unclevlad Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 Just to add a bit more gasoline on the Mideast fire, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court is asking for indictments against both Israel and Hamas leaders. Netanyahu and his defense minister; Hamas' Gaza leader, defense leader, and political leader (based in Qatar). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 I do not envy Pres. Biden this day. Human decency and, for Biden, Christian charity would require a statement of condolence. It would also be a chance to avoid looking like a jerk to a wide section of the world where the US has image problems enough. But it would also be deeply unpopular with a wide sector of the American people, and not just MAGA wackadoodles who reflexively condemn everything Biden says and does. One more reminder that President of the United States has to be one of the suckiest jobs in the world. Dean Shomshak L. Marcus and Old Man 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted May 20 Report Share Posted May 20 ... But the desk is cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoloOfEarth Posted May 21 Report Share Posted May 21 15 hours ago, L. Marcus said: ... But the desk is cool. I'm kinda surprised Trump didn't try to take it with him when he left office. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lectryk Posted May 21 Report Share Posted May 21 1 hour ago, BoloOfEarth said: I'm kinda surprised Trump didn't try to take it with him when he left office. Not enough gold leaf/plating to be interesting to him? Also, a simple desk doesn't have the cachet/bragging rights of various documents. And, speaking of bragging - last year tapes were released of Trump discussing the contents of some of those documents (briefly, https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/politics/trump-classified-documents-audio/index.html) concerning attacking Iran. Not that Iran wouldn't know this anyway, but, it's just another stressor to add to the path that Biden is having to navigate with Iran as mentioned above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnia Posted May 21 Report Share Posted May 21 Tucker Carlson Launches Show On Russian State TV Quote Conservative TV host Tucker Carlson has launched his own show on a Russian state television channel. The former Fox News anchor is presenting the program Tucker on the rolling news channel Russia 24, with the first episode now available online, Russian state newspaper Rossiskya Gazyeta reported. The paper said that the show is part of a joint project with Carlson TV, in which he will interview figures and politicians who have "alternative views to the mainstream." DShomshak, Pariah and Old Man 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted May 21 Report Share Posted May 21 3 hours ago, Lectryk said: And, speaking of bragging - last year tapes were released of Trump discussing the contents of some of those documents (briefly, https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/politics/trump-classified-documents-audio/index.html) concerning attacking Iran. Not that Iran wouldn't know this anyway, but, it's just another stressor to add to the path that Biden is having to navigate with Iran as mentioned above. Iran knows the Americans have plans. But they did not know the capabilities of the components of those plans -- where, how many, how fast, how far. Trump blurted out some of those details. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnia Posted May 21 Report Share Posted May 21 Trump shares, then deletes, a video with headlines about a ‘unified Reich’ if he wins Quote Former President Donald J. Trump posted a video on Monday afternoon that features images of hypothetical newspaper articles celebrating a 2024 victory for him and referring to “the creation of a unified Reich” under the headline “What’s next for America?” The 30-second video, which Mr. Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social, features several articles styled like newspapers from the early 1900s — and apparently recycling text from reports on World War I, including references to “German industrial strength” and “peace through strength.” One article in the video asserts that Mr. Trump would deport 15 million migrants in a second term, while text onscreen lists the start and end days of World War I. Lord Liaden, Old Man, Pariah and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted May 21 Report Share Posted May 21 Obviously somebody told Donnie this wasn't a good thing to advertise, but that he posted it at all shows what's really on his mind. The cumulative signs at this point are overwhelming to anyone paying attention. Old Man 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iuz the Evil Posted May 21 Report Share Posted May 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted May 22 Report Share Posted May 22 I'm conflicted, does "Waiting for the Worms" go in this thread, or "What are you listening to right now"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted May 22 Report Share Posted May 22 Depends on your intention in posting it. Context matters a lot, context here is very different from that thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted May 22 Report Share Posted May 22 2 hours ago, Lord Liaden said: Depends on your intention in posting it. Context matters a lot, context here is very different from that thread. Probably safer here, then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnia Posted May 22 Report Share Posted May 22 Trump pledges to cut access to contraceptives Quote During an interview with KDKA News in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Donald Trump praised himself for overturning Roe v. Wade and suggested abortion isn’t the only thing on the chopping block. Asked whether he’d outlaw birth control or Plan B, Trump responded, “We’re looking at that” and said his campaign plans to release his full policy proposal in a week. “I think it’s something you’ll find interesting.