用法学习: 1. away with the pixies = off with the fairies 怪怪的, 古怪的, 疯疯癫癫的 (idiomatic) Not all there; slightly crazy. to behave in a way that is slightly strange. to behave in a strange way that seems to be out of touch with reality She acts in a style that makes her seem slightly away with the fairies. It's no good asking her to take care of the children - she's away with the fairies most of the time. Much of the time, he is away with the fairies, lying in his room daydreaming. The way he's behaving shows he's not stupid, he's just away with the fairies. I think it's fair to say that she was away with the fairies at that time. Whoever we appoint as the new manager needs to be a practical person, not away with the fairies. Etymology: Based around the common belief in Celtic and British Isles folklore that fairies were prone to either kidnapping people or robbing them of their wits. dithery [ˈdɪð.ər.i] 犹豫不决的, 犹犹豫豫的, 当决不决的 UK disapproving taking a long time to make a decision about doing something: He seems rather dithery but in fact he works very calmly and efficiently. Stress makes some people dithery and indecisive; others get loud and aggressive. feeling or showing uncomfortable feelings of uncertainty an expectant father in a high state of dithery alarm. dither [ˈdɪðə]
I. 磨叽. 犹豫不决. be indecisive. When someone dithers, they hesitate because
they are unable to make a quick decision about something. to be unable
to make a decision about something She was dithering about what to wear. We're still dithering over whether to marry. If you have been dithering about buying shares, now could be the time to do it. "I can't bear people who dither 磨叽". II. add white noise to (a digital recording) to reduce distortion of low-amplitude signals. noun. I. a state of agitation. II. informal indecisive behaviour. "after months of dither ministers had still not agreed". be (all) in a dither 激动不已, 紧张万分 to be nervous or excited and unable to concentrate on anything or decide what to do. "all of a dither, he prophesied instant chaos". doddery = doddering mainly UK informal weak and unable to walk in a normal way, usually because you are old: a doddery old man. 2. Novelty Cheques 大信封, 捐款支票, 捐款信封 are a light-weight, weatherproof and highly effective method for showing off large donations and cash prizes. Our corflute novelty cheques can be printed a range of sizes and are easily transportable making them perfect for events. Tudge was not accused of any wrongdoing, and had told the trial that his office had organised a media event where a novelty cheque was handed over at the hospital in June 2020. 3. shiv [ʃɪv] = chiv [tʃɪv] 自制刀具 a knife or other sharp or pointed object used as a weapon, often one that is homemade: Most often, shivs are used to conduct the business of gangs. They still might stick a shiv in your abdomen. shank 柄 a long, thin, straight part of particular objects, especially one that connects the end of a device or tool that you hold to the end of it that moves or does something: the shank of a screwdriver. the shank of a key/nail. wiki: A shiv, also chiv, schiv, shivvie, or shank, is a handcrafted bladed-weapon resembling a knife that is commonly associated with prison inmates. Since weapons are highly prohibited in the prison environment, the intended mode of concealment is central to a shiv's construction. An especially thin handle, for instance, makes it easier to conceal in available cracks or crevices in the prison's construction, or in stacks of objects, such as books, permitted to the prisoners; however, this can also render the shiv difficult to grip and wield 挥舞. Routine body searches in prison make it difficult to conceal a shiv on one's person on a continuous basis. Beyond the prison authorities, it is also desirable to conceal possession of a shiv from members of rival prison populations. 4. bloody cheek 舔着脸, 厚脸皮, 不要脸 (have the cheek to do something): It' s when you ask or expect someone to do something when you have done nothing or something bad for/to them. "To have cheek" or "to be cheeky" means that person is rude and insolent. A cheeky person asks for special treatment, but has done nothing to earn it. Imagine a layabout (layabout [leɪəbaʊt] = bum, loafer 懒汉 [mainly British, disapproval] If you say that someone is a layabout, you disapprove of them because they do not work and you think they are lazy. The plaintiff's sole witness, a gambler and layabout, was easily discredited. ) who has stayed at his friend's place for three weeks, eating his friend's food and drinking his beer. The layabout doesn't clean, help or pay for anything. Then he asks his friend for money. The friend loses it: "You have a bloody cheek, asking me for money!!" They've got a bloody cheek down-sizing me after all the work I've performed on this project. cheeky (informal) Impudent; impertinent; impertinently bold, often in a way that is regarded as endearing or amusing. If you describe a person or their behaviour as cheeky, you think that they are slightly rude or disrespectful but in a charming or amusing way. The boy was cheeky and casual. Martin gave her a cheeky grin. She's got such a cheeky grin. Don't be so cheeky! 