anti_dan
7mo ago
The problem with your hypothetical is this:
My optimal response as the footballer kissed by a gay man is I deliver a severe beating to this queer. If I had done that, I'd be the one being cancelled. OTOH, our girl probably wishes she had delivered a strong slap to the face of him, she just was too shocked. But if she had succeeded she would be cheered, and probably everyone would be in a better situation today.
So, again, we are learning bad lessons: 1) You gain from your own inability to react appropriately to mild aggression; 2) You are punished much harder than is warranted if your opponent is less competent than the average.
anti_dan
1yr ago
The whole thing strikes me as so sordid, precisely because the boys targeted were so close to being of age. I just can't understand it. Why risk literal federal prison soliciting lewd photos from a 17 year old?
Because you need to lock in the abnormal sexuality before it likely begins to fade.
anti_dan
6mo ago
ALl of your post is basically incoherent. Israel is in control of all of the terms of engagement going forward. They never have to put a single troop into Gaza and yet could shell almost all of its landmass without committing a single warcrime, as almost all of Gaza is a military target. They also can do the same to the North and the East, as those are also legitimate military targets. The Arabs' only weapon is pity. If the international community is not idiotic dupes, Israel will win easily and everyone will be neutral/happy. If they are dupes, then Israel will have to put on lots of stupid trials demonstrating that, yes, Hamas/Hezbolla was housing rockets in an elementary school.
Of course, the "international community" is stupid, at best. Realistically, it is antisemetic and full of Israel haters. So they will have a mild uphill battle until Biden goes mask off and embraces Iran fully (as he wants to, but probably cannot realistically do). If that is the case the game will be very hard for Israel, but also its true enemy (American leftists) will be exposed and perhaps deposed.
anti_dan
8mo ago
The pro-life movement needs to be on the forefront of not only providing and promoting free birth control, but pressuring people to use it.
Condoms are outside of the capability of most abortion-getters to use. Hormonal birth control is just early abortion.
anti_dan
8mo ago
In the US, the bulk of the pro-life movement is religious, specifically Christian.
I am not religious, and I understand the pro life movement completely. Hormonal birth control is just abortion by another means. Condoms will never work as a substitute for a semi-eugenic program of putting those implants into arms for most of the population getting abortions...and again, those are still abortions, just hormonally induced when the baby is like 64 cells.
anti_dan
1yr ago
Sure, but there is no good left of center reason to not support Zionism. "the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine." Is just a pair of easily debunked mottos.
Thus, it is reasonable to suspect different, real, motives.
anti_dan
5mo ago
There is no upper bound. Civilian casualties are a fake concept. And although I like the French as a people, generally, that is entirely subservient to the cause of winning the war, particularly because my tomfool general Eisenhower and his higher ups are insisting we go in deep when the Nazis are ready, and for some reason aren't anticipating the Soviet threat at a level obvious to the average 1940s steel worker.
anti_dan
1yr ago
Both are far too valorizing of Zelensky. He just kept making the choice that was best for him personally. If I do a date-limited search about him you get results like this:
Right Before the Invasion: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/21/opinion/ukraine-russia-zelensky-putin.html
The tenor of all the articles I found is this: Zelensky is inherently an actor, he plays what role he thinks suits him.
Now lets go right after: https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/25/europe/volodymyr-zelensky-profile-cmd-intl
Tenor is: He's picked his role, and that role is hardass.
Now a few months after the invasion: https://www.wsj.com/articles/who-is-volodymyr-zelensky-ukrainian-president-11646161781
Grizzled face of the Ukrainian resistance.
But what changed about his posture? Nothing ever. He just kept doing what was best for his image, and the press slowly came around to embracing the image that gave him the most prestige and power. The posture has allowed him to crack down on domestic opposition parties, Russian-connected and not. Its gotten his country a military slush fund. What would fleeing have brought him? An end to his political power, an end to his future financial prospects, and embarrassment as Ukrainian militias kept up the fight as he hides in Warsaw.
anti_dan
1yr ago
And I’m left asking, can we predict that? How can we predict how leaders will react under pressure? How can we predict how wars and matters of state will conclude if they hinge on these personal decisions of individual, fallible, men?
