TeamProg
TeamProg's JournalS.F. Forty-Niners get the NUMBER ONE SEED! Home Field through the playoffs!
9'ers won
Eagles lost
Awesome !!
San Francisco is officially the cream of the crop in the NFC.
The 49ers clinched their conference's No. 1 seed on Sunday following their 27-10 win over the Commanders and the Eagles' 35-31 upset loss to the Cardinals, assuring themselves a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout their hopeful journey to Super Bowl LVIII.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan's squad locked up the all-important seed two weeks after sewing up the NFC West and three weeks after becoming the first team in the league to punch a playoff ticket.
The wave of success has been earned on both sides of the ball.
Brock Purdy has proven a perfect fit for Shanahan's system and, buoyed by a stellar supporting cast of Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle, delivered a tremendous second season under center.
Christian McCaffrey has perhaps been even better as the NFL's foremost difference-maker at running back.
And the defense behind Nick Bosa and Fred Warner finds itself as a top-three scoring unit for the second straight year.
Opinion: The accidental revelation in 'Ferrari'
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/25/opinions/ferrari-adam-driver-penelope-cruz-berlatsky/index.html(snip)
The movie frames the danger of death as part of what’s exciting about the races. There are close-ups of the driver’s determined, handsome faces, and repeated references to their attractive girlfriends, the complement to rugged manliness. De Portago is dating Mexican film actress Linda Christian (Sarah Gadon), a famous Hollywood sex symbol of the time.
It’s hard to miss the way that Enzo has built his fortune literally on the blood and bones of his workers. That’s especially apparent when he delivers a pep talk before the Mille Miglia, in which he chastises his drivers for being too cautious. He tells them that if a driver from another company is about to pass them, they should be willing to kill themselves and the opponent rather than admit defeat.
“We all know it’s a deadly passion, our terrible joy,” Enzo insists, with all of Adam Driver’s powers of earnest eloquence. But of course, while Enzo may be passionate, he’s not the one who’s going to die. And while he may find the races a joy, he also literally makes money from them. He’s telling the drivers to sacrifice themselves for his bank account.
(snip)
Even if Enzo seems sincere, even if he has a vision, even if you think sportscar racing is exciting and the danger is part of the thrill, what kind of system is it where some people sacrifice their labor, their health and even their lives so others can get rich?
Hollywood keeps telling us the people in charge of this meatgrinder are likable. “Ferrari” doesn’t sell it.
Eclipses, meteor showers and alignments: The astronomy events you won't want to miss in 2024
https://www.accuweather.com/en/space-news/eclipses-meteor-showers-and-alignments-the-astronomy-events-you-wont-want-to-miss-in-2024/1604982By Brian Lada, AccuWeather meteorologist and staff writer
Published Dec 29, 2023 6:09 AM PST | Updated Dec 29, 2023 6:09 AM PST
The year is jam-packed with captivating astronomical sights including a rare "Super Harvest Moon Eclipse," but one spectacle will leave millions speechless -- and won't be seen from the United States for another 20 years.
The new year brings a fresh slate of exciting astronomical events in the night sky, and one that will take place in the middle of the day that, for many, will be a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle.
From planetary alignments to a "Super Harvest Moon Eclipse," here are the top astronomy events to mark on your 2024 calendar:
March 25: Penumbral lunar eclipse
Less than a week after the spring equinox, which takes place on March 19 at 11:06 p.m. EDT, stargazers will be able to see the year's first eclipse.
A penumbral lunar eclipse will unfold before daybreak on Monday, March 25, and will be visible across North America South America, western Europe, western Africa, Japan, New Zealand and part of Australia.
This type of eclipse can be underwhelming and difficult to notice as the moon only passes through Earth's outer shadow, known as the penumbra, which is not nearly as dark as its inner shadow, the umbra. However, it will be the precursor to a jaw-dropping spectacle that will unfold just two weeks later.
April 8: Total solar eclipse
Millions of people will travel from around the world to see the top astronomy event of 2024, and for North America, it will arguably be the best astronomy event of the decade.
For a few moments on Monday, April 8, the moon will completely block out the sun to create a stunning total solar eclipse, the first for North America since 2017. It will only be visible along a narrow path from Texas to Maine and portions of Mexico and Atlantic Canada.
( snip )
The world wants a respite for Gaza. Israel vows to keep fighting.
The U.N. Security Council has called for “urgent and extended” humanitarian pauses in Gaza to allow more aid into the enclave. The United States, Israel’s best friend, says it wants its ally to move from block-flattening airstrikes to operations that target Hamas leaders more precisely.
But in recent days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli military commanders have suggested that the level of violence with which they’re prosecuting the war — already among the most destructive of the century, and a source of regional instability — will persist or even intensify.
Israeli airstrikes since Christmas Eve have wounded or killed hundreds of Palestinians, many of them in refugee camps, according to Palestinian and international health officials. Nineteen Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting with militants over the past four days, one of the bloodiest stretches for Israel since it began the campaign it says is aimed at eradicating Hamas on Oct. 7.
The few hospitals that continue to function in Gaza are far beyond overwhelmed, aid officials say.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/26/netanyahu-gaza-hamas-israel/
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Not giving Hamas time to show themselves as targets seems like a bad strategy.
