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Tag: Iran

Two More Executed In Iran This Morning For Protesting For Freedom & Equality — What We Can Do To Help

2
January 7, 2023

The so-called #IslamicRepublicofIran has been on a brutal, bloody war path for the last few months — ever since #Iranian citizens started taking to the streets and peacefully protesting for equal rights for women, and basic #HumanRights and freedom for all of its citizens.

#WomenLifeFreedom became a catchphrase and trending hashtag all over the world and Time Magazine named “the women of Iran” it’s Person of the Year.

But since those early days in September when the protests over the savage murder of 23 year old #MashaAmini first started, the people of Iran shifted their stance and started asking the world & those of us who have been supporting them to stop using the #IranProtests hashtag, stop referring to their movement as a protest and to start referring to it as the #IranRevolution Concerned citizens all over the world quickly obliged. #IranRevolution is never NOT trending on Twitter, with upwards of 1500 mentions per hour; and #IranProtests stopped trending months ago.

This was a BIG shift. And an important distinction. What started out as a protest against the Iranian government’s so called “morality police” arbitrarily beating women to death in the streets for not dressing the way they force them to, and against the practice itself of forcing women to wear “hijab” (a long coat past the knees and a head scarf), swiftly turned into a nationwide movement of the people demanding their freedom from the oppressive dictatorship of pseudo-religious men who took control of their government 43 years ago.

At first the government’s reaction was predictable: firing teargas and rubber bullets into the crowds of mostly very young people in their early teens to twenties to disperse them. When that didn’t work they began firing live rounds into the crowds and killing them or arbitrarily picking a few out of the crowds and beating them to death, leaving their bloodied and disfigured bodies lying in the streets as a reminder to others.

When this didn’t work and the crowds continued to get bigger, the #Khamenei government started knocking down doors of people’s homes, kidnapping the children suspected of “participating in protests”, taking them to undisclosed locations and beating them to death until their skulls were crushed in and their faces unrecognizable.

(Parenthetically to show just what a harsh and inhumane reality the people of Iran and the world at large is dealing with, the anguish for the family didn’t, doesn’t, end there; the local government doesn’t return the dead body to the family. Instead they claim they weren’t involved in the murder of said family member and don’t know where the body is, but “for a price” they can “see what they can do to find it”, forcing the families to pay exorbitant ransoms to get their children’s bodies back in order to have a proper burial and memorial. This has been going on for months and is still happening now.)

Officially over 650 young people, some as young as 10 years old, have been killed in this manner, though human rights groups estimate the number to be in the thousands at this point. The government has also targeted and killed doctors, lawyers, well-known journalists and authors, famous athletes and entertainers and anyone else suspected of being pro-equality, pro-freedom or pro-human rights.

And yet the crowds in the streets of cities all across the country continue to get bigger. And so too do the strikes, shutting down whole towns for days at a time. In response, the Iranian government started arresting people, immediately convicting them after mock trials that may only last an hour and handing out death sentences for public hangings.

Amnesty International says “all the convictions rely on forced confessions, beatings and torture”. Instead of arguing with this overtly recriminatory accusation, Iranian State media corroborates it and regularly broadcasts over radio and TV that all the defendants “have lost their rights to presumption of innocence, freedom from torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.”

This fact too marks a major turning point in the battle for Iran narrative. In the beginning the Iranian government had attempted to spin a tale to the people and the world that the marches and demonstrations were “riots” “planned and instigated by insurgents and infidels from Western nations” in an attempt to salvage solidarity with the general population. Once it became obvious to them that the people weren’t falling for it, the government has taken to a more extreme and overtly authoritarian stance, direct threats against the entire population broadcast over all state run media 24/7.

23 year old #MohsenShekari was the first Iranian publicly executed linked to the protests. He was accused of injuring a member of the government’s “Basij” (military police) and “waging war against God” ( #Moharebeh ).

Admittedly this is an absurd claim to make in modern times, reminiscent of the very reasons why “the dark ages” are called The Dark Ages. Wouldn’t one have to first show some or any kind of evidence that this “god” they speak of exists…? And then furthermore go on to prove that this god is so small minded and insecure that it actually cares if one infinitesimally small, insignificant human could hurt it’s feelings that badly before one goes killing someone? Especially in light of the fact that Shekari never spoke about or against any “gods”. Instead he was demonstrating for equality and freedom for PEOPLE, if anything a noble and godly act.

But no, the truth is that for thousands of years of human history, evil people who lust for power over others have been inventing and using various “gods” to justify barbaric and inhumane acts against their fellow humans. They throw on some silly looking costume, declare themselves “religious” in some way and out come the knives, spears, swords, guns, nooses, guillotines or what have you. It is said that religion is the opiate of the masses, but in a much larger, more profound way, religion is a fear and killing machine.

In the case of Iran, their preferred way of killing in the name of their god is to deliberately choose a large public square — more of a piazza really, where thousands of people go to shop, congregate and share meals together, string up one of their fellow citizens by a noose and publicly hang them to death in front of everybody and then leave the body dangling there as a warning to all that freedom liberty equality human rights and women’s rights are not on the agenda for them and even speaking about such things is punishable by death.

This is what they are threatening to do to internationally beloved Iranian footballer Nasr-Azadani #NasrAzadani who has also been sentenced to death by public execution. The government has already set up a construction crane used for public hangings in a public square in Isfahan to show they are serious about the charges and preparing to carry out his sentence.

In the case of 20 year old Moshen Shekari, the first to be executed, the government hung him from a crane in a prison yard in front of other guards and prisoners, for fear of compelling more intense uprisings by the citizenry. But for 23 year old Majidreza Rahnavard #MajidrezaRahnavard who was executed four days later, his was to be a public affair.

This morning two more Iranians accused of participating in demonstrations for freedom, human rights and women’s rights were executed in Iran. 21 year old karate champion #MohammadMehdiKarami and 20 year old volunteer children’s coach #SeyedMohammadHosseini were both hung to death.

Thus far 41 more protesters have received death sentences, according to statements from Iranian officials. Among those are THREE CHILDREN, who have all been accused of… wait for it…. “corruption on Earth.”

