Khanh L. on LinkedIn: It's been more than ten months since devastating violence began unfolding… (2024)

The United States has been talking to Egypt and Qatar about the contours of a final “take it or leave it” deal — one that, if the two sides fail to accept it, could mark the end of the American-led negotiations. The Israel Defense Forces said the six hostages were killed by their captors “shortly before” they were discovered. The U.S. holds a similar assessment, believing that all six hostages were shot in the head and executed not long before their bodies were discovered.Netanyahu is facing fury, hundreds of thousands of protesters took part in nationwide demonstrations. The senior administration official said Hamas’s decision to execute the hostages with negotiations under ways “calls into question” Hamas’s seriousness in the talks. In the hours after this weekend’s discovery, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris condemn Hamas for taking the lives of the hostages, even as Israelis harshly criticize Netanyahu.“take it or leave it” - Washington Posthttps://lnkd.in/gdNtFpyrPalestinians sometimes use the slogan “From the river to the sea.” But what you’re saying is that from the river to the Nile is the Jewish homeland, correct?Of course. If someone decides to invent a new religion today, who will decide the rules? The first nation that got the word from God, the promise from God—the first nation is the one who has the right to it. The others that follow—Christianity and Islam, with their demands, with their perceptions—they’re imitating what existed already. So, why in Israel? They could be anywhere in the world. They came after us.When you say that you want more Jews in the West Bank, is your idea that the Palestinians there and the Jews will live side by side as friends?If they accept our sovereignty, they can live here.The Extreme Ambitions of West Bank Settlers - New Yorkerhttps://lnkd.in/gNsUEbiwhttps://lnkd.in/gEy6GR45https://lnkd.in/gQugqWWPAfter the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, Britain was given administrative control over the area then known as Palestine. Britain’s foreign secretary at the time, Arthur James Balfour — who was previously Britain’s chief secretary for Ireland, and known for his sometimes brutal suppression of Irish demands for independence — had laid out the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people in the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Public sentiment in Ireland had initially supported Jewish efforts to create a state of Israel and the struggle against British rule — a fact that was often overlooked in modern Ireland. Yet that support later shifted toward the Palestinian cause, he said, amid rising criticism of the Israeli state’s expansion of settlements and the displacement of Palestinian communities.Tracing the Deep Roots of Ireland’s Support for Palestinians - New York Timeshttps://lnkd.in/dz8Ycw7v‘WE’RE NOT AFRAID’: French-Palestinian family fights for West Bank land seized by Israeli settlers - FRANCE 24https://lnkd.in/gbsxBA9s

The hashtag #FreePavel, launched by Elon Musk, spread quickly after Pavel Durov’s recent arrest in Paris. Many of those who reposted it portray the Telegram founder’s detention as an assault on free speech. In any direct sense, it is not. Durov faces preliminary charges in a French probe of Telegram’s alleged failures to address criminality on its platform, including drug peddling and child sexual abuse material. A court may ultimately have to decide whether the app broke French law, and whether its Russian-born CEO can be held responsible.US conservatives and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have found themselves in strange concert with Russian bloggers in alleging that Durov’s detention shows European tech regulation — certainly more hands-on than the US variety — is on the road to censorship. Senior Russian officials, among Telegram’s most avid users, claim Paris is trying to force Durov to hand over the app’s encryption keys. Top marks to Moscow for gall: Durov has said he fled Russia in 2014 and sold his VKontakte network to Kremlin-friendly buyers after refusing demands to share Ukrainian user data. Russia tried to ban Telegram in 2018.The law and most of society have for decades expected traditional telecoms networks to allow wiretaps under court order for law enforcement bodies pursuing crimes. Online networks should be expected to do the same, in clearly rule-of-law states such as France. This is complex when data may now be held in servers across multiple jurisdictions. But the nearly 70 countries, including the US, that have ratified the Budapest Convention on cyber crime are already committed to harmonising laws and facilitating co-operation against electronic offences — which extends to allowing foreign law agencies to directly query internet service providers. China and Russia are not members.Free-speech advocates argue that acquiescing to law enforcement requests from democracies would open Telegram up to nefarious requests and threats from autocracies, which often call political opponents terrorists or criminals. But the platform would only enhance its credentials as a haven of free speech if it purged the content that any civilised society abhors. Even the US First Amendment, which gives broad protections to free speech, does not shield content or activities that break the law.The Durov case is not about free speech + Telegram’s self-mythologising founder - FThttps://lnkd.in/g_ibqurahttps://lnkd.in/gwAqmsBT“He’s a mix of vanity and nobility combined together.” In his FT interview, Durov elaborated on his punishing health regime. After eight hours of tracked sleep, he starts the day “without exception” with 200 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and an ice bath. He does not drink, smoke, eat sugar or meat, and saves time for meditation. He wrote on Telegram that he has more than 100 biological children through anonymous sperm donation across 12 countries — Instagram account is dominated by shirtless photos with enigmatic captions.

