VPD Officer Was Quietly Investigated over an Abusive Relationship with Teen | The Tyee
A brief mention of an abusive relationship between a Vancouver police officer and a teen he met at school in a recent police watchdog report shows a need for more transparency around the identities of officers who commit misconduct, says a civil liberties advocate.
Without knowing the officer’s name, the public has no way of knowing if he went on to work with another police department or to work with young adults, said Meghan McDermott, policy director with the BC Civil Liberties Association.
“Where is he now? He might be working as a member of the RCMP somewhere and he might be in a school in the Okanagan. We don’t know,” McDermott said.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2025/12/12/VPD-Officer-Investigated-Abusive-Relationship-Teen/
How Zionists Invented 'Terrorism'
Since the Zionist entity’s 21st century Holocaust in Gaza began, Israeli officials, pundits, journalists, and their Western opposite numbers have endlessly invoked the sinister spectre of “terrorism” to justify the industrial-scale slaughter of Palestinians. It is due to the purported threat of “terrorism”, twice-failed US Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton representatively wrote for The Atlantic in November 2023, “Hamas must be permanently erased.” Annihilated hospitals and schools, and civilians slaughtered en masse, are legitiate “collateral damage.” Such is the unparalleled evil of “terrorists.”
Yet, the relentless stream of heart-rending clips documenting the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) Holocaust deluging social media feeds the world over, and the ever-ratcheting child death toll, has compelled countless citizens the world over to ask, “if Hamas are terrorists, then what are Zionists?”. Similar questions were posed during the Empire’s long-running “War on Terror”. Then, the purported global threat of “terrorism” was exploited throughout the West to savage civil liberties and demonise Muslims at home, while waging relentless, criminal “interventions” abroad.
Mainstream usage of the term “terrorism” precipitously plummeted thereafter. It is only now regaining popular currency due to the Gaza genocide. This is no accident. Zionists - specifically Israel’s veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu - were fundamental to concocting mainstream conceptions of “terrorism”, explicitly to delegitimize anti-imperial struggles, while validating Western state violence directed at oppressed peoples across the Global South. The impact of this informational assault can be felt in every corner of the world today - not least Gaza.
‘First Strike’
One might reasonably conclude the specific foundations of Nakba 2.0, which continues to unfold in grisly real-time right now, were laid decades ago, as a result of the connivances of Netanyahu, the international Zionist lobby, and US Central Intelligence Agency. What follows is the little-known history of how “terrorism” came to be. A majority of the world’s population - the Palestinian people in particular - live with the monstrous consequences of this subterfuge every day.
Our story starts in 1976, at the peak of détente between the US and Soviet Union. After nearly three decades of bitter enmity, the two superpowers finally resolved to peaceful coexistence. Moscow and Washington readily collaborated to systematically dismantle structures and doctrines that defined the immediate post-World War II era, such as Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.).
In May that year, the CIA produced its annual National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), a comprehensive report combining data from various intelligence agencies, intended to be a basis for crafting US foreign policy. In keeping with the past five years, the NIE concluded the Soviets were in severe economic decline, favoured diplomacy over conflict, and desperately sought an end to the Cold War. Such findings motivated Washington’s push for détente, and Moscow’s eager acceptance of major disarmament and arms control treaties.
However, newly-appointed CIA director George H. W. Bush categorically rejected the NIE’s conclusions. He sought a second opinion, so constructed an independent intelligence cell to review the Estimate’s findings. Known as Team B, it was composed of hardcore Cold Warriors, defence industry-funded hawks, and rabid anti-Communists. Among them were several individuals who later became leading figures in the modern neoconservative movement, such as Paul Wolfowitz. Also present were infamous CIA and Pentagon dark arts specialists, professionally ostracised due to détente.
Team B duly rubbished each and every one of the NIE’s conclusions. Rather than dilapidated, impoverished and teetering on total collapse, the Soviet Union was, in fact, more deadly and dangerous than ever, having constructed a vast array of “first strike” capabilities right under the CIA’s nose. To reach these bombshell conclusions, Team B relied on a confounding hodgepodge of peculiar logical fallacy, paranoid theorising, crazed conspiratorial conjecture, unsupported value judgments, and amateurish circular reasoning.
For example, Team B repeatedly assessed that a lack of evidence Moscow possessed weapons systems, military technology, or surveillance capabilities comparable or superior to Washington’s own was inverse proof the Soviets were in fact posessed of such capabilities. Moscow’s innovations were just so sophisticated and innovative, Team B rationalised, they couldn’t be detected or even comprehended by the West. Team B’s analysis was confirmed to be total fantasy after the USSR collapsed. Yet, its unorthodox methods informed all subsequent NIEs throughout the Cold War, and likely endure today.
Then, on June 27th 1976, mere weeks after Team B set to work reigniting the Cold War, Air France Flight 139, en route to Paris from Tel Aviv, was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Redirected to a Ugandan airport, the plane was greeted on the runway by Idi Amin’s military, who ushered the passengers - the majority being Jewish or Israeli - into the terminal, watched over by scores of soldiers, intended to prevent their escape or rescue.
The hijackers relayed a demand to the government of Israel. Unless a ransom of $5 million was paid to them and 53 Palestinian prisoners were released from Zionist entity dungeons, all hostages would be executed. In response, 100 elite IOF commandos launched an audacious action to free the hostages. Their mission – known as the Entebbe Raid – was a stunning success. All but four hostages were rescued alive, and the IOF lost just one commander - Yonatan (Jonathan) Netanyahu, the older brother of Israel’s current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
For years by that point, Israeli officials had attempted to popularise the term “terrorism” to explain the motivations and actions of Palestinian freedom fighters. That way, righteous and legitimate Palestinian fury at Zionist repression could be reframed as a destructive ideology of violence for violence’s sake without rationale, and Western-supported settler colonial tyranny as warranted self-defence. This effort became turbocharged in September 1972, when the kidnapping of 11 Israeli athletes at that year’s Olympics in Munich by Palestinian militants ended with all hostages murdered.
This particularly public bloodshed centred world attention on Israel, leaving Western citizens wondering what could’ve possibly inspired such belligerence. Zionists had hitherto managed to largely conceal their systematic, state-enforced repression and displacement of Palestinians from the outside world. Journalists were kept well away from the scenes of major crimes. At the same time, Amnesty International’s Israeli branch was secretly financed and directed by Tel Aviv’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to whitewash facts on the ground.
For the Netanyahu family, the Entebbe raid was a tragedy - but also an ideal opportunity to validate and internationalise the concept of “terrorism,” as espoused by Zionists. In 1979, Benjamin Netanyahu founded the Jonathan Institute, in honour of his slain brother. Its purpose, he said, was:
“To focus public attention on the grave threat that international terrorism poses to all democratic societies, to study the real nature of today’s terrorism, and to propose measures for combating and defeating the international terror movements.”
In July that year, the Institute convened the Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism (JCIT) in Jerusalem’s Hilton Hotel. It gathered together a 700-strong mob of Israeli government officials, US lawmakers, intelligence operatives from across the ‘Five Eyes’ global spying network, and Western foreign policy apparatchiks. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many representatives of Team B were in attendance. Over four days and seven separate sessions, speaker after speaker painted a disturbing picture of the worldwide phenomenon of “terrorism.”
They unanimously declared that all “terrorists” constituted a single, organised political movement that was being secretly financed, armed, trained, and directed by the Soviet Union. This devilish nexus, it was claimed, posed a mortal threat to Western democracy, freedom, and security, requiring a coordinated response. Eerily, as academic Diana Ralph later observed, the JCIT’s collective prescription for tackling this purported menace was precisely what transpired just over two decades later during the War on Terror:
“[This included] pre-emptive attacks on states alleged to support ‘terrorists’; an elaborate intelligence system apparatus; slashed civil liberties, particularly for Palestinians targeted as potential terrorists, including detention without charge, and torture; and propaganda to dehumanize ‘terrorists’ in the eyes of the public.”
