 out of 13 such candidates facing losses. In Kansas, Johnson County voters rejected all candidates from the group in school board elections. And in Minnesota's Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District, all four contenders were unsuccessful.
Book bans around LGBTQ+ books were a major losing issue in the 2023 elections. This was most evident in Pella, Iowa, where a ballot initiative would have given county officials the ability to ban books from the library after the library chose to keep “Gender Queer” in stock. The town, which had voted +35 for Donald Trump in the 2020 elections, rejected the ballot initiative.
Several other candidates supporting transgender people won their races. In Pennsylvania, Judge Daniel McCaffery was elected to the state supreme court. He has been a vocal ally of the LGBTQ+ community. In New Jersey, Democrats flipped multiple Republican seats and held onto competitive seats. In one hotly contested race in a competitive district, Democrat Vin Gopal defeated a Republican challenger running on trans people in schools. Similar narratives unfolded in contested races cross the country.
This is not the first time Republicans have lost on trans issues. In 2022, similar results unfolded: In Georgia's senate race, Herschel Walker's focus on anti-trans swimmer Riley Gaines did not resonate with voters, as evidenced by Senator Warnock's win. Similarly, Arizona, Kari Lake's emphasis on Governor Hobbs' husband's counseling of a transgender youth did not sway the election in her favor. Across the country, anti-trans campaigns consistently failed to deliver Republican victories last year, from Michigan's Democratic sweep to the Wisconsin Supreme Court election and Pennsylvania's legislative races. These outcomes were so striking that Michigan's Republican chair attributed their losses across all government branches to prioritizing anti-trans issues over economic concerns. Many were watching to see if, after relentlessly targeting transgender people in 2023, this pattern would change...
While political analysts have largely centered their post-election discussions on the influence of abortion rights, the significant role of LGBTQ+ rights in the 2023 elections has not received its due attention. Overlooking the sweeping defeats of anti-trans candidates at the local level and the surge of voter turnout driven by student-led organizers would be to overlook a pivotal narrative of the 2023 elections—a narrative that could carry profound implications into 2024. For the students and transgender youth witnessing the downfall of numerous anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ figures, the sense of relief is palpable and undeniable."
-via Erin in the Morning, on Substack, November 8, 2023
Ridley Scott, regarding his new Napoleon movie, is being aggressively defensive about its inaccuracies with historians. He's gone on record saying "When I have issues with historians, I ask: ‘Excuse me, mate, were you there? No? Well, shut the fuck up then.’" This is a classic argument of people with no idea how historians do their work, how historical accuracy is determined and evaluated, and - in Ridley Scott's case in particular - how important it is to properly portray historical accuracy in other media.
The reason why Ridley Scott is being so aggressively dismissive of complaints about historical accuracy is due to past beef leading to a problem he likely has.
This is a movie that, by din of being touted as a 'nonfiction' movie about a historical figure, is basing much of its marketing on historical accuracy by default. The trailers show it's not, and reviews by historians say it is riddled with dozens if not hundreds of inaccuracies. Napoleon's portrayal is frankly a surface level depiction and nowhere near the nuance that historians were hoping for.
Scott's defensive about it. He need not be. If he had a historical consultant then he could go "I'm not an expert on the time period, but I have someone who is, ask them about it" and fob them off on his movie's historical consultant. It's a whole Thing. He doesn't have one, however, so he has to defend it personally.
You see, Ridley Scott probably didn't hire a historical consultant for Napoleon. The last time he had one - Kathleen Coleman for Gladiator - she was so upset over the inaccuracies he pushed through and how little her work affected the film, she requested her name be taken off of it.
Why this is important is because so many more people will watch a movie made by Ridley Scott than I or any other person could write. More people will watch Scott's Napoleon in the States than five hundred books about Napoleon combined worldwide.
More people watched Dunkirk than ever read a book about the Evacuation of Dunkirk. The movie Breaker Morant did so much for public perception about the execution of a genuine war criminal people in Australia still on occasion call for a pardon for Morant.
Fundamentally, mass media like movies will always have more impact of a popular perception about somebody, a time period, an event. That's why Ridley Scott making an inaccurate movie and going 'oh, you weren't there, you didn't see it with your own eyes, so how could you know, I don't have to listen to you' is a problem.
UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurance company in the US, is allegedly using a deeply flawed AI algorithm to override doctors' judgments and wrongfully deny critical health coverage to elderly patients. This has resulted in patients being kicked out of rehabilitation programs and care facilities far too early, forcing them to drain their life savings to obtain needed care that should be covered under their government-funded Medicare Advantage Plan.
It's not just flawed, it's flawed in UnitedHealthcare's favor.
That's not a flaw... that's fraud.
