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HomeNewsPlastics and Elastomers
Plastics and Elastomers
Laser welding and advances in polycarbonates may benefit medical device development
ucanadmin | Oct 13, 2006
Originally Published MPMN October 2006
According to a study by The Freedonia Group Inc., spending for silicone products in the medical market will reach $270 million by 2010. "Silicone medical uses will benefit from heightened applications in areas such as implants, transdermal drug-delivery systems, tubing, and tissue fillers," the study says. Other materials coming into wider use in the medical device industry include polycarbonate and copolymer blends.
Polycarbonates Find Applications in Medical Components, Packaging
Strength, toughness, rigidity, and resistance to rigorous sterilization conditions, plus its high clarity, are key factors in the increased use of polycarbonate in medical devices.
Lexan HPM, a hemocompatible polycarbonate resin supplied by GE Plastics, was used to make an atrial depressor.
Polycarbonate resins can be injection molded, extruded, blow molded, or thermoformed. Products made with polycarbonate can be sterilized using EtO, gamma radiation, electron-beam radiation, and steam processes. Certain commercial grades of polycarbonates are certified to meet strict biocompatibility standards, such as ISO 10993-1. This is important for OEMs looking to make devices for use in tissue- or blood-contact applications. GE Plastics (Pittsfield, MA) developed its Lexan HPM polycarbonate resin with added hemocompatibility. Surgical tools previously made with stainless steel can be produced using Lexan HPM, such as an atrial depressor used in heart surgery.
The top housing and chassis of an insulin management system were made from polycarbonate compounds provided by RTP Co.
When blended with other resins, such as ABS and polyester, polycarbonates can be used in medical instrument housings. The polyester adds chemical resistance to the housings, while high-flow properties come from the use of ABS. RTP Co. (Winona, MN) offers polycarbonate compounds for use in medical device housings and enclosures. Its 300-series compound incorporates light-diffusing technology to make semiopaque parts.
To further expand medical markets for polycarbonates, resin suppliers are bringing out new grades with enhanced properties, such as greater heat and radiation resistance, higher flow, the ability to self-release from molds, and greater resistance to lipids. Standard grades of polycarbonate for medical devices can be steam-autoclaved at temperatures up to 121°C. However, faster steam-autoclaving processes require materials to withstand even higher temperatures. To meet this demand, suppliers have introduced polycarbonate grades that can be autoclaved at temperatures as high as 134°C. While multiple autoclaving of polycarbonate devices is not generally recommended, some manufacturers now offer polycarbonate grades that are able to be autoclaved more than once.
Polycarbonates do not become brittle when exposed to gamma rays and electron beams used in radiation sterilization. However, polycarbonates do tend to yellow upon exposure to radiation. To prevent discoloration, suppliers have included additives that absorb the radiation. The Zelux GS polycarbonate resin from Westlake Plastics Co. (Lenni, PA) incorporates the company's color enhancement technology to reduce yellowing caused by gamma radiation. Another approach has been to market grades of polycarbonate that are inherently radiation stable and therefore do not require additives.
High-flow polycarbonate products have recently been unveiled for the medical market, with the aim of increasing the output by converters. Standard polycarbonate grades for medical molding have a melt-flow rate (MFR) in the 5–15 g/10-min range. The new grades have a MFR of 20–37 g/10 min. While high melt flow has traditionally been achieved with the use of additives, some of the newer polycarbonates exhibit enhanced flow without additives, relying instead on proprietary copolymer formulations.
Easy mold-release polycarbonate grades are also available. These products contain internal mold-release agents that make it unnecessary to spray release agents into the mold. Such agents can contaminate the molded part and must be regularly cleaned away, which extends production cycles and adds to costs. Lexan HPX, a copolymer polycarbonate, was developed by GE Plastics for use in applications that require increased melt flow and easy mold release.
More and more, intravenous solutions contain lipid-based emulsions of drugs. Lipids attack polycarbonates, causing stress cracking. To address this issue, suppliers have introduced lipid-resistant polycarbonate grades. The Makrolon family of polycarbonate resins from Bayer MaterialScience LLC (Pittsburgh) are formulated to provide increased resistance to chemical attack from intravenous fluid products. Y-sites with integrated check valves and luer connectors have been developed using Makrolon Rx1805.
Polycarbonates are also used in dialysis filter membranes, surgical instrument handles, and the housings of blood oxygenators. Manifolds and stopcocks of IV connectors, needle-free injection systems, perfusion equipment, and blood reservoirs are frequently made of polycarbonate. Endoscopy tools, such as trocars and retractors, and products used in minimally invasive surgery may benefit from the strength and chemical inertness of polycarbonate. Medical device packaging is often fabricated from thermoformed polycarbonate films. These films allow for sterilization of the packaged device via radiation.
Emerging applications of polycarbonates include inhalers, orthopedic devices, and lab-on-a-chip devices for determining blood chemistry or analyzing proteins.
Sterility Stays Intact with Laser Welding
Once cost-prohibitive, laser welding of plastics is becoming more common as equipment prices drop. Laser welding joins thermoplastic sheets, films, or molded parts using the heating power of laser beams to melt plastic at the interfaces. In medical manufacturing, laser welding is often used when the parts being joined require sterile conditions.
The most common form of laser welding is called transmission laser welding. In this process, two plastic parts are clamped together. A laser beam, in the short-wavelength infrared region, is directed at the section to be joined. The beam passes through the transparent top layer and is absorbed by the bottom layer. Absorption of the laser energy causes the bottom layer to heat up, melting both upper and lower layers of plastic and causing them to fuse. The upper layer can be clear or colored, but must be sufficiently light transmissible to allow the laser beam to pass through to the lower layer.
Laser welding has several benefits. The equipment can be manipulated robotically in order to weld complex parts. Furthermore, the tool does not contact the parts being joined, thus ensuring sterility of the assembly. The vibration-free technique produces strong, high-precision joints and welds without flash. Thermal damage and distortion are minimal. Gas-tight or hermetic seals can be formed using laser welding. Resins of different compositions and colors can be joined.
A mask welding process provided by Leister Technologies creates fine, precise weld lines or complex structures and contours.
Leister Technologies LLC (Itasca, IL) offers a patented mask welding process that allows for very precise and fine weld lines. The technique uses a collimated laser or curtain of light and incorporates a mask to block the transmission of the laser beam as it is scanned over a part. The laser beam is only exposed to the surface area not obscured by the mask. Therefore, the mask shape determines the pattern of weld produced. "The mask weld process produces weld lines as narrow as 100 µm," says Bill Miller, sales manager. "The process can also produce welds with elaborate structures or contours." During one weld sequence, it is possible to weld lines with different widths and shapes, as well as whole areas of weld.
Laser welding can be used in the assembly of fluid reservoirs and filters, tube-to-tube connectors, ostomy bags, hearing aids, implants, and microfluidic devices used in analysis.


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text:
"use strict";
const { Event, Logger } = require("sosamba");
const { WorkerTypes } = require("../lib/util/worker");
const { version } = require("../package.json");
const { botsGGKey, topGGKey, workerCount, prefix } = require("../config");

class ReadyEvent extends Event {
    constructor(...args) {
        super(...args, {
            name: "ready"
        });
        this.posterLog = new Logger({
            level: this.sosamba.options.log && this.sosamba.options.log.level ?
                this.sosamba.options.log.level : undefined,
            name: "DBLPoster"
        });
        this.firedUp = false;
    }
    async run() {
        if (!this.firedUp) {
            for (let i = 0; i < workerCount; i++) {
                await Promise.all(Object.values(WorkerTypes).map(w => this.sosamba.workers.startWorker(w)));
                this.sosamba.workers.workersRan = true;
            }
            await this.postStats();
            setInterval(() => this.postStats(), 1800000);
            this.firedUp = true;
        }
        this.sosamba.editStatus("online", { name: `Type ${prefix}help | v${version}`, type: 0 });
        await this.leaveBotCollectionServers();
        const blacklist = await this.sosamba.db.getBlacklistedGuilds();
        await Promise.all(this.sosamba.guilds.map(g => {
            if (blacklist.find(entry =>
                entry.id === g.id || g.ownerID === entry.ownerID)) {
                return g.leave()
                    .then(() => this.log.debug(`Left ${g.name} (${g.id}) for being a blacklisted guild`));
            } else {
                return Promise.resolve();
            }
        }));
        this.log.info(`tt.bot ${version} is connected as ${this.sosamba.getTag(this.sosamba.user)}`);
    }

    async leaveBotCollectionServers() {
        // This is not effective with intents
        /*await Promise.all(this.sosamba.botCollectionServers
            .map(g => g.leave()
                .then(
                    () => this.log.debug(`Left ${g.name} (${g.id}) for being a bot collection guild`))
            ));*/
    }
    async postStats() {
        if (botsGGKey) try {
            await this.sosamba.postStatsTo(botsGGKey, `https://discord.bots.gg/api/v1/bots/${this.sosamba.user.id}/stats`, {
                guildCount: this.sosamba.guilds.size
            });
        } catch (err) {
            this.posterLog.error("Cannot POST to bots.gg :(", err.body);
        }
        if (topGGKey) try {
            await this.sosamba.postStatsTo(topGGKey, `https://discordbots.org/api/bots/${this.sosamba.user.id}/stats`);
        } catch (err) {
            this.posterLog.error("Cannot post to top.gg :(", err.body);
        }
    }
}

module.exports = ReadyEvent;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