Israel’s then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin addressed the JCIT’s opening session. He set the tone by claiming Western state violence was ultimately “a fight for freedom or liberation” and, therefore, fundamentally opposed to “terrorism.” He concluded his remarks by imploring the assembled throng to go forth and promote the conference’s message once it was over. Which they did.
‘Insufficient Evidence’
Among JCIT’s attendees was American author and journalist Claire Sterling, who cut her teeth as a reporter decades earlier at the Overseas News Agency, an MI6 propaganda operation seeking to boost US public support for entering World War II. Following the conference, she frequently amplified the claims of JCIT speakers in articles for prominent newspapers, leading to an epic March 1981 front-page exposé in The New York Times - Terrorism: Tracing The International Network.
A book published later that year, The Terror Network, expanded significantly on Sterling’s oeuvre, firmly cementing the notion of Moscow as a grand spider sat in the middle of a vast, globe-spanning web of deadly political violence in the Western public mind. It caused a sensation upon release, receiving rave reviews from major news outlets, being translated into 22 languages, and becoming a bestseller in several countries.
The Terror Network had a particularly potent impact on newly-inaugurated President Ronald Reagan and his CIA chief William Casey. Committed anti-Communists, they entered office desperately seeking a pretext for brutally crushing left-wing, nationalist opposition to US imperialism in Latin America. Sterling’s work provided ample ammunition for achieving that bloodsoaked objective and was key to the White House decisively shattering détente, a process begun by Team B five years earlier.
Consequently, The Terror Network was circulated among US lawmakers and heavily promoted overseas on the Reagan administration’s dime. Casey furthermore tasked the CIA with verifying its thesis. They quickly assessed Sterling’s work to be irredeemable garbage, ironically enough, as it was heavily influenced by Agency black propaganda. Enraged, Casey demanded the evaluation be revised. An updated appraisal was less scathing, but nonetheless stressed the book was “uneven and the reliability of its sources varies widely,” while “significant portions” were “incorrect.”
Still dissatisfied, Casey asked a CIA “senior review panel” charged with scrutinising Langley’s formal estimates to write its own report on the subject. They concluded the Soviets did offer limited financial, material and practical assistance to a handful of anti-imperial Global South liberation movements, some of which Western powers labelled “terrorists”. But there was “insufficient evidence” of Muscovite culpability for the entire global phenomenon of “terrorism,” let alone funding and directing such activities and/or entities as dedicated policy.
Undeterred, when Casey personally delivered the report to Reagan, he allegedly said of its findings, “of course, Mr. President, you and I know better.” So it was CIA-backed death squads ran roughshod across Washington’s “backyard” throughout the 1980s, in the name of neutralising alleged Soviet influence in the region. Their actions were heavily informed by the Agency’s guerrilla warfare manual, which encouraged assassinations of government officials and civilian leaders and deadly attacks on “soft targets” such as schools and hospitals. “Terrorism”, in other words.
‘We Are All Palestinians’
Another example of Reagan’s “terrorism” was sponsoring Afghanistan’s Mujahideen resistance fighters in their battle with – ironically enough – the Soviet Red Army. This policy endured after the “Evil Empire” was vanquished. The same militants were transported by the CIA and MI6 to Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, to aid and abet Yugoslavia’s painful, forced death.
When these covert actions produced “blowback” in the form of the 9/11 attacks, several individuals who attended the JCIT, and their acolytes, were elevated to the Bush administration due to their supposed “terrorism” expertise. Meanwhile, with public and state-level fears of “terrorism” ramping up significantly the world over, many Western countries turned to Israel for advice and guidance on how to tackle the issue. As Nentyahu bragged in 2008:
“We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq.”
This was not only because 9/11 “swung American public opinion in [Israel’s] favour.” In a blink, Zionist repression and slaughter were transformed from a source of international embarrassment and obloquy into a compelling sales pitch and unique selling point for Tel Aviv’s welter of “defence” and “security” firms. The Occupied Territories became laboratories, their inhabitants test subjects, upon whom new weaponry, surveillance methods, and pacification techniques could be trialled by the IOF, then marketed and sold overseas.
It is not for nothing that graphic videos showcasing IOF “surgical strikes” on Palestinians, their homes, schools, and hospitals are proudly displayed at international arms fairs, while private demonstrations of invasive surveillance tools such as Pegasus routinely wow repressive foreign security and intelligence agencies behind-closed-doors.
On top of a significant financial benefit, there is a diplomatic dividend too. Israel secures invaluable censure-stifling goodwill from customers, therefore permitting the Zionist project of permanently purging Palestine of its indigenous inhabitants to persist untrammelled. While the streets of almost every major Western city have regularly teemed with pro-Palestine fervour ever since the entity’s attack on Gaza began in October 2023, protesters’ elected representatives are at best silent, at worst actively complicit.
Impassioned chants of “We are all Palestinians!” have been a frequent fixture at these events. This rallying call is highly apposite, for in addition to expressing sympathy and solidarity with the Palestinian people, it is urgently incumbent upon us all to reflect upon how the very same techniques and technologies of control and oppression to which they have been so cruelly subjected daily for decades are now firmly trained on us as well, as a result of Israel’s invention of “terrorism.” It is no exaggeration to say Palestinians are canaries in the coalmine of humanity.
How Zionists Invented 'Terrorism'
Editor’s Note: This investigation was previously published by MintPress News, a crusading independent media outlet well worth your time, and consideration.Kit Klarenberg (Global Delinquents)
How Zionists Invented 'Terrorism'
Crossposted from: lemmygrad.ml/post/10043786
How Zionists Invented 'Terrorism'
Since the Zionist entity’s 21st century Holocaust in Gaza began, Israeli officials, pundits, journalists, and their Western opposite numbers have endlessly invoked the sinister spectre of “terrorism” to justify the industrial-scale slaughter of Palestinians. It is due to the purported threat of “terrorism”, twice-failed US Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton representatively wrote for The Atlantic in November 2023, “Hamas must be permanently erased.” Annihilated hospitals and schools, and civilians slaughtered en masse, are legitiate “collateral damage.” Such is the unparalleled evil of “terrorists.”Yet, the relentless stream of heart-rending clips documenting the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) Holocaust deluging social media feeds the world over, and the ever-ratcheting child death toll, has compelled countless citizens the world over to ask, “if Hamas are terrorists, then what are Zionists?”. Similar questions were posed during the Empire’s long-running “War on Terror”. Then, the purported global threat of “terrorism” was exploited throughout the West to savage civil liberties and demonise Muslims at home, while waging relentless, criminal “interventions” abroad.
Mainstream usage of the term “terrorism” precipitously plummeted thereafter. It is only now regaining popular currency due to the Gaza genocide. This is no accident. Zionists - specifically Israel’s veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu - were fundamental to concocting mainstream conceptions of “terrorism”, explicitly to delegitimize anti-imperial struggles, while validating Western state violence directed at oppressed peoples across the Global South. The impact of this informational assault can be felt in every corner of the world today - not least Gaza.
‘First Strike’
One might reasonably conclude the specific foundations of Nakba 2.0, which continues to unfold in grisly real-time right now, were laid decades ago, as a result of the connivances of Netanyahu, the international Zionist lobby, and US Central Intelligence Agency. What follows is the little-known history of how “terrorism” came to be. A majority of the world’s population - the Palestinian people in particular - live with the monstrous consequences of this subterfuge every day.
