Fictional Shorts: A Retrospective from 2014
I was chopping out these shorts on a regular basis in 2014. It was a tough time for me. Events had me thinking too much - never a good thing. Kipling's Vampire, and all that.
Encounter in Zamboanga - April 29, 2014 - Nonfiction - Response to request by Jonathan H.
The Monkeys have no tails in Zamboanga - US Navy Sea Shanty
Requiem - April 24, 2014 - Nonfiction
Sometimes things suck. And a lot of the time, you just have to roll with it and embrace the suck.
Loose Ends - May 5, 2014 - Nonfiction
Everyone wants you to tie up loose ends.
Vampire Zombies from Venus - June 19, 2014 - Fiction
You take one down and pass it around
Her Garden - April 26, 2014 - Nonfiction
People were left behind.
I was chopping out these shorts on a regular basis in 2014. It was a tough time for me. Events had me thinking too much - never a good thing. Kipling's Vampire, and all that.
Encounter in Zamboanga - April 29, 2014 - Nonfiction - Response to request by Jonathan H.
The Monkeys have no tails in Zamboanga - US Navy Sea Shanty
Requiem - April 24, 2014 - Nonfiction
Sometimes things suck. And a lot of the time, you just have to roll with it and embrace the suck.
Loose Ends - May 5, 2014 - Nonfiction
Everyone wants you to tie up loose ends.
Vampire Zombies from Venus - June 19, 2014 - Fiction
You take one down and pass it around
Her Garden - April 26, 2014 - Nonfiction
People were left behind.
Moving on to your international update:
France
For a fifth consecutive Saturday, yellow vest protestors clashed with police in Paris and some other cities. The BBC reported fewer protestors showed up because of rainy weather. No news service reported looting.
The police deployed 69,000 personnel. The BBC reported no more than 66,000 yellow vests protested. The yellow vests do not appear to have evolved a political organization, which must occur for a movement to continue. The government’s responses, the weather and the holiday season are likely to encourage a decline in political activism in the next two weeks. During that time, some key members of the crew may begin to create a more organized effort, but the present composition of the dissatisfied includes both the communists and the anarchists.
Iraq
Encouraged by the French yellow vest protests, about 250 people in Basra protested the poor condition of public services, official corruption and to demand jobs. Security forces used live bullets and teargas on the 14th to disperse protestors, but no injuries were reported. Protesters threw rocks at riot police vehicles
It's a gesture on the part of the protesters, but deep seated unrest remains throughout Iraq based on a wide variety of completely valid issues. There isn't anyone who is reading this blog who would want to move to Iraq. (or Honduras, Guatemala, Syria, Yemen or anywhere in Africa) In fact, I can't understand why a woman would want to be Islamic, and therefore chattel.
Syria
On 16 December, clashes renewed in Hajin in the middle Euphrates River Valley when Islamic State fighters counter-attacked the newly-established positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) inside the town. The US-backed SDF said that its fighters had repelled the attack, despite suffering some minor loses.
“The terrorists attacked the front positions of our forces, our fighters repelled them … following this, the terrorists began shelling from a far distance, they targeted the positions of our forces with mortars and artillery shells,” the SDF media center said in its daily press release.
US-led coalition warplanes conducted 50 airstrikes on Islamic State positions and vehicles in the Euphrates Valley in order to support SDF forces. Local sources said that one of the airstrikes on the village of Bukhatir, in Hajin’s countryside, killed more than 17 civilians including women and children.
71 fighters and commanders of ISIS were killed in the Euphrates Valley in the last 24 hours.
On 14 December, SDF fighters claimed they liberated Hajin, which was another Islamic State strong point. Reports on the 16th indicate most of the town has been destroyed. The Islamic State fighters have no where to retreat, so they fight on.