As she discovered when her migraines became debilitating, it's simply not true. But we deeply want it to be true, which is why it's such a pervasive idea. In an essay about living with chronic illness, Altman describes what felt like her 'failure to bear up under average hardship' when she could no longer work full time. Yes, I thought. Exactly.
After trying all kinds of doctors and treatments for years with little success, Altman says, 'I ended up finding that giving in to my limitations and trying to find a meaningful, happy life within them helped a lot.' Her mother counselled that in spite of what she had to give up, she could make a new life for herself.
Giving In To Limitations And Forging A New Life was definitely the theme of my recent trip to New Zealand. When I say 'recent' I mean two months ago, because this is yet one more way I've given into limitations.
Steve and I booked the flights early last year. I suppose we thought I might be significantly better after all those months. We were very optimistic, it turned out.
In the past, planning a trip to New Zealand would have involved researching all the best hiking trails, kayaking spots, and sunrise yoga on the beach. By November though, it was clear I wouldn't be doing anything physical. We still refer to the mildest incline as my nemesis.
If I couldn't hike or kayak or swim, if I had to give into those limitations, what could I fill that gap with? What could this new life as a chronically ill person still desperate to travel look like?
Te Ika-a-Maui, New Zealand's North Island, had a perfect answer: HOT SPRINGS.
This photo from The Lost Spring looks incredibly relaxing, but what isn't pictured is the chainsaw and wood chipper blasting away on the other side of that wall. It was actually intolerable, since one of my least fun symptoms is noise sensitivity.
But that was okay, because New Zealand has dozens of hot springs, and I'd planned to visit as many of them as possible. Hot springs are definitely within my limitations, as you can see here at Hell's Gate mud spa, which was blissfully chainsaw free.
New Zealand is full of options. When you're done slathering yourself in mud at Hell's Gate, you can soak in this even smellier sulphur pool. It was super weird and I loved it.
At the right time of day, you can visit Hot Water Beach in Hahei and get your able-bodied husband to dig a sand pit that will fill up with geothermically heated water. It seeps out of the ground at 65 degrees Celsius, so dig the pit carefully to make sure some cool ocean water seeps in also.
Or just visit a traditional New Zealand cat cafe, where you can spend an hour sitting quietly, drinking a cup of tea, and feeding kibble to 17 cats.
I was able to see and do a lot while mostly sitting down and relaxing, which meant I felt especially good in New Zealand. I was still disappointed to miss out on sights like Cathedral Cove in Hahei, which was only accessible via a rather vertical one-hour hike or an expensive boat journey that would have been exhausting for me. I stayed in the shade on the beach and Steve hiked up on his own.
All that resting meant I was able to see some of the flatter sights, however. This was especially exciting in Rotorua, one of the most fascinating places I've ever seen. It's an active geothermal area, which means all sorts of weirdness goes on. This is a park in the city, where there is a variety of steaming lakes and bubbling mud pits. This steam blows right onto one of the major streets.
I wasn't kidding about the mud pits.
To see these sights, I had to walk around. This meant planning carefully and rationing my energy. It worked out. The highlight was Wai-O-Tapu. The website describes this 'Thermal Wonderland' as 'a spectacular showcase of New Zealand's most colourful and unique geothermal elements sculpted by thousands of years of volcanic activity' and it is not wrong.
This is Champagne Pool, named for its bubbly constitution.
And this is Devil's Bath, which Atlas Obscura describes as a 'neon green pool of stagnant stink water' and compares to 'a cartoonish radioactive dump site'.
Trust me, I loved every minute of this. Even the minutes where my symptoms flared in the heat and I struggled to breath after battling a mild incline.
I'm very lucky to have been able to travel to New Zealand at all. Many people with chronic fatigue syndrome and other chronic illnesses wouldn't be able to. Still, part of me insists that if I push myself hard enough, I can overcome my illness. Every time I try, I make myself worse.
So, welcome to 2019: The Year Of Giving In To Limitations And Forging A New Life … Again.
PS. In New Zealand, shopping carts are called TRUNDLERS. Really. Made my day.


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More Military Families Are Relying On Food Banks And Pantries
Published August 18, 2014 at 12:53 AM MST
Volunteers at the Maryland Food Bank in Baltimore sort and box food donations on a conveyor belt. The bank started working with groups like the USO in 2013 to provide food aid to families affiliated with nearby military bases.
Despite the economic recovery, more than 46 million Americans — or 1 in 7 — used a food pantry last year. And a surprisingly high number of those seeking help were households with military members, according to a new survey by Feeding America, which is a network of U.S. food banks.
The survey — conducted in 2013 — found that almost 620,000 of the households using Feeding America services have at least one member currently in the military. That's one-quarter of all U.S. military households.
Deborah Flateman, president and CEO of the Maryland Food Bank in Baltimore, says she isn't surprised. Last year, her food bank started working with groups like the USO to provide food aid to families affiliated with nearby military bases like Fort Meade.
She says, so far, they've used their mobile food pantry to distribute more than 200,000 pounds of food to military families.
"They're not unlike any of the other families that we serve," says Flateman. "They meet hardship and they need assistance with food."
And other food banks and pantries say they're seeing a similar increase.
Margaret Young is with the Calvary Assembly of God Church in Dover, Del., about a mile from Dover Air Force Base. She says she noticed about four years ago that more military families were showing up at the church food pantry for help. She says they're usually young, junior-level service members with kids.
"And then of course they have younger spouses," says Young. "And the spouses, you know, when you have to relocate every couple of months or every couple of years, however that works, it makes it harder for them to find jobs. I think that's the primary reason."
Maura Daly of Feeding America says that's what they found in their survey: Both military and nonmilitary families are having a difficult time making ends meet. She says even though most of their clients work, they often have to make difficult choices.
"Between things like food and paying for their utilities, food and paying for transportation, food and paying for medicine or housing," she says. "So these are literally choices that people have to make between eating, putting a roof over their head, keeping the lights on."
In a written statement, Pentagon spokesman Nate Christensen told NPR that the Defense Department is reviewing the survey results.
UPDATE Monday Aug. 18, 10:52 a.m.: After reviewing the results, Christensen wrote in an email, "The Department of Defense disagrees with the methodology that Feeding America used to calculate the estimated percentage of military households served by its food assistance programs."
But Christensen also said that military pay and benefits compare favorably with the private sector, and if a service member has financial troubles, counseling is available.
But Joyce Raezer, executive director of the National Military Family Association, a nonprofit group that supports military families, says service members are often reluctant to seek such help. That's especially the case now that the military is downsizing, she says.
"People are afraid to call attention to themselves. They don't know who's getting picked to be asked to leave and who's going to get to stay and what the criteria are. And so a lot of these families are just laying low," says Raezer.
Also, it can be embarrassing to admit you need help with food. Raezer wasn't at all surprised that we were unable to get any military families to go on record for this story.
"The reason they go to the food bank is it's anonymous," she says.
But Raezer has no doubt the need is there, even if the Feeding America numbers seem high to her. She says some families have trouble managing their finances, with all the disruptions of military life, and especially if there's an unexpected bill for something like a car repair.
"Which may mean at the end of the month, things are a little tighter than they should be," she says.
And free food at the pantry might be just what they need to get by.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


anyeong haseyo yorobun.. i wrote again.. i wanna share you about my project in wordpress multisite..
2 weeks ago, i was wondering about how to create a lot of user for wordpress multisite. in my office, there are almost 300 users and you can imagine, it will be hard to create all of them one by one..
1. get username, password and email from database.
2. make looping for all data with function wordpress to make users and sites automatically.
i hope you understand my post.. feel free if you want to ask me.. 🙂 or you can email me at dhiekalantana@yahoo.co.id..


Last September, B3i were in Monte Carlo where we shared the demo of the prototype of our Cat XoL product. This year, B3i will be back again at Monte Carlo, at our event hosted by SCOR, to deliver on our promises and feed back to the industry on our progress and plans for the future.
As with Monte Carlo and Baden Baden people will be starting to get ready for January renewals. The first news we will announce will be on the subject of our Cat XoL product. This is the first key product that will allow the industry to move towards more contract certainty through a Blockchain solution.
Renewing contracts on a digital platform, between multiple parties, and ensuring contract certainty will be a real game changer for our customers. B3i will also announce our Early Mover Programme, which has begun with about a dozen companies who are already completing Cat XoL contracts with each other. These Early Movers will be first customers to renew contracts live on our platform.
Earlier in the year, B3i announced plans to develop our platform on the Corda network architecture. At our event in Monte Carlo on 10th September 2018, Paul Meeusen (CEO B3i) will discuss in more detail about why this was a fundamental choice for B3i.
B3i will be launching a Membership Programme for the benefit companies before they experience using the B3i network. This initiative is designed to help companies understand the potential or Blockchain and gain insights and knowledge from the experts at B3i. More details will be released closer to the launch of the programme, and will include opportunities for workshops, collaboration and also allow members to bring forward their own use cases.