You read that right. The occupying forces of bearded little men cosplaying mullahs, ayatollahs and clerics who currently control the government and resources of Iran against the will of the country’s 85 million people are now sentencing children to the death penalty for “corruption on earth”.

Only a non-democratically elected group of fascist hard-liners could get away with proposing or even uttering such a ridiculously childish and inane charge. For if we weren’t discussing something very real, horrific and life threatening to real people, we’d be wetting ourselves laughing from the idea that there are those who can mention this phrase with a straight face and not burst into laughter themselves.

Clearly MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE by the international community and each and every one of us caring compassionate and humane citizens of the world if we want to sleep at night knowing we weren’t sitting back doing nothing while this barbaric treachery was transpiring.

For democratic or even non-democratic but caring nations all over the world, the actions are simple. A mere sampling of actions they can take TODAY are: immediately deport all Iranian nationals who are in their country working in the capacity of diplomats and close down the Iranian embassies in their country until the Iranian People’s Revolution is successful and completed, deport all Iranians who are in their country working on behalf of lobbying for the government of Iran or any other Iranian industry, levy heavy sanctions against these individuals preventing them from doing business or banking in their country or anything else, boycott all Iranian goods from being imported into their countries, and cut off all exports of goods into their country, issue strongly worded, uncompromising declarations of support for the people of Iran and their right to basic human rights, and condemnations of the current government and its actions against its people, immediately cut the Iranian government off from accessing all international banking and credit institutions, and perhaps most importantly issue a United Nations declaration of R2P (Right to Protection) which guarantees that all member states act quickly and collectively under the authority of the Security Council to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, to help to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

And this is just a start.

For the average citizen of earth, no matter what country you live in, who wants to support the Iranian people, go online and look for petitions that are asking your country and it’s leaders to take the above actions; email and write letters to your elected officials from the top down telling them you are expecting them to officially and publicly speak out and take more decisive actions to support and defend the Iranian people’s democratic revolution. Then share those petitions with your friends and on Social.

The United States government for example hasn’t done much of anything yet in this regard. There are plenty of Iran government and industry lobbyists living cushy lives in Washington D.C., as well as plenty of journalists and academic apologists for the Iran regime. Outing, deporting and sanctioning them would be a damn good start. But the US government needs to know that we the people actually care about this incredibly historic event and the Iranian people.

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SHARE IT. A Tweet, an article, a news item or sound byte, an inspiring, moving or disturbing meme or photo…. Every time you see or read something about the struggle of the Iranian people and their battle for freedom and equal rights in this courageous people’s movement of their’s, PASS IT ON. Share it. Don’t let it stop with you. Together we can ALL help the people of Iran break the chains of oppression and tyranny and rise up to join us in becoming a free people. They’re counting on us.

— Ed Hale

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Islamic Republic Of Iran Holds First Public Execution In Ongoing Revolution — It Is Now Time To Strike More and Fight

December 8, 2022

And so it’s begun. The #IslamicRepublic of #Iran has moved from beating and shooting it’s citizens, mainly children, to death in the streets to formal public #executions. No Habius Corpus, no trials. Just a public hanging.

I am still limiting my coverage of the ongoing #IranRevolution to Twitter, print media & TV appearances so as not to invade the more fun family freinds & pets vibe that we all enjoy here on FB.

BUT this is important. Today marks a stark historic turn in the #Iranian people’s struggle for equality, basic human rights, liberty, democracy, and freedom from fascist religious tyranny.

As we’ve already covered, the people of Iran are no longer protesting. They do not wish to be called protestors. They are not involved in protests. Reuters made the mistake below that the New York Times made over the weekend. The people of Iran are fighting for a REVOLUTION. They are freedom fighters. They are revolutionaries fighting for their very lives to overthrow a government of dictators who placed themselves in power 40+ years ago against the will of the people.

In the last 3 days they began the largest nationwide strikes of shops, businesses and industries the country has seen since their democratic revolution of 1953. (Which the UK and USA quickly overthrew.) Our hope of course is that it works. But what they’re asking for, a complete toppling of the current regime and a transition back to democracy and a government elected by the people, is a big ask in a radical Islamic country.

So they and we must be prepared for stage 3. We tried peaceful protests. All it got us was murdered in the streets. We tried appealing to the UN and international community. We got talks, speeches, and a few sanctions and boycotts. We tried strikes. All it got us is public executions.

It is now time for the people of Iran, all of the people, to step up the revolution, take up arms and begin the process of truly taking their country back from these barbarous criminal usurpers cowardly disguising themselves behind religion.

There are over 40 million people in Iran. The government less than 10,000 strong. The Republican Guard, their strongest military unit will quickly turn on this government. Just as their military turned on the Shah in ‘79.

Already the so called Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and his small band of thugs has attempted to appeal to former presidents Khatami and Rafsanjani as well as the family members of former Ayatollah Khomeini for help. All of them have denied him. Most members of his own family are already on the side of the people and the revolution. He’s arrested and jailed both his sister and his neice. He has no support from the outside except Russia and China and Syria — none of which are prepared to see this escalate into a more heated war in the Middle East considering what’s happening in the Energy sector globally at this time and China’s crushing recessionary concerns.

He has absolutely no support from the inside. He is a despised figure, with the most popular slogan of the Iranian people in the streets and from their homes shouting “death to the dictator!” This will make it easy for the people to finally rid themselves of these pretenders once and for all and create a new democratic republic for themselves once and for all.

As always, from the outside looking in, whether part of the exiles, the Iranian diaspora, or any number of freedom fighters from every country in the world, we repeat IRAN WE SEE YOU WE HEAR YOU WE SUPPORT YOU WE FIGHT WITH YOU! 💪✊

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A Small Concession Has been Won In Iran — But the Bigger War Will Continue Until A Full On Democratic Revolution Transpires and the People Are Free Once and For All From Tyranny

December 4, 2022

By Ed Hale Dec. 5, 2022

As a scant selection of American newspapers reported this morning — read the New York Times article here — the Islamic Republic of Iran — the title of the official government of the country of Iran composed of a twisted and corrupt bunch of sexist all-male barbarian murderers who cowardly shroud themselves behind the guise of “religion” (in this case Islam) — announced today that they will disband the so-called “Morality Police”. They also commented that they “might consider loosening laws on how they force women to dress.” (Think “Hijab”).