This has become your basic indiscriminate bombing.
More than 80 children killed in West Bank since Oct. 7, UNICEF says
Source: WaPo
Eighty-three children have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the past three months — double the number for the whole of 2022, the agency’s regional director Adele Khodr said in a statement Thursday. More than 576 have been wounded, she added.
“As the world watches on in horror at the situation in the Gaza Strip, children in the West Bank are experiencing a nightmare of their own,” Khodr said.
“Children living in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been experiencing grinding violence for many years, yet the intensity of that violence has dramatically increased since the horrific attacks of 7 October.”
In total, 124 Palestinian children and six Israeli children have been killed there this year, the agency said.
A separate report from the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published Wednesday found that at least 300 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since Oct. 7, most of them in incidents involving Israeli security forces.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/29/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-palestine/#link-BSAV7KFXKBFIXLKG72M2GWRIHI
This is just F'n great.. FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday the war between Israel and Hamas has led to a spike
FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday the war between Israel and Hamas has led to a spike in threats against the United States, warning that "we are in a dangerous period" as various terrorist groups look to leverage the conflict for their own causes.
( snip )
Israel-Gaza conflict is being used in extremist propaganda
Christine Abizaid, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told lawmakers that the Israel-Hamas war has featured in messaging and propaganda since Oct. 7.
"We've seen it from al-Qaida affiliates, almost every single one of them," she told lawmakers, referring to terrorist groups in the Mideast and Africa with ties to al-Qaida. "We've also seen it from ISIS, which isn't ideologically aligned with a group like Hamas but is still leveraging this current conflict to try to sow the kind of violence, bring adherence to its cause in a kind of exploitative way."
On the home front, Wray said the biggest concern for the FBI is that violent extremists — including people inspired by foreign terrorist groups but also domestic violent extremists — will draw inspiration from the ongoing conflict to carry out attacks against Americans.
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So, Netanyahu's slaughter of approx. 20,000 Palestinian civilians in his attempt to destroy Hamas has raised the terror threat here in the U.S..
Thanks a WHOLE FUCKING BUNCH, A-HOLE.
Doctors accuse Israeli troops of desecrating bodies and shooting civilians at hospital Israel says was Hamas 'command ce
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/23/middleeast/kamal-adwan-hospital-gaza-israel-abuse-allegations-intl-cmd/index.htmlDoctors accuse Israeli troops of desecrating bodies and shooting civilians at hospital Israel says was Hamas ‘command center’
Jerusalem
CNN
—
Israeli soldiers raiding a hospital in northern Gaza desecrated the bodies of dead patients with bulldozers, let a military dog maul a man in a wheelchair, and shot multiple doctors even after vetting them for terror links, according to allegations by staff and patients.
“The soldiers dug up the graves this morning and dragged the bodies with bulldozers, then crushed the bodies with the bulldozers,” said the hospital’s head of pediatric services, Hossam Abu Safiya, in a phone interview on Saturday. “I have never seen such a thing before.”
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Israeli military says soldier opened fire on hostages holding white flag
Source: WaPo
The three hostages killed by Israeli forces in Gaza were carrying a makeshift white flag when a soldier felt threatened and opened fire, a senior Israeli military official said Saturday, adding that an investigation was underway and that the killings were “against our rules of engagement.” Hostages’ families and protesters were frustrated that the Israeli government has not taken a new path beyond a military operation to secure the release of their loved ones.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/16/israel-gaza-war-hamas-news-updates/
I will repeast: ""Hostages’ families and protesters were frustrated that the Israeli government has not taken a new path beyond a military operation to secure the release of their loved ones.""
It's as if the Isreali gov't cares more about making Hamas look evil than doing good for their own people.. huh.
Israel used U.S.-supplied white phosphorus in Lebanon attack
Source: WaPo
DHEIRA, Lebanon — Israel used U.S.-supplied white phosphorus munitions in an October attack in southern Lebanon that injured at least nine civilians in what a rights group says should be investigated as a war crime, according to a Washington Post analysis of shell fragments found in a small village.
A journalist working for The Post found remnants of three 155-millimeter artillery rounds fired into Dheira, near the border of Israel, which incinerated at least four homes, residents said. The rounds, which eject felt wedges saturated with white phosphorous that burns at high temperatures, produce billowing smoke to obscure troop movements as it falls haphazardly over a wide area. Its contents can stick to skin, causing potentially fatal burns and respiratory damage, and its use near civilian areas could be prohibited under international humanitarian law.
Lot production codes found on the shells match the nomenclature used by the U.S. military to categorize domestically produced munitions, which show they were made by ammunition depots in Louisiana and Arkansas in 1989 and 1992. The light green color and other markings — like “WP” printed on one of the remnants — are consistent with white phosphorous rounds, according to arms experts.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/12/11/israel-us-white-phosphorus-lebanon/
I certainly don't like my tax dollars being used for what are considered 'war crimes'.
Hey Bulldog (Beatle cover) by Fanny 1971 Live
[link:
|Just stumbled across this. Fun!
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Gender: Do not displayHometown: Monte Sereno, CA
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