Our story starts in 1976, at the peak of détente between the US and Soviet Union. After nearly three decades of bitter enmity, the two superpowers finally resolved to peaceful coexistence. Moscow and Washington readily collaborated to systematically dismantle structures and doctrines that defined the immediate post-World War II era, such as Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.).
In May that year, the CIA produced its annual National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), a comprehensive report combining data from various intelligence agencies, intended to be a basis for crafting US foreign policy. In keeping with the past five years, the NIE concluded the Soviets were in severe economic decline, favoured diplomacy over conflict, and desperately sought an end to the Cold War. Such findings motivated Washington’s push for détente, and Moscow’s eager acceptance of major disarmament and arms control treaties.
However, newly-appointed CIA director George H. W. Bush categorically rejected the NIE’s conclusions. He sought a second opinion, so constructed an independent intelligence cell to review the Estimate’s findings. Known as Team B, it was composed of hardcore Cold Warriors, defence industry-funded hawks, and rabid anti-Communists. Among them were several individuals who later became leading figures in the modern neoconservative movement, such as Paul Wolfowitz. Also present were infamous CIA and Pentagon dark arts specialists, professionally ostracised due to détente.
Team B duly rubbished each and every one of the NIE’s conclusions. Rather than dilapidated, impoverished and teetering on total collapse, the Soviet Union was, in fact, more deadly and dangerous than ever, having constructed a vast array of “first strike” capabilities right under the CIA’s nose. To reach these bombshell conclusions, Team B relied on a confounding hodgepodge of peculiar logical fallacy, paranoid theorising, crazed conspiratorial conjecture, unsupported value judgments, and amateurish circular reasoning.
For example, Team B repeatedly assessed that a lack of evidence Moscow possessed weapons systems, military technology, or surveillance capabilities comparable or superior to Washington’s own was inverse proof the Soviets were in fact posessed of such capabilities. Moscow’s innovations were just so sophisticated and innovative, Team B rationalised, they couldn’t be detected or even comprehended by the West. Team B’s analysis was confirmed to be total fantasy after the USSR collapsed. Yet, its unorthodox methods informed all subsequent NIEs throughout the Cold War, and likely endure today.
Then, on June 27th 1976, mere weeks after Team B set to work reigniting the Cold War, Air France Flight 139, en route to Paris from Tel Aviv, was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Redirected to a Ugandan airport, the plane was greeted on the runway by Idi Amin’s military, who ushered the passengers - the majority being Jewish or Israeli - into the terminal, watched over by scores of soldiers, intended to prevent their escape or rescue.
The hijackers relayed a demand to the government of Israel. Unless a ransom of $5 million was paid to them and 53 Palestinian prisoners were released from Zionist entity dungeons, all hostages would be executed. In response, 100 elite IOF commandos launched an audacious action to free the hostages. Their mission – known as the Entebbe Raid – was a stunning success. All but four hostages were rescued alive, and the IOF lost just one commander - Yonatan (Jonathan) Netanyahu, the older brother of Israel’s current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
For years by that point, Israeli officials had attempted to popularise the term “terrorism” to explain the motivations and actions of Palestinian freedom fighters. That way, righteous and legitimate Palestinian fury at Zionist repression could be reframed as a destructive ideology of violence for violence’s sake without rationale, and Western-supported settler colonial tyranny as warranted self-defence. This effort became turbocharged in September 1972, when the kidnapping of 11 Israeli athletes at that year’s Olympics in Munich by Palestinian militants ended with all hostages murdered.
This particularly public bloodshed centred world attention on Israel, leaving Western citizens wondering what could’ve possibly inspired such belligerence. Zionists had hitherto managed to largely conceal their systematic, state-enforced repression and displacement of Palestinians from the outside world. Journalists were kept well away from the scenes of major crimes. At the same time, Amnesty International’s Israeli branch was secretly financed and directed by Tel Aviv’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to whitewash facts on the ground.
For the Netanyahu family, the Entebbe raid was a tragedy - but also an ideal opportunity to validate and internationalise the concept of “terrorism,” as espoused by Zionists. In 1979, Benjamin Netanyahu founded the Jonathan Institute, in honour of his slain brother. Its purpose, he said, was:
“To focus public attention on the grave threat that international terrorism poses to all democratic societies, to study the real nature of today’s terrorism, and to propose measures for combating and defeating the international terror movements.”
In July that year, the Institute convened the Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism (JCIT) in Jerusalem’s Hilton Hotel. It gathered together a 700-strong mob of Israeli government officials, US lawmakers, intelligence operatives from across the ‘Five Eyes’ global spying network, and Western foreign policy apparatchiks. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many representatives of Team B were in attendance. Over four days and seven separate sessions, speaker after speaker painted a disturbing picture of the worldwide phenomenon of “terrorism.”They unanimously declared that all “terrorists” constituted a single, organised political movement that was being secretly financed, armed, trained, and directed by the Soviet Union. This devilish nexus, it was claimed, posed a mortal threat to Western democracy, freedom, and security, requiring a coordinated response. Eerily, as academic Diana Ralph later observed, the JCIT’s collective prescription for tackling this purported menace was precisely what transpired just over two decades later during the War on Terror:
“[This included] pre-emptive attacks on states alleged to support ‘terrorists’; an elaborate intelligence system apparatus; slashed civil liberties, particularly for Palestinians targeted as potential terrorists, including detention without charge, and torture; and propaganda to dehumanize ‘terrorists’ in the eyes of the public.”
Israel’s then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin addressed the JCIT’s opening session. He set the tone by claiming Western state violence was ultimately “a fight for freedom or liberation” and, therefore, fundamentally opposed to “terrorism.” He concluded his remarks by imploring the assembled throng to go forth and promote the conference’s message once it was over. Which they did.‘Insufficient Evidence’
Among JCIT’s attendees was American author and journalist Claire Sterling, who cut her teeth as a reporter decades earlier at the Overseas News Agency, an MI6 propaganda operation seeking to boost US public support for entering World War II. Following the conference, she frequently amplified the claims of JCIT speakers in articles for prominent newspapers, leading to an epic March 1981 front-page exposé in The New York Times - Terrorism: Tracing The International Network.
A book published later that year, The Terror Network, expanded significantly on Sterling’s oeuvre, firmly cementing the notion of Moscow as a grand spider sat in the middle of a vast, globe-spanning web of deadly political violence in the Western public mind. It caused a sensation upon release, receiving rave reviews from major news outlets, being translated into 22 languages, and becoming a bestseller in several countries.
The Terror Network had a particularly potent impact on newly-inaugurated President Ronald Reagan and his CIA chief William Casey. Committed anti-Communists, they entered office desperately seeking a pretext for brutally crushing left-wing, nationalist opposition to US imperialism in Latin America. Sterling’s work provided ample ammunition for achieving that bloodsoaked objective and was key to the White House decisively shattering détente, a process begun by Team B five years earlier.
Consequently, The Terror Network was circulated among US lawmakers and heavily promoted overseas on the Reagan administration’s dime. Casey furthermore tasked the CIA with verifying its thesis. They quickly assessed Sterling’s work to be irredeemable garbage, ironically enough, as it was heavily influenced by Agency black propaganda. Enraged, Casey demanded the evaluation be revised. An updated appraisal was less scathing, but nonetheless stressed the book was “uneven and the reliability of its sources varies widely,” while “significant portions” were “incorrect.”