5. play away I. (intransitive, slang) To be sexually unfaithful out of one's home. engage in sexual activity with someone other than one's spouse or partner. II. play a sports fixture on an opponent's ground. "playing away is always a bit more difficult". when the cat's away, the mice will play 嚣张, 山中无老虎, 猴子称大王 said to mean that people do what they want, or misbehave when their boss or another person in authority is away. said when the person who is in charge of a place is not there, and the people there behave badly While the bosses are out of the room, the workers watch the game – a case of while the cat's away the mice will play. 6. "I'm your huckleberry" is a memorable line from Tombstone, but its meaning is often misunderstood. The line, spoken by Doc Holliday, means "I'm the one you want" or "I'm the man for the job. I'm the one you are looking for." Some viewers mistakenly heard "huckle bearer" instead of "huckleberry," leading to a misinterpretation of the phrase. In the 1800s, when Tombstone is set, "I'm your huckleberry" was a common saying, which is what Doc wants to convey to Johnny when he tells him the line twice in the movie. He was up to the task of dueling with Johnny. This is one of the few lines of dialogue in Tombstone that were taken directly from the horse's mouth ( (straight) from the horse's mouth If you hear something (straight) from the horse's mouth, you hear it from the person who has direct personal knowledge of it. ). Holliday is on record as having used this phrase, so including it in the screenplay reflected his own speech patterns. Someone is walking over one's grave 不寒而栗, 吓破了胆, 小脸吓得刷白 A response to a sudden unexplained shudder or shivering. It comes from an old folk belief that a sudden cold sensation is caused by someone walking over the place that one's grave was eventually going to be. This belief is thought to have originated in the Middle Ages, when the distinction between life and death was less clear than it is today. People then believed in communication between the afterlife and the physical world, and believed that a person's final resting place was predetermined. Why, Johnny Ringo, you look like somebody just walked over your grave (From tomestone). 7. corral [kəˈrɑːl] verb I. 圈起来. gather together and confine (a group of people or things). To corral a person or animal means to capture or confine them. to bring a group of people together and keep them in one place, especially in order to control them: Police corralled most of the demonstrators in a small area near the station. Within hours, police corralled the three men Lewis had named. "the organizers were corralling the crowd into marching formation". II. NORTH AMERICAN put or keep (livestock) in a corral. "sheep and goats grazed the plains during the day but they were corralled at night". noun. NORTH AMERICAN 牛圈. 马圈. a pen for livestock, especially cattle or horses, on a farm or ranch. "he was galloping a pony very fast round a tiny corral". The gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a gunfight that lasted less than a minute between lawmen led by Virgil Earp and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cowboys that occurred at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona, United States. It is generally regarded as the most famous gunfight in the history of the American Old West. The gunfight was the result of a long-simmering feud. The O.K. Corral (Old Kindersley) was a livery and horse corral from 1879 to about 1888 in the mining boomtown of Tombstone, Arizona Territory, in the southwestern United States near the border with Mexico. 8. enoki [ɪˈnəʊ.ki] 金针菇 (plural enoki or enokis (also enoki mushroom); (also enokitake, uk/ɪˈnəʊ.kiˌtɑː.ki/ us/ɪˌnoʊ.kiˈtɑː.ki/ plural enokitake, enokidake plural enokidake uk/ɪˈnəʊ.kiˌdɑː.ki/ us/ɪˌnoʊ.kiˈdɑː.ki/)) noun an edible mushroom (Flammulina velutipes) with a long, slender stem, a small, yellowish cap, and yellowish gills. a small Japanese mushroom (= a type of organism that gets its food from decaying material) that is eaten as food, with a long, thin stem and a small white or pale brown top: Enoki are often used in salads and sandwiches. We had enoki mushrooms wrapped in thin slices of beef. Enokitake are long, thin white mushrooms available fresh or canned. 9. be ground down (= grind someone down) 拖垮, 累垮, 疲惫不堪 exhausted or worn down. to treat someone so badly for such a long time that they are no longer able to fight back: Ground down by years of abuse, she did not have the confidence to leave him. "why would a competent and effective woman get so ground down?". 