Why are we like this online? Why does the inbox regularly receive with “well ahktually” replies compared to real discussion or comments?

But the same [sympathy towards grieving families] can also be said…

• Not “but tbh they deserve it bc Gaza”
• Not “but I don’t care”
• Not “but this is what they get for working for Israeli state”

Please don’t twist what I said to build a narrative where I’m some crypto-bigot trying to plant hatred. I wish the Israel apologists applied anywhere near that same level of effort towards the people who actually spew antisemitism…

This exact sentiment is why people don’t talk about Israel, but their reputation globally is in the gutter. Or how actual neo-nazis can pass fake Voltaire quotes that ‘Jews control the global media’ because criticism of Israel is verboten:

US congressman shares neo-Nazi’s quote wrongly attributed to Voltaire

CLAIM: French philosopher Voltaire said: “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Enlightenment-era writer Voltaire did not say this. The quote, which was paraphrased, comes from a 1993 radio broadcast by Kevin Alfred Strom, who has been identified as a neo-Nazi by organizations that monitor hate groups.

Yes, you’re right, the two events are entirely unrelated. Clearly just another case of anti-semitism out of nowhere. No possible other reason or context exists as to why the gunman was shouting “Free Palestine” as he was arrested after committing double murder.

Whatabboutism is when you deflect from one action perpetrated by your group, towards another action perpetrated by an out-group. Me expressing remorse for their deaths alongside the people their government murdered is not “Well what about…”

A) One lone gunman goes off the rails and murders two people because they’re Jewish/affiliated with the state. That’s tragic and wrong, and I haven’t yet seen anyone claim that his actions were good and right.

B) An entire government and military decides that their course of action shall be wanton bombing with callous disregard for innocent civilian bystanders, whilst deliberately restricting food, fuel, and medical care to a blockaded nation. That’s willful evil, that is being either openly or implicitly supported by an overwhelming majority of Israelis.

The two scenarios are not the same, but they both are tragic.

Yeeeesh, hadn’t seen that reporting…

It’s unbelievably disappointing to see over and over again that Israelis are broadly okay with the death and destruction in Gaza, when a little over a generation ago they were on the cusp of a genuine two-state solution. And now it’s an ethnostate that practices apartheid, and it’s okay because “Bibi keeps us safe”. Almost as if nothing else matters.

Genuinely awful for these two and their families, but the same can be said for ~53,000 dead Palestinians and the rest who are actively starving to death in a Israeli-made famine while aid rots onboard trucks across the border. Both acts are deliberate, and both were avoidable.

And while they were both working for the current extremists in power atm via the diplomatic service, they were a lot more moderate too:

Lischinsky “I’m an ardent believer in the vision that was outlined in the Abraham Accords and believe that expanding the circle of peace with our Arab neighbours and pursuing regional cooperation is in the best interest of the state of Israel and the Middle East as a whole. To this end, I advocate for interfaith dialogue and intercultural understanding.”

Milgrim organised visits and missions to Israel. She was also a volunteer at Tech2Peace, an advocacy group training young Palestinians and Israelis and promoting dialogue between them.

Tech2Peace said Milgrim was an active volunteer who “brought people together with empathy and purpose”.

Stay classy, telling a reporter to “kill yourself” for factually reporting on Connolly publicly announcing his cancer diagnosis.

Why does the party value fealty and seniority so implicitly? There’s a place for the ‘elder statesman’ voice to share institutional wisdom and tribal knowledge, but this man cannot seriously have had more vigor and energy to pour into leadership than someone under half his age…

I remember seeing a lot of them cheering on the Indiana law that specifically legalized shooting cops that enter w/o a warrant after a (messy) court case:

IND. CODE § 35-41-3-2 (2012)

Sec. 2. (a) In enacting this section, the general assembly finds and declares that it is the policy of this state to recognize the unique character of a citizen’s home and to ensure that a citizen feels secure in his or her own home against unlawful intrusion by another individual or a public servant….The purpose of this section is to provide the citizens of this state with a lawful means of carrying out this policy.

Agreed, though it’s surprising it hasn’t already happened given their longstanding stance on investments in arms or other controversial industries

I rewatched the broadcast to confirm, Trump absolutely inadvertently stepped out of the shot right as the shooter pulled the trigger. Trump went from standing with a hand on the podium, to leaning forward on it as he turned his head to his right.