Still dissatisfied, Casey asked a CIA “senior review panel” charged with scrutinising Langley’s formal estimates to write its own report on the subject. They concluded the Soviets did offer limited financial, material and practical assistance to a handful of anti-imperial Global South liberation movements, some of which Western powers labelled “terrorists”. But there was “insufficient evidence” of Muscovite culpability for the entire global phenomenon of “terrorism,” let alone funding and directing such activities and/or entities as dedicated policy.
Undeterred, when Casey personally delivered the report to Reagan, he allegedly said of its findings, “of course, Mr. President, you and I know better.” So it was CIA-backed death squads ran roughshod across Washington’s “backyard” throughout the 1980s, in the name of neutralising alleged Soviet influence in the region. Their actions were heavily informed by the Agency’s guerrilla warfare manual, which encouraged assassinations of government officials and civilian leaders and deadly attacks on “soft targets” such as schools and hospitals. “Terrorism”, in other words.
‘We Are All Palestinians’
Another example of Reagan’s “terrorism” was sponsoring Afghanistan’s Mujahideen resistance fighters in their battle with – ironically enough – the Soviet Red Army. This policy endured after the “Evil Empire” was vanquished. The same militants were transported by the CIA and MI6 to Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, to aid and abet Yugoslavia’s painful, forced death.
When these covert actions produced “blowback” in the form of the 9/11 attacks, several individuals who attended the JCIT, and their acolytes, were elevated to the Bush administration due to their supposed “terrorism” expertise. Meanwhile, with public and state-level fears of “terrorism” ramping up significantly the world over, many Western countries turned to Israel for advice and guidance on how to tackle the issue. As Nentyahu bragged in 2008:
“We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq.”
This was not only because 9/11 “swung American public opinion in [Israel’s] favour.” In a blink, Zionist repression and slaughter were transformed from a source of international embarrassment and obloquy into a compelling sales pitch and unique selling point for Tel Aviv’s welter of “defence” and “security” firms. The Occupied Territories became laboratories, their inhabitants test subjects, upon whom new weaponry, surveillance methods, and pacification techniques could be trialled by the IOF, then marketed and sold overseas.It is not for nothing that graphic videos showcasing IOF “surgical strikes” on Palestinians, their homes, schools, and hospitals are proudly displayed at international arms fairs, while private demonstrations of invasive surveillance tools such as Pegasus routinely wow repressive foreign security and intelligence agencies behind-closed-doors.
On top of a significant financial benefit, there is a diplomatic dividend too. Israel secures invaluable censure-stifling goodwill from customers, therefore permitting the Zionist project of permanently purging Palestine of its indigenous inhabitants to persist untrammelled. While the streets of almost every major Western city have regularly teemed with pro-Palestine fervour ever since the entity’s attack on Gaza began in October 2023, protesters’ elected representatives are at best silent, at worst actively complicit.
Impassioned chants of “We are all Palestinians!” have been a frequent fixture at these events. This rallying call is highly apposite, for in addition to expressing sympathy and solidarity with the Palestinian people, it is urgently incumbent upon us all to reflect upon how the very same techniques and technologies of control and oppression to which they have been so cruelly subjected daily for decades are now firmly trained on us as well, as a result of Israel’s invention of “terrorism.” It is no exaggeration to say Palestinians are canaries in the coalmine of humanity.
How Zionists Invented 'Terrorism'
Editor’s Note: This investigation was previously published by MintPress News, a crusading independent media outlet well worth your time, and consideration.Kit Klarenberg (Global Delinquents)
Short lines
::: spoiler Transcription
[An IMPORTANT FORM contains a few fields including but not limited to First name, Last name, and Date of Birth]
[A character seems content as they start writing text in the form]
[We now see, the character struggling to fill in the form, as the lines are too short, and having to write their first name in full didn't leave enough space to write their date of birth]
[The character proceeds to rage]
:::
Floodwaters force new evacuation orders in Abbotsford as Highway 1 closes
Floodwaters reached Highway 1 in Abbotsford, located approximately 70 kilometres southeast of Vancouver on Thursday night, prompting new evacuation orders for seven properties close to the highway as water began spilling onto the roadway.
Those orders come on top of evacuations already affecting the region. Nearly 460 properties have so far been ordered to leave and another 1,069 properties remain on evacuation alert in Abbotsford.
The city says the flooding has forced the closure of Highway 1 in both directions between Sumas Road and No.3 Rd. Drivers are being asked to avoid the area and check DriveBC for updates as conditions continue to change.
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Disagree. I actually feel like things are ALWAYS good enough for most gamers, and the entire industry is slipping. In general. There are still a few great things around here and there, but overall, a lot of it really is rehashes of the same things.
One thing that I do to mentally cut through all the bullshit is ask myself "what is the game?" And a lot of the time, it's the same things, or even literally nothing. If a game doesn't have a fail state, I don't think it's technically even a game, I think it falls under a puzzle or an interactive story. Not to say those things are bad, I like both of those, but just as an example of the gaming industry slipping and being lazy. Because making innovation in the gaming industry is hard. But, we are gamers, and we learn and need challenges and novelty.
And I think that most buyers of games spend money on bad games, which incentivises CAPITALISM and investment firms to do whatever it can to make money, including gambling, fomo, and all the other dirty destructive and lazy tricks to hook gamers who don't know any better to continue chasing easy dopamine.
Like, there's a reason big money has noticed gaming, and that companies that consistently do evil shit continue to stay in business and make fucking awful games that are actively terrible for the community. There's a reason that like half of kids now want in game currency for Christmas.
I had the same feeling. Most of the trailers shown were shooters, action RPGs, live service games, sequels, wuxia and anime.
No wonder Expedition 33 won so many prizes. The competition is too busy regurgitating the same slop over and over and over...
2026 has some stuff coming that is either already announced or MIGHT be announced/released that is going to make the year amazing. The show didn't have much for me, but there's a lot of very real hype for the year.
Gta6, steam hardware, steam software, hl3 for real?, and there are several other huge games waiting for announcements like kh4 and es6. And that's not even mentioning the vr space!
Epstein Ran Pro-Israel Philanthropy Machine, Emails Reveal
Six months after Jeffrey Epstein’s death in August 2019, the philanthropic foundation founded by billionaire fashion tycoon Leslie Wexner published an “independent review” of Epstein’s involvement in the organization, in response to concerns raised by donors and alumni of foundation-funded programs. The Wexner Foundation is one of the largest contributors to pro-Israel causes in the U.S.
The review claimed that Wexner Foundation staff had “no contact” with Epstein after his resignation as a trustee in September 2007, and, before that, he had “played no role in the management or administration of the Foundation’s operations,” had “no meaningful role in the Foundation’s budget [or] finances,” and “did not make decisions regarding the use of Foundation’s funds.” None of that is true.
Hundreds of leaked emails from Epstein’s Yahoo inbox, spanning from 2005 to 2008, contradict the Wexner Foundation report. Inside the Wexners’ family financial office in Ohio, staff treated Epstein as de facto chief financial officer, where major decisions about taxes, lines of credit, eight-figure funds transfers, and politically sensitive grants were routed through Epstein’s lawyer, and required Epstein’s approval.
"Ask Jeffrey": Epstein Ran Wexner's Pro-Israel Philanthropy Machine, Emails Reveal
The Wexner Foundation has long claimed Epstein "did not make decisions regarding the use of Foundation’s funds.” New emails show that is flagrantly false.Ryan Grim (Drop Site News)
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Alberta Lawmakers Pass Law to Restrict Trans Youths’ “Right to Life”—For Now
Alberta Lawmakers Pass Law to Restrict Trans Youths’ “Right to Life”—For Now
Using an emergency measure that won’t expire until 2030, the Alberta legislature gutted avenues of legal opposition to its anti-trans laws.s. baum (Erin In The Morning)
I’m so incredibly mad about this.