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Street Trash
Posted by Wednesday's Child in 80s horror, WTF moments
Bill Chepil, James Lorinz, Jane Arakawa, M. D'Jango Krunch, Mark Sferrazza, Mike Lackey, Miriam Zucker, Nicole Potter, splatter, Vic Not
I'm not sure if Street Trash is exploitation with a message regarding The Homeless Problem, or just pure exploitation for its own sake, but if not for the considerable amount of comedy this movie would be the bleakest picture of feral humans outside of the "life in a post-apocalyptic world" genre. But it's no post-civilization horror, it's New York in 1987. If there is a message, I'm still not sure if it's "we need to do something for these poor homeless people" or "we need to do something about these disgusting homeless people." It could just be, "hey y'all, watch these homeless people melt."
I'm not sure who the hero of this picture is. It's kind of a slice of life picture about two homeless brothers who, well, I guess they're more houseless than homeless since they live in a junkyard. Anyway, the junkyard is presided over in name by the owner, a big fat piece of shit rapist and part-time necrophiliac, but it's really ruled by a crazy homicidal racist Vietnam vet with the ugliest girlfriend I've seen in a major motion picture. And the local liquor store found a case of old booze that is making the hobos melt into rainbow colored sludge after one drink. And there's a subplot about a gangster whose girlfriend has consensual (but not really because she's blackout drunk) sex with one of the homeless brothers, but then he lets the rest of the junkyard dwellers drag her away and gang rape her to death. And there's a cop who wants to figure out who is melting the hoboes, and a coroner who eats his lunch right off the table one of their bodies is on, and a girl who works for the junkyard who has the hots for the other brother, and probably the funniest shoplifting scene ever. It's all very matter-of-fact, and ends abruptly with no concern for what will happen to these people next. Also, the film presents what is perhaps the only opportunity you will ever have in your life to watch a group of people play keep-away using a freshly amputated penis. Because you were waiting to see that shit.
Despite the glowing recommendation, I like Street Trash, mostly because I can't look away. Either it's not for the easily offended, or it will offend even the most open-minded of trash cinema fans, I'm not sure which. If you like midnight movies, this is compulsory viewing. It is historic for possibly being the only intersection of the "melt movies" genre (a category in my own mind into which I also place Body Melt and Society) and the "hobo horror" genre (C.H.U.D., Prince of Darkness) And now, listen to the song recorded in character by the gangster character. Sorry the individual who uploaded the video set it to screenshots from Goodfellas, but just imagine that the gangster is singing it to the guy who was responsible for his girlfriend running off with hobo bro #1.


text:
NYPD makes arrest in package theft from mail truck in Port Richmond
Updated: Aug. 05, 2021, 9:27 a.m. | Published: Aug. 04, 2021, 8:17 p.m.
Packages reportedly were stolen from a mail truck parked on Sharrett Place near Lexington Avenue in Port Richmond on Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 4, 2021. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)
By David Luces | DLuces@siadvance.com
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A West Brighton man has been arrested and charged with burglary after, police allege, he used a rock to break a United States Postal Service truck window and attempted to make off with a number of packages in Port Richmond Wednesday afternoon.
Eric Wilson, 24, of Elizabeth Street, was charged with one count of burglary, grand larceny, criminal mischief and criminal possession of stolen property, police said.
At 11:50 a.m., police officers from the 121st Precinct responded to a burglary of a mail truck on Lexington Avenue near Sharrett Place. A preliminary investigation revealed that the 63-year-old operator parked the truck on the street. A passerby heard a loud noise and observed the suspect removing packages from the truck, according to a statement from an NYPD spokeswoman.
A short search was conducted, and Wilson was taken into custody at Haughwout Avenue and Cortlandt Street. The packages were also recovered and returned to the truck operator, the NYPD spokeswoman said.
Sources at the scene told the Advance/SILive.com that a male riding a bike broke the window, grabbed some packages and rode away around noon.
Attorney information for the suspect was not immediately available.