10. Mid - (slang) of disparagingly poor quality, "trashy" or indicative of poor taste. used to describe something or someone as below average or low quality. It can be used as an insult or to oppose the opinion of another. In other words, "mid" can be used as a replacement for "boring," "not good," "mediocre," "low quality," among others. The slang more so describes something that is just OK or mid-tier and is not used for things that are truly bad or awful. "used to insult or degrade an opposing opinion, labeling it as average or poor quality."While the word can be used in less severe ways, like calling an album or movie overrated, context is key — as using it to label one's looks, or an entire region of the United States, is typically deemed a tad offensive. "Have you watched the new season of 'YOU' on Netflix?" "I did, but it was mid." "This sushi is pretty mid. I should've gotten the ramen." "That band's latest release was mid. Their old album was so much better." "Mid AF = mid as fuck" - Extremely bad quality, far beneath the atmosphere of the conversation. mid-calf the middle of the calf; half way between the knee and ankle. 11. Biden was visiting the ice-creamery with TV host Seth Meyers, whose talk show he'd just appeared on. When a reporter asked about a ceasefire proposal the pair had discussed on the program, it resulted in an awkward visual 诡异的画面. But the public reaction to the ice cream imagery ( imagery I. You can refer to the descriptions in something such as a poem or song, and the pictures they create in your mind, as its imagery. ...the nature imagery of the ballad. The imagery in the poem mostly relates to death. II. You can refer to pictures and representations of things as imagery, especially when they act as symbols. pictures or words that are used to represent something, for example a situation: Satellite imagery and computer models are being used to track weather patterns and predict storms. The film contains a lot of religious imagery. This is an ambitious and intriguing movie, full of striking imagery.) went far beyond cringe. Considered in the context of the worsening food shortage in Gaza, and juxtaposed against pictures of desperate children begging for aid, the image intensified anger towards a president who remains supportive of Israel even while bemoaning its "over the top" military campaign. As Biden may have reflected after his moment with an ice cream went viral, images can carry extraordinary power. Another American president proved as much back in 1982, when he responded to a very different wartime picture. Ronald Reagan was devastated after seeing a photo of a baby, who was reportedly burned and maimed by an Israeli bomb dropped in Lebanon. 11. mother hen 老母鸡 a person who sees to the needs of others, especially in a fussy or interfering way. if you describe someone as a mother hen, you think they are bossy and interfering Normally, Mrs Foley guarded her from others like a mother hen.
I phoned the pastor for her and he turned up before I came away. He's a good guy but a bit of a mother hen. "Josephine got to be a real mother hen, giving everybody a bit of what they needed". 12. effigy [ˈefɪdʒi] I. a model or other object that represents someone, especially one of a hated person that is hanged or burned in a public place. An effigy is a quickly and roughly made figure, often ugly or amusing, that represents someone you hate or feel contempt for. Crowds marched through the streets carrying burning effigies of the president. II. An effigy is a statue or carving of a famous person. An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain traditions around New Year, Carnival and Easter. In European cultures, effigies were in the past also used for punishment in formal justice, when the perpetrator could not be apprehended, and in popular justice practices of social shaming and exclusion. Additionally, "effigy" is used for certain traditional forms of sculpture, namely tomb effigies, funeral effigies and coin effigies. 13. tiptop [informal, old-fashioned] excellent; perfect. You can use tip-top to indicate that something is extremely good. Her hair was thick, glossy and in tip-top condition. He swam a mile every day and kept himself in tiptop shape. 14. What is a rashie shirt? A rash guard, also known as rash vest or rashie, is an athletic shirt made of spandex and nylon or polyester. The name rash guard reflects the fact that the shirt protects the wearer against rashes caused by abrasion, or by sunburn from extended exposure to the sun, as sun protective clothing. 14. flow verb. I. If a liquid, gas, or electrical current flows somewhere, it moves there steadily and continuously. A stream flowed gently down into the valley. The current flows into electric motors that drive the wheels. ...compressor stations that keep the gas flowing. It works only in the veins, where the blood flow is slower. II. If a number of people or things flow from one place to another, they move there steadily in large groups, usually without stopping. Large numbers of refugees continue to flow from the troubled region into the no-man's land. Troops would patrol major roads to ensure that traffic flows freely throughout the country. She watched the frantic flow 通行 of cars and buses along the street. It would monitor traffic flows and provide feedback to motorists. III. If information or money flows somewhere, it moves freely between people or organizations. A lot of this information flowed through other police departments. An interest rate reduction is needed to get more money flowing and create jobs. ...the opportunity to control