Alberta seems to have all the time to whine, pass anti trans laws, and generally try to fuck up the rest of Canada, meanwhile they can’t take care of their own people and healthcare system?
I hate the notwithstanding clause, and it should be a death sentence for any political party to use in all but the most dire situations. And I mean wartime do or die type situations.
The fact we’ve normalized and accepted it means the dream of a free Canada or any perception of freedom is dead.
This is disgusting. And the abuse of power for really no good reason except to harass vulnerable children is gross. If Daniel smith and apparently the whole UCP think they’re smarter than doctors, they should maybe try to fix their healthcare system.
Trans rights are human rights. You can’t take away trans rights without trampling the others. These people hurt nobody. And their advice from their doctors in their own circumstances trumps every politicians feelings every time.
Fuck off Alberta you brainwashed shit stain of a province.
Quebec's used it for decades. Provinces could use it to 'notwithstanding' PP anti-trans legislation at a federal level if the conservatives get in next time around.
I don't think your issue is with the mechanism, you're just not in favour of how Alberta's using it on this particular social issue.
Well, I certainly agree with that, we can improve our electoral system a bit. There are limits on this of course, given there are mathematical proofs that there can't be any perfect voting scheme (with more than 2 parties).
Still though, 40% of voters being bigots is already an incredibly massive problem, trying to save minorities by changing the voting system, reducing provincial powers (removing the notwithstanding clause), or otherwise carefully balancing things, it all seems like a bandaid at this point.
that there can't be any perfect voting scheme (with more than 2 parties).
I agree that no electoral system is perfect however there are countries functioning fine with 10 parties in their parliaments like Denmark and they tend to perform better on issues than we do.
Den 20 juni körde en spårvagn på Vasagatan rakt fram i kurvan vid Valand och krockade rakt in i en kiosk som blev totalförstörd. Som av ett under dödades ingen person vid olyckan men några personer blev skadade.
blog.zaramis.se/2025/12/12/spa…
Spårvagnsolycka orsakad av sjukdom - Svenssons Nyheter
Spårvagnsolycka orsakad av sjukdom. Den 20 juni körde en spårvagn på Vasagatan rakt fram i kurvan vid Valand och krockade raktAnders_S (Svenssons Nyheter)
SchildiChat got Trackers ?
Hello,
I downloaded SchildiChat to access matrix as their UI is more conveniant than Element.
Exodus and TC slim however found "Google Admob" within the app.
As you can see on the screenshot. I asked developers about it, and they told me there's no trackers on the app.
Who's right, who's wrong ?
Thanks
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You can install ClassyShark3xodus,
which can de-compile apps and scan them for trackers on the fly to figure it out yourself.
Do let us know the results :)
ClassyShark3xodus - Scan apps for warnings | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
Checks apk(s) for known trackers (provided by Exodus) +other warnings and specs.f-droid.org
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I can confirm that schildichat from f-droid contains 2 Google trackers after analysis :
603 tested signatures on 67125 classes
(40361329)
Google AdMob
Sentry
*Google AdMob
9com.google.ads.
*Sentry
698io.sentry.
file:///data/app/~~Opb2slJC07NYLm9e2C2ikw%3D%3D/de.spiritcroc.riotx-uWSIGBd1PzyWdDEl86q5NA%3D%3D/base.apk
MD5sum: 55da2edbc904165755632ae132f30ed5
SHA1sum: ed27b82c54dd62315c6a46935af66e4666549a3d
SHA256sum: de365d9e2d8e3fa08b1501a0079a95cd0b37fee6186dbd9eba2a4c22d7268473
CN=FDroid,OU=FDroid,O=fdroid.org,L=ORG,ST=ORG,C=UK
SHA256withRSA
CERTIFICATE fingerprints:
md5: c78350850dd5f3421f36d7cfbe0927bc
sha1: 63ec0e3261dc3be0469bc68955bf58c0684ba52d
sha256: 5d473a5169ef71aedcbca1da511210bab4aaff278c5ef785760df882954b1a99
gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-…
Opened an issue about it
Closed this issue, false positives from exodus.
Schildichat ship by F-Droid with Google trackers no warning (#3717) · Issues · F-Droid / Data · GitLab
This is to report that F-Droid ship schildichat legacy with 2 Google trackers without saying it: 603 tested signatures on 67125 classes (40361329) Google...GitLab
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They offer up the original .apks from their respective github sources, so generally don't include trackers etc as you'd find on the Google store versions, or even f-droid at times.
Obtanium (e Zapstore) vão directamente à página de Github buscar da fonte. F-Droid tem builds que seguem certas regras estritas, e por isso às vezes tem mudanças. Aurora store é apenas um proxy para Google Play Store.
How to delete your Instagram account (phone or computer) | Tuta
Whether you’re tired of Instagram's negative algorithm, the ads, or need a break from social media, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we show you how to delete an Instagram account on any device - iPhone, Android, PC.
The article has one link to a list of alternatives but I think it deserves more attention. People won't leave Insta till they know where they might go to instead for a similar thing.
Tuta does also have this post, via that link: tuta.com/blog/instagram-altern…
I've been on PixelFed for a couple of years and it works really well. My instance, metapixl.com, is small but mighty and federates with most of the rest of the fediverse.
@tutanota@mastodon.social - thanks for everything you do to help people break the chains of the big tech bosses.
Best alternatives to Instagram in 2025 | Tuta
Pay €7.99/month for ad-free usage or pay with your data and see personalized ads? No thanks Meta, we will take neither. In this in-depth guide, we look at the best Instagram alternative in 2025.Tuta
Is it wrong to want to see Zionists and Republicans killed?
No, it's the mods who are wrong.
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I mean, I added that feature to Tesseract long before any other app did 🤷♂️
[Dons my hipster hat] I was silently judging before it was cool lol.
LibXML2, used by Steam, Chromium, and others is now abandoned
Remove myself as maintainer (9c80a89a) · Commits · GNOME / libxml2 · GitLab
I got the following error message after trying to remove my maintainer entry from the DOAP file: > Must have at least one doap:maintainer property with a gnome:userid > property...GitLab
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E33 isn't a RPG in the classical sense but has certain RPG elements. Don't get me wrong, it is, as far is I've played, a great game in it's own right, but imo it didn't deserve to win in the RPG category and maybe not even storytelling.
That's because Clair Obscur is directly influenced by the JRPG genre which is why it feels almost like not a RPG compared to something that is a western RPG like KC:D2.
But I agree, the term RPG is way overloaded and it needs a more stricter set of rules to define what a RPG is. But it's been that way for almost a decade at this point and I no longer care to split hairs about it, I just laugh when Monster Hunter gets nominated as an RPG because in my mind I would never consider it a RPG.
But it's been that way for almost a decade at this point and I no longer care to split hairs about it,
Haha, us old farts have been arguing about what constitutes an RPG at least since the days of the first Diablo.
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I agree it's a wonderful game and it deserves recognition, but I also agree it's not as good as BG3. The thing is, that doesn't detract from any of it's awards this year because it was only competing with the games that came out in 2025, not the ones that came out in 2023.
Had BG3 and Clair Obscura come out at the same time, I think the split in awards would have been very different.
Hopefully their next game continues with that quality. The old RPG giants are mostly floundering are mere shells of what they used to be. Most of the old talent already sold out or retired.
The industry needs new talent to take over.
executives who never played a single game in their lives...
Makes me think of Gaben who is a Dota2 nerd.
That's one area where you can see it is indie despite the large development cost.
They were published by Kepler Interactive and for some markets Bandai Namco. Neither of which have Ubisoft or EA's marketing budget which normally makes up something like half of the development budget of a game.