The shooter brought a laser rangefinder which suggests he was aware of at least basic marksmanship fundamentals like bullet drop from gravity. He also had an AR-15, with a red dot and was laying prone with no visual barriers between him and the dais where Trump was about 130 yards away. Even a budget AR shooting basic af ammo can expect to shoot a 4 inch circle at that distance- plenty enough for a headshot.

Trump survived through dumb luck.

As soon as Winston had dealt with each of the messages, he clipped his speakwritten corrections to the appropriate copy of “The Times’ and pushed them into the pneumatic tube. Then, with a movement which was as nearly as possible unconscious, he crumpled up the original message and any notes that he himself had made, and dropped them into the memory hole to be devoured by the flames…

This process of continuous alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound-tracks, cartoons, photographs—to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance.

• 1984, George Orwell

Which is more disturbing; the fact that it’s increasingly hard to discern Kayfabe from grift? Or that the difference no longer matters?

Both. You can use both LiDAR and optical teaming, the technologies complement each other so you don’t fall for a Looney-Tunes ass painted wall, while the camera covers the one-dimensional recognition that LiDAR can’t.

[Tesla] removed radars from its vehicle lineup and even deactivated already installed radars in existing vehicles. This strategy has not yet been worth it since Tesla’s systems are still stuck at level 2 driver assist systems.

I love mine. Combined with adaptive cruise, it’s amazing for slowly rolling traffic, longer journeys, and stop-and-go traffic. I’m under no impression the car is ‘driving’ but having a machine take over the mental load is great and frees up that capacity for other driving tasks and/or awareness of the road.

Tesla calling that technology “Auto” anything without it being genuinely 100% autonomous should have landed someone a fat fine or jail time

Lmao they put lane-keeping assist behind a marketing-wank paywall for their already expensive EVs - something manufacturers like Subaru and Hyundai has made standard across their entire line for years now

What a sad joke this company has become, another example of failed leadership valuing yes-men and sycophancy

Dude. I can name from memory the list of war crimes and genocidal acts that Russia has done, they’re on a speed run in their aggressive war of conquest. Bucha, Mariupol, perferdy, executing PoWs, torture, the kidnapped children being raised as Russian, deliberate bombing of civilians, Russification of the Donbas, chemical weapons use, the list goes on.

But the severity is not the same. Gazans can’t seek safety in western Ukraine, they have no missile defenses, they’re being deliberately starved to death as collective punishment, and are being kept inside a war zone by complete military encirclement and occupation.

Genocide is the ultimate crime huh?

Fucking yes. I cannot believe we’re even having this argument. Nothing comes close.

Or the genocide starting in America of people with skin the same color as I have

I am absolutely not trying to downplay the barbarity and wanton cruelty of the Trump administration’s policies, but what we’ve seen so far doesn’t match the definition. Extrajudicial disappearances and zero due process for perceived or actual migrants is not the same thing as genocide. There’s no forced sterilization, rote murder, mass displacement, or deliberate attempt to destroy a collective people. CECOT is an overseas concentration camp, not a death camp - yet.

I literally cannot find anything about “forum sliding” that isn’t re-re-re-reposts of the same text - and they’re almost universally tinfoil hat or ‘freethinker’ faux intellectual dross. If you’re that paranoid go read my comment history, it’s all public lol

If you want to live in a hugboxed information bubble where your ideas never get challenged, you can do that. But reality will come crashing through eventually.

You and everyone who repeats the “I hope you’re happy now” really are not helping. You’re mad, I’m mad, but please please get your fill of catharsis/smug self righteousness elsewhere please, blaming non/voters isn’t going to rebuild the Obama coalition that delivered a supermajority in Congress. The Democrats lost the youth turnout, Palestine (Russian/astroturf bots or no) were not the sole factor but a sharp tipping point that laid out reality bare.