the flow of information. IV. If an emotion flows through someone, they feel it very intensely, often so that other people notice it. In that moment a surge of hatred flowed through my blood. Waves of emotion flowed across his huge face. V. If a quality or situation flows from something, it comes from it or results naturally from it. Undesirable consequences flow from these misconceptions. VI. If someone's words flow, they are spoken smoothly and continuously. His words flowed more readily. VII. If someone's hair or clothing flows about them, it hangs freely and loosely. ...a long white dress which flowed over her body. ...long black flowing 飘飘的 hair. VIII. If you say that something flows or that a place flows with it, you are indicating that there is a great deal of that thing in the place. The wine flowed and we danced the night away. The square was packed, and the cobbled streets flowed with coloured petals. cash flow = cashflow The cash flow of a firm or business is the movement of money into and out of it. Some construction firms fell into administration after suffering cashflow problems. in full flow Someone who is in full flow is talking easily and continuously and seems likely to go on talking for some time. He had been replying for some 40 minutes already and was still in full flow. go with the flow 随大流, 随波逐流 If you go with the flow, you let things happen or let other people tell you what to do, rather than trying to control what happens yourself. to do what other people are doing or to agree with other people because it is the easiest thing to do: Just relax and go with the flow! There's nothing I can do about the problem, so I might as well go with the flow. 15. grin and bear it 忍了, 忍受了, 笑纳, 无奈接受 to accept something bad without complaining. to accept an unpleasant or difficult situation because there is nothing you can do to improve it. If you grin and bear it, you accept a difficult or unpleasant situation without complaining because you know there is nothing you can do to make things better. They cannot stand the sight of each other, but they will just have to grin and bear it. The noise and disruption is irritating, but I'll just have to grin and bear it. I really don't want to go, but I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it.
pungent VS piquant VS tangy (酸, 酸度比sour轻, 而且是好的酸. sour 是不好的酸) VS tart (多用于形容水果的酸): Sour is an acidic taste that covers a broad range. Sour milk has an acidic taste and smell. It makes you want to throw up. A lemon is just sour. Vinegar is sour. If you take the sour lemon, add water and sugar to make lemonade you have a tart taste. An apple pie is tart. Rhubarb [ruːbɑːtb ] 大黄 is sour straight out of the garden but add sugar and it's merely tart. The banana pepper (also known as the yellow wax pepper or banana chili) is a medium-sized member of the chili pepper family that has a mild, tangy taste. While typically bright yellow, it is possible for them to change to green, red, or orange as they ripen. It is often pickled, stuffed or used as a raw ingredient in foods. The jalapeño (UK: [ˌhæləˈpɛnjoʊ], US: [ˌhɑːləˈpeɪnjoʊ] ) is a medium-sized chili pepper pod type cultivar of the species Capsicum annuum. A mature jalapeño chili is 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long and 25–38 mm (1–1+1⁄2 in) wide, and hangs down from the plant. The pungency 辣度 of jalapeño peppers varies, but is usually between 4,000 and 8,500 units on the Scoville scale. Commonly picked and consumed while still green, it is occasionally allowed to fully ripen and turn red, orange, or yellow. It is wider and generally milder than the similar Serrano pepper. Pungency ([ˈpʌndʒənsi])(pungent ['pʌndʒənt] 辣味 I. Something that is pungent has a strong, sharp smell or taste which is often so strong that it is unpleasant. The more herbs you use, the more pungent the sauce will be. ...the pungent smell of burning rubber. ...the spices that give Jamaican food its pungency. Hydrochloric acid 盐酸, 氢氯酸, also known as muriatic acid, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride. It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungent 刺鼻的气味 smell. It is classified as a strong acid 强酸. It is a component of the gastric acid in the digestive systems of most animal species, including humans. Hydrochloric acid is an important laboratory reagent and industrial chemical. II. [formal, approval] pungent comments or remarks 扎心的, 鞭辟入里的, 一针见血的批评话 criticize something in a direct and effective way. If you describe what someone has said or written as pungent, you approve of it because it has a direct and powerful effect and often criticizes something very cleverly. He enjoyed the play's shrewd and pungent social analysis.) refers to the taste of food commonly referred to as spiciness, hotness or heat, found in foods such as chili peppers. Highly pungent tastes may be experienced as unpleasant. The term piquancy ([ˈpiːkənsi]) is sometimes applied to foods with a lower degree of pungency that are "agreeably stimulating to the palate". Examples of piquant food include mustard and curry. The primary substances responsible for pungent taste are