They did have some marketing. I know a lot of French streamers were paid to play the game on launch. But yeah not "in your face for 6 months in front of every YouTube video and inside every happy meal box" like a new assassin's creed or something.
Like I had heard whispers of it, but that's abojt it.
It wasn't the only game to have that problem. I was barely aware Death Stranding 2 existed let alone that it was out.
I had heard of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 (because the fans wouldn't shut up about how right leaning and "non-woke" the game was) but did not think it deserved a mention.
To be honest the only game even nominated I had played was Donkey Kong Banaza.... (I was obviously VERY aware Hades 2 and Silksong existed. I just haven't had time to play them. Though I would have been offended if they weren't nominated. Especially Silksong)
I went over to Reddit so I could keep track if the game awards because I didn't have time to actually watch it. Holy shit the hate E33 is getting is completely ridiculous, as Reddit does. Whether you go to the Silksong, KCD2, Death Stranding, Dispatch, Arc Raiders, or any other games subreddit that was nominated for any award about half the comments saying E33 is trash, overhyped, and their game deserved to win instead. As someone that has enjoyed all of these games, the salt is absolutely bonkers. Most of the ones complaining are basically saying "I never played it but I heard they did [blank] so they don't deserve [blank] award."
I just don't get why they need to shit on other people and the games they like just because their game didn't win. Shit on TGA all you want, but the fans and the devs literally had nothing to do with winning. They were all great games and all deserve praise in their own ways. In two weeks none of us will give a shit anymore anyway and will probably be complaining that "RV There Yet" wins the "Most Innovative Gameplay" award on Steam. I mean, a flippin' gacha game won the "Players Voice" Award and people are spending their time shitting on objectively good games.
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Some people need to hate to fill the emptiness they feel inside.
Gamers sometimes like to act as though they're better than most by not watching reality tv or some shit but they're really no different in engaging in pointless drama. I remember seeing trailers for when the Wii or Switch were both coming out and expecting people to be excited and I saw gamers shiting on Nintendo like hell. I'm like, damn man, no one is forcing you to buy it ...
Also, Expedition 33 is a game that transcends its medium. It deserves all the positivity it's getting.
For what it's worth most people are more mad that E33 won best indie and best debut indie. It's not an indie game, many people have said as much and it's completely unfair that they won in categories meant for small budget games by small teams.
Totally deserved in other categories, but that does leave a bad taste in my mouth.
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It's roughly the same for BG3, technically an independent indie studio but also one of the most massive production teams on any game.
IMO indie studios aren't studios without a publisher anymore, if anything a lot of studios with publishers are more indie than many studios without. Reminds me of decades ago and people calling Blizzard an indie studio before the Activision merger.
I guess I'm confused because I didn't know that "low budget" was now synonymous with "indie." They are an indie dev that made their first game yet their game doesn't count as "indie" because they had a budget? What about a game like No Man's Sky? They were an indie dev that got promoted by Sony and everyone shat on it when it came out and said they bit off more than they could chew. In my opinion, that seems even less fair.
I'm not saying they deserved the award more than any other game, I enjoyed all the games nominated, I'm just saying that if E33 flopped I highly doubt anyone would call them more than an indie dev that tried to punch above their weight just like No Man's Sky.
I guess I’m confused because I didn’t know that “low budget” was now synonymous with “indie.”
There aren't any hard rules of what an indie game is, and TGA don't set any because they don't take their jobs seriously, but it's usually accepted that indie = small teams, small budget. Otherwise, technically games like Cyberpunk 2077 are "indie" because they're self-published, while games published by Devolver Digital are technically not indie because they have a publisher despite the games being made on a tiny budget and occasionally created by only one person.
Expedition 33 had a huge budget compared to other games in its category, and much more developers. They had mo-cap, they had popular voice actors, and they had tons of contract workers overseas. It's not fair to put it up against games that didn't have any of that.
E33 is what the industry refers to as a AA game. Mid-sized budget, mid-sized team. As opposed to AAA, massive budgets with massive teams.
What about No Man's Sky
No Man's Sky (on release) is way smaller in scope than E33. It was made by around a dozen developers only, and they actually self-published it which makes it much more "indie".
So a successful crowdfunding campaign could make a game not indie anymore?
"Indie" means "independent", which means there is no publisher or investor that could influence creative decisions in the service of profits. (As CDPR is publicly traded and does answer to investors, Cyberpunk would not qualify.)
If you want a low budget award, call it low budget award and define a threshold for said budget.
and TGA don't set any because they don't take their jobs seriously
Jesus fucking Christ people, we are talking about video games. Get a grip.
The category is misnamed. It should be best single A game from an independent studio.
Technically Sandfall is an independant studio. A very well privately funded independant studio founded by industry veterans supported by a great publisher. But no-one is arguing that other games published by Kepler Interactive aren't independant. And with 30-ish full-time employees Sandfall's scale is that of an SME, not an Ubisoft/EA/Sony.
The award doesn't feel right because this middleweight AA category was completely abdandoned the previous decade (which legacy studios are now paying a heavy price for), and "indie" came to mean "single A" because if the material conditions of being an independant company.
At the same time though technological advancements enabled small teams to take on larger and larger projects. "Indie" does not mean what it used to, and Clair Obscur is trailblazing this AA renewal. Award shows simply need to adapt and start restricting entry based on team size or something.
That one is dumb. I love E33 so much but you can tell this had a budget behind it.
They need a “small team” game award or something like that or enforce requirements on indie categories.
I've only seen bitching about it not being an indie and taking those awards.
They hired out a small army.
Holy shit the hate E33 is getting is completely ridiculous, as Reddit does. Whether you go to the Silksong, KCD2, Death Stranding, Dispatch, Arc Raiders, or any other games subreddit that was nominated for any award about half the comments saying E33 is trash, overhyped, and their game deserved to win instead.
This is why I don’t care anymore about what other people think and don’t check the communities of games. I just hope the game, I like the most wins. If it happens, great! If it does not, sad but that’s okay. That’s life.
I just don't get why they need to shit on other people and the games they like just because their game didn't win.
Because it is the internet and nowadays people only think about themselves. “I like this game, I want and need this game to win”. The internet allows people to be sort of anonymous and that brings the worst out of people (because more often than not, there’s no consequences of the actions when it is written anonymously).
Seriously though.
I used to be afraid to tell people how much I love video games, because most people thought of the South Park MMO guy meme as your average gamer. It MIGHT be true, but some of us really just love the craft and what is made of that craft!
It's like no one has/had any strong opinion about movie aficionados, other than they may not be fun to watch a movie WITH. I don't know. It was strange then, and still is. lol
I think a lot of it was just getting sick of E33 discussion. I remember when Hundred Line released this year some time after E33 and on Steam forums (which, to be fair, is as bad as most gaming forums), while people were, er, "discussing" the game, plenty of valid complaints were topped off with "just play E33 instead, it's cheaper and much better" Like, I don't even disagree, HL was disappointing, but why are you bringing it up, it's apples and oranges.
It was also the first I heard of E33 personally so it wasn't a good first impression, even if the devs are sweet and actually gave a shout out to HL.
(As someone who prefers Silksong that game's community sucks too though, no, I don't care a game is as expensive as 3 Silksongs)
The problem with the Internet is that it amplifies minority negative voices. Hundreds of thousands of people played that game and 100 pieces of shit get on reddit and be assholes and it gives all of their players bases a bad name. It's the same across anything. On the Internet a loud minority is going to piss in everyone's lemonade because they are trash humans.
What makes it worse is algorithm based social media prioritize rage bait since it creates engagement. It's breaking all of our brains.