Im not at all surprised that young voters who became politically aware during the Obama era or later were gradually disenchanted and sat this round out; when you look at it from their timeline they did all the right democracy things and got shit on over and over

• Organic enthusiasm for Bernie in the primary, sabotaged by superdelegates - your vote doesn’t matter, we pick not you plebs and in their mind that action brought Trump 2016
• George Floyd’s livestreamed murder and BLM protests - no structural change or even federal police reform passed
• The kids yet again come out and do the right thing by voting Biden in 2020, and watch more politicking and focus-tested soft liberalism rule the day. Rail strike busted. East Palestine spill without serious investigation or reform. Debt ceiling negotiations and kowtowing - everything will stay the same
• Oct 7 happens, then the Israeli bombing campaign begins and Biden openly castigates activists and doubles down on supplying the IDF - how dare you plebs question your leader
• Protests persist, organize and clearly make their demands known, even send a warning shot in the primary… receiving only empty words from leadership - they are not going to do what you want
• The DNC platforms two Jewish parents of a Hamas hostage at the convention, but refuses to allow a Dem Rep to speak with pre-vetted remarks - we don’t even want to hear from you

And nothing substantial happened that might change their mind. Kamala rode that same trajectory through her campaign, even as VP she had a harder stance on Israel that suddenly evaporated once she was appointed the nominee.

Its genocide - the crime of all crimes - and the Democratic Party refused to seriously discuss the topic in public. I cannot seriously blame them for giving up on a party that refused to listen to them in good faith, and disappointed them time after time. That’s on the DNC for throwing that demographic away, and we need to recognize that. They’re not voting for Republicans ffs but they’ve received the message that they and their vote, isn’t important to the Democrats.

It’s a shit spot to be in, as basically all of them work cases in federal court. If your lawyers are physically prevented entry to federal property because some orange buffoon bans the entire firm by the stroke of a pen, that law firm is completely impotent and unable to argue in federal cases, even those that don’t end up in a courtroom. Judges chambers, pre-trial motions, informal meetings, etc all are impossible or vastly more difficult.

It was a very targeted and deliberate move to put these firms in a lose:lose scenario - give an absurd amount of pro-bono work to your abuser, or wither and die as your clients are forced to move to another firm:

The orders threatened to bar attorneys from where they work, courthouses and federal agencies and cancel the contracts of law firm clients. For example, an aerospace company could lose its federal contracts if it stayed with the firm. A senior partner at one firm told us the president’s orders were, quote, “diabolical.” “Intended to bankrupt [us].”

If their candidate is the only thing standing between a half-assed working system of government, and an outright dictatorship- and you don’t vote for them…

I did, so put the straw man away. In a swing state, because I understand that at a minimum I’m negating someone else’s R vote. I’m following politics outside the election cycle and aware of the FPTP game. You can make the “less shit” argument to me, and have it work because I recognize it’s true.

But that’s exactly my point about the apolitical and/or low propensity ‘normie’ voters - Trump has confidence and an answer for everything, if you ignore the absence of details. Harris struggled/refused to define herself and her platform - effectively giving that job to the media and the opposition. “Everything will stay fundamentally the same” was a vote loser for most of America this cycle, and that was the Democratic platform.

I don’t know about you, but I sure as shit am glad we dodged that “no policy having, pro-democracy” bullet, eh?

In a way, kinda? Trump is on a fascism speed run through the Project 2025 goals, and has a sycophantic circle of incompetence around him that keeps making blunders atop his own. Going this hard and this fast has had blowback, with him tanking his approval rating accordingly in record time.

Were he an actually steady hand that could play long chess, build coalitions, and quietly place plans in motion? Deport worst-of-the-worst criminals instead of literally whoever is brown, quietly subvert NATO and hamstring the unified command instead of JD and Hegseth chastising Europe and openly questioning Article 5, give Israel/Saudis a browbeating in public whilst increasing arms sales instead of ‘hell yeah, kill them all’ tweets, etc

Effective dictatorship I fear a lot more than an incompetent strongman. People bend and mold themselves to the former over time, the latter rips off the bandage too fast and pisses off voters who form resistance coalitions.

Or, here’s the apparently radical third option… do what the voters want and reel Bibi/Givir/Smotrich in, or at the very least stop giving Israel outright political cover. “Israel gets to do war crimes and/or genocide… and you pay for it” was a uni-party stance in the 2024 cycle, and it’s fucking infuriating. I expect the right to back Israel reflexively, but I did NOT expect to see y’all pull the mental gymnastics make yourselves be okay with it. And then have the gall to shout down and bully away criticism of the party’s complicity.

If your candidate can mostly be summed up as “less shit” then that damning sales pitch to get the ‘apolitical normie’ vote out to win elections s. Kamala barely stood tall on any firm policy - let along a coherent platform, didn’t distance herself sufficiently from Biden, and didn’t respond to voters’ legitimate economic anxieties. At that point a demonstrable lies become the sound bites differentiating Trump from Kamala.