>It may seem counterintuitive to suggest that, on (fake) Labor Day, (LETS GO MAY DAY) we devote our attention to a subset of the American population who should not be working, or at least not working in jobs that are entirely inappropriate for them. Children. > >According to the Department of Labor, the number of minors involved in documented child labor violations (not including the ones that are never reported) increased a mind-boggling 472% between 2015 and 2023, with teenagers working late night shifts, too many hours and working in hazardous environments. > >It's not hard to speculate that, as labor shortages have worsened in this country, employers are turning to those under 18 to fill those gaps. > >It's not supposed to be this way.

Victoria Britain is back, baby! Don't let yourself get Oliver Twisted over the fact, Guv'nah! Now get out of school and get back in the factories! !brandon

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Palestinian Factions Sign Beijing Declaration on Ending Division and Strengthening Palestinian National Unity 2024-07-23 18:49

On July 23, 2024, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi attended in Beijing the closing ceremony of the reconciliation talks of Palestinian factions and witnessed the signing of the Beijing Declaration on Ending Division and Strengthening Palestinian National Unity by 14 Palestinian factions.

In his remarks, Wang Yi noted that since entering the new era, President Xi Jinping has put forward proposals and propositions on addressing the Palestinian question, contributing Chinese wisdom and solution for addressing the question. Now, 14 Palestinian factions are gathering in Beijing with the greater good of their nation in mind. This is an important historical moment in the Palestinian liberation cause. China commends the reconciliation efforts made by all the factions, and congratulates them on the success of the Beijing dialogue and the signing of the Beijing Declaration.

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Wang Yi pointed out that only when Palestinian factions speak as one can the voice of justice be loud and clear, and only when they join hands and march forward shoulder to shoulder can they succeed in their national liberation cause. The most important consensus from the Beijing talks is to achieve the reconciliation and unity among the 14 factions; the core outcome is the affirmation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the sole legitimate representative of all Palestinian people; the biggest highlight is the agreement on establishing an interim government of national reconciliation focusing on the post-conflict reconstruction of Gaza; and the strongest call is for truly establishing an independent State of Palestine in accordance with relevant U.N. resolutions. The key to the Palestinian reconciliation process is to bolster confidence, keep to the right direction, and make incremental progress. Only by making continuous efforts to build consensus and put it into practice can the reconciliation process yield more and more substantive progress and greater unity. Reconciliation is the internal affair of Palestinian factions, and cannot happen without international support. On the path toward reconciliation, China shares the same direction and destination with Arab and Islamic countries.

Wang Yi noted that the Palestinian question is at the core of the Middle East issue. China never has any selfish interests on the Palestinian question. China was among the first countries to recognize the PLO and the State of Palestine. China all along firmly supports the Palestinian people in restoring their legitimate national rights. We value fairness and advocate for justice. At present, the Gaza conflict drags on, its spillovers continue to spread, and multiple regional conflicts are interconnected. To help get out of the current conflict and predicament, China proposes a three-step initiative:

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The first step is to achieve comprehensive, lasting and sustainable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as soon as possible, and ensure access to humanitarian aid and rescue on the ground. The international community should build more synergy for ending the hostilities and establishing a ceasefire.

The second step is to make joint efforts toward post-conflict governance of Gaza under the principle of “Palestinians governing Palestine.” Gaza is an inseparable, integral part of Palestine. Restarting post-conflict reconstruction as soon as possible is an urgent priority. The international community needs to support Palestinian factions in establishing an interim national consensus government and realizing effective management of Gaza and the West Bank.

The third step is to help Palestine become a full member state of the U.N. and get down to implementing the two-State solution. It is important to support the convening of a broad-based, more authoritative, and more effective international peace conference to work out a timetable and road map for the two-State solution.

Ceasefire and humanitarian rescue are pressing priorities. “Palestinians governing Palestine” is the basic principle for the post-conflict governance of Gaza. The two-State solution is the fundamental way forward. The international community should support the parties in taking the three steps in real earnest.

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Wang Yi noted that intra-Palestinian reconciliation will bring hope and a future to the Palestinian people. It is an important step toward resolving the Palestinian question and achieving peace and stability in the Middle East. Unwavering efforts must be continually made in this direction. China sincerely hopes that Palestinian factions will achieve reconciliation and, on that basis, realize independent statehood at an early date. We will strengthen communication and coordination with the relevant parties and make joint efforts for the implementation of the Beijing Declaration.