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At the age of 53, in a 1999 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Donald J. Trump described himself as “very pro-choice.” In 2011, without any explanation about the change, he informed a packed room at a conservative conference that he was now “pro-life.”In 2016, as a Republican candidate for president, he had become so ardently opposed to abortion rights that he would even support punishments for women who got abortions. He did not realize that this position went too far even for the social conservatives to whom he was trying to pander, and he quickly reversed himself.The 2024 version of Mr. Trump is once again tying himself in knots — but this time the stakes could not be higher. The latest, Mr. Trump — nearly a full day after his campaign had to clean up his suggestion that he might support a Florida ballot measure allowing abortion up to 24 weeks following backlash from social conservatives — told Fox News that he would vote against it. Trump is willing to make as many rhetorical and policy contortions as he deems necessary to win.New York Timeshttps://lnkd.in/gK69CGqShttps://lnkd.in/gXUCvgRrWhen Democrats spread the word this month that there would be prominent Republicans onstage at their party convention making the case for Vice President Kamala Harris, all eyes turned to former Representative Liz Cheney, the onetime member of G.O.P. royalty who torpedoed her own political career by breaking vociferously with former President Donald J. Trump.Since Ms. Cheney renounced Mr. Trump for his role in instigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, she has been blaring a warning siren about what would happen if Mr. Trump won the White House again. In the past, she has branded Mr. Trump a “con man” and a potential “tyrant.” She became a hero to the left for breaking with her party, despite her deeply conservative views that are at odds with almost everything else that liberals stand for.Ms. Cheney, the most vocally anti-Trump member of a private and deeply conservative political family, is pro-gun, anti-abortion and in favor of stronger national defense. It may be easier for her to offer a full endorsem*nt of Ms. Harris, friends said, after some of what she saw at the convention that spoke directly to the issues she cares most about.That included Leon Panetta, the former defense secretary, who was given a prime-time speaking slot during which he quoted former President Ronald Reagan.“Listen to President Reagan,” Mr. Panetta said in his speech. “Isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments.”“Cheney is special in terms of the gravitas she brings to the Republicans-against-Trump case,” said Bill Kristol, another prominent Never Trump Republican. “She was in the House and she went along with Trump, while clearly uncomfortable doing so, throughout the whole first term, really. Then she broke so fundamentally and gave up everything.”New York Timeshttps://lnkd.in/g-s5a8f3

When I was preparing for deployment for Iraq in 2007, we were required to do grenade training. Before we started, our master sergeant asked who would jump on a grenade to save the lives of others. More than half of the Marines (mostly guys who hadn’t deployed yet) raised their hands. When we finished training, he asked the same question. After seeing what grenades actually do, no one raised their hands.Our master sergeant then told us that is what separated Cpl. Jason Dunham from the rest of us Marines, and why Dunham earned the Medal of Honor. We all sacrificed in the military, but Jason’s sacrifice is on a level even Marines might struggle to understand.Sure, we all sacrifice in some sense.Parents sacrifice for their kids, immigrants sacrifice their old lives to start a new one here, people give up time with their families to start a new business, and teenagers sacrifice fun times with friends to work toward college acceptance and success. But most of us have the cognizance to realize that what we give up pales in comparison to the sacrifices that service members endure.Earlier this week, Donald Trump, looking to jump start his