capsaicin, piperine (in peppers) and allyl isothiocyanate (in radish, mustard and wasabi). pungent ['pʌndʒənt] I. Something that is pungent has a strong, sharp smell or taste which is often so strong that it is unpleasant. The more herbs you use, the more pungent the sauce will be. ...the pungent smell of burning rubber. ...the spices that give Jamaican food its pungency. II. [formal, approval] pungent comments or remarks 火辣的评论, 辛辣的批评, 尖刻的批评 criticize something in a direct and effective way. If you describe what someone has said or written as pungent, you approve of it because it has a direct and powerful effect and often criticizes something very cleverly. He enjoyed the play's shrewd and pungent social analysis. repugnant [rɪˈpʌɡnənt] 恶心的 adj. extremely unpleasant or offensive. If you think that something is horrible and disgusting, you can say that it is repugnant. The odour is repugnant to insects. The Committee said his actions were improper and repugnant. She felt a deep sense of shame and repugnance. In the interview he said he voted Remain in the 2016 referendum, supported Corbyn as Prime Minister and called Trump "repugnant" and "repulsive". 关于"辣味"的用词: pungency 科学上指的是辣(单纯的辣, 口语里也指任何强烈的刺鼻的味道), hot 和 spicy 有别的含义所以引发歧义, spicy也指放了很多佐料(cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, mace, and cloves)的. piquancy是指温和的辣, 微辣, 可口的辣. In colloquial speech, the term "pungency" can refer to any strong, sharp smell or flavor. However, in scientific speech, it refers specifically to the "hot" or "spicy" quality of chili peppers. It is the preferred term by scientists as it eliminates the potential ambiguity arising from use of "hot" and "spicy", which can also refer to temperature or the presence of spices, respectively. For instance, a pumpkin pie can be both hot (out of the oven) and spicy (due to the common inclusion of spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, mace, and cloves), but it is not pungent. (A food critic may nevertheless use the word piquant to describe such a pie, especially if it is exceptionally well-seasoned.) Conversely, pure capsaicin is pungent, yet it is not naturally accompanied by a hot temperature or spices. As the Oxford, Collins, and Merriam-Webster dictionaries explain, "piquancy" can refer to mild pungency, that is, flavors and spices that are much less strong than chilli peppers, including, for example, the strong flavor of some tomatoes. In other words, pungency always refers to a very strong taste whereas piquancy refers to any spices and foods that are "agreeably stimulating to the palate", in other words to food that is spicy in the general sense of "well-spiced". Mildly pungent or sour foods may be referred to as tangy 微酸微辣的食物. tangy [ˈtaŋi] having a strong, piquant flavour or smell. A tangy flavour is pleasantly strong and sharp. A tangy flavour or smell is one that is sharp, especially a flavour like that of lemon juice or a smell like that of sea air: a deliciously tangy lemon tart. "a tangy salad". Tangy foods, like vinegar and lemon juice, have a sharp, acidic flavor. Your salad will taste better if you pour plenty of tangy salad dressing on it. If you like tangy flavors, you'll probably enjoy lemonade that's not too sweet, as well as foods like blue cheese, lime-flavored Thai dishes, and plain yogurt. The adjective tangy comes from tang, "strong flavor or smell." The earliest definition of tang was "a serpent's stinging tongue," from a root meaning "to bite." piquant [ˈpikənt] 微辣的, 辣的可口的 I. food or drink that is piquant has a strong and pleasant flavor. a piquant sauce. Food that is piquant has a pleasantly spicy taste. ...a crisp mixed salad with an unusually piquant dressing. A little mustard is served on the side to add further piquancy. II. a quality or situation that is piquant is very exciting and interesting. Something that is piquant is interesting and exciting. especially because of being mysterious: More piquant details of their private life were revealed. There may well have been a piquant novelty about her books when they came out. Piquancy was added to the situation because Dr Porter was then on the point of marrying Hugh Miller. piquant wit. There may well have been a piquant novelty about her books when they came out. vocabulary: Feeling a little saucy? Perhaps a bit provocative — but in a good way? Then it's safe to say your personality is a little piquant. Coming to us from the French word piquer, which means "to prick," something that's piquant certainly piques your interest. Someone who's piquant engages you with charm and wit. A story that's filled with piquant details has plenty of juicy, provocative points. And grandma's homemade gravy? It's certainly zesty and piquant, even with all the lumps. tartness the quality of being sour or acidic. the quality of being quick or sharp in what you say, and slightly unkind: "We'll see about that," she said with typical tartness. You need that tartness to balance the sugar and cream. tart I. If something such as fruit is tart, it has a sharp taste (especially of fruit) tasting sour or acidic: You might need some sugar on the rhubarb - it's a little tart. The blackberries were a bit too tart on their own, so we stewed them gently with some apples. Tart cherry juice can be found at health food stores. II. A tart remark or way of speaking is sharp and unpleasant, often in a way that is rather cruel. (especially of a way of speaking) quick or sharp and unpleasant: a tart remark/comment/reply. The words were more tart than she had intended. Lyle, I'm sure, would have had a very tart comment to make about this new social trend. 