No you haven’t time-traveled back to the Middle Ages. It’s still the 21st Century. The government of Iran, along with the rest of the Middle East and the Islamic world just doesn’t know it. The dying old guard of the Islamic Republic of Iran may view this breadcrumb as a generous compromise to the Iranian people in hopes it might somehow save them from being overthrown and brought to Justice. But it won’t.

Iranian women do not care about a bunch of old sexist racist homophonic power hungry men “loosening laws on how they are forced to dress”. What they want are equal rights, human rights, absolute and total freedom and autonomy of thought, dress, movement and expression. And they will accept nothing less.

The major faux pas by the New York Times editors in the article above is referring to the “protests” in Iran when over the last few weeks tens of thousands of Iranians both in and outside of Iran have repeatedly asked the media and government officials to stop referring to them as “protests” and instead call the movement what it is: a revolution. They have also asked repeatedly to stop being referred to as “protestors” on social media. And in fact what we have seen is a rapid decline in the originally popular hashtag “IranProtests” be reduced to non-trending as “IranRevolution” is now the most trending hashtag related to the noble cause of this Iranian movement.

The news comes after 75 days of street protests, marches, strikes and demonstrations not only in the country of Iran but in many countries all over the world. The protests originally started after the Morality Police beat to death a 22 year old girl named Mahsa Amini for “not wearing her head scarf properly”. She was rushed to a hospital and within less than a day she was pronounced dead.

The people of the country erupted in protests over the barbarous murder of the young girl, who had done absolutely nothing wrong and was in fact dressed in proper Hijab. The interesting thing about this particular event was that it was not particularly unique — the Iranian government, led by a hardliner religious extremist who goes by the name of Ayatollah Khamenei, a man who is only important in his own deluded mind & labels himself “The Supreme Leader” of the entire country — has been routinely beating women of all ages and classes for how they dress since they took over the country of Iran 43 years ago.

Since the protests began, Khamenei’s government has arrested more than 20,000 innocent protestors, sentenced many to execution without trials, has killed more than 2,000 people at least, many of them just children, some of them as young as 10 years old. THIS is what lit the match of this raging revolutionary fire.

This was different. It will take historians and pundits decades to unpack why this particular event unfolded the way it did and why it led to such an enormous uproar and a sincere attempt at a revolutionary overthrow of a long standing dictatorship that has broad support from both Russia and China. But so far these facts we know are what, at least in part, led to the incredible shift from complacent acceptance of fascism by the Iranian people to full fledged protests, and then soon after, cries for revolution…

To begin with the protests and outcries started with the young people of the country. VERY YOUNG. Gen Z started this revolution. They tend not to believe the old fashioned religious indoctrination that’s been such a bane on the existence of humankind over the last 3,000 years.

They also recognize that the old patriarchal guard of being ruled by old men is over in most countries around the world. And they were willing to fight to end that in their own country, put their lives on the line for it and even die for it. And many of them did. And have died. Young healthy bright brave intelligent children of the revolution turned martyrs to inspire older people to step out of their homes and fight for the just cause of freedom.

It has been nothing less than mesmerizing deeply moving and inspirational to watch them in action over these past 3 months. To witness young high school student Nika Shakarami , 16 years old, sing to her classmates in public — the first time anyone in the world had seen a female do this in Iran in almost 45 years was THE MOST INSPIRING EVENT OF 2022. Period.

For doing so she was kidnapped and beaten to death by the ISRG (Islamic Republican Guard) so brutally that her head was bashed into pieces and her face was unrecognizable to her family or anyone else for that matter. These are the kinds of animals the brave and beautiful Persian people face in their struggle for liberty, equality and basic human dignity.

The men who lead, work in and work for the alleged government of Iran are not people; they are monsters, whose time of extinction came hundreds of years ago, while the rest of humanity evolved. This is precisely why the only way they are able to put on the airs of “government officials” or pretend they started a government or still lead one in modern times is through extreme violence, brute force, fear, threats, kidnapping, mass arrests and executions of its citizenry, and highly censored, government controlled media in all formats.

They disguise themselves with self-imposed religious titles and costumes, quoting alleged “Holy Books” and participating in daily and annual religious rituals in order to attempt to hide behind religion, as opposed to sincerely embracing and practicing the tenets of love, peace, honesty, charity, forgiveness and reconciliation of one; their transparently shallow attempts to mask the wickedness and barbarity of their actions and methods of control don’t fool anyone. Especially not the young people of the country, as we’ve now witnessed firsthand over the last three months.

After the Iranian government murdered 16 year old Nika Shakarami for singing, they then held on to her body for days and refused to give it back to her family, until they paid a huge ransom for it.

Every time I watch the footage of her few brief seconds of innocently singing up there on that makeshift stage, I ball my eyes out like a baby. If anyone lit the match that turned the protests into a full fledged revolution calling for complete government overthrow, it was her brave actions that afternoon. I still cannot watch that footage without crying. But I also always feel extremely inspired and grateful and in awe of her. If she can do it, so too can the rest of us.

Secondly, the Iranian youth are connected to the world through technology and are well aware that freedom, democracy, equality for all, human rights and fairness in a Justice system exist in most of the world. Especially the free world. And Iran is a modern country very tuned in and well aware of the free world and very intent on becoming free themselves.

They know that their country has no business being led by a bunch of self-serving thugs who put themselves at the seat of power and then control an entire country through fake news, false propaganda, secret disappearances, arrests, beatings, violent rapes and murder.

Thirdly they are able to harness the power of said technology to get their message out to the rest of the world and ask for help. This they did. Despite the government regularly turning the internet off completely for days and weeks at a time. They bypassed this through VPN technology.

Fourthly, many of us in the activist communities around the globe saw their messages and video footage, heard their cries to be seen and heard, to be supported and helped in any way possible, and we acted. Boy did we act.

This was the first time I participated in an ongoing activist cause primarily through social media and technology platforms rather than in the streets. Unlike the recent BLM (Black Lives Matter) or MeToo or LGBTQ causes that many of us have so actively and boisterously supported in the streets all over the U.S., acting to support the cause of #IranProtests and then #IranRevolution was not possible in the streets in America. There simply wasn’t enough support for it nor even interest in it by the American people. Globally this cause was being fought and supported online, on social media and using technology.