struggling campaign, decided to make a campaign stop at Arlington National Cemetery. This hallowed ground had been avoided by Trump for the last three years, but now was a perfect opportunity to engage in what he has mastered better than most politicians; performative patriotism.We have been doused with the performative routine that Trump uses to rally his MAGA Army.From hugging flags to altering the Bible, Trump has made millions from his followers. Slap a flag on a beer can, truck, t-shirt sleeve, bag of coffee or underwear and people will pay for it,regardless of its quality. And you really can’t blame them for this and Trump being the businessman that he is, taking advantage of that.However, there was something that would inhibit his goals and that was the actual rules of Arlington National Cemetery which prohibit political campaigning and photography. Of course, that wouldn’t stop Trump and his team from getting what they wanted. An altercation ensued, and we were presented with a picture of Trump smiling over the graves of the fallen with a thumbs up. It is easy to hug a flag, sell an “American” Bible or stage a photo op at Arlington. But Trump truly knows what it is like to sacrifice for his country? Hesaid“I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard.” Does he understand that whatever he did pales in comparison to those who had died for us? And is he humble enough to admit it?We all remember what he said about late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), his words to his chief of staff, John Kelly about suckers and losers. And in his latest insult, he asserted that the nation’s highest military award, the Congressional Medal of honor, is no better than the Presidential Medal of Freedom.Jos Joseph - Marine veteranhttps://lnkd.in/g3RxBs23https://lnkd.in/gcFvdvnuhttps://lnkd.in/gzbSq4Cq

Former President Donald J. Trump’s explanation of global events from the campaign trail, the world would not be aflame had he remained in the Oval Office.Afghanistan? President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were responsible for setting off “the collapse of American credibility and respect all around the world.”What Mr. Trump omits in his account is that his administration reached an agreement in Doha, Qatar, in early 2020, committing to withdraw all American troops by the spring of 2021 in return for unenforceable guarantees from the Taliban.Trump Blames Biden for Wars Abroad. Here’s a Look at Their Records - New York Timeshttps://lnkd.in/gZk65RqYPresident Donald Trump ordered a rapid withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Somalia. Milley said he was shocked when he saw the withdrawal orders, signed by Trump on Veterans Day 2020, just four days after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Members of the congressional January 6 committee argued the move showed acknowledgement by Trump that he had lost the election. “Knowing that he had lost and that he had only weeks left in office, President Trump rushed to complete his unfinished business,” Kinzinger saidTrump ordered rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan after election loss - Military Timeshttps://lnkd.in/ggUEtBUQTaliban supreme leader has endorsed vice and virtue laws that ban women's bare faces and the sound of women's voices outside the home. These rules come three years after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Government investigators have blamed the administrations of both Biden and Trump for the chaotic situation: Trump for reaching an agreement seen as favouring the Taliban and Biden for moving forward with the plan without putting in safeguards to stop the Taliban.H.R. McMaster faults Biden and Trump for messy withdrawal from Afghanistan + Afghan refugees Al Jazeerahttps://lnkd.in/gvXhrEbp.https://lnkd.in/gp85qJNkTo the editor:Thanks to The Times for covering the cause of the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, especially for readers who have missed theNew Yorker’s reporting on the Trump administration negotiationsthat caused the crisis.Is Biden unfairly blaming Trump for Afghanistan disaster? - Los Angeles