I work in healthcare, and let me tell you, NO ONE denies care as much, as often or as blatantly badly as UHC. Not a one. It's known in the industry to be one of the worst insurance carriers around. DO NOT sign up for UHC this or any other open enrollment period. (I work in rehab and the things they deny are basic and hugely important to quality of life)
Instead of a training ground for oppression, Atlanta is becoming a training ground for resistance
[Video description: A hundred or so activists, many in white coveralls or neutral clothing, march with banners, signs, and flags to the sound of syncopated drums and bells. End ID]
"the disinformation is so bad on both sides" 37 reporters in gaza have been literally murdered, 2 have had their families murdered, others have been arrested and the rest are operating under a power and telecommunications blackout. everyone else consists of citizen journalists and everyday gazans sharing horrifying accounts from friends and family who are in a state of panic and terror after being relentlessly bombed and under siege for over a month
meanwhile the esteemed western journalists in their big fact-checking corporations are embedded with the idf that shares a minimum of 3 easily-disproved "this tweet has been deleted" propaganda lies daily while simultaneously firing and silencing journalists who show any tendency to humanize palestinians
this is not mere disinformation on both sides and presenting it as such bc some ppl on twitter and tiktok share edits using footage from previous wars in gaza or syria or yemen (because there is such a wealth of images of middle-eastern children being killed) without confronting the primary reason for the lack of verifiable information, which is israel's assault on the truth, is deeply disingenuous elitist racist bullshit
Israel may never recover from its post-October 7 economic collapse. The Palestinian resistance managed not only to destroy Israel's internal security perception, but also to erect significant risk barriers for foreign investors.
On 6 November, the Financial Times published an extraordinary investigation tracking the devastating economic toll of Israel's war on Gaza - its impact reverberating across personal finances, job markets, businesses, industries, and the Israeli government itself.
The FT reports that the war has disrupted and ravaged “thousands” of companies, many teetering on the brink of collapse, with entire sectors plunged into an unprecedented crisis.
Data cited from Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics reveals a bleak reality – one in three businesses have either shuttered or are operating at 20 percent capacity since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood commenced on 7 October and punched a hole in Israeli national confidence.
More than half of businesses face revenue losses surpassing the 50 percent mark. The southern regions, closest to Gaza, bear the brunt, with two-thirds of businesses either closed or functioning “to a minimum.”
Adding to the crisis, Israel's Labour ministry reports that 764,000 citizens, close to a fifth of Israel's workforce, are jobless due to evacuations, school closures mandating childcare responsibilities, or reserve duty call-ups.
On Monday, Bloomberg put numbers to the economic impact of Tel Aviv's military belligerence: The Gaza war has cost the Israeli economy almost $8 billion to date, with a further $260 million in losses incurred with every day that passes. [...]
In a bitter irony of the war on Gaza, multiple Israeli construction projects have temporarily ground to a halt as they primarily relied on exploiting Palestinian laborers. The FT reports that Zionists “are upset at the sight of Arab workers holding heavy tools,” so they “don’t want to have Palestinian workers there.” Such disenfranchisement comes despite many businesses being reduced to pleading for donations to remain afloat.
Consider Atlas Hotels, a boutique chain that opened its 16 facilities across the apartheid state to evacuees “displaced” by Palestinian freedom fighters. Desperation led them to implore suppliers, overseas contacts, customers, and even their own staff for financial support.
A senior executive grilled by the FT openly admitted if such income was unforthcoming, the company was finished. Given that Israeli consumer spending has plummeted since the war began, the same is undoubtedly true of many firms dependent on discretionary spending for survival. [...]
Despite persistent efforts throughout 2022 to revive tourism, October saw a massive 76 percent year-on-year decline. The onset of Al-Aqsa Flood further decimated travel, with daily flights to and from Ben Gurion Airport plummeting from 500 to a mere 100.
By contrast, in October 2022, international arrivals exceeded 370,000. With no end to the war in sight, and Zionist settlers themselves fleeing in droves, it seems unlikely Tel Aviv will become a popular holiday destination again anytime soon. [...]
Just two weeks after Al-Aqsa Flood erupted, the organization issued a study on damage to Israel’s tech sector, once a source of national pride and joy, and a bellwether for its prosperity more generally. The findings were stark.
Even at that early stage, SNPI forecast a rapidly impending “economic crisis whose force is still unknown” based on its survey. In all, 80 percent of Israeli tech firms reported damage resulting from the country’s worsening “security situation,” while a quarter recorded “double damage, both in human resources and in obtaining investment capital.”
Over 40 percent of tech companies had investment agreements delayed or canceled, and just 10 percent were “managing to have meetings with investors” at all. [...]
Another reason for the Israeli tech sector’s failure, unmentioned by SNP - but investigated by The Cradle on 13 October - is the exposure of Tel Aviv’s electronic surveillance and warfare system vulnerabilities by Al-Aqsa Flood. [...]
