Fabulous.

I disagree that “their humiliating defeat on November 5 was due largely to their undeniable role in the Israeli war and genocide in Gaza.” I definitely think it played a role and Dems would have won more voters with concrete promises to halt Israel’s genocide and enforce US laws like the Leahy Law. People are justifiably upset with Israel crossing lines without Biden enforcing consequences, and the huge amounts of money going to fund genocide as opposed to being used domestically.

Was it really THE major issue affecting votes though? IMO the more significant issues were things like a feeling of “more of the same” when people are struggling and focusing on trying to win “moderate” Republicans instead of motivating a base they thought was guaranteed. Still, it’s an article with valid points.

Part 1: All of history from corporations becoming a thing to present day.

Part 2: The results of heartless corporate policy for the foreseeable future.

What’s a can opener? Kind of NSFW - like not really, but if someone walks in on you watching you’ll have some explaining to do.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be the little spoon once in a while?

Get either a piercing weapon to exploit weak points or a bludgeoning weapon to transmit force through the plate, because she’s clearly here to do battle. Dinner can come AFTER I’ve defended my honor.

Good luck getting ring-laden sweets away from invisible kids.

I’m surprised it’s that low. In the first several weeks alone Israel dropped hundreds of 2,000lb bombs. “The heavy munitions, mostly manufactured by the US, can cause high casualty events and can have a lethal fragmentation radius – an area of exposure to injury or death around the target – of up to 365 meters (about 1,198 feet), or the equivalent of 58 soccer fields in area.” That doesn’t even count all the other munitions used.

I almost never buy multiplayer-focused games anymore. Of course not all gamers are shitty, but enough are to matter. Having left those games behind I can see how they were taking more joy from my life than they added. If friends want to do private co-op that’s cool, but it’s also rarer now that we’re all older.

As far as sales go, I love playing a year or two behind new releases. Patched games at a discount ftw and timing doesn’t matter in single-player games.

Generalizations like “All X are Y” should be used VERY sparingly if ever, and are almost never correct or helpful when talking about large groups of people - i.e. an entire ethnicity. Jews are people like any other ethnicity, and as such span the whole range of ethics and personalities. I personally know a very ethical and kind Jew who does not deserve to be labelled as an asshole or anything similar, and I know of many more who also prove that claim wrong.

Moreover, being abused is not a valid excuse to be an abuser. A lawyer tells a story about his client who tried to justify his domestic violence by saying he was abused as a child. The judge responded to the effect of, “then you should know even more than most people how very destructive and wrong it is”.

All too true. It hurts to see. It’s also worth mentioning the sabotage/blockade of aid by Israeli protesters and that the UN says it’s out of stockpiled supplies.

As much as the “hurt with one hand, help with the other” approach bothers me, I really hope this enables sufficient aid to safely reach the civilians who so desperately need it.

Legolas:

*If the eagles had of course.

I tried “For Frodamily” first, being Frodo+Family, but it looked kind of dumb so I changed it.

For a moment I thought it was Columbia University and was a little shocked by the reversal. After correcting myself: it’s good to hear another nation is drawing some lines in the sand regarding behavior. Rules of war should mean something.

I’m really hoping that’s an Office Space reference.

That’s a solid criticism and I upvoted. I hadn’t thought about YouTube. Anecdotally I’ve had factual comments about how many kids are killed, what Israeli politicians say, etc. auto-moderated into oblivion on YouTube. But at the same time I get a lot of the facts I use from YouTube (basically never been on TikTok) so it holds water. I also get a lot of info from other sources, but I can’t think of something specific I’d get from them that I could never find on YouTube.

In my defense, I’m basing my opinion on why TikTok is particularly targeted on interviews like this one with Ted Cruz. He talks about how TikTok is specifically designed to push messages that are harmful to America, including what he calls pro-Hamas content but I suspect is actually anti-Israeli policy, pro-Palestine content. That is why I would argue there’s some evidence of a campaign against TikTok in particular that might skip over YouTube or other major platforms. Perhaps the Western powers feel that YouTube is still acceptably moderated towards their interests whereas TikTok isn’t. Perhaps Google is just too influential domestically.

Edit: I found a video I was looking for: Biden talking about passing the TikTok/Israel funding/Ukraine funding package. A bit of language he uses that I think is telling is “it continues America’s leadership in the world and everyone knows it” which could signal US dominance as a motivation and thus TikTok as a target and not US companies.

That doesn’t mean your point isn’t worth discussion, or that my points aren’t opinion. I’m interested to see how it develops. I’ve based my opinion on the conversations I can find and language used, but I’m open to adjusting my view if evidence prompts that.

I 100% admit that my take on the TikTok ban is opinion based on the hearings and arguments + the scope of the bill, so you aren’t being unfair. I have never heard that about the Twitter purchase - I had read it was a poor decision Musk made only half-seriously and then was basically forced to follow through with.