Timeshttps://lnkd.in/g7JDnh4tThe Trump campaign claimed that they had been given permission to videotape by the families of fallen service members, but unfortunately for Trump, that doesn’t change federal law. Instead, the footage was immediately transformed into a social media–oriented campaign video, where Trump can be seen laying flowers down at a grave and taking photos with people while giving a thumbs-up to the camera. Trump’s Arlington Cemetery Fight Has Now Angered the Military - TNRhttps://lnkd.in/ge5svn3QTrump Suggests Gold Star Families to Blame for Arlington Cemetery Controversy - Rolling Stonehttps://lnkd.in/gMYbnTHk

Following Bourdain’s death, there were many retrospectives of his life and work, but none that were dedicated solely to his coverage of Vietnam, a country for which he felt a special attachment. Indeed, I always hoped Bourdain would some day devote an entire series to Vietnam, during which he could really dive deep into the food, culture, history and landscape of the country he loved. Alas, that will never happen. Therefore, it seems to me that the best we can do is to pull together all of Anthony Bourdain’s Vietnam episodes from his entire TV career into a compilation spanning over a decade, from 2002 to 2016, and produced across three different shows: A Cook’s Tour, No Reservations, and Parts Unknown.All 8 Episodes Reviewedhttps://lnkd.in/gG9ZYXkpHanoi Train Streethttps://lnkd.in/gyweK8xFImperial Court Musichttps://lnkd.in/g2ZnXvSjhttps://lnkd.in/gr4N4yZWAn Hien Garden Househttps://lnkd.in/gjg-RDnW42,000 pieces of bamboohttps://lnkd.in/g9jSJYYGhttps://lnkd.in/gexPWb8jCommodification of culturehttps://lnkd.in/gVhAVs-gComplex of Hué Monumentshttps://lnkd.in/g2_bnthVhttps://lnkd.in/gaVHZ_JtTraditional Vietnamese Architecturehttps://lnkd.in/gvd2mJJpGuy Fieri Goes Pho in Canada & Cincinnatihttps://lnkd.in/gXrUPg9thttps://lnkd.in/ggKuSC8T“dragon chickens” – a breed with legs as thick as a brick that can fetch up to US$2,000 a head – are particularly popular during the Vietnamese New Yearhttps://lnkd.in/g7WrTf6Phttps://lnkd.in/ggDc-csThttps://lnkd.in/gXViuDuSSubverting the typical row house typology, 324Praxis designed the rooms of the hotel to be independent cubes. These are positioned around a series of open and planted public spaces – connected by walkways with staircases, the circulation is a 'silk ribbon', providing a non-stop adventure.Dezeenhttps://lnkd.in/gJnF6M9whttps://lnkd.in/gAab_pPA“Somehow, I don’t know what it is, you’ll have to explain it, but the Vietnamese community loves me. I love them,” Trump told a crowd inside the small restaurant today. It did not appear Trump actually ate anything at the restaurant. “On Trump Force One there were four major food groups: McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza and Diet co*ke.” In Washingtonian‘s issue, the homey place specializes in Hue-style cooking from the central Vietnamese city once home to emperors. The restaurant makes an excellent rendition of bún bò huế, the spicy lemongrass noodle.Trump courts Vietnamese vote - Whttps://lnkd.in/gN4-_kGnVietnam's unlikely love affair with Donald Trump - Nikkeihttps://lnkd.in/gSiHeM9aYouTuber Is Filling Information Voids with Newsmax andBreitbarthttps://lnkd.in/gpqyn548https://lnkd.in/ggKvNYaBMany Vietnamese American voters prefer Trump over Biden. Here's why | Vox https://lnkd.in/gHcvRhZKhttps://lnkd.in/gTSP2-gThttps://lnkd.in/gJxd6zUBAsian voters in US tend to be Democratic, except Vietnamese Americans | PRC+WPhttps://lnkd.in/dgJq8wSRhttps://lnkd.in/g4HN34Nu