In many ways this was a turning point that I believe will have very big implications for other people’s movements over the next few years as more and more autocracies and dictatorships crumble under the weight of a newly coalesced more compassionate and humane global citizenry.

Instead of large marches through streets and over bridges chanting and singing and sign waving, a rather small group of us — and even now it still seems to be just a few thousand of us — around the world came together to share every single video and photo and news story leaked out of Iran with the rest of the world. On any given day I will Tweet at least 100+ posts about Iran to my Followers. Those then get picked up by others, who in turn do the same thing.

We got the hacker group Anonymous involved very quickly and they have been a tremendous help. We also simultaneously bombarded government officials from the UN and any other country who would listen to get behind the movement and help in any way they can.

To their credit countries like Canada, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and France have all been helpful. The United States has done nothing to help. But then again the United States likes it’s apartheid states and dictatorships and spends hundreds of billions a year to keep them alive.

Think Chile, China, Israel or Saudi Arabia. Not to mention Afghanistan or Libya which it left in shambles to become Islamic terrorist states and breeding grounds. The US doesn’t like democracies so much. It only uncomfortably endures them.

On a personal note, I also recorded several messages of solidarity with the Iranian people in their struggle in both Farsi and English and spread them around social media to get the word out that “we hear you we see you we support you we fight with you” at the very beginning of the breakout of the protests. One can watch those messages here. The gratitude expressed by the Iranian people was immense. They truly appreciate any help they can get from the outside world.

I also produced a two hour video documentary explaining what was happening in Iran right now and the history behind it and what led up to it to help Americans understand why this was and still is such an important global event, in my opinion more important for world peace than the Russia-Ukraine war. One can watch those videos here.

I also did several TV appearances to help spread the word both to Americans and to the Iranian diaspora around the world to show our support for their noble cause.

But the real key to ALL of this is that we who are fighting for this Iranian cause, whether in or out of Iran, whether Iranian or American or French or Dutch, are now WAY beyond protests. We are beyond a few simple changes being made while the government stays as it is.

Our goal, the only goal is to achieve a full on people’s democratic revolution that provides and guarantees full democratic freedoms, equality and human rights for all the people of Iran. Especially women. Because they are the most disenfranchised. But truly the fight is for all Iranian citizens.

“If you tremble with indignation at every injustice than you are a comrade of mine.” —Che Guevara

What we are looking for and will achieve in Iran….

1. Women presently are forced by the government — all are men — to dress a certain way, with their clothes their hair their makeup their shoes, you name it. While men are allowed to dress however they want to. The reason for this is because if they didn’t hide themselves they would unfairly entice men to do bad things. (Insert laughter and then righteous indignant RAGE here!!!) This must and will end immediately.

2. Women are not allowed to sing in public nor record musical albums, again out of the fear that it would entice men to do bad things. I know this because i visited many music stores in Iran while on a Diplomatic Mission there and i was shocked to see whole record stores filled with CDs of only MEN! It was both hysterical and creepy. This must and will end.

3. An Iranian woman’s testimony to the police or in court is only equal to HALF that of a man’s. When I asked why this was i was told that “it would be impossible to trust a woman to full testimony because they are like delicate flowers and as such are ruled by their emotions and not by their minds or logic.” So it takes the testimony of TWO women to equal the testimony of one man. Now imagine what this portends in cases where a man or a group of men rape one woman. Get it? (Insert more indignant RAGE here!!!!!) This must and will end.

4. People of the LGBTQ community are not just denied any human rights to be how they are or wish to be; they are routinely arrested for being so and often murdered for it. This must and will end.

5. Although Jews and Christians are allowed religious freedom in Iran, though not as much as Muslims since the country is literally a Theocracy ie a country governed by one religion, in this case Islam, every other religion is outlawed. Buddhists, Bahais, Hindus, Sufis, Zoroastrians, even and especially atheists (which i still contend IS a religion) are all subject to arrest or beatings or execution for practicing the faith of their preference. This must and will end.

6. And to segue from there and keep this short and to the point, the country of Iran is governed by an unelected all-male fascist dictatorship who put themselves in power. The people have no say who leads or governs them. The so-called presidential candidates are chosen by the so-called Supreme Leader. The people don’t care about voting for president because they know he does nothing and has no actual power. He’s simply a mouthpiece for the Supreme Leader. No different than China or Russia et al.

The people of Iran want nothing less than full representative democracy. A transparent government of their choosing. With limits on power, term limits and no corruption or religion attached to their government. Complete separation of church and state. They don’t want a Supreme Leader. This isn’t Star Wars. They want a president, a Senate, a House of Parliament and a fair and honest judicial system.

They also want basic human rights guaranteed to everyone. Freedom of speech, assembly, religion, the press, all without fear of being kidnapped from their homes or arrested or beaten or murdered in the middle of the night. They are no different than you or me or anyone else who lives in a democratic republic around the world.

So although today seems like a win for the people of Iran and those of us who have been fighting with them for the last 3 months, it is only a start, and in reality it is more of a desperate last minute of the game play by a terrified group of old dogs who know their time is up.

Yes, getting rid of the so-called morality police is progress. But the only real win, the only acceptable goal the Iranian people will accept now and are fighting for now is for Khamenei and the entire Islamic Republic government of washed out old men to STEP DOWN NOW, LEAVE and HAND THE COUNTRY BACK TO THE PEOPLE.

If they do not, the peaceful protests will very soon turn into nationwide strikes that will shut the entire country down. After that it will turn into an armed people 40 million strong forcing these monsters out or executing them themselves and taking their country back as we’ve seen in numerous countries around the world throughout history.

For those of us on the outside working with the Iranian people in their bold and noble struggle for freedom, we say: WE ARE WITH YOU. WE SEE YOU. WE HEAR YOU. WE SUPPORT YOU. WE FIGHT WITH YOU.