Head of the Fatah delegation Mr. Mahmoud al-Aloul and head of the Hamas delegation Mr. Musa Abu Marzouk delivered remarks on behalf of the Palestinian factions. They noted that China holds an important place in the heart of Palestinian people, and expressed sincere appreciation for President Xi Jinping and China’s unchanging, firm support and selfless assistance to Palestine over a long period of time. They spoke highly of China’s acting as a responsible major country and upholding justice for Palestine in international fora. They expressed deep appreciation for China’s strong support for intra-Palestinian dialogue and reconciliation. They stated their readiness to implement the consensus, strengthen unity among factions, advance the reconciliation process, and work for an early solution to the question of Palestine.

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Diplomatic envoys to China or their representatives from Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Russia and Türkiye as well as representatives from 14 main Palestinian factions attended the closing ceremony.

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LONG LIVE THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA AND LONG LIVE COMRADE XI JINPING

I can't for the life of me remember what it is, but I remember hearing it 4-5 years ago. It goes along the lines of making fun of sectarians who go "I'm the one true communist/socialist/anarchist/something, follow me to revolution"

I'm interested to see what they're releasing since they've had so much time to really let their brain juices simmer. I hope it's tasty

https://archive.is/U26c8

Seriously this the first time I've ever heard of this. I'm even asking around and everyone's going !jesse-wtf reactions

At the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska, in 2019, the Israelis successfully tested an anti-ballistic missile system that intercepts weapons in space. Now, in the Israel-Hamas War, it’s finally being used in battle, pushing military conflict above the atmosphere.

>Kodiak Island is better known for its salmon-guzzling grizzly-bears than its rockets. But the forested Alaskan isle, separated from the mainland by the Shelikof Strait, has had a small commercial spaceport since 1998. Kodiak’s Pacific Spaceport Complex is intended for launching small satellites into polar orbit and got its start as the country’s first commercial spaceport. More famous facilities, like Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Vandenberg Space Force Base, are government-operated spaceports. Yet the majority of the 31 launches that have taken place at Pacific Spaceport Complex since its opening have, in fact, been for the military or government, including one foreign one: Israel. The shift towards supporting launches by the men in black has frustrated many of Kodiak’s residents, as I discovered when I visited the island last month. > Why is there a spaceport on Kodiak Island? > >Kodiak might seem an unlikely spot for launching satellites into orbit. Spaceports are generally built closer to the equator to take advantage of the additional thrust provided by the Earth, which spins faster in the middle. Since the entire planet rotates once every 24 hours, objects on the equator are advancing 1670 km per hour. Those halfway to the North or South Pole are moving a mere 1170 km per hour, or 30 percent slower. Consequently, more rocket fuel is needed to launch from poleward locations to achieve the whopping speed of 40,270 kilometers per hour necessary to achieve escape velocity. > >This advantage of equatorial launch sites, however, is negated when trying to launch into polar orbit. Polar orbits are used by satellites performing Earth observation or reconnaissance missions that image the entire planet. Each time a polar-orbiting satellite circles the Earth, it passes over the North or South Pole, providing full planetary coverage. Polar orbits are becoming increasingly popular as both governments and commercial firms seek to provide up-to-date satellite imagery of the entire planet. > >Some northern countries and states like Alaska are hoping that satellite operators might turn to spaceports located in the world’s northern latitudes to reach polar orbits. Among them are not only the Pacific Spaceport Complex, but other other up-and-coming competitor spaceports like Andøya in northern Norway, Esrange in northern Sweden, and SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland, in the northernmost bit of the United Kingdom. > >Despite the seeming advantages of polar spaceports, many of the commercial actors that the Pacific Spaceport Complex has sought to attract have swallowed the extra fuel costs of launching from the south and transported their rockets and satellites to spaceports like southern California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. These are much closer to major infrastructure and engineering facilities in places like Los Angeles and don’t require arranging complicated, expensive logistics to transport material to the Arctic or sub-Arctic by plane or barge. The cold waters around Kodiak Island make for some of the world’s richest fish and crab stocks, as made famous in the television show Deadliest Catch, but are notoriously harsh for boats. The turbulent weather around the Emerald Isle also means that rain, fog, and wind all challenge the reliability of the airport for satellite operators, which often have short windows in which to prepare and undertake missions. > >The difficulties that the Pacific Spaceport Complex has encountered in attracting market share means that only nine of their 31 launches have been orbital. The rest have been suborbital launches, or those that fly into space but do not reach escape velocity and return to the atmosphere before fully orbiting Earth. While these might sound less than spectacular, military conflict is rapidly evolving in suborbital space, with one key innovator at the helm: Israel. > >Anti-intercontinental ballistic missile testing on Kodiak > >In July 2019, three suborbital launches went soaring into the blackness of space over the inky waters of the Gulf of Alaska surrounding Kodiak. These launches had one purpose: to test the Israel Defence Ministry’s Arrow 3 Interceptor Missile System. The state-of-the-art technology built by Israel Atmospheric Industries and troubled U.S. aerospace company Boeing employs “exoatmospheric hypersonic anti-ballistic missiles,” which can intercept and destroy incoming long-rang missiles above the atmosphere. The system provides a top layer of defense that complements Israel’s more famous “Iron Dome”, which shields the country from rockets and bombs fired closer to the ground. > >Between 2008-2021, the U.S. government contributed $1.27 billion to Israel’s Arrow 3 program. Its support for Israel’s Arrow system has been consistent, with development first beginning in 1986. In 2004, the Naval Air Station Point Mugu Missile Test Center in southern California hosted tests of Arrow 2, which uses an explosive to destroy incoming medium- to long-range missiles. In contrast, Arrow 3 destroys incoming long-range missiles through interception alone in the exoatmosphere, or the region just above the Earth’s atmosphere. They must be designed to operate in a vacuum, requiring complicated engineering to deal with low pressure [1]. > >In June 2017, during a Congressional hearing, U.S. Vice Admiral James Syring explained the role that Kodiak would play in testing Arrow 3: > >Admiral Syring: Yes, sir. We are close partners with Israel on development of their systems, system engineering in particular, and testing support also. And I have been intimately involved with them on David's Sling and Arrow, the more recent version of Arrow 3. And, frankly, that interceptor is now up into the exoatmosphere, and it has significant range constraints within the Mediterranean. And one of the better places to test is in Alaska, from Kodiak, and we plan to do that next year. > >Mr. Coffman: Okay. So the Arrow 3 is designed to defeat the over-the-horizon capability of the Iranians. Am I correct in that? > >Admiral Syring: Sir, it is designed to defeat the exoatmospheric ballistic missile threat from Iran. > >In other words, given the crowded airspace around the Mediterranean, Israel was unable to test Arrow 3 to its full capacities. Moshe Patel, director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization, said in March 2019 during a panel discussion in Washington, D.C.: “Arrow 3 is too big for the state of Israel…It is supposed to be good against nuclear threats that are coming from Iran. (But) we have limitations in our arena to conduct flight tests because of safety.”