ARQBR completed the 3,900-square metre (40,000-square foot) concrete facility for the Church of the Holy Family in 2022, as an extension of Lucio Costa's Pilot Project for the capital of Brazil.The four-building church sits just off one of the main components of the city's radio-centric road system.The complex includes an existing church building, a linear annex, a floating disk nave, and a low-slung parish house. They were designed to emphasise the horizon line on the flat site.Just separated from a free-standing, monolithic concrete steeple is the circular nave, which serves as the focal point of the complex and a welcoming feature for worshippers.The round building is half-submerged in the landscape and the smooth concrete enclosure is lifted off the ground plane by six structural pillars embedded in the topography.A ring of windows along the ground line and a perimeter skylight bring natural light deep into the form and make the form feel as if it is floating.On the interior, the foundation wall tilts outwards as it slopes up to the ground line, creating a bowl-like condition.A vertical wooden screen hangs from the wall and provides texture and pattern around the perimeter of the space, which has only two materials – soft grey concrete surfaces and warm wood furniture.To preserve the totality of the form, the nave is accessed by an axial procession that ramps down from the lawn beneath the concrete ring, which is characterized by a deep, cantilevered concrete roof.Vertical beams support the cantilever and create a pattern of shadows along the building's edge.A second axis runs from the altar, passing the campanile bell tower, to the highway in the distance."The architectural concept synthesizes the three fundamental premises of Brasilia," the team explained, referencing the building's implantation into the topography, the integration of public and private space, and the use of landscape as an organizing element.The city of Brasilia was designed by modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer to be the federal capital of Brazil. Recently, political unrest led to some of the buildings in the capital being damaged.ARQBR creates circular church with monumental steeple in Brasilia - Dezeenhttps://lnkd.in/gQpi9FfVhttps://lnkd.in/gF-_nc5YJustice Moraes’ April order to X to block some accounts stemmed from an investigation into “digital militias” who backed former president Jair Bolsonaro’s attempts to stay in power after his 2022 election defeat. After Musk refused to comply, the judge included him in his investigation.Brazilian supreme court orders suspension of Elon Musk’s X in the country - Guardianhttps://lnkd.in/ggvFyZ_NThe attack on Brazil’s seat of government resembles the storming of the U.S. Capitol - NYThttps://lnkd.in/gU7WZAHxRioters Stormed Brazilian Congress. American Jan. 6 Fans Are Thrilled - RShttps://lnkd.in/gmBz_BT3How Trump's allies stoked Brazil Congress attack - BBChttps://lnkd.in/gsDFpcaA

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Vladimir Putin exploited Donald Trump’s “ego and insecurities” to exert an almost mesmeric hold over the former US president, who refused to entertain any negative evaluation of the autocratic Russian leader from his own staff, and ultimately fired his national security adviser, HR McMaster, over it.The bold assessment of Trump’s fealty to Putin comes in McMaster’s book At War With Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House, published by HarperCollins and arriving on 27 August.“After over a year in this job, I cannot understand Putin’s hold on Trump,” McMaster recalls saying in the memoir covering the turbulent 457 days the now retired general served as national security adviser from February 2017 until he was effectively fired by tweet in April 2018.The comment, to McMaster’s wife, Katie, came in the aftermath of the poisoning in the UK by Putin’s agents of Sergei Skripal, a Russian former intelligence officer, and his daughter, in March 2018.While other western leaders were beginning to formulate a strong response to the assassination attempt, McMaster says, Trump sat in the White House fawning over a New York Post article with the headline: “Putin heaps praise on Trump, pans US politics”. Trump, according to the book, wrote an appreciative note on the article with a black Sharpie and asked McMaster “to get the clipping to Putin”.“I was certain that Putin would use Trump’s annotated clipping to embarrass him and provide cover for the attack,” McMaster writes.He said he handed the note to the White House office of the staff secretary, which handles Oval Office communications.