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Ed Hale Speaks Up In Defense of the Protesters In Iran In Latest TV Interview

October 12, 2022

اد هیل، خواننده و ترانه‌سرای آمریکایی: این جنبش تمام جهان را تحت تاثیر قرار داده است@Ed_Hale pic.twitter.com/Jb3YnbPtvc

— ايران اينترنشنال (@IranIntl) October 10, 2022
Watch American singer Ed Hale interview about what’s happening in the current Iran protests, what the Iranian people are really like & what challenges they are facing in a revolution

Ed Hale appeared on the Persian news network Iran International this week to discuss the ongoing protests against the Islamic Republic of Iran, what the people there are fighting for, the challenges they face and how we in America can help their cause. Video can be viewed on Twitter or Youtube.

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What’s Happening In Iran & Why It Is So Important

October 8, 2022
Video: What’s Happening In Iran Right Now & Why It Is So Important – Part One: The History
Video: What’s Happening In Iran Right Now and Why It Is So Important – Part Two: What I Learned While In Iran

The last two weeks have been incredible, both inspiring and heartbreaking, for the country and people of Iran and the implications of what a true Democratic Iranian Revolution would mean for the world.

We spent the last week creating a video (that we’ve now split into two parts) to help explain what’s happening in Iran right now in the bigger context of their history and who they are as a people, hoping to increase understanding of the Iranian people, their long, rich history and why these current protests are so vital, not just to the brave women and men on the frontlines in the streets, but also for world peace.

We believe what we are witnessing in Iran right now is historic. We know we are personally taking a big risk by posting the videos due to their openness & honesty, and it is something we are still actively discussing. But we also sincerely believe that our brave friends in Iran deserve all the attention & support they can get, including a real world understanding of who they are & what they’re fighting for. Freedom Justice Equality & basic human rights.

If you have any questions or desire to get more involved to support the cause please feel free to reach out. Together we can. – Ed Hale

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Challenging Times

June 10, 2020

I don’t know about you. But lately I’ve been starting to break, physically beginning to feel the mental and emotional strain caused by an unshakable intuitive feeling of fear that we’re deliberately being f*^ked with by some higher power or unstoppable force from beyond. Can’t say for sure what specific event it was in the last few days….

One would think by the time we spiraled from unfathomable numbers of deaths from a global virus into 3 months of being forcibly locked in our homes into a Great Depression-level economic collapse simultaneously contrasted with a frighteningly imbalanced wicked-seeming illogically bifurcated financial market into black lives finally mattering a little but not enough revealing a disturbing innate national racism yielding masses of protests for weeks on end down into a very sudden and discomforting disappearance of national leadership into a gutter of inanely childish and crazy behavior coming out of the White House on an hourly basis with far too many stories about a deranged self-obsessed psychopath occupying the position of POTUS (once considered “the most important job on earth” but now unanimously viewed as a laughing stock by the rest of the world) much of it coming from his own fellow Republicans — with fear not logic or nobility being the only apparent impediment to the whole lot of them banding together to publicly concede they made a terrible and dangerous mistake, meanwhile the other side of the sinister corporate duopoly that controls the entire country of 360 million people are attempting to run a man who it appears may not make it to the election let alone through a presidency and they won’t budge on their pick despite the overwhelming disinterest in him — the pressing question being WHY?!? — reported simultaneously with stories of a rapidly deteriorating and corrupt justice system and “serious concerns that the current president may be the biggest threat to national security by top military brass” simulcast with eerily under-covered impending wars between China and India, China and Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, China and Japan, Europe considering banning Americans (?!?), “white power” competing with “black power” for slogan of the year in a democratic republic allegedly the most proudly culturally diverse “melting pot” on earth, statues coming down faster than can be counted, Americans with guns lots of guns, Iran (jeez, seriously guys, now?!?) and Israel (seriously guys, now?!?) global food shortages, global food supply poisonings, random fireworks and gun shots every night for hours accompanying a triple digit increase in gun deaths and a constant onslaught of pandemic deniers and conspiracy theories flooding social discourse every day by normally intelligent folks but which boggle the mind… The hope of reopening quickly fading as the deniers are fast-morphing into the walking dead claiming “there’s nothing wrong with us. Stop staring at us. We’re fine,” pulling out their shotguns and rifles as if to signal “yes we’re as stupid and crazy as you’ve always Imagined, now go on and git”

But frankly I was doing okay. In spite of it all. Just doing my thing. Trying to survive, keep my family alive healthy and happy, maybe make a difference here and there when i could. And then suddenly I start getting these random messages from various friends around the world, normal intelligent well balanced folks usually, sheepishly talking about their recent bouts with anxiousness and depression… my initial response being “yeah of course man… the world is on fire… it’s normal… just try to hang on…it’ll get better.”

And then suddenly it starts hailing at around 6 pm. Out of nowhere on a hot wet sweltering steaming summer day, frozen ice starts falling from the sky. The sound is piercing and deafening. I keep wiping my eyes, opening and closing them, assuming I’m seeing things. Maybe i took a nap and I’m dreaming. It’s 90 degrees outside. How is there ice falling from the sky?

But we’re still not talking about the insane fact that the US military quietly admitted that it’s been seeing UFOs in the skies for a few decades now a few months back.

The problem isn’t all the bad news. It’s the overwhelming quantity of it, combined with the new surreal strangeness of it all and the fact that it’s so damn alarming out of our hands and weird that most people are going numb to it. I get it. Eat sleep work eat sleep work. Invent a God because there’s no visible way out of this insanity at our level. Note to self: add prayer to eat sleep work. Maybe it’ll help.

And our kids. God our poor f*^king kids. That whole generation… All three of them really… I keep trying to underplay how bad everything is when they break down and cry and mention it… I try to play it cool, like we all had our problems. This is no different.

It occurs to me that none of this is new. What generation hasn’t felt this way since humankind first awoke to self awareness on planet earth? Frightened confused boggled overwhelmed terrified. Sumerian Babylonian Persian Greek Roman Jewish Christian Muslim Gods were all constructed from such base human feelings.

Compared to the Ice Age or the so called Dark Ages or the Plague surely we have it better… It’s become a daily meditation. But honestly… the thought though completely rational doesn’t make me feel any better. How is it for you?

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What the United States Government Doesn’t Say About Iran

September 17, 2019

Just did a refresher study on the exile and last year of the (second) shah of Iran. Was specifically interested in it’s effects on U.S. relations and global stability then and now.

