StrongSage

Documented cases include: Holy Land Foundation: US federal conviction (2008) of leaders for funneling over $12 million to Hamas. Several Palestinian NGOs (Addameer, Al-Haq, UAWC, DCI-P, others): Israel designated them terrorist entities in 2021 over PFLP ties; Dutch government audit confirmed overlapping staff/roles and cut funding; some officials linked to attacks. Samidoun: US and Canada designated it a terrorist entity in 2024 as a PFLP fundraising front. World Vision's former Gaza director: Israeli court conviction (2022) for diverting materials/funds to Hamas. Benevolence International Foundation: US Treasury designation and related convictions for al-Qaeda support. Interpal: US Specially Designated Global Terrorist listing for Hamas links. These stem from court records, audits, and multi-government actions; the groups often contest the findings.

J’ai la nausée ce soir. J’ai traversé Paris à vélo. Des quartiers entiers livrés aux pillards. Des jeunes les bras chargés d’objets volés. Des familles terrorisées. Du mobilier urbain saccagé. Voir notre capitale ainsi défigurée me fend le cœur. Pauvre Paris. Pauvre France.

Joel Osteen Launches Line Of Pastoral Wear: 'Sheep's Clothing' buff.ly/0pdGZvB

A couple years ago, Mikala Sposito applied for a work ethic scholarship from my foundation. She asked for $2,700.00 to help realize her dream of becoming a welder. (Actually, her first dream was to become an Olympian. As a kid, she excelled at horseback riding, dance, soccer, and track, but not quite at the Olympic level. So, Mikala adjusted her dream and focused on something within her reach. Precisely the kind of commonsense approach to making a living we try to encourage.) Toward that end, Mikala filled out the application, jumped through all the necessary hoops, and signed the S.W.E.A.T. Pledge, as all applicants must. According to our internal ranking system, which is inherently subjective and relative to each batch of new applicants, Mikala scored a 94, and was awarded $2,100.00, or roughly 80% of what she asked for. This is typical of the average percentage awarded to an excellent applicant. As a rule, we almost never award the entire amount requested. We want our recipients to have some skin in the game, and we encourage all applicants to apply for additional scholarship funds elsewhere, which Mikala did. But in this case, if I had it to do over again, I think I’d have awarded Mikala the full $2,700.00. Why? Because this woman is precisely why I award work ethic scholarships in the first place, as recent headlines prove. Headlines all over the country that identify Mikala Sposito as the sole welder to represent Team USA in the upcoming @WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai. This is a very big deal. The World Skills competition is often referred to as the Olympics of the skilled trades, so it looks like Mikala’s dream is coming true after all. And it seems to me her journey is worth a brief encapsulation. Before she applied for a scholarship from mikeroweWORKS, Mikala demonstrated an affinity for welding in SkillsUSA. As a senior at Dexter High School, she won 1st Place at the SkillsUSA Michigan high school competition and went on to place 14th nationally. Then, as a freshman at Washtenaw Community College, she repeated her success by taking 1st Place in the Michigan college division. She then advanced to nationals, where she finished 8th in the country. That earned her an invitation to the Team USA pre-trials, which whittled the nation's top 16 young welders down to three. At the final USA Weld Trials at the Robotics Technology Park in Huntsville, Alabama, each competitor was evaluated on precision, safety, technical execution, craftsmanship, and multi-process capabilities under extreme time constraints. Mikala Sposito took the Gold, officially becoming the first woman to represent the United States in welding at WorldSkills. Next week, she’ll face off against the absolute best of the best from all over the world. I should point out that Mikala would prefer it if the press didn’t make a big deal of her gender, and I completely understand. (She’s a welder – not a “weld-her.”) But today, the industry is in desperate need of proof that women can and do excel in the trades. Nationally, just 4.3% of tradespeople are female. At mikeroweWORKS, our female applicants are closer to 20%, but I assure you that percentage could be much higher. Companies are anxious to recruit talented welders of any gender, and women need to understand and believe the opportunities are real. Mikala prove that in spades, and I want to offer her my sincere congratulations, and invite all of you to do the same. Because Mikala Sposito is exactly what our country needs a lot more of. People who understand that talent is never enough to compensate for laziness. In her application, she wrote, “Hard work beats talent any day of the week, and nobody is going to outwork me. Period.” She also connected with every point of the S.W.E.A.T. Pledge but said the final tenet resonated with her the most. “Some people choose to be lazy. Some people choose to sleep in. I choose to work my butt off.” My favorite quote, however, is Mikala’s response to seasoned professionals who see her wield a torch and call her a “natural.” “I’m not a natural,” she says. Far from it. And none of this came easy. I worked and trained 60-80 hours a week for two years to get here.” Regardless of what happens in Shanghai, the job offers are already piling up, including the most recent from SpaceX. She hasn’t graduated yet, but the future looks bright, and I for one would not bet against her. PS. I never do this, but since my name is in the title of the foundation, I suppose I can. Mikala – please accept the additional $600 you requested from mikeroweWORKS two years ago. Shanghai is expensive, and since you’re representing all of us, we’d like to provide you with a little walking around money. The check is in the mail. Now…go get the gold!

We all know this. But I’m officially calling it: Simone Sweeney is canceled. This is not empowerment. This is not sports. This is a woman packaged for the toxic male gaze and sold back to MAGA as “just sports.” That is anti-feminist, and anti-woman. That is the patriarchy. We cannot let the patriarchy win. Full stop.

On Sydney Sweeney’s flesh, her glottal fry, and the predictability of it all in @NewStatesman

Wait. SEALs actually kept a secret? And did something with water? What the fuck timeline am I in?

Maybe you notice this. The defenders allow her to get her own boards and just watch her throw the ball up at the basket like a toddler on a toy hoop No one is even going for the rebound. They know that if she takes 4-5 layups she’s likely to miss them all and tote herself out while her teammates stand there in awe at how awful a finisher she is and she won’t pass out for a better shot. Fatal flaw in her game

Unbelievably cruel - there is no point here except to be inhumane and evil.

So there’s no confusion: Trump kidnapped the dictator he doesn’t like, installed a dictator who does as she is told, and stole the country’s oil. Yes, America is doing naked imperialism again. We have become the bad guys.

We're not changing the name of Lake Ontario. Name it whatever you want at your leisure: gulfof.mapquest.com/lakeonta… (tag us so we can see your work 🙂)

Okay, let’s do novels now. Make a novel smaller. I’ll go first: A Tale of One City