Whether you go to the Silksong, KCD2, Death Stranding, Dispatch, Arc Raiders, or any other games subreddit that was nominated for any award about half the comments saying E33 is trash, overhyped, and their game deserved to win instead.
Nine awards is a lot. And this is after they swept Golden Joystick. It's a fine game. It's just not the only game.
Yeah, it's not the only game, but it did a really good job in all the categories it won.
I would've given best RPG to kcd2, but I don't think e33 is unreasonable.
The only issue I have is sandfall shouldn't count as an independent game, they had a publisher and were backed by venture capital.
I don’t think e33 is unreasonable.
For any individual award, sure. It's an arbitrary decision of taste and people can agree to disagree.
When you're stacking up all the awards on a single game, you're effectively ignoring the rest of the releases for the year.
The only issue I have is sandfall shouldn’t count as an independent game
I'm more disgusted with giving "Best Indie" and "Best Debut Indie" to the same title. Why even have two categories at this point? It isn't even the studio's debut title.
Similarly, three "Best Performance" nominees to the same title. You know what you're doing and it's not evaluation or recognition, it's just promotion.
But then these awards gave Pretty Derby the Best Mobile Game and FFT: Ivalice Chronicles (a thirty year old remaster!) Best Strategy, so whatchagonna do?
Game awards have always been glorified ads.
When you're stacking up all the awards on a single game, you're effectively ignoring the rest of the releases for the year.
If a game does the best in multiple categories should it be skipped over just to highlight another game?
Imo that's what nominations are for, saying these 6 games did outstanding jobs in this area, the award should still go to whichever one did the best.
I'm more disgusted with giving "Best Indie" and "Best Debut Indie" to the same title. Why even have two categories at this point?
Because they can go to different games. If an indie studio's first game wins best indie game how can it not also be the best debut indie game? Should it be excluded from winning best indie game just because it's their first game and they won best debut indie?
It isn't even the studio's debut title.
What other games has sandfall developed?
Similarly, three "Best Performance" nominees to the same title. You know what you're doing and it's not evaluation or recognition, it's just promotion.
This isn't just recognizing the game, it's recognizing the actors.
Which 2 would you replace and who do you think did a better job?
Game awards have always been glorified ads.
Agreed
If a game does the best in multiple categories should it be skipped over just to highlight another game?
It's all subjective. If you make Balatro and I make BG3, there's no objective way to evaluate "Best Game" between the two. You've got to make some subjective judgement (or just put your hand out and collect bribes).
Giving one of them a full stack of awards doesn't signal quality, it signals bias.
If an indie studio’s first game wins best indie game how can it not also be the best debut indie game
E33 wasn't the studio's first game. So it shouldn't be winning the "award for debut games" on the ground alone.
But yes, if you're winning the "indie game" (which E33's budget shouldn't have qualified it for anyway) spotlight another game under "debut" even if you're predisposed to favor turn based RPGs over platformers or puzzle games or simulators. In fact, especially then.
This isn’t just recognizing the game, it’s recognizing the actors.
It's recognizing the budget more often than not.
It's all subjective. If you make Balatro and I make BG3, there's no objective way to evaluate "Best Game" between the two. You've got to make some subjective judgement (or just put your hand out and collect bribes).Giving one of them a full stack of awards doesn't signal quality, it signals bias.
It signals quality from the perspective of a poorly selected jury. I have massive issues with how the game awards runs itself, but the solution isn't to artificially restrict what a game can win.
Bias from a jury's selection is inherent in all awards, e33 winning 9 awards isn't evidence of unfair bias or bribes, its evidence of 1) e33 genuinely doing an amazing job in a lot of different areas and 2) the jury being made up of professional journalists who all run in the same circles.
Neither Sandfall or Kepler have the sort of connections you'd need to beat out Sony or Nintendo if all 3 were using shady tactics.
E33 wasn't the studio's first game. So it shouldn't be winning the "award for debut games" on the ground alone.
What other game has sandfall interactive made?
But yes, if you're winning the "indie game" (which E33's budget shouldn't have qualified it for anyway) spotlight another game under "debut" even if you're predisposed to favor turn based RPGs over platformers or puzzle games or simulators. In fact, especially then.
I think we're just gonna have to disagree here, I don't think the point of rewards should be to spotlight a bunch of different games, that's what the nominations are for.
It's recognizing the budget more often than not.
Yeah, that's fair, but it's not exclusively budget.
I have massive issues with how the game awards runs itself, but the solution isn’t to artificially restrict what a game can win.
It's an awards show. Everything about it is artificial
If you had ever seen the Game Awards before, this isn't exactly surprising.
It was not only good, but weird and unique. It was always going to sweep the show because that's exactly the kind of game the judges of it have favored every single year.
That's why the good, but ultimately derivative games didn't win as much.
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The only award I think it didn't deserve was Best RPG.
But, on the other hand, it should have gotten Best Sound Design over BF6; so it still would have gotten 9 awards.
Truly a masterpiece of a game. To those haters saying "But not even BG3 got that many awards!" it's not a fair comparison. BG3 is a slightly better game IMO, but Expedition 33 is a work of art on top of being an amazing game and appeals to a much wider audience. Which isn't to say games like BG3 aren't beautiful, but I think anyone would agree that E33 is on a whole other level.
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I'll see you Best RPG and raise you a Best Independent and Best Debut Indie.
They have a publisher that funded them with hedge fund money and outsourced aspects of the production to entirely different companies. I'm not making a comment on the quality of the game, but how is that indie?
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"We've picked one game and we're giving every award to that game because it's the best game at everything and have you played the game yet? You should it's so good it's just the best at everything."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_I…
Kepler Interactive was founded in September 2021 at the initiative of former Ubisoft employee and French entrepreneur Alexis Garavayan, who had previously co-founded the video game investment fund Kowloon Nights. Self-described as a "super developer" publishing group, Kepler was born out of an alliance between seven independent studios to “pool their resources and knowledge”:
Hedge Fund ass publisher. Come on, guys. The Gaming Awards have always just been sponsored content and you're getting hoodwinked because you don't recognize the sponsor this time around.
But it was the best at pretty much everything.
Other than best RPG, that should've gone to kingdome come deliverance 2 imo, but like e33 winning that isn't unreasonable.
Are you trying to say that any game that gets funding of any kind is automatically not worthy of winning?
I'm perfectly fine with people making money in exchange for an excellent product, and Expedition 33 is a fucking masterpiece.
Are you trying to say that any game that gets funding of any kind is automatically not worthy of winning?
??? How did you get here?
I won't say E33 didn't deserve to win an award, it definitely did. But I will absolutely say with certainty it did not deserve to be nominated in so many categories and proceed to win basically every category.
Having an award show give awards to only one nominee feels bad for everyone except the show runners, that one nominee, and their fans. Lots of games deserved to be there that simply weren't, and lots of nominees deserved to win but didn't simply because E33 won this year's popularity contest.
For example, Best Performance should not have been allowed to have 50% of the nominees be from the same game (E33, in this case).
I get where you're coming from, but awards shows shouldn't be participation trophies. The panels should give the awards for each category to the games they think were the best in that category.
And games aren't made by a single person. If they decided that E33 shouldn't win Best Music because it also won Best Art Direction, that's unfair to the composers and musicians who worked on E33.
I'm not saying E33 didn't deserve to win anything, but I don't believe it deserved to dominate like that. No single game should be allowed to do this, ever.
I mean, of the 6 nominees for Best Performance, 3 of them (50%) were from E33. That shouldn't be allowed, IMO. Pick the single best performance from one game, then you can have more variety to pick from. Also, the winner of Best Indie Game should automatically be disqualified from also winning Best Indie Debut game.