text:
US designates anti-govt. Bahraini group as 'terrorist' after Manama inks peace deal with Israel
Press TV | December 16, 2020
The administration of outgoing US President Donald Trump has designated Bahraini opposition group Saraya al-Mukhtar as a "terrorist" organization, months after the Manama regime agreed to a Washington-brokered normalization with Israel.
In a statement released on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his office had blacklisted the group as "a Specially Designated Global Terrorist," claiming that it was "posing a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism that threaten the national security and foreign policy of the United States."
He alleged that Saraya al-Mukhtar receives "financial and logistic support" from Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and seeks to depose the Bahraini government.
"The group has plotted attacks against US personnel in Bahrain and has offered cash rewards for the assassination of Bahraini officials," Pompeo further claimed.
The designation freezes any of the group's US assets and generally bars Americans from dealing with it.
Iran has not commented on the claims so far.
The Bahraini government welcomed the US blacklisting of Saraya al-Mukhtar.
The Bahraini Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it "commends" what it called "the relentless efforts undertaken by the United States of America in combatting all extremist terrorist organizations."
Bahraini courts have already sentenced suspects allegedly linked to Saraya al-Mukhtar to years in prison and revoked their citizenship.
Several Bahraini groups have faced accusations of ties to Iran since 2011, when an uprising began in the kingdom against the ruling Al Khalifah regime. Tehran has, however, dismissed such allegations as false.
Analysts see the blacklisting as an American reward to Manama, months after it reached a US-brokered normalization deal with the Israeli regime.
The agreement sparked several angry street protests in Bahrain, with the participants slamming the regime in Manama for turning a deaf ear to the nation's calls against making peace with the occupiers of Palestine.
In addition to Bahrain, the UAE, Sudan and Morocco have also reached similar agreements with Israel.
Joe Macaron, a fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, told the Middle East Eye (MEE) news portal that "the activities of Saraya al-Mukhtar have significantly diminished since 2018 but the Trump administration is standing by those Arab allies who normalized with Israel."
"While Morocco got US recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara and Sudan was delisted as a state sponsor of terrorism, the Trump administration is showing support for Bahrain in a designation that has no real impact whatsoever," he added.
Bahrain — home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet — has seen anti-regime protest rallies since the onset of the uprising. The major demand has been the ouster of the Al Khalifah dynasty and the establishment of a just and conclusive system representing all Bahraini nationals.
In an attempt to stifle those calls, the Manama regime has been pressing ahead with a heavy-handed crackdown against the protesters and persecution of human rights campaigners and political dissidents.
December 16, 2020 Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties	| Bahrain, Human rights, Middle East, United States, Zionism | Leave a comment
Anti-normalization Protests Erupt in Bahrain despite Security Restrictions
MEMO | October 24, 2020
Anti-normalisation protests erupted in the streets of the Bahraini capital of Manama after Friday prayer yesterday.
Protesters held up banners denouncing normalisation, with the unified slogan "Anti-normalisation Friday", along with a photo of a masked Palestinian militant.
Bahrain's normalisation agreement with Israel was met with widespread anger, despite tight security restrictions, as well as the summoning of the demonstration organisers and participants, forcing them to sign an order to stay off the streets and not to engage in disruptive activities.
The protesters expressed their rejection of normalisation by carrying banners with the slogans: "Normalisation is treason", "We reject submission, humiliation and surrender to the instructions of the US and Britain" and "Israel is a cancer that must be eradicated, and we will". Other slogans stated: "We will never surrender" and "Normalisation is shameful, it is a betrayal".
After Bahrain announced normalising relations with Israel, the hashtag "Bahrainis against normalisation" was widely circulated by Bahraini activists on Twitter.
The Emirati and Bahraini normalisation agreements with Israel were categorically rejected by the Palestinian authorities and factions, who considered the decision as a betrayal of Al-Aqsa mosque, Jerusalem and the Palestinian cause.
October 24, 2020 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Solidarity and Activism	| Bahrain, Middle East, Zionism | Leave a comment
95% of Bahrainis against normalization deal with Israel: Opposition tells UN
Press TV – October 18, 2020
Bahrain's largest opposition group calls on the United Nations to intervene in the kingdom's unbridled push to deepen its relations with the Israeli regime, saying the move falls short of the general population's consent.
The Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society released the statement on Sunday, as the two sides are expected to sign a "joint communique on establishing peaceful and diplomatic relations" during a visit by Israeli and US delegations to the Bahraini capital Manama.
The move marks a major step forward in formalizing Manama and Tel Aviv's ties after a September 15 event at the White House during which Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed "normalization" deals with the occupying regime.
All the Palestinian factions besides countless independent Muslim figures and bodies have unanimously blasted the détente as a stab in the back of the Palestinian nation and a US-facilitated attempt at betraying the Palestinian cause of ending the Israeli occupation and aggression.
The opponents of the rapprochement say the move that has been taken by a handful of unelected authorities in Manama and Abu Dhabi never qualifies to represent the opinion of the world's millions-strong Arab and Muslim community.
"More than 95% are against the agreement and the normalization with the Zionists and the absence of any authority representing the people" in the push towards cementing the détente, al-Wefaq said, addressing UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
"We call on the secretary-general and the international community to ask the Bahraini regime to allow Bahrainis to give their final word on the agreement between the Bahraini regime and the Zionist occupation," it added.
"The people of Bahrain need to express their opinion about this illegal agreement," the statement read, calling the deal unconstitutional and contrary to "patriotic and national values."
The movement said another reason for the agreement's illegality was that Manama was going ahead with it while stifling all instances of opposition at home.
Since 2011, Bahrain has been witnessing near-daily peaceful rallies against Manama's routine practice of heavily discriminating against its Shia Muslim majority. The state has come down hard on the protests, killing scores of people and jailing hundreds of others.
October 18, 2020 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Solidarity and Activism	| Bahrain, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, Zionism | Leave a comment
A Peace Deal Like No Other
Much ado about nothing, but Act 2 is coming up
By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • September 22, 2020
It is odd that the White House is gloating over its claimed peace agreement in the Middle East at the same time as one of the signatories is bombing Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. It all suggests that peace in the region will exclude designated enemies and the friends of those enemies, since the ties among the three parties – Israel, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain – is transparently in part an offensive alliance directed against Iran and its friends, to include Syria and Lebanon. A significant amount of the horse trading that preceded the gala signing ceremony in the White House involved who would get what advanced American weapons down the road. The UAE wants F-35 fighter bombers while Israel is already asking for $8 billion for more top-level weapons from the U.S. taxpayer to maintain its "qualitative edge" over its new found friends.
For the more sagacious readers who chose to ignore what took place, a short recap is in order. Last Tuesday President Trump hosted a White House signing ceremony during which Israel established formal ties with the two Arab states. The agreement was dubbed the Abraham Accord because it purports to build on the foundation provided by the fraternity, as one might put it, of the three Abrahamic religions, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. More specifically, it created the mechanism for diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties between Israel and the two Arab countries. It should be observed that both the UAE and Bahrain are close to being client states of the U.S. Bahrain is in fact the home port of the U.S. Fifth Fleet that operates in the region and it also hosts headquarters of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT). Both countries have long had de facto semi-secret relations with Israel on security issues and Israelis have been able to travel to them as long as they do not do so on an Israeli passport. And they both also know that the road to improving already good relations with Washington passes through Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally attended the ceremony, together with the foreign ministers of the UAE and Bahrain. Trump enthused "We're here this afternoon to change the course of history" and presented a replica gold key to the White House to Netanyahu. It is not known if the two Arab ministers received anything beyond a "don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out."
The president observed that the two Arab nations were the third and fourth to normalize relations with Israel, following on Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, and predicted that five more Arab countries might soon also recognize Israel. Oman and Qatar, which hosts the major U.S. airbase at Al-Udeid, are likely to be next in line as both have close ties to the United States and have never exhibited much hardline anti-Israeli fervor. The claim made before the signing, that Israel would stand down on its plan to annex much of the Palestinian West Bank as a quid pro quo for the agreement was not discussed at all, nor was it part of the document. It is generally believed that Israel will wait until after the U.S. election to make its move.
The Palestinians, who have been on the receiving end of Israeli nation-building were not invited. There were some demonstrations by Palestinians in Gaza and Ramallah denouncing the signing as it took place, together with chanting that "Palestine isn't for sale." Indeed, Palestinians are more-or-less invisible in Washington, having had their representational office closed by Trump in 2018 after he had been shown a fabricated video by Netanyahu in which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas appeared to be calling for the murder of children. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also viewed the video and informed the president that it was an obvious fabrication, but Trump was convinced by it.
The U.S. media, always inclined to applaud anything that advances Israeli interests, registered its approval of the agreement. And there were calls for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Trump for his miraculous achievement, not as ridiculous as it sounds as it is at least as well deserved as the one that was given to Barack Obama. Trump the peacemaker has a nice ring to it, and it quite possibly would pay off for the president in terms of votes and political contributions. Indeed, if one looks at the White House ceremony dyspeptically, it becomes clear that the whole event was staged for political purposes to advance GOP interests in the upcoming election. If it changes anything on the ground at all it actually worsens the chances for peace in the region. The UAE and Bahrain are now locked into a unified effort to oppose Iran by military force if necessary, with open support from Israel plus covert aid from Saudi Arabia as well as the full backing of the United States.
One might reasonably argue that the agreement was a win for Israel, the UAE and Bahrain, as they have succeeded in obliging the U.S. to support their own regional security interests for the foreseeable future. The media, defense contractors and politicians bought and paid for by Israel will be able to assert that the U.S. must retain significant forces in the region to defend Israel and friendly Arab states against the largely fictitious "Iranian menace." It is unfortunately a major setback for United States efforts to limit its exposure to any and all political developments in an increasingly unstable Middle East. If the White House had really wanted to disengage from the quagmire that it has found itself in, it was an odd way to go about it.
And the Palestinians are left with nowhere to go, the presumption being that with lessening Arab support they will be reduced to begging Israel (and the U.S.) for a deal that will reduce them to the status of helots. That conclusion just might make them desperate and could trigger a new and even more bloody intifada.
The downside of the agreement is already beginning to play out as the United States is preparing to unilaterally impose sanctions on Iran that will include possible seizure of Iranian ships in international waters, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also warned Russia and China against trying to sell weapons to Tehran. One might well ask, how exactly does Pompeo propose to do that? Will he shoot down Russian transport planes or sink Chinese and Russian flagged ships? How does one go from being crazy to being batshit crazy, and what about all those Americans and others who would prefer not to be on the receiving end of a nuclear exchange?
Trita Parsi, who follows the situation in the Middle East closely, has suggested that Pompeo might even be planning an October Surprise, which might amount to some kind of provocation or even a false flag operation that would result in open conflict with Iran with the U.S. arguing that the fighting is both lawful and defensive in nature.
Such a suggestion might be considered insanity, but there are signs that the U.S. is heightening its delegitimization campaign against Iran. Unconfirmable allegations from anonymous U.S. government sources are surfacing about an alleged Iranian plot to kill the U.S. Ambassador in South Africa. And, as of Saturday, Washington is now implementing its new sanctions regime and there is a distinct possibility that an Iranian vessel in the Persian Gulf might be seized, forcing Iran to respond. The U.S. Navy has already intercepted four Greek flagged tankers in the Atlantic Ocean on their way to Venezuela, claiming they were carrying Iranian petroleum products, which were then confiscated. Given the demonstrated propensity to use armed force, anything is possible. The thinking in the White House might be that a containable war against a recognized enemy might be just the ticket to win in November. Of course, once the fighting starts it might not work out that way.
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is https://councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.
September 22, 2020 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism	| Bahrain, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, UAE, United States, Zionism | 2 Comments
PLO: Normalisation prepares for formation of military alliances led by Israel
MEMO | September 14, 2020
Secretary-General of the PLO's Executive Committee, Saeb Erekat, said yesterday that the UAE and Bahraini normalisation deals with Israel prepare for the formation of military alliances in the region led by Israel, Anadolu reported.
In a press conference held in Ramallah, Erekat said: "Israel will never be a tool to protect the security of Arabs, but a tool to undermine the security of the Arab states."
"The Bahraini, Israeli, American agreement to normalise relations is now part of a bigger package in the region. It is not about peace, it is not about relations between countries. It is a military alliance being created in the region led by Israel."
On Friday, Bahrain joined the UAE in normalising ties with Israel, a move that caused outrage among Palestinians.
"Normalisation does not serve the Palestinian or the Arab interests," he said, "whoever depends on Israel commits a strategic mistake."
He also noted that the normalisation deals did not include any indications to the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and a just solution for refugees.
"What happened was an implementation of the US deal of the century," he said, stressing that these deals will not achieve peace if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not resolved first.
September 14, 2020 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, Timeless or most popular	| Bahrain, Israel, Middle East, UAE, United States, Zionism | Leave a comment
Bahrain civil society groups reject normalisation agreement
Civil society groups in Bahrain have rejected the government's normalisation agreement with Israel which is expected to be signed formally in Washington DC on Tuesday. Seventeen organisations have issued a joint statement to this effect, with signatories including the General Federation of Workers' Trade Unions in Bahrain, the Bahraini Bar Association and the Bahrain Women's Association.
"We adhere to the constants of the Bahraini people regarding the just Palestinian cause and the provisions of the constitution that criminalise normalisation with the Zionist entity, in accordance with the official and popular Arab and Islamic consensus rejecting normalisation with this criminal entity," said the groups. "All forms of normalisation with the Zionist entity initiated by some countries have neither produced peace nor restored the usurped rights of the Palestinian people, but have, rather, encouraged the enemy to commit more crimes against Palestine and the holy Arab and Muslim sites, foremost of which is Holy Jerusalem."
The statement added that "what is known as a peace treaty between Bahrain and the Zionist enemy under the auspices of the US administration has brought about tremendous shock, resentment and widespread popular rejection among the Bahraini people, their political forces, civil society institutions, and all national actors and personalities."
As a result, the signatories pointed out, nothing arising from the normalisation deal will have any popular legitimacy. "Generations of Bahrainis have believed in the just nature of the Palestinian cause," they concluded.
September 14, 2020 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes	| Bahrain, Israel, Palestine, Zionism | Leave a comment
Normalisation with Israel means RIP international law, it's been nice knowing you
By Ibrahim Hewitt | MEMO | September 12, 2020
The news that Bahrain has followed the UAE, Jordan and Egypt into Israel's criminal embrace was no surprise; nor will it be shocking to hear that Saudi Arabia is following suit, as it almost certainly will. The raising of the Israeli flag in Riyadh will happen sooner rather than later. The groundwork for this has already been prepared by what passes for a government in the Saudi capital, with Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, a state-controlled Imam in Makkah, doing a 180 degree U-turn on peace with Israel in a recent sermon.
These deals have been written in the blood of the people of occupied Palestine. Recognition of the colonial state of Israel is acceptance of the ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians by the nascent state and its terrorist militias in and around 1948, and the subsequent death and destruction that the "Israel Defence Forces" have rained down on Palestinians ever since. It is also the acceptance of the death of international law, which surely has no place left to hide if the world accepts what is going on in the name of "peace" in the Middle East.
Once again, the Palestinians are the fall guys in all of this, but what should they do? What can they do? It is tempting to think that they have been backed into a corner and will now be expected to roll over and die, metaphorically or literally; or possibly both. The fact is, though, that they still have some cards to play, but it will require a major shift in the strategy that has dominated Palestinian politics for more than a quarter of a century.
The rot started when the Palestine Liberation Organisation under Yasser Arafat gave up on "liberation" as a goal and signed the Oslo Accords. Palestine and its people have paid a heavy price ever since, with their leaders making concession after concession while Israel has conceded nothing. On the contrary, the occupation has become even more entrenched during the farce of "negotiations" which have now been on hold for years.
Is there any other place in the world where the victims of criminal activity have been told to negotiate with the criminals in order for justice to be served? Or where justice has never actually been on the agenda of such talks because it would expose the criminals and their allies for what they really are?
Is there any other conflict in the world where the aggressors claim "self-defence" every time they bomb civilians "back to the stone age", and where this is accepted by the international community even though an occupation state has no such legitimate claim under international law? Or where the legitimate right to resist military occupation by every means at your disposal is regarded as "terrorism", as it is when you are a Palestinian resisting Israel's brutal occupation of your land?
We can and should argue that the Palestinian Authority hasn't got a leg to stand on with complaints about the UAE and now Bahrain doing a deal with Israel, for the simple reason that not only has it been happy to rely on support from Egypt and Jordan for decades, both of which have peace treaties with the Zionist state, but it has also continued to protect Israel and Israelis through its "security cooperation" with Tel Aviv. This cooperation — a euphemism for collaboration — has been described as "sacred" by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, probably because he knows that his Palestinian No Authority Whatsoever was created to serve Israel's interests, not the interests of the people of occupied Palestine, and is funded accordingly. No collaboration, no funds.
Abbas and his PLO-Fatah-PA cronies can complain as much as they like about "normalisation", but they know that their words can only ever serve as rhetoric unless and until real changes are made. As my colleague at MEMO Motasem Dalloul wrote this week, such complaints are all for media consumption.
It is surely time for the PA to call it a day and dissolve itself. Abbas should step aside; his "ministers" should clear their desks; and the "Palestinian security apparatus" should be disbanded. Annexation is going to happen no matter what the PA or anyone else says or does, so let Israel declare its sovereignty over the whole of the occupied Palestinian territories. Such a move will still be illegal, if international law has any meaning left at all, and the status quo won't really change as far as those living under occupation are concerned. Oppression is still oppression whether your jailers wear Israeli or Palestinian uniforms.
With no PA as its lapdog, Israel will have sole responsibility for security and the civilian infrastructure for everyone living within its as yet undeclared borders (alone amongst all UN member states, Israel has never said where its borders lie), Jews and Arabs alike. That will place a huge financial and logistical burden on Netanyahu and his increasingly far-right government, a burden which it is unlikely to be able to cope with if it wants to retain the mirage that it is "the only democracy in the Middle East".
Not that Israel has ever really cared what the rest of the world thinks as long as its lobbyists are able to make Western governments dance to their tune. This has allowed Israel to act with impunity and treat international laws and conventions with contempt for more than 70 years, and its leaders have been and remain war criminals and guilty of crimes against humanity. And yet those ostensibly democratic governments in the West, for reasons known only to themselves, continue to declare their undying loyalty to what is, by any measure, a rogue state.
The guardians of international law at the UN are toothless and have acquiesced with Israel's occupation and presence in the Middle East simply by not acknowledging that it is a settler-colonial state which rides roughshod over Palestinian rights, including the refugees' right of return. UN agencies provide essential services to the refugees but have to labour under the constraint which has turned Palestine into a humanitarian rather than a political issue.
Moreover, the absurdity of the Security Council veto afforded to the post-World War Two nuclear states means that nothing will happen at the UN if any one of the US, Britain, Russia, China or France disagrees. The rest of the world can have opinions and even majority opinions but that tiny exclusive club will always carry the vote and then apply undue pressure on other countries to do as they are told.