As we already know, Great Britain and the the United States through the CIA with a little help from France perpetrate a coup d’etat in 1953 to topple the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, who had run on a platform of not giving away Iranian oil to Great Britain at below market costs anymore. These three western powers then reinstall the Shah of Iran’s son into power and reinstate monarchic rule in iran. Just what the Iranian people wanted. NOT. Great Britain, France and the US form a new big oil conglomerate from all this free oil they’re about to come into and call it BP, British Petroleum. In exchange they will prop up and support the monarchy in Iran militarily against the wishes of the people and keep down any revolts.

And so begins a renewed relatively stable alliance between Iran and western nations. Iran becomes more and more westernized. Brits move there in droves to run the oil plants. Iranian kids go to British schools and learn English. Highways and streets in Tehran are renamed Eisenhower Boulevard and Kennedy Street.

After a few decades of watching the so called “royals”, elites and western nations blow through all their wealth and natural resources the Iranian people begin to get angry. Like revolution angry. It’s the 1970s. The situation is not helped by the fact that a well educated and well spoken radical Islamic cleric named Khomeini is constantly preaching revolution from exile in France, encouraging the people to rise up against western domination. Protests in the streets begin, calling for an “end to control by America”.

In the late 70s, the presidents of the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany secretly meet in Guadalupe to discuss what they’re going to do about the Shah because their oil contracts are soon to expire and they don’t want to start paying more. Do they depose the Shah? Take him out? Support him and squash the protests and use their support to bargain their prices low for another 50 years? Before they can decide they’re informed that the Shah has cancer from one of their informants. Ah hah! Perfect! Let’s not support him during these turbulent times, we’ll force him into exile and put someone else in power who will give us even more control and lower oil prices.

It’s getting dangerous for the Shah now. He calls his US and British allies to ask for help and they inform him they won’t be able to help him. He should leave if he has to. So he does. First to Egypt. Then Morocco. Then the Bahamas. Then Mexico. By now Khomeini has returned to Iran as a revolutionary hero. Promising an end to monarchy, western rule and a return to democracy. He very quickly kills everyone ever employed by the shah’s government and names himself Supreme Leader for Life. He obviously had watched Star Wars one too many times.

By now the Shah is very sick. In his defense, US president Carter, though he ruthlessly betrayed his ally for his country’s selfish gain, did want to help the Shah in his illness. But the Iranian people were not going to tolerate the US harboring the Shah, healing his illness and then reinstating him again in a year or two. So they stormed the American embassy in Tehran and took a bunch of American hostages and demanded the Shah return to face trial and a return of all the Iranian assets that the Federal Reserve, the US Treasury, American banks and American corporations had seized during the protests. (Some of this money was eventually returned to Iran by US president Barack Obama 40 years later, who also acknowledged and apologized for the 1953 coup, which is what created the current mess the Iranian people are still in today.)

President Carter at this point just wants those American hostages back. He realizes he made a huge mistake by ousting the Shah and allowing this Islamic cleric Khomeini to waltz in and take over Iran. But he cant get enough of his colleagues to agree to give Iran all their assets back. So the hostages are stuck as pawns there in a dangerous political game. The Rockefellers, who are holding billions of Iranian assets in their banks, don’t want to let go of all that money but they do offer to provide doctors and medical support to try to save the Shah’s life. So they secretly fly him to New York. An operation is performed. It’s botched. He gets sicker. They then become fearful the American hostages will be endangered if they continue to help the Shah. So they fly him to Texas and then force him on Panama, using the recently completed Panama Canal deal as a bargaining chip. But Panama too is afraid of retaliation by this crazy mad Khomeini. So they cut a secret deal with Khomeini to extradite the Shah back to Iran to stand trial and be executed.

But Egypt’s Sadat swoops In to rescue his old friend and offers him sanctuary in Egypt. So off they fly to Egypt. The Carter administration calls Khomeini and says “we’ve put the Shah on a CIA plane to Egypt. We’ll trade you the Shah for our hostages. Do what you want with him.” Obviously getting cheap oil is no longer a priority. And neither is loyalty to longtime allies.

The US suddenly brings the plane down on some Portuguese islands in order to secretly hand the Shah over to Iran without telling him (they tell him they have to refuel. They dont), but Khomeini doesn’t trust the U.S. so the deal gets broken at the last minute. The Shah ends up back in Egypt. He very soon dies from complications from his botched American surgeries. The Ayatollah Khomeini does eventually release the American hostages but waits to do it until Carter is ousted from Washington just to twist the knife a little and make his point clear.

He believes he may have found at least a frenemy in new US president Ronald Reagan, who very soon will militarily and financially support a newly American installed ruthless dictator in Iraq named Hussein who is immediately and secretly ordered by the US to attack and overtake Iran. Which he does. In the 8 year Iran-Iraq war. Of course, Reagan, not wanting to play favorites also secretly supports Iran by supplying them with weapons of war to kill the Iraqis, assuming that no matter who wins they’ll just become their ally and help them get rid of the other guy. They both have plenty of oil after all.

Eventually this plan backfires as both countries begin to realize that neither of them want to be subservient lapdogs of the wicked western imperialists. The US eventually takes Iraq out 20 years later. Along with a few other pesky Muslim nations. Only Iran remains, steadfast in their desire for self deterministic rule and autonomy, albeit under excruciatingly unhappy circumstances under a brutal authoritarian rule.

There’s more to the story. There always is. But it all goes back to ‘53 and ‘79. American greed, selfishness,

very poor judgment and ill advised strategy. And here we all are. Happy days.

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Alternative History, American Terrorism, Current Events, Human Rights, Politics and Government, Terrorism 1953, American hostage crisis, American imperialism, Ayatollah Khomeini, Barack Obama, BP, British petroleum, CIA, coup d'etat, egypt, Iran, Iran Contra Affair, Iran Iraq war, Iranian revolution, Iraq, mosadegh, president Carter, Reza Shah, ronald reagan, Saddam Hussein, Shah of Iran

Does the National Debt Even Matter in the Age of American Empire?

May 25, 2018

CBS News revealed today that under Trump’s watch, the U.S. national debt tops $21 trillion for first time ever. Click here to read.

Twenty-one TRILLION dollars. That’s $21,000,000,000,000. A lot of zeros. The largest national debt in the history of human civilization.