'There are other patients on the ward, Lovell,' the staff nurse reminded her tartly. noun. I. [informal, offensive, disapproval] Tart is an insulting word for a woman who dresses or behaves in a way that suggests she wants to have sex with a lot of different people. a woman who intentionally wears the type of clothes and make-up that attract sexual attention in a way that is too obvious. II. a female prostitute. III. A tart is a shallow pastry case with a filling of food, especially sweet food. apple/strawberry/custard tart. ...jam tarts. ...a slice of home-made tart. tart up [British, informal, disapproval] If someone tarts up a room or building, they try to improve its appearance, often with the result that it looks vulgar. to clothe, furnish, or decorate in a showy and, often, vulgar way. 'Have you ever wondered why London Underground would rather tart up their stations than improve services?' he asked. ...tarted-up pubs.
What We Know About the Man Who Self-Immolated 自焚 ( immolate [ˈɪməʊˌleɪt] verb (transitive) I. 焚身 to kill or offer as a sacrifice, esp by fire. II. literary to sacrifice (something highly valued). ) in Front of the Israeli Embassy: On Sunday afternoon outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., 25-year-old Air Force service member Aaron Bushnell placed his phone on the ground to set up a livestream. He then stood before the embassy gates and lit himself on fire while shouting "Free Palestine" in a horrific protest against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Below is everything we know about Bushnell, who died from his wounds on Sunday night. Bushnell was a 25-year-old member of the U.S. Air Force stationed at the Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio and originally from Whitman, Massachusetts. He joined the Air Force as an active-duty member in May 2020 and has since worked in information technology and development operations. In a statement on Monday, the Air Force stated that he was a cyber-defense operations specialist with the 531st Intelligence Support Squadron. Bushnell grew up in a religious group on Cape Cod called the Community of Jesus, whose former members have come forward alleging abuse and a rigid social structure. According to a family friend and former Community of Jesus member who spoke with the Washington Post, he was raised in a religious compound in Orleans associated with the group. The friend told the Post that young people in the Community of Jesus often join the military, moving from "one high-control group to another high-control group." Friends who spoke with the Post say that while Bushnell was stationed in San Antonio, he was attending events for a socialist organization and delivered food to people on the street. Friends state that his contract with the military was to expire in May and he was looking for a career transition. Following the police killing of George Floyd, they say he had become more open in his objection to the military. "He said that he kind of went from one extreme — the conservative beliefs that he had grown up around — to the opposite, forming his anarchist, anti-imperialist values," a friend in San Antonio told the New York Times. "And he said it was a very quick shift, and he just said it went from one extreme to the other." In late 2023, friends say he moved to Ohio as part of a military training program for transitioning out of active duty. On Sunday, hours before he went to the Israeli embassy, Bushnell texted a friend who shared the message with the Post. "I hope you'll understand. I love you," Bushnell wrote. "This doesn't even make sense, but I feel like I'm going to miss you." Weeks earlier, Bushnell talked on the phone with the same friend about "their shared identities as anarchists and what kinds of risks and sacrifices were needed to be effective," according to the Post. A friend who spoke to the New York Post states that Bushnell spoke to him on the phone on Saturday night. Bushnell said that he had top-security clearance and that he was distressed by what he was seeing in Gaza. "He told me on Saturday that we have troops in those tunnels, that it's U.S. soldiers participating in the killings,"' the friend said. "There's just too many things I don't know, but I can tell you that the tone of his voice just had something in it that told me he was scared,'" the friend said. (While the U.S. has special-operations troops in Israel to reportedly identify American hostages, the Biden administration has stated that there will be no American soldiers in Gaza.). Hours before lighting himself on fire, Bushnell posted a Twitch link on his Facebook page with the