The normalisation of Arab states, therefore, doesn't really mean "peace" as we are being led to believe; it simply means that they too are displaying contempt for international law; that they too condone the Nakba and the Naksa; that they too condone the ongoing colonisation of Palestine and the oppression of its people; and that they too are bowing to Zionist hegemony in the region, and perhaps the rest of the world as well. Normalisation with Israel actually means RIP international law, it's been nice knowing you.
September 12, 2020 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes	| Bahrain, Egypt, Human rights, Israel, Jordan, Middle East, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, UAE, United Nations, Zionism | 1 Comment
Bahrain and Palestine: At the Heart and Front of the Struggle Against US and Zionist Occupation
By Julia Kassem | American Herald Tribune | February 18, 2020
Nine years ago, on February 14 of 2011 to the date, massive anti-government protests swept Bahrain.
Yet the common narrative of Bahrain's uprising as on the backburner of the failed Egyptian movement downplayed the real significance of Bahrain in struggle. Rather than writing it off as a failed after effect of the 2010-2011 Arab Spring protests, Bahrain should be recognized as a struggle of liberation against Western imperialism and occupation on par with the Palestinian struggle.
With a long, established root in history, and as the Resistance Axis scales up the regional call to expel US occupation following the assassination of IRGC General Qassem Soleimani, Bahrain deserves increasing attention.
Bahrain is a Persian Gulf island under the monarchist rule of the Al-Khalifa clan that had ruled Bahrain over two centuries, soon receiving the support of Britain following an 1820 treaty with the Al-Khalifa monarchs.
Post-Cold War, the United States would eclipse Britain as the main imperialist backer of Bahrain's monarchy in the Middle East. As Britain tightened its relationship with Bahrain in 1919, it had also carved out the blueprint for the occupation of Palestine in 1917 under the Balfour Declaration.
The movement in Bahrain was brutally suppressed not just because of its uprising against one monarchy, but because of the unrelenting popular consensus by demonstrators for a government that is anti-Zionist, anti-American, and democratic. These calls were met with a brutal crackdown by Saudi-backed authorities that intervened a month later to quell the popular revolt.
Western media narratives had cast Bahrain's uprising in the shadow of Egypt's failed 'revolution,' relegating it to the backburner of a co-opted Arab "Sting."
Bahrain may not have the highest number of American troops occupying the tiny island, with just neighboring Kuwait and Qatar hosting up to 13,000 US occupying forces each. Yet the tiny island, packs over 7,000 US troops, stationed, as of January 2020, in a tiny 765 km2 area.
It also has been made home to a US naval base since 1947, the oldest of its kind in the Middle East, established one year before the 1948 Nakba, the year the illegal Zionist occupation was made legitimate in the eyes of the so-called "international community."
The United States' Navy 5th Fleet, established in Bahrain in 1944 as the largest combat fleet in the world was only reestablished in 1995 after being inactive for 48 years. Yet it has situated itself as the useful output of US regional hegemony in the Persian Gulf, where the "area of responsibility for American fleets shuttling aircraft carriers and destroyers include pretty much every West Asian nation along the Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, and some of the Indian Ocean.
Poised for the US to have an easier shot at a number of nations under its threat, occupation, or watch, from Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, or Yemen, to a station to safeguard its the regimes it backs, like Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the UAE, its positionality is becoming even more critical in light of the US's assaults, sea and land alike, against Iran.
History: Previous uprisings
To understand the reason behind the Western/Gulf insecurity behind popular uprisings in Bahrain, historically, one must draw upon the history of resistance against the monarchist elite in Bahrain.
An approximately 5-year uprising that began in 1994, the "uprising of dignity" by a coalition of both Shia and leftist factions against the ruling regime.
In 2006, the Al Bandar report revealed Saudi plans of sowing the seeds of sectarian tension in Bahrain, where a nearly $3 million financing of secret cells in the Bahraini government and its intelligence apparatuses, government-operated cover-NGOs, and sectarian propaganda was aimed at an intentional targeting of Bahrain's more than 70% Shia majority.
That same year, Sheikh Abdul Amir al-Jamiri, a main spiritual leader of Bahrain's Shia, passed away after decades of commitment and leadership to bringing justice to Bahrain. Al-Jamiri, the main leader of the mid-90s uprising, was credited for bringing secular leftist and Shia factions together in a unified call against a regime that, in its monarchy, was in service of capitalism, imperialism, and Zionism.
Yet al-Jamiri's passing would later inspire the unified call for reform and revolt 17 years later. Unfortunately, Bahrain's opposition coalition would accept the concessions put forth by the then-new emir Hamad al-Khalifa, enshrined in Bahrain's 2001 National Action Charter.
Like the many agreements and negotiations handed to the Palestinians, this agreement, while bringing the country back to some provisions in the previous constitutional rule the monarchy clan stamped out in 1975, had the effect of doing little to curtail the economic and political supremacy of the monarchy and its systematic oppression of its majority population.
The Bahrain-Palestine connection
Both the oppressed of Bahrain and occupied Palestine have suffered for decades under the US's ambitions to use their lands as military bases, supporting and backing neo-colonial regimes to help instill their political, economic, and military hegemony.
The illegitimate governments of both countries continue to US hegemony by, obviously, their military role as US-military bases but also for their benefits for US-dominated capitalism. For example, the Zionist entity's tech sector has found its footing and high dependency on the U.S. economy. According to a December 2019 report by the 'Israeli' Ministry of Finance, US investments accounted for 35% of those in 'Israeli' tech in 2018, with the total amount of Israeli investors being lower at 30%. In Bahrain, the royal family has amassed at least $40 billion alone from 2000 to 2010 from land-grabbing schemes for development, both buying properties from the UK and brokering free-trade agreements with the US.
The result, in taking the lion's share of land available for people's commerce and trade, has caused a hike up in land and property prices, compounding the existing and intentional economic conditions of high native unemployment (at 35%) that afflicts the local youth. The Bahraini regime has accomplished essentially what the Israeli regime has in its occupation of Palestine: the weaponization of land grabbing as a regime-building tool as well as flooding the country with cheap, foreign labor effectively barring the native underclass from any economic agency or access.
More significant is the tactic and prevalence of arbitrary and forced detention endemic to the preservation of both US-backed regimes. Bahrain is the top country globally for political prisoners, with over 14,000 cases of arbitrary detention between 2011 and 2019 alone. This includes the detention of over 1,700 children. The Zionist entity, similarly, replicates this tactic and these projections: since 1967, the occupation has arrested over 800,000 Palestinians, including 50,000 children, with over 1,250 minors under arbitrary detention between 2011 and 2018 alone.
Characteristic of the Zionist and Bahraini regimes, in addition to their routine arbitrary detention of civilians and children, is their brutal imprisonment and torture of movement leaders and dissidents; especially those that have played vital roles in uniting the opposition.
This is exemplified by the detention of Marwan Barghouti or Khalida Jarrar in occupied Palestine or Ayatollah al-Qassem and Ebtisam el Sayegh in Bahrain. These are just a few of the hundreds of thousands of leaders and activists that have endured torture, repeated arrests, in order to quell the rich ideological leadership committed to resistance to occupation and oppression in both the Bahraini and Palestinian nations.
Both the Deal of the Century and the recent uptick in torture against Bahraini prisoners of conscience can give their thanks to the acceleration of support and reinforcement from the United States under the Trump administration.
The Obama administration did no more than offer a trickle of lip-service criticism against the Zionist and Bahraini regimes in his time in office, countered anyway by his first-term Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's warm embrace of both: Clinton has always considered herself a "strong supporter" of the Occupying Entity as she did commend Bahrain's king.
While the US's arms sales to Bahrain had somewhat halted under Obama's term, which had otherwise undergone the steady increase of bombings and drone warfare in the Middle East, due to human rights concerns, the Trump administration had carried out $5 billion in sales of Lockheed's F-35 fighter jets to the monarchy in 2017.
In 2009, the Bahraini government had planned to spend a billion on security and defense in the country, looking to several Saudi and American defense contractors, including Lockheed Martin, for its purchases.
Just as Trump unveiled and greenlit his development-oriented "Deal" for Palestine, he had also, greenlit massive torture, along with arms sales, to the Zionist, Saudi, and Bahraini regimes.
As one torturer famously said to el Sayegh: "Do you know that we have a green light from Trump?"
Similar to how the Zionist entity employs its handsome security packages–a 2018 gift of $38 billion over 10 years–towards brutal neighborhood raids in the West Bank, its next site of total mass expulsion thanks in part to the Deal, Bahrain too has put Trump's generous donations and pledges to mass raids.
Like the Zionist entity, the Bahraini regime regularly engages in mass-raids. Shortly after the 2011 uprising, over 430 members of the opposition Al-Wifaq party, also teachers, clinicians, and day-laborers were violently arrested in night raids.
The largest and most brutal case came shortly after Trump's May 2017 "green light." Bahrain's security forces raided Sheikh al-Qassem's home, shot and killing five demonstrators and arrested 286.
As Sondoss Al Assad, a Lebanese journalist who focuses especially on Bahrain wrote in a recent article for American Herald Tribune:
"Blessed by Trump's Green Light, Manama has intensified its brutal measures, which also met out collective reprisal against scores of peaceful opposition figures and human rights advocates."
Just last June, the convening to pass the Zionist-American "Deal of the Century" was hosted in Bahrain, signifying the tight-knit connection both the Zionist and Bahraini regimes have in extending their influence in the Levant and Persian Gulf fronts, transforming the lands they occupy into development enterprises as well as American military bases.
A Bahraini man Monday was sentenced three years for burning the flag of the illegal Zionist entity at an anti-'Israel' demonstration last May. Bahrain, through history and in its present, is truly emblematic of, as Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a February 16th speech, 'a treachery platform conspiring against the Palestinian cause."
For this reason, it is imperative that both Bahrain and occupied Palestine be at the heart of the Middle East's liberation struggle. It is expected that the Deal will ignite an intifada and regional rejection that has been consistently brewing in occupied Palestine. At the same time, a regional consensus amongst the resistance axis to expel American presence and forces from all Arab and Muslim soil, particularly in Iraq, will be crucial in Bahrain, and draw the curtains of occupation on both these two birth-sites of US and British imperialism in the region.
February 22, 2020 Posted by aletho | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular	| Bahrain, Human rights, Israel, Middle East, Palestine, United States, Zionism | 1 Comment
What Will Iran's 'Total War' on the US Look Like?
By Salman Rafi Sheikh – New Eastern Outlook – 11.01.2020
There is a growing threat of Iran launching 'total war' on the US in the case of the US resorting to attacking Iran and targeting its cultural locations. While such an act will in itself amount to war crimes, this will most certainly produce the necessary conditions for Iran to start a war on the US in the region. Soleimani's funeral and the emotions that have engulfed Iran show that the Iranians are looking to implement Khamenei's vow of "severe revenge." The questions, in this context, are: what will Iran's execution of 'severe revenge' look like, what options does Iran have in the region and how this will happen? What appears most likely—and given the nature of asymmetry between the US and Iran—Iran's preferred option would most likely be a calculated activation of the "Axis of resistance" against the US in Syria, Iraq and even Lebanon. This might also include targeting US military establishments in the region—Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar etc.
America's scattered military options, whilst it gives the US a military advantage, also give Iran plenty of options for sidestepping US military advantage by striking at the weak points of its various infrastructures in the region. While such an act may also pit these regional states against Iran, these states, as of now, are more interested in preventing hostilities for obvious reason: an Iranian total war will consume the tiny Arab states.
In other words, by following this strategy, Iran will make sure that the war that Trump sees as a quick punitive strike spreads in the region, reaching well within the borders of US allies. What this means is that Iran's position in the region is qualitatively different from that of Iraq. Iran's political and military landscape is also altogether different from Iraq and even Syria, making it too complex a country for a punitive strike to cut to size.
On the other hand, by spreading the war in the region and by attacking US infrastructure, even though this will invite strong US reaction, Iran will be able to inflict enough damage on the US to turn the public opinion against Trump who is already facing impeachment in the final year of his first term as US president.
At the same time, however, the threat of Iran resorting to a 'war in the region' scenario has already led many Arab officials to coordinate with the US to prevent such a scenario. Whereas the Saudis have hurried to Washington, meeting US foreign and defence secretaries, Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani (who belongs to the royal family) were in Tehran and were received by President Hassan Rouhani. The Gulf states are obviously seeking their own assurances from both Iran and the US to avoid a war that engulfs them in its wake. Imagining a straight Iran-US war is, however, difficult, given that the US military establishments are in these very states, and these states have no capacity on their own to defend against an Iranian onslaught.
Targeting US bases in the region also shows that Iran's objective, at the most, will be to drive the US out of the region. As Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said in his recent speech, a fair response to Soleimani's assassination will be "ending the American military presence in our region." The message, in other words, is that all US military personnel in the region….in tiny Arab states…. will be on their toes, watching their backs, full time.
As of now, the US has 5,000 troops in the UAE; 7,000 in Bahrain; above 13,000 in Kuwait; 3,00o in Jordan; 3,000 in Saudi Arabia; 10,000 in Qatar; 5,000 in Iraq; around 1,000 in Syria—all of course well within the range of Iranian missiles, making them an extremely attractive targets for the Iranian forces.
Only in Iraq, about 5,000 US troops could very well be sitting ducks if the Popular Mobilisation Forces were to launch a war of attrition. If history is any guide to the future, it might be unrealistic to completely rule out a replay of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings — the attack on a Marine compound in Beirut on the night of October 23 in which 241 US personnel were killed, forcing Reagan to order the withdrawal of troops from Lebanon.
This strategy would work to Iran's advantage. Notwithstanding the scale of damage that the US can inflict on Iran by targeting its naval and other military installations, Iran would make sure to spread chaos in the Middle East in ways that make the regional states, apart from the war-weary US public, impress upon the US to deescalate. What might add to this chaos will be a simple blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Salman Rafi Sheikh is a research-analyst of International Relations and Pakistan's foreign and domestic affairs.
January 11, 2020 Posted by aletho | Illegal Occupation	| Bahrain, Iran, Kuwait, Middle East, Qatar, United States | 4 Comments
Bahrain's Top Opposition Leader: Six Years of Persecution for Adopting Democracy and Reconciliation
By Sondoss Al Asaad | American Herald tribune | December 28, 2019
Although freedom of expression is a ratified constitutional right; yet it constitutes a heinous crime and poses an existential threat to the Manama regime. For instance, Sheikh Ali Salman, Secretary-General of the now-outlawed Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, Bahrain's top opposition political group, who has been held in custody since 2015, enters on Dec 28th his sixth year of arbitrary detention.
Indeed, the persecution of this peaceful leader is related to his commitment to peaceful protest and anti-corruption, marginalization and monopolization of power policies.
Al-Wefaq top leader had been initially serving a 4 years sentence on charges of "insulting the interior ministry and inciting hatred."
Prior to the current ongoing uprising, Sheikh Ali Salman had been severely tortured and arrested without trial, in 1994, before being exiled for more than 15 years.
The Bahraini High Court of First Tier acquitted Sheikh Salman on 21 June 2018; however, the Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal, on 4 November 2018, and handed him a life sentence after finding him guilty of spying for Qatar "to transfer confidential information in exchange for financial compensation."
Al-Wefaq slammed the verdict calling it a "political revenge." Sheikh Ali Salman's co-defendants, former MP and Sheikh Hassan Sultan have also been sentenced to life in prison, while in absentia.
Seen as part of the diplomatic row with Qatar and following Saudi Arabia and other states' boycott of what they call Doha's "extremist policies," Sheikh Salman's trial shifted to an intelligence-sharing case, relating to a clipped audio recording of a telephone call with Qatar's former Prime Minister.
The incomplete clip was made in 2011, as part of mediation between Manama and the opposition, overseen and encouraged by the US, to deal with the political upheaval, i.e. it dates back to several years ago.
The edited clip was thus smeared by the Bahraini government to prolong the imprisonment of Sheikh Salman, merely because he long called for democratic reforms including a constitutional monarchy and elected prime minister.
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt accused Qatar of "supporting terrorist groups and of being too close to Iran," allegations Doha has vigorously denied.
Bahrain's pro-democracy uprising had erupted in February 2011 but was violently suppressed by Saudi troops.
Ever since the tiny archipelago has been wracked by unrest as the government has stepped up its prosecution campaign against all forms of peaceful opposition demanding reforms, freedom of expression, release of political prisoners and to put an end to the politically-motivated discrimination against the Shiite majority population.
The government has curbed the rights to freedom of association and assembly, outlawed opposition groups, detained thousands of dissents, provoked the citizenship of hundreds and unfairly prosecuted citizens in military courts, accompanied with a wide range of physical, sexual and psychological torture and ill-treatment.
Bahrain hosts the US Navy's 5th fleet and a UK permanent base. Those two powerful allies; however, have blatantly failed to speak out about the deteriorating human rights status-quo, ongoing crackdown on prisoners of conscience and the politically motivated conviction and unlawful imprisonment of Sheikh Ali Salman and the rest of opposition leaders.
December 29, 2019 Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Subjugation - Torture	| Bahrain, Human rights | Leave a comment
Jordan seeks to restore diplomatic relations with Syria: Minister
Press TV – December 6, 2019
Jordan plans to restore full diplomatic relations with neighboring Syria in a further sign of Arab states embracing President Bashar al-Assad after a UAE diplomat praised him for "wise leadership" this week.
Jordanian Minister of State and Agriculture Samir Habashneh said Thursday he will travel to Syria later this month as part of a nearly 30-strong delegation, Arabic- language Ammon news website reported.
Former Prime Minister Taher al-Masri will head the delegation to restore Amman-Damascus bilateral relations to the level prior to the outbreak of foreign-sponsored Syrian conflict, it said.
Habashneh said Jordan and Syria actually have common areas of interest, stressing that the visit should have taken place much earlier in order to enhance communication between the two countries.
Commenting on a possible meeting with President Assad, he stated that the matter is in the hands of the Syrian side, and that the Jordanian delegates would like to sit for talks with the 54-year-old Syrian leader, senior officials and representatives of the Syrian people.
Jordan's official Petra news agency, citing Foreign Ministry spokesman Sufian Qudah, reported earlier this year that the Amman government had appointed a new chargé d'affaires to its embassy in Damascus.
"It was decided to appoint a Jordanian diplomat at the rank of charge d'affaires in the Jordanian embassy in Damascus," the Jordanian official said.
He underlined that the "decision has been made in line with Jordan's stance since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011 to keep the Jordanian embassy in Damascus open."
Jordanian lawmakers first asked for the improvement of Jordan-Syria ties to the level before the start of the Syrian crisis last year, stressing that the relations are beneficial to both nations, Arabic-language Rai al-Youm newspaper reported last December.
Around the same time, Bahrain announced that work at the kingdom's embassy "in the Syrian Arab Republic is going on whilst the Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic to the Kingdom of Bahrain is carrying out its duties and flights connecting the two countries are operational without interruption."
It came a day after the United Arab Emirates officially reopened its embassy in Damascus.
Earlier this week, the UAE's top diplomat in Syria praised President Assad for his "wise leadership", in one of the strongest expressions of support yet from a country that once backed Damascus' enemies in the war.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark UAE national day on Dec. 2, UAE charge d'affaires Abdul-Hakim Naimi said he hoped "security and stability prevails throughout the Syrian Arab Republic under the wise leadership of President Bashar Al-Assad."
"Syria-UAE relations are solid, distinct and strong," he added, according to a video posted by Russian broadcaster RT.
Arab countries' restoration of diplomatic ties with Damascus takes place at a time when the Syrian army troops are finalizing their victory against foreign-backed terror groups and restoring peace and stability to the war-torn country.
Earlier this year, Reuters news agency cited sources as saying that Washington had lobbied Persian Gulf states including the UAE to hold off restoring ties with Syria.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the country.
December 6, 2019 Posted by aletho | Aletho News	| Bahrain, Jordan, Middle East, Syria, UAE | 1 Comment
Tehran slams Bahrain for hosting 'provocative' conference on Gulf maritime security
RT | August 8, 2019
Tehran has hit out at Bahrain for hosting a "provocative" conference on Gulf maritime security and for its rhetoric accusing Iran of attacking tankers. Manama said the July 31 meeting was held to discuss the "current regional situation," Lebanon's Daily Star reported.
It was not announced who'd attended the event in Bahrain, but the Guardian reported the UK had called for the meeting with other European countries and Washington. The tiny Gulf monarchy hosts the US Fifth Fleet.
"Bahrain's government should not become the facilitator of common enemies' wishes and schemes in the region," Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Abbas Mousavi said on Thursday, in a statement published on his Telegram channel.
"The security of regional countries is inseparable and it is not possible for some to be secure at the cost of others' insecurity." he said. "It is expected that regional countries prevent foreigners' escalatory interventions by exercising prudence and foresight."
August 8, 2019 Posted by aletho | Militarism	| Bahrain, Iran, Middle East, UK, United States | Leave a comment
Record Atlantic Hurricane Season? January 15, 2021