In my opinion: KCD2 snubbed for Best RPG, Silksong snubbed for best Action Adventure, and Half-Life 3 snubbed for Most Anticipated Game (is it disqualified -- no professionals allowed?).
I have the most issue with the performance win, that the nominations are for the English voice acting and this is not even an English game. The original acting is French, I played it with French voice + English subtitle. To me the English voice acting is just part of the localization. This is such an English-centric award and snub for non-English performances.
If anything the motion capture actors are more "worthy".
Original language is always better in my opinion. Filtering it into English has to leave out or change something.
I think for other people though they see the English voice actors as more professional or higher paid or more famous, whatever it is.
I don't see the point of limiting the nominees to just one-per-game, for best performance. There's still only one winner, and if that game legitimately had that many fantastic performances, more power to 'em.
I'll second the idea of keeping Best Indie and Best Debut Indie separate. I'll go further and say E33 just isn't an Indie game, it's pretty solidly AA.
This is why some award shows have an award for being so outstanding you're in danger of ruining the show by taking all the awards. They give the award to them at the beginning and remove them from all categories, basically letting everyone play for second place.
I think more than specifically any game being better at X than E33, I think a lot of people are mostly just upset there were so many great games that just didn't win anything because E33 was there.
I love when they block all the roads with tractors and spray manure into government buildings to protest the government being shitty at governing.
It conveys the emotions I feel so much better than I ever could (I don't own large quantities of manure, not the means to propel them at high speeds).
Gaza’s Schools Reopen in Defiance of Continued Israeli Attacks on Everyday Life
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/40209763
Abdel Qader Sabbah
and Sharif Abdel Kouddous
Dec 11, 2025
Since October 2023, 745,000 students in Gaza have been out of school, including 88,000 in college and beyond. According to the Gaza’s Government Media Office, some 165 schools, universities, and other educational institutions were completely destroyed by Israeli bombardment over the past two years, while another 392 sustained partial damage. Thousands of students, teachers, and staff were killed in the Israeli assault. There is scant electricity and internet. The systematic elimination of the Palestinian educational system in Gaza prompted UN experts last year to accuse Israel of “scholasticide.”Despite the scale of the attacks, efforts to sustain education in Gaza have continued. Thousands of university students graduated over the past two years through remote learning. And since the so-called “ceasefire,” on October 10, administrators have worked to resume in-person classes.
Gaza’s Schools Reopen in Defiance of Continued Israeli Attacks on Everyday Life
Abdel Qader Sabbah
and Sharif Abdel Kouddous
Dec 11, 2025Since October 2023, 745,000 students in Gaza have been out of school, including 88,000 in college and beyond. According to the Gaza’s Government Media Office, some 165 schools, universities, and other educational institutions were completely destroyed by Israeli bombardment over the past two years, while another 392 sustained partial damage. Thousands of students, teachers, and staff were killed in the Israeli assault. There is scant electricity and internet. The systematic elimination of the Palestinian educational system in Gaza prompted UN experts last year to accuse Israel of “scholasticide.”Despite the scale of the attacks, efforts to sustain education in Gaza have continued. Thousands of university students graduated over the past two years through remote learning. And since the so-called “ceasefire,” on October 10, administrators have worked to resume in-person classes.
Gaza’s Schools Reopen in Defiance of Continued Israeli Attacks on Everyday Life
Palestinian students flocked to Islamic University in Gaza after it resumed in-person classes in the midst of the rubble.Abdel Qader Sabbah (Drop Site News)
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Gaza’s Schools Reopen in Defiance of Continued Israeli Attacks on Everyday Life
cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/40209763
Abdel Qader Sabbah
and Sharif Abdel Kouddous
Dec 11, 2025
Since October 2023, 745,000 students in Gaza have been out of school, including 88,000 in college and beyond. According to the Gaza’s Government Media Office, some 165 schools, universities, and other educational institutions were completely destroyed by Israeli bombardment over the past two years, while another 392 sustained partial damage. Thousands of students, teachers, and staff were killed in the Israeli assault. There is scant electricity and internet. The systematic elimination of the Palestinian educational system in Gaza prompted UN experts last year to accuse Israel of “scholasticide.”Despite the scale of the attacks, efforts to sustain education in Gaza have continued. Thousands of university students graduated over the past two years through remote learning. And since the so-called “ceasefire,” on October 10, administrators have worked to resume in-person classes.
Gaza’s Schools Reopen in Defiance of Continued Israeli Attacks on Everyday Life
Abdel Qader Sabbah
and Sharif Abdel Kouddous
Dec 11, 2025Since October 2023, 745,000 students in Gaza have been out of school, including 88,000 in college and beyond. According to the Gaza’s Government Media Office, some 165 schools, universities, and other educational institutions were completely destroyed by Israeli bombardment over the past two years, while another 392 sustained partial damage. Thousands of students, teachers, and staff were killed in the Israeli assault. There is scant electricity and internet. The systematic elimination of the Palestinian educational system in Gaza prompted UN experts last year to accuse Israel of “scholasticide.”Despite the scale of the attacks, efforts to sustain education in Gaza have continued. Thousands of university students graduated over the past two years through remote learning. And since the so-called “ceasefire,” on October 10, administrators have worked to resume in-person classes.
Gaza’s Schools Reopen in Defiance of Continued Israeli Attacks on Everyday Life
Palestinian students flocked to Islamic University in Gaza after it resumed in-person classes in the midst of the rubble.Abdel Qader Sabbah (Drop Site News)
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Gaza’s Schools Reopen in Defiance of Continued Israeli Attacks on Everyday Life
Abdel Qader Sabbah
and Sharif Abdel Kouddous
Dec 11, 2025
Since October 2023, 745,000 students in Gaza have been out of school, including 88,000 in college and beyond. According to the Gaza’s Government Media Office, some 165 schools, universities, and other educational institutions were completely destroyed by Israeli bombardment over the past two years, while another 392 sustained partial damage. Thousands of students, teachers, and staff were killed in the Israeli assault. There is scant electricity and internet. The systematic elimination of the Palestinian educational system in Gaza prompted UN experts last year to accuse Israel of “scholasticide.”Despite the scale of the attacks, efforts to sustain education in Gaza have continued. Thousands of university students graduated over the past two years through remote learning. And since the so-called “ceasefire,” on October 10, administrators have worked to resume in-person classes.
Gaza’s Schools Reopen in Defiance of Continued Israeli Attacks on Everyday Life
Palestinian students flocked to Islamic University in Gaza after it resumed in-person classes in the midst of the rubble.Abdel Qader Sabbah (Drop Site News)
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HellsBelle
in reply to HellsBelle • • •like this
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Sunshine (she/her)
in reply to HellsBelle • • •jaselle
in reply to HellsBelle • • •Important context the headline misses: the teenager had graduated high school already, so was presumably of age.
Okay so two adults have a legal relationship... why should the public deserve to know their names?
HellsBelle
in reply to jaselle • • •jaselle
in reply to HellsBelle • • •What power imbalance? Because he's a cop? Should police officers not be allowed to have relationships with non-cops?
(Yes, I know about the 40% rule -- but it was determined nothing illegal had happened here.)
HellsBelle
in reply to jaselle • • •jaselle
in reply to HellsBelle • • •I saw that yes. Let me put it to you this way -- Either the law should be amended so that what he did be illegal, or we should leave the former officer alone.
We don't know what he did, and some forms of abuse can't really be made illegal. Perhaps he was merely unfaithful, or called her a bitch when they fought -- should these really be crimes?
(and you didn't answer my question -- what power imbalance?)