To be fair, this has very little to do with Donald Trump. That’s just CBS playing politics as usual for clickbait. Trump hasn’t been POTUS long enough. Though some might argue that the historic tax break legislation that he and the republican led congress just passed helped contribute to this staggering imbalance (and will add even more to it down the road). But many will also jump out of their SUVs to blame Obama for it. And still others will point to the fact that the George W. Bush administration and their endless “wars on terror” are what really ramped up this new trend in American over-spending. All would be right.

Not that anyone likes thinking about this topic, but what I tend to contemplate a lot regarding the mind boggling National Debt figure above and its ramifications is that statistically we know that once a country’s debt reaches 60% of its GDP, that country historically plunges into a deep depression or even falls apart into panic and chaos, unless it institutes extremely painful “austerity” measures (think cutting back on spending for the most basic of people’s everyday necessities…). Which often leads to bloody revolts and revolutions.

(People generally don’t like starving. And more apt, humanity has reached a new era where many believe that they have a right to being taken care of by very big governments and they have deliberately voted in governments who do just that. (Think Socialism or Communism). And some might even point to modern day America as well. What are commonly referred to as “Entitlements” or “social welfare spending” has reached an epic sixty-some percent of the annual budget in the U.S. It didn’t always used to be this way. It doubles how much is spent on defense, for reference. (Although the U.S. still also manages to spend more on defense (think weapons of war and Intelligence) annually than all other nations on earth combined.)

Even when a country enforces strict austerity measures on its people for years at a time in order to try to pay down its debt, it still often presents numerous challenges to ever escape the clutches of the growing interest payments, it’s currency turns near worthless and it finds itself unable to end the death cycle. more “Does the National Debt Even Matter in the Age of American Empire?”

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For Groups Like ISIS No Mercy No Quarter No Patience

August 20, 2014

There is at least one area where I wholeheartedly agree with the global super powers and this isn’t something that happens very often — because in reality it’s not very often that a group that the United States (or any other global super power) labels “terrorists” is actually anything close to being terrorists. Most of the time they’re anything but. More often they’re noble freedom fighters akin to the early American settlers during the American Revolutionary War (people who by all accounts were surely being labeled “terrorists” at the time, but who are now looked at as “heroes”); or they’re the last of the brave holdouts attempting to defend the truth versus the corporate bs propaganda that is so regularly being fed to the masses.
 
 This is a sad and frustrating phenomenon that has made it nearly impossible for the average person to discern who is the hero versus who is the villain in the world of today. The majority of the people choose, whether they do so deliberately or not is up for debate, to just believe (or at least claim to) that whoever is in control, i.e. their government of the moment, is the hero, and whoever THEY brand a terrorist is the villain. Even though we have thousands of years of history that clearly disproves this.
 
 Examples that come to mind are the Chechens, the Iraqi freedom fighters, the Ukrainians of today caught in the middle of a tense battle for control over their land between the United States and Russia, the Sandinistas of Nicaragua, the Iranians throughout the 20th century, Palestinians over the last 100 or so years, anti-Pinochet Chileans, etc etc. All labeled “terrorists” by the powers that be when in reality they were simply “those most brave and committed to truth among the throngs of masses who were willing to do whatever they were told by those with the biggest guns”.
 
 But in the case of ISIS… they are not defending any truth, nor fighting for anyone’s freedom. Instead they are a plain and ordinary band of unscrupulous thugs and gangsters using religion as an excuse to murder and terrorize. And in these cases i personally believe it is very important that we bring the hammer down fast and furiously upon them, lest anyone forget how committed we are to the progress we’ve made as a species thus far and how adamant we are to never going back to a world that resembles anything remotely like an Islamic Caliphate or any other dictatorship. Islam is a religion. But it is not a valid excuse to terrorize.
 
 There are very few cases I can feasibly imagine where I would condone the killing of another human being. And if the allied forces of the West, along with the Kurds of Iraq and free Syrian people, can round up and arrest every last one of these so called ISIS members, then so be it. But if that proves to be impossible due to the nature of the conflict then by all means we will be better off in the short term and the long run doing whatever is necessary to rid the world of these madmen as quickly as possible.
 
 The same operating principle should apply to any groups of mindless murderous thugs who happen to spring up out of the vacuum of chaos and pandemonium created by the so-called Arab Spring, or anywhere else on plate earth at this time. This does not imply that the powers that be in the West, nor America, nor democracies or Christians even, are somehow the new world arbiters of what’s “good” “right” “just” or noble. Surely they’ve proved again and again that they are anything but. In fact it is this idea — the so called “Exceptionalism of America” — that is responsible for much of the trouble and heartache all over the world today. But at the very least they attempt to represent and defend the basic ideals that the majority of people around the world today deem the most preferable, freedom of the individual and not the state, personal liberty, a fair and just justice system, separation of religion and state and a relatively capitalist free enterprise system.
 
 These ideas may be still more ideals than common practice in many parts of the world — including America at times, but they are certainly more preferable than anything put forth by the more radical Islamic groups that have sprung up over the last ten to twenty years in resistance to the admittedly imperialistic forces of the United States. Just because the United States and their overtly bullying and imperialist methods seem nefarious and repugnant to us does not necessarily imply that the forces who have cropped up to resist them are any better. In fact most of the time, if anything, they are worse.
 
 Therefore if we have a mission in these various battles or even a say, it is to continue to attempt to improve on this most delicate democratic republic we have created in the United States and in many other countries around the world, rather than try to bring them down or radically change them in any major way. This is our noble goal.
 



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The Need for Peaceful Reconciliation

August 10, 2014

It’s getting bad now. All over the world. Protests and marches in the streets of New York, London, Paris, South Africa, Berlin, Sydney and many more cities across the globe — all protesting against the incredibly shocking loss of innocent lives at the hands of Hamas and Israel. As I posted yesterday, it’s not just our Palestinian friends we should be concerned with but our Israeli brothers and sisters too. For this has gone too far now and for too long. The radical rightwing government of Israel is endangering the lives and safety and welfare of its citizens through this military offensive in Gaza (they’re fooling no one by attempting to call it defense.) They’re also endangering their economic welfare. The people of the world are now firmly against Israel for what it’s been witnessing; the people of Israel will be the ones to suffer because of it even though it’s the government who is doing it.
 