Satellite imagery is increasingly being used to provide estimates of bathymetry in near-coastal (shallow) areas of the planet, as a more cost-effective alternative to traditional methods. In this paper, the relative accuracy of radiative-transfer and photogrammetric stereo methods applied to World View 2 imagery are examined, using LiDAR bathymetry and towed video as ground truth, and it is demonstrated, with a case study, that these methods are complementary; where one method might have limited accuracy, the other method often has improved accuracy. The depths of uniform, highly-reflective (sand) sea bed are better estimated with a radiative transfer-based method, while areas where there is high visual contrast in the scene, as identified by using a local standard deviation measure, are better estimated using the photogrammetric technique. In this paper, it is shown that a hybrid method can give a potential improvement in accuracy of more than 50% (from 2.84 m to 1.38 m RMSE in the ideal case) compared to either of the two methods alone. Metrics are developed that can be used to characterize regions of the scene where each technique is superior, realizing an improved overall depth accuracy over either method alone of between 16.9% and 19.7% (demonstrating a realised RMSE of 2.36 m).


1. Green Prairie School were an alternative band from Eugene, Oregon active in the the early 90s.
Vinyl45LP Review: Prairie School deliver two songs of solid early 90s alternative rock. Their sound combines elements that would later be coined Shoegazer or Emo but in the era this band existed, alternative bands were more open to experimentation and didn't pigeonhole themselves. If comparison can be drawn, Prairie School reminds me of early Dinosaur Jr. crossed with Primal Scream. Fuzzy guitars, shifting tempos, not as technical as math rock bands but definitely not three chord punk.