This bullish judgment is based on the 2014 assault on Gaza costing just 0.3 percent of Israeli GDP, or around 8 billion shekels in today’s money. Moreover, that military effort did not enduringly disrupt financial markets, or cause “sharp fluctuations” in Tel Aviv’s stock exchange in the short or long term. SNPI concluded that the same impact, or lack thereof, could, therefore be assumed regarding today's Operation Swords of Iron against Gaza.
Yet, the unprecedented scale of Al-Aqsa Flood, which forced the mobilization of 360,000 Israeli troops, in addition to the intensification of military skirmishes on the northern front with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and enduring economic devastation, challenges the applicability of the Protective Edge scenario. In 2014, 7a mere 5,000 soldiers were mobilized in an Israeli Occupation Force military action lasting just 49 days. [...]
Operation Al-Aqsa Flood has achieved surprising successes, challenging established security measures and potentially signaling the beginning of a larger unraveling of the Zionist project. The risks for Israel have never been higher. Tel Aviv's settler-colonial economy, reliant on the subjugation of Palestinians, may be facing a precarious future, possibly marking the next domino to fall in this unfolding scenario.
United Auto Workers sit-down strike (1936)
this strike won them a 5% pay increase and the right to talk during lunch, in case you needed a reminder that if capital had its way your worklife would be entirely dystopian
This seems topical again.
“…and the right to talk during lunch…”
Think about the bastardly* boss-worker attitude of THAT.
*It’s a word now.
In case it wasn't already blaringly obvious, Israel cutting all outside connections to Gaza is more proof that what they are doing is wrong. If they were just trying to "defend" themselves then they wouldn't need to hide what they are doing. They are silencing the people of Gaza, taking away the last life line they had, making it far too easy to look away.
Don't.
Al Jazeera still has some connection to their journalists, share what they are reporting. If anyone has any links to other people/accounts/anyone that is still managing to reach out of Gaza, please share, it is more important than ever to amplify Palastinian voices.
Nov 17th, 12:25 GMT
As Israel continues its raid of al-Shifa Hospital, the director of al-Shifa says the medical compound has become a “big prison” and a “mass grave” for all those inside.
Muhammed Abu Salmiya tells Al Jazeera that there are 7,000 people in the hospital and staff are still working to help patients but they “lost all those who were in the intensive care unit”.
“We are left with nothing, no power, no food, no water. with every passing minute, we are losing a life. Overnight we lost 22 persons, [and] for the past three days the hospital has been kept under siege,” Salmiya said.
He added that they have appealed to leave the hospital but are being denied by Israeli forces.
“It’s a war crime. A full-fledged war crime,” he said.
Trevorspace.org
This is the new site to go to.
I want to make sure everyone knows that there were thousands of people gathered to demand the ceasefire amendment be passed. We were there for hours. Four days ago, over a million Britons from all over the United Kingdom gathered in London to march in support of Palestine, the largest protest since 2003.
The votes tonight do NOT reflect the British public. We have made our desire for a ceasefire and an end to Israel's oppressive regime VERY clear, and our UNelected politicians (we did NOT vote for these people, party leadership has changed hands without our consent) do NOT represent us. We are outraged, disgusted, and furious about this.
Please, do not see these votes as reflective of Britains people. These are the votes of a corrupt, unelected, unwanted ruling class.
naoki urasawa and yoneyama mai on drawing older men
To anyone wondering if it's worth it to tear down fascist posters or whatever. I spent a few months last year engaged in silent battle with another student at my school who was putting anti trans stickers up everywhere. I had it down to a system where every night I would walk the five block radius they went up in, and tear down all the ones I could reach, and use a stick to put duct tape over the others. Like, within hours of the stickers going up, I would have already purged the whole zone. I knew the basic schedule of whoever put them up based on when and where the stickers appeared. I probably could have found them in person if I'd wanted to. And I told all my classmates and friends what the stickers looked like and got them to rip them down too. And after a few months of this, the stickers slowed, and then stopped forever.
My point is, a lot of this fashy or right wing stuff is one local weirdo. And if you pay attention, and do a little light organizing with your friends, you can basically make their efforts into a giant sisyphisean exercise in misery. You control your streets!
"homosexuality is unnatural! there's only two genders! it's a sin-"
I'm sorry, have you seen NATURE???
and there's so many more species than this that exhibit homosexuality, varying genders, etc. SO! MANY!
it's very much a natural thing. it always has been. unfortunately, while homosexuality is found in many species, homophobia is only found in one
ALSO THE ARTIST IS HUMON, FIND THEM AT HUMONCOMICS.COM!! was so sure I had included that but apparently I forgot, so sorry!