“Later, as evidence mounted that the Kremlin, and very likely Putin himself had ordered the nerve agent attack on Skripal, I told them not to send it.”In reality, McMaster says, Putin’s apparent simpering over Trump was a calculated effort by the Russian leader to exploit the president and drive a wedge between him and hawkish advisers in Washington DC such as McMaster urging the US to take a harder line with the Kremlin.“Putin, a ruthless former KGB operator, played to Trump’s ego and insecurities with flattery,” McMaster writes.Vladimir Putin manipulated Donald Trump’s ‘ego and insecurities’ | Guardian + Barron'shttps://lnkd.in/gaJHajxvhttps://lnkd.in/gY97FvdHH.R. McMaster hopes to "inoculate" Trump from people who know how to “push his buttons" - CBShttps://lnkd.in/gGQQgAnjEx-Adviser Reveals Trump’s Insane, Explosive War on Drugs Plan | Republichttps://lnkd.in/gi5ibVSKGen. McMaster’s blistering account of the Trump White House | CNNhttps://lnkd.in/gak7hzXkWhat Trump Got Right About National Security - H. R. McMasterhttps://lnkd.in/gq7bmmAYMcMaster on serving Trump and why he won't return : NPRhttps://lnkd.in/gcK6Etcd'I Cannot Understand Putin’s Hold on Trump' - WSJhttps://lnkd.in/gX8VTGDPTrump Foreign Policy and Technology Warfarehttps://lnkd.in/ggFCAty82024 DNC: Leon Panetta - PBShttps://lnkd.in/gv8bgn3V

In the 18th century, Venice’s figlie di coro was widely regarded as the best orchestra in the republic. It was comprised of girls from the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage. Unwanted babies – those that had escaped being drowned – were “posted” through a tiny hole in the orphanage’s wall. They were given shelter and a musical education. Antonio Vivaldi served as violin director at the orphanage from 1703 to 1715. A violin prodigy at the tender age of eight, became his star pupil. Anna Maria sees colours when she plays, her instrument “an extension of her own body”, and her all-consuming obsession to be the best, to become first violinist and win acclaim as a maestro are vividly described. The pace picks up in the final quarter when Anna Maria’s success and talent as a budding composer threaten to eclipse that of her mentor.The Instrumentalist – compelling tale of Vivaldi’s musical protege | Guardian + NPRhttps://lnkd.in/gzdB2uMshttps://lnkd.in/gzAwy8V7“woke” culture? “Hey, I’m coming to your show. I hope you just say some outrageous sh*t.” For the most part, in “Lucid,” Matt Rife tries to give his fans what they expect. Rife is known for his crowd work, and tonight, the sold-out venue was filled with some forty-three hundred ticket holders who wanted a rowdy back-and-forth with him. At one point in the set, Rife likened acrylic nails to Bugles. “You guys know what Bugles are?” The crowd cheered. “I didn’t know if that reference was going to land or not,” he said. “You guys are white trash. That is a gas-station chip!” He made fun of a hostess at a restaurant in Baltimore who had a black eye. “ ‘They should put her in the kitchen or something, where nobody has to see her,’ ” Rife recalled his friend suggesting. “And I was, like, yeah,” he continued, “but I feel like, if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye.” He then mimed the act of dipping his toe in water, looking delighted, to indicate that he was testing out the crowd. The joke succeeded in making Rife the comic people loved to hate. Matt Rife’s Sleepless Summer | New Yorkerhttps://lnkd.in/gu64r4trhttps://lnkd.in/gv5Ngt6iMatthew Steven Rifehttps://lnkd.in/g9hgMsbUMatt Rife – Only Fanshttps://lnkd.in/g6HVji8yhttps://lnkd.in/gNcpfaYQhttps://lnkd.in/ghCwxv_yAnthony Jeselnik: Caligulahttps://lnkd.in/g2y7gyxaMatt Rife: Walking Red Flaghttps://lnkd.in/gCMWabUYMark Normand: Out To Lunchhttps://lnkd.in/gPhDTEt4Matt Rife: ONCE YOU GO BLACKhttps://lnkd.in/g_FimVdUTo date, he and Taylor Swift are the only two artists who command enough of a feeding frenzy to break Ticketmaster when announcing a tour. Matt Rife, the youngest stand-up comedian in history to sell out the Hollywood Bowl. His performance schedule clocking 40 to 50 shows a month led to a stretch of consecutive days without sleep. “It’s a lot to juggle,” he said.Matt Rife is living his comedy dream. The hard part: Maintaining it - Los Angeles Timeshttps://lnkd.in/gWah-iCV