Some helpful videos and literature for your rotor and spray questions.
What can I do about a sprayhead that is getting blocked by a bush?
How do I know what nozzle to put in a rotor?
Can I add a spray head to a drip zone?
How do I adjust a rotary nozzle?
What are the different ways to attach a sprinkler head to a lateral line (PVC/Poly)?


We live in a world where shopping groceries, clothing and accessories to booking flight tickets, paying bills to booking hotels; anything and everything is just a click away. Online products and services have taken over almost every field. Since it is easily accessible and easy to use, the popularity is on a rise. But what is more fascinating about services being provided on internet platforms is the offers and discounts. You can avail a number of deals and discounts on various top brands. If you are in search of such offers, PlusVoucherCode is where you should look for.
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Looking to broaden your performance/building skills? Creventive offers a selection of classes for a wide variety of age groups, ranging from beginners to professionals.
Different classes offered from beginner to advanced for children and adults alike.
Please contact us for availability/scheduling. Classes are available in person & by request ONLY, requiring our instructor(s) to travel to other facilities.
Description: This class begins with the basics of hand puppet building.
Participants will learn how to build a finished professional hand puppet - ready for camera. Students will learn how to trace, cut, sew glue and more.
Description: Participants will learn the basics of hand puppet manipulation including lip sync and eye focus. Each participant will be given a simple hand/rod puppet to use throughout the class and explore ways to bring a character to life. Participants will break into groups to practice actions, and lip-sync by singing group songs.
Description: Participants will learn the basics of puppeteering for television. With the use of hand puppets they will be taught the basics of manipulation in front of a camera, lip-syncing, eye focus, character, and movement using improvisation and song. Participants will be broken into groups to present an original sketch on camera using skills they learned in class.
Description: DIY craft for kids. Paper finger puppet workshop. Kids will learn how to color, cut, glue, and manipulate simple paper finger puppets. Inspired by our "Three Billy Goats Gruff" show.
Description: DIY craft for kids. Paper rod puppet workshop. Kids will learn how to color, cut, glue, punch holes, attach a rod and manipulate a simple paper rod puppet. Inspired by our "Three Billy Goats Gruff" show.
Description: Participants will learn valuable skills needed to build their very own puppets. They will design and build a full "muppet-style" puppet and will receive instruction on gluing, adding features, building a mouth plate and the basics of manipulation.
Description: This workshop teaches the basics of glove puppetry including manipulation and eye focus using a variety of fun prompts and techniques.
Description: Participants will design and construct a simple glove puppet and have the opportunity to explore manipulation through movement and character.
Description: In this workshop, participants will learn how to build a simple table top puppet using newspaper, tape and string and learn the basics of table top manipulation through dance, puppet "yoga" and performing short scenes.
Description: In this workshop, participants will learn the basics of table top manipulation through dance, puppet "yoga" and performing short scenes.
Description: This master class/lecture explores and covers all styles of puppetry including: Hand, Glove, Tabletop, Shadow, Mask, and Costume puppetry. Participants will learn the importance and how each style of puppetry is used then be able to get hands-on practice by choosing a style of puppet, and exploring it's movement.
Description: In this workshop participants will cut out and construct their own shadow puppet from a printed pattern using plastic snaps and rods attached to moving parts.
Creventive Puppet Company is a Chicago based theatre company that creates and performs original, family friendly shows throughout the area. In addition to imaginative storytelling and top-notch entertainment, Creventive Puppet Company also specializes in puppet construction. Offering educational building, manipulation and performance workshops for children, novices and professional puppeteers alike.
Creventive sends periodic emails to keep you posted about upcoming events, opportunities, and special offers.
Join our mailing list and you won't miss a thing!
Copyright © 2018 Creventive. All rights reserved.