I think at least Re: Zelensky, there is a plausible, well worn model: Follow the money. Specifically, Zelensky and many of the people that kept Kiev Ukrainian have patrons in Western Europe, patrons whose interests are not served at all (or mostly not) by a government in exile. Since Euromaiden there has been lots of investment in Ukraine. Investments that would be seized and redistributed to Russian oligarchs if Ukraine falls. There are lots of politicians who have a finger in these investments. Some of the legitimate kind, and many of the Paul Manafort/Hunter Biden grifty kind. Sure, being under Putin would be a bit worse for the average Ukrainian, and some people legitimately believe in spreading Democracy, but its much easier to understand if you realize that there are large interests in maintaining a West-friendly kleptocracy, as well as lots of interests in spending lots of money to make things go boom, and Americans and Europeans have no stomach for their own boys doing this at the moment, so Ukrainian boys making Russian boys go boom with Lockheed supplies is great for business.
anti_dan
4mo ago
but why is it a given that the US population values the safety of Israelis to that extent where the current situation in Gaza is an acceptable trade-off? We
Because it is in our interest for it to come to a different equilibrium than what it was at on 10/6. Having a terrorist state on the Mediterranean is not good, see, e.g. the Houthi pirate problem on the other side of the canal.
anti_dan
4mo ago
r would it just lead to different terrorist attacks on some later timetable?
One does not expect terrorist attacks to end, but at least you could hope for the end of State-Sponsored terror attacks if Hamas surrendered, then the Gazans elected responsible leadership, or a coup by an Attaturk-like dictator remade the State of Gaza into a more normal country than it was on 10/6, because their government wishes to be at war with Israel forever.
anti_dan
7mo ago
I guess we're officially in the era of every US president henceforth being impeached by the other side.
I still doubt Biden will be actually impeached. This move was made to 1) Placate a subset of the caucus, and 2) To theoretically increase the House's legal position in battles for documents and witnesses.
And plus, the whole idea of Biden being impeached would be a nonstarter for Republicans if Biden's whole family hadn't gotten at least $20 million from foreign characters from corrupt countries (it aint like Hunter is doing his business in Japan and France everyone!), with the less proven, but indicated number being closer to $200 million. If Joe was currently VP and this conduct had occurred when he was SOS, he'd already be out. If Kamala was a viable candidate in 2024, he'd already be out.
Treating this like its a tit-for-tat is silly. There is no comparison between this and the Ukraine impeachment of Trump. You could debate the J6 impeachment if you want, but I find that to be mostly a genuine attempt to punish perceived bad behavior brought on by Democrats gaslighting themselves about how protests evolve into riots on occasion.
anti_dan
8mo ago
Most prevent implantation, not ovulation. IDK the ones that even prevent ovulation.
anti_dan
8mo ago
Fat shaming is bad because it isn't solving the issue of population becoming more and more obese it just makes lifes of unhealthy people more miserable.
Maybe, maybe not. We don't particularly know.
anti_dan
10mo ago
Then you appear to be an outlier. Because performing stripteases in front of 9 year olds, public BDSM parades, and having secret conversations with children about sex that parents cant know about are core tenants of the movement as a whole right now.
anti_dan
1yr ago
My comment was not low effort, it was accurate. If you think I am incorrect, I suggest a cheese wakeup, After that sleeep.
anti_dan
4mo ago
who were walking outside waving a white flag without a shirt.
Wasn't this just recently part of an ambush in the area? Mentioning it makes me think you are uniformed or trolling.
anti_dan
4mo ago
Also, the US has leverage on Israel and no leverage on a Hamas that's already maximally sanctionned.
Not at all, Hamas is fully dependent on NGO aid to maintain its rule. There is almost no government in the world that would be easier to smoke out with a US led coalition that does the easy thing of "doing nothing."
anti_dan
6mo ago
Is there a path forward besides: wait for Palestinians to undergo a complete spiritual and cultural transformation? ( Or for the international community to give Israel a freebie on genocide)
No, and we should.
Why isn’t it also on Israel to try to find a leader like, I don’t know, a charismatic Jesus kind of guy who loves the Palestinians even though many of them will terrorize?
Because then we would lose 8 Million productive humans so some crazy people can occupy a really cool coastline.
anti_dan
6mo ago
Because they know that they will be spuriously accused of war crimes and that those accusations are much more important than deaths of soldiers in the long term. It is unfortunate, but it is the reality we are dealing with.
anti_dan
8mo ago
It should in San Fransico. The city's population is less than in 1950. https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/23130/san-francisco/population
LA is probably its own beast. But it still holds that the homeless encampments in LA are, mostly, on extremely valuable land. And my suspicion is that if you built a bunch of row houses in Crenshaw that you would not solve the camp situation.
While I consider all dual citizenship objectionable, and would lightly call for the deportation of all such peoples to their other place of citizenship (excepting those who's other countries would not allow them to renounce) Israel should be at the bottom of any such lists. They would, literally, be my last priority. Their concerns are legitimate. I think there is a major political party in America that is on track to seek their extinction as a race. So, yeah, when we have rid ourselves of the dual loyalty Mexican, Somali, Canadian, Chinese, and other X-Americans, we can deal with the Israeli problem. But I doubt we will have much such problems when all those others are sent away.
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