(Continues in comments)

That said

I know this is like asking if there's any hens living in the foxes house, but I'm asking if any of you nerds knows anything because I've been asked by some of my international contacts if I knew of the existence of any korean groups that don't fucking suck or are filled with ghouls in the D.C area if they send a delegation there.

So far I got https://koreapeacenow.org/ and one of their coalition members https://www.womencrossdmz.org/ on my list of "they may have a presence there"

Math hard

Link if you feel like inflicting psychic damage on yourself this morning

https://x.com/KateGoesTech/status/1799093238445576693

Alternative title: Trotskyite gets put in charge, tries to push communism button, finds out the material conditions of a fucking ice age may not be conducive to declaring a final victory of the 5th internationale over Stalinism in a videogame.

My favorite quote in the article

> Everyone was incredibly happy with me and all my kept promises right up until the coal ran out, which I'd kind of stopped paying attention to as I got ensnared in a thicket of political manoeuvring and ideology. I wasn't overwhelmed—the game does a good job of not bombarding you with too much information and mechanical complexity, and Stokalski says it's a conscious effort by the devs to make sure you're never "doing notes, doing maths on the side just to not die"—I'd just gotten wrapped up in ideas without paying much heed to material reality.

Very nice and a bit psychedelic

The article does ask a good question on the sort of conundrum that could become an identity crisis thst fire emblem has rode itself into with the steady inclusion of social aspects in their games ever since Awakening.

Personally I would be in favor of keeping the model they developed in 3 houses while refining it further with the game mechanics they developed in engage. I'd also like to keep the whole marriage and matchmaker aspect that we saw in awakening and fates out unless they figure out how to tastefully weave it into the storyline.

And while it would take too much gamedev time to implement it, it would be interesting to whether or not its possible to blend and synergize the fire emblem strategy game aspect with some of the musou aspects they've been lately dabbling in. I'm thinking akin to how the Total War series handles army battles but making the choices of how to play each battle as being either classic turn-based tactical mode or going full musou hack'n'slash nonsense as options for gameplay.

If you feel like subjecting yourself to 20d20 psychic damage, click the link below.

https://x.com/DarthPutinKGB/status/1791802212596773336

I rolls 20d20 and got 245 points of damage with two of the die being nat-20s dealing critical damage.