Before I started working for STC, I had no idea that a vast network of writers and communicators existed behind virtually every product in existence, from computer programs to military airplanes. In a world of increasingly complex and interconnected technologies, technical communicators are essential to making sense of it all. But the same people that make that new phone, operating system, or IKEA chair easy to use need networking, education, and a knowledge base to make their jobs easier. That's where STC comes in. As a Communications Manager serving a society of professional communicators, I know that I must always communicate STC's value clearly. In this way, our members encourage me to be better. After several years in the for-profit sector, I am excited to be working in the nonprofit sphere. Although not a technical communicator by training, I have an extensive writing background, and I come from a family of writers and editors. Before joining STC, I earned a master's degree in American Literature from Georgetown University. In my free time, I enjoy listening to music, playing jazz saxophone, watching hockey, creative writing, and voraciously reading books and graphic novels.


text:
These floating tents are a Great Lakes area adventure, but what about bathrooms?
Updated: Jul. 07, 2021, 11:33 a.m. | Published: Jul. 07, 2021, 11:33 a.m.
Floating tents in the Great Miami River, part of Float Troy in Troy, Ohio.
By Susan Glaser, cleveland.com
TROY, Ohio – I pulled my paddle through the water and headed toward the bright orange object floating up ahead.
I've hiked to hotels, biked to inns, but this was the first time I've traveled by raft to my overnight accommodation.
My destination for the evening: one of 10 floating tents, anchored along a quiet stretch of the Great Miami River in Troy, about 20 miles north of Dayton.
Honestly, I was a bit apprehensive about this adventure, given that I'm not much of a camper: How well would I sleep on the water? Were these tents comfortable?
And, perhaps most importantly, what if I had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night?
I needn't have worried. The tent was surprisingly cushy, I slept unexpectedly well and -- spoiler alert -- I didn't need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. But I would have been OK if I did.
Floating tents on the Great Miami, with downtown Troy in the distance.
The view from inside Tent 6.
A unique stay in Southwest Ohio
Matt Clifton, who coordinates the Float Troy program for the city, said Troy is the only place in the world where travelers can spend the night in a floating tent.
The inflatable tents are made by a local company, SmithFly, which also makes rafts and other fishing equipment.
Purchased by the city several years ago with grant money from a local foundation, the tents were used first by students in a University of Dayton environmental program. They're part of a broader effort to improve access to the Great Miami River, which runs 160 miles through Southwest Ohio before joining with the Ohio River near Cincinnati.
"Florida has beaches, some states have mountains. We have rivers," said Stan Kegley, project manager with the city of Troy.
The public tourism initiative launched last year, but on a small scale because of the coronavirus pandemic. This year, the floating tents are proving to be a major draw, attracting media attention and visitors from throughout the region and beyond.
"We thought it would really be a big hit," said Kegley. "As far as we know we're the only ones in the world doing it."
Joining me on the river during my one-night stay last month: a pair of sisters, ages 20 and 17, from Alliance; two 70-something friends from Columbus and Springfield; and a family from nearby Sidney.
The tents are spread over a wide stretch of river, perhaps 200 feet across. They're tethered to the ground, as well as to each other, spaced about 25 feet apart.
Located about a mile north of downtown, the tent village is part of the city's Treasure Island Park, which also has a small amphitheater, multi-purpose trails and boat launch area.
It's not a particularly remote location. I could hear the low hum of traffic from nearby Interstate 75, and a siren disturbed the peace as I was getting ready for bed.
I could also hear crickets and frogs and the wind rustling outside.
There are picnic tables and grills in the park, if you want to bring your own food, although my husband and I traveled into town for our meals. There's a highly regarded restaurant, Smith's Boathouse, located inside the park's historic boathouse. Unfortunately, it was closed on the day of our visit, a recent Sunday.
The park also has a small bathhouse, with two toilets and two sinks, open all night. There is no shower, though Clifton said he is hoping to add one next year.
The 75-mile Great Miami River Trail multi-use path runs alongside the park, a popular destination for cyclists.
The primary mode of transportation on this trip, however, wasn't intended to be two wheels, but two paddles, as well as a 10-foot-long rubber raft.
Matt Clifton, with the city of Troy, offers instructions on docking a raft.
The tents technically accommodate four campers, although it would be tight.
Steven Brunot, the author's husband, paddles on the Great Miami River.
Relaxing on the river in Troy.
The view from Tent 6.
First, some instructions
Clifton went over a few instructions when we arrived, showing us how to connect our raft to our tent using carabiner clips. Once attached, it was relatively easy to maneuver from raft to tent.
"If you fall in, just stand up," he said. "The river is only about 3 feet deep."
Clifton was initially concerned about the wind during our visit, with gusts predicted as high as to 35 mph. He recommended against using one of three floating fire pits.
"The worst thing that might happen is that the wind will blow you closer together," he said. "The tents might bump into one another."
The wind died down by nightfall, however, and our tents stayed where they were supposed to.
We checked in just after 5 p.m., then moved some of our stuff to the tent, about a 5-minute paddle from shore.
These rafts – also made by SmithFly – were simple to maneuver, and easily held a couple of sleeping bags, pillows, a small overnight bag, lantern and a complimentary drybag provided by Float Troy.
After dropping off our gear, we set out to explore the river, first heading south toward downtown. Clifton cautioned us about a low-head dam about a mile and half away. "You will not just stumble upon it," he said. "You will see it."
But we only got perhaps half that far, paddling against the wind the whole time.
The day was hot and humid, so I asked Clifton if the river water was clean enough to swim in. He assured me that it was, although the breeze kept me just cool enough and I didn't get wet above my legs.
After dinner downtown, my husband and I headed back to camp, used the restroom, then paddled back to Tent 6, with lights from the park guiding the way.
SmithFly describes its shoal tent as a raft with a tent topper. The base doubles as an extra-firm air mattress and was surprisingly comfortable. It felt like a 1970s-era waterbed every time I rolled over, gently bobbing on the water.
I didn't have any trouble falling asleep, though the horns from numerous passing trains in town woke me up way too early.
So I rose with the sun, paddled to shore and used the restroom.
I asked Clifton how many campers just went to the bathroom in the river. He told me he was not in the habit of asking overnight guests that question.
Yet the bathroom issue was clearly top of mind for many of the people I talked to.
Both before and after my stay, I had numerous people – women, mostly – ask me about using the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Fellow campers Reatha Collinsworth and Cindy Gibbons told me they had a friend who declined an invitation to join them on the water because of concerns she would need to paddle to shore in the middle of the night.
Indeed, Collinsworth said she stopped drinking water early in the evening to avert the problem. As for why the two signed up for the adventure, Gibbons said, "It was something different. We like doing different things."
I, too, tried not to drink too much in advance, which was a bit of a challenge given the heat of the day and because I had dinner at a brewery.
Even so, it all turned out OK.
After using the park restroom shortly after sunrise, my husband and I headed out on our raft again, this time traveling north, where we had a serene stretch of the river all to ourselves.
As the mid-morning sun rose overhead, we turned around and made our back to our tent before the 10 a.m. checkout time. We packed up our gear and paddled slowly back to shore.
The Great Miami River in Troy.
If you go: Float Troy
Where: Troy is the county seat of Miami County, about 225 miles southwest from Cleveland, just north of where interstates 70 and 75 intersect.
Cost: A one-night stay is $85 and includes use of a kayak or raft. The 8-foot-by-8-foot tents sleep up to four, although two or three occupants would be more comfortable.
Availability: The tents rent from late June through early September, with limited dates open this summer. Information: float-troy.com
Also in Troy: Troy, population about 25,000, has one of the loveliest small downtowns I've seen in Ohio, with numerous restaurants, shops and a gorgeous county courthouse. Troy Main Street puts on a biannual public art project, Sculptures on the Square, which this year features 22 sculptures reflecting the theme "Taking Flight." The show runs through October 4. Information: troymainstreet.org
Where we ate: We enjoyed local beer and upscale bar food at Moeller Brew Barn, located in a former church at 214 W. Main St. For a late breakfast/lunch, we hit K's Hamburger Shop, 117 E. Main St., a Troy mainstay since 1935. A hamburger here is $3; a milkshake, $3.05.
More information: homegrowngreat.com
Downtown Troy, about 20 miles north of Dayton.