 It’s also getting bad in the States and online as well. Social media is not just abuzz, it’s aflame. Inflamed with hate speech and vicious arguments and attacks from both sides of the wall. Friends are turning on friends. Celebrities are speaking out, some compassionate, some hateful. (Joan Rivers exemplified true racist inhumanity in comments she made publicly yesterday). There seems to be no truth to this issue other than a lot of innocent people are dying. And unfortunately no one can do anything to stop it from continuing so far. But everybody wants to chime in. This makes sense. It really does. We are being moved so much emotionally that it is affecting us physically. It is affecting our actions. We HAVE TO act. We have to DO something. It feels irresponsible to sit here idly doing nothing while witnessing such inhumanity taking place. And yet there isn’t a lot people are doing except blaming each other or spreading hateful viewpoints and anger. Not helpful.
 
 This morning I awoke to an onslaught of notifications that my Facebook feed was going nuts still, leftover from yesterday. Zeke asked me to step in and delete all the threads, which would be nearly impossible for it’s almost all we’ve done for four weeks, discuss this issue… But his point was well taken: no one is doing anything except making other people angry. It’s sad and completely unhelpful. It was the last thing I wanted to wake up to today. But he was right. A few bad apples spoiling the whole cart.
 
 Hey man. Just woke up. I soooooo did not want to do this today… (Imagine how THEY feel — that’s a luxury they can’t afford over there…on either side…) Still groggy. Having espresso. Saw your name in a post on my phone and immediately logged on here. My apologies dog.
 
 Lord knows I have TRIED to encourage people to NOT be rude or insult others or resort to name calling or hate speech or state obviously erroneous factoids, or even refrain from patronizing remarks like “sorry chief” or “you need to go back to school”. NONE of that is part of diplomacy. It gets us nowhere. I’ve begged for it over and over. Last week I repeatedly deleted someone from posting over and over again all day (he was a persistent fucker) because his words were so vile. And over the last week i have had to unfriend several normally very cool people for going apeshit crazy on my threads over this issue. I really just don’t get why people cannot be rational and civil.
 
 I want so badly for us to be able to discuss things, debate things even, just as we are able to do on Forum or Quora, and just as — even as a small microcosmic representation of, our counterparts are having to do right this very minute in Cairo and Tel Aviv and DC and The West Bank. How are they supposed to broker peace and reconcilliation if we — just regular people with no real bones to pick with each other on social media — can’t even act civilly towards each other? Why does “blame” always enter the picture? Or “hate”? Or racist remarks? Or rudeness?
 
 Arlan was right in that NO one can solve this issue except the two parties involved, ultimately those two people are the ones who are going to have to make peace and forgive and reconcile. But I also believe that it’s going to take many different groups and factions to help; offering support and guidance, and different viewpoints. Just as it took in all our previous battles wars and skirmishes. This is a world problem, as I’ve posted before. This is for better or worse our generation’s South Africa — (Remember: Mandela was imprisoned for “terrorist acts” — he DID resort to terrorism in his 20s due to the ignorance of his youth and desperation. He actually tried to blow a place up. So even the best of us get messed up…) — so I see this as the world’s cause for BOTH sides. Because BOTH sides have genuine concerns and valid points.
 
 We ALL need to step up and step in to end this sad state of affairs. But only if we’re being constructive and blatantly helpful. I am referring both to US here now in the smaller microcosm AND to us THERE in the bigger picture.
 
 For example, I’m going to say it again as I did yesterday: HAMAS IS NOT HELPING. They are hurting. Their cause may have been noble but they chose the wrong method. Period. Violence BEGETS violence. Sure we’ve won in the past before using violence (the American revolution, the Russian and Iranian ones etc…) But Hamas isn’t going to win. And if they did then all our Israeli brothers and sisters would be toast. So THEY need to go. In other words, THEY should NOT even be allowed at the bargaining table. It’s a sham that we are forced to be bargaining with overt terrorists. It’s a joke.
 
 Here’s another one: Iran needs to stop with the anti-Israel platform and speech. Yes we get it. The viewpoint that Judaism is accepted and respected as it is in Iran (VERY respected) BUT that Israel was illegal and not done properly. But that’s the PAST. We’re never going to reverse it. So as long as they take that stance THEY too are NOT being helpful. And so they just don’t belong in the conversation. Anyone who takes a “we refuse to reconcile” or “we refuse to accept reality” stance is not helping. Along with anyone who overtly seems to disrespect life. Or insults. Or is rude. Or misquotes facts. Not helping.
 
 But facts…they help. Opinions and ideas and viewpoints that are new AND compassionate CAN help. IF we’re all willing to give a little, and grow a little, and accept that we can be wrong sometimes, and compromise, then we can fix this. I have learned through the years as a diplomat that one has to be fluid, like a liquid, able and willing to encompass both and all sides to a disagreement; AND willing to honor truth and human life above all things. Everything else gets in the way.
 
 What this means friends on both sides is: those who come on here and ONLY defend Israel and never even bother to acknowledge the incredibly sad and shameful loss of innocent life, ala Joan Rivers yesterday, is NOT helping. You’re scary. And the same goes for those who just keep hammering Israel without acknowledging that Gazans VOTED for a terrorist group to run their little swath of land — they KNEW this might happen. Hell, it was almost a given. And martyrdom — DYING while fighting — is encouraged by some in the Muslim community, i.e. THEY are bringing it on themselves some of them AND it doesn’t help to have a platform that says you want to do away with the other side. Duh!?! How is Israel supposed to feel safe under those conditions? I wouldn’t. BOTH sides have valid points. Both sides are being stubborn aholes and dragging us all through a lot of unnecessary pain. Our job is shine a light on what peaceful reconciliation looks like. Which basically means stop trying to prove the other guy wrong.
 
 My sincerest apologies to those of you who have been decent as we’ve discussed this issue. Blessed ARE the peacemakers. Let’s end this now and move on.

 

 – Posted by The Ambassador using BlogPress on an iPhone 8s Custom



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A private little world for me… a private little world for you. The online journals and musings of singer-songwriter author and activist Ed Hale. The Transcendence Diaries have been posting regularly online since 2001. Comments are always welcomed. And so are YOU.

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