caption: Many of us like to ask ourselves, "What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?" The answer is, you're doing it. Right now. Shortly before 1 p.m. on Sunday, Bushnell began his livestream and walked toward the Israeli Embassy with an insulated water bottle full of flammable fluid. "I will no longer be complicit in genocide," he said in his video. "I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it's not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class 统治阶级 has decided will be normal." Bushnell then placed his phone on the ground and walked to the gates of the embassy, where he doused himself in liquid from the bottle. "Free Palestine," he said, as he struggled to light himself. A law-enforcement officer approached, asking, "Can I help you, sir?" At this point, Bushnell lit himself on fire, screaming, "Free Palestine." As Bushnell screamed in pain, a law-enforcement officer off-camera yells at him to "get on the ground." A second officer yelled at the first: "I don't need guns, I need fire extinguishers." By the time D.C. Fire and EMS arrived on the scene, the fire had been put out. The aftermath and Bushnell's death: An incident report filed by a Secret Service agent states that they "received a distress call regarding an individual exhibiting signs of mental distress outside the Israeli embassy." (The Secret Service is responsible for foreign-embassy security.) "Before the Secret Service officers could engage, [Bushnell] doused himself with an unidentified liquid and set himself on fire. The Secret Service officers promptly intervened, extinguishing the flames before the arrival of the fire department. [Bushnell] was subsequently transported to a local hospital due to the burns sustained from the incident. The report states that Bushnell was pronounced dead at 10:06 p.m. on Sunday." In the hours before his death, Bushnell emailed several left-leaning websites alerting them to his "highly disturbing" final act. "Today, I am planning to engage in an extreme act of protest against the genocide of the Palestinian people," read the email, which was forwarded to the BBC. Bushnell's video was taken down by Twitch for violating its terms of service, though edited versions blurring out his burning figure are circulating on social media. The Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating the incident along with the Metropolitan Police Department. Bushnell's act was not the first self-immolation in apparent protest of the Israel-Hamas war. In December, a woman lit herself on fire in front of the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta in what police described as an act of "extreme political protest" over the war. The woman survived but sustained third-degree burns over her entire body and was hospitalized in critical condition. Her identity has not been released by police. A 61-year-old Army veteran who worked as a security guard at the consulate suffered severe burns when he attempted to save the woman. Since the Vietnam War, self-immolation has been a dramatic but rare act of protest in the U.S. Vigils were held throughout the country on Monday night in memory of Bushnell, including at the Israeli Embassy where he held his final protest. To be sure, Palestinians have long been accustomed to, well, burning to death at the hands of Israeli weaponry, ever since the state of Israel undertook to lethally invent itself on Palestinian land in 1948. The Israeli military's use of skin-incinerating white phosphorus munitions in more recent years has no doubt contributed to the whole Palestinian “experience”. After pertinently observing that US complicity in the genocide of Palestinians is “what our ruling class has decided will be normal”, Bushnell plants himself directly in front of the Israeli embassy gate – in full US military fatigues – and proceeds to douse himself with flammable liquid. Speaking of Vietnam War-related self-immolations, recall renowned US historian and journalist David Halberstam’s account of the 1963 demise in Saigon, South Vietnam, of the Vietnamese monk Thich Quang Duc: “Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly… I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered even to think”. And while such an intense and passionate form of suicide is no doubt bewildering to many, genocide should be all the more appalling; as Bushnell himself said, self-immolation is nothing “compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine”, where people know all too well how quickly human beings burn. In Bushnell’s case, the US political-media establishment appears to be doing its best to not only decontextualise but also posthumously discredit him. Aaron Bushnell was meant to be a cog in the killing machine, but his principles cost him his life. Indeed, according to a former colleague of Bushnell’s who worked with him to support the homeless community in San Antonio, Texas, he was “one of the most principled comrades I’ve ever known”. And while we journalists are supposed to be the ones speaking truth to power, suffice it to say that Bushnell has put Western corporate media to shame.