… You will find it, I think, smart. I think it’s a smart decision.” Pressed further, Trump indicated his general policy will be to allow states to do whatever they want to restrict bodily autonomy around abortion. “Things really do have a lot to do with the states, and some states are going to have different policy than others,” Trump told KDKA. KDKA didn’t ask Trump his position on mifepristone and misoprostol—medications used to terminate early pregnancy and miscarriages—but Trump touted the overturning of Roe as an accomplishment brought forth by his administration. “We did something that everybody wanted,” he said. “We got rid of Roe v. Wade.” Polling data from Pew Research Center in July 2022 found a majorityof Americans supported Roe and were angered by the Supreme Court’s overturning of the landmark decision. Old Man and unclevlad 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted May 22 Report Share Posted May 22 There will be a general election in Britain on July 4th. Guaranteed bad news for some Americans on their nation's birthday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted May 22 Report Share Posted May 22 7 hours ago, Cygnia said: “We did something that everybody wanted,” he said. “We got rid of Roe v. Wade.” Polling data from Pew Research Center in July 2022 found a majorityof Americans supported Roe and were angered by the Supreme Court’s overturning of the landmark decision. You have to understand that Trump is using "we" here in a narrow sense. Not quite the monarchal plural...this time...but "the people I listen to." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted May 22 Report Share Posted May 22 Ireland, Norway, and Spain recognize Palestinian statehood -- or at least their right to have a state. 139 other countries already do this, but it's still significant. Israel's government reacts with predictable outrage. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4nn78r3w3ko Dean Shomshak Cygnia 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclevlad Posted May 22 Report Share Posted May 22 It's significant because it's 3 more NATO countries, and Spain has the 5th largest population. They're the largest NATO country to recognize statehood. This is also taking place when the ICC prosecutor is seeking to bring charges against Netanyahu. Part of Israel's retaliation is to withhold tax money collected that is supposed to go to the Palestinian Authority. Due to the war, Norway has been serving as an intermediary. So in retailation? Israel is stopping the payments to Norway and asking for the return of funds, asserting Norway is no longer neutral. They may have a case to use someone else as an intermediary, but stopping the payments altogether would seem to be a violation of truce agreements going back to the '90s. My take is, this is only going to cause them to lose more support. This won't matter as long as Netanyahu is in the big chair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assault Posted May 23 Report Share Posted May 23 (edited) Apparently a friend of mine is the face of "Jew Hatred" in Australia, according to the Murdoch media. You can see where this is going, can't you? Yes, he's Jewish. He's not the only one who has been put in this position. Apparently it's too expensive to sue for defamation, despite there being a strong case. Edited May 23 by assault Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cygnia Posted May 23 Report Share Posted May 23 This could go in the AI thread too, but I figured with politicians being doofuses, this was the safer place. Republican Alexander Kolodin said: ‘I was kind of struggling with the terminology. So I thought, let me just ask the expert’ Quote An Arizona state representative behind a new law that regulates deepfakes in elections used an artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT, to write part of the law – specifically, the part that defines what a deepfake is. Republican Alexander Kolodin’s bill, which passed unanimously in both chambers and was signed by the Democratic governor this week, will allow candidates in Arizona or residents to ask a judge to declare whether a supposed deepfake is real or not, giving candidates a way to debunk AI-generated misinformation. Kolodin said he used the chatbot ChatGPT to help define what “digital impersonation” is for the bill in part because it was a fun way to demonstrate the technology. He provided a screenshot of ChatGPT’s response to the question of what a deepfake is, which is similar to language that is included in the bill’s definition. “I am by no means a computer scientist,” Kolodin said. “And so when I was trying to write the technical portion of it, in terms of what sort of technological processing makes something a deepfake, I was kind of struggling with the terminology. So I thought to myself, well, let me just ask the subject matter expert. And so I asked ChatGPT to write a definition of what was a deepfake.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted May 23 Report Share Posted May 23 18 hours ago, unclevlad said: It's significant because it's 3 more NATO countries, and Spain has the 5th largest population. They're the largest NATO country to recognize statehood. It's also significant due to history. Ireland has long experience with "terrorism," and had success in reconciling those conflicting groups to achieve independence and peace. Spain is dealing with independentist and terrorist groups of their own, so them drawing a distinction between that and Israel's position carries weight. Norway fought for generations against enforced rule by Sweden, Denmark, and occupation by Nazi Germany who also labeled their freedom fighters as "terrorists." IMO the Israeli government's biggest concern is probably for a potential domino effect, that more countries with international prestige and influence will start pulling their support. We've seen in Ukraine how that can snowball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWolf Posted May 23 Report Share Posted May 23 I'd just dream of a situation where ...there's peace for a while. I can say that, can't I, without being controversial? Lawnmower Boy and Pariah 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted May 23 Report Share Posted May 23 I wouldn't call it controversial at all. I don't like the odds, though. Pariah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DShomshak Posted May 23 Report Share Posted May 23 The BBC has interviewed Jewish Israelis who want to live in peace with their Palestinian neighbors. They're okay not seizing every centimeter of the Biblical kingdom of Israel to be Jewish (and Jewish-only) again. BBC has also interviewed Palestinians who accept the existence of Israel and want to live in peace with their Jewish neighbors, if only they'd be allowed. I don't have numbers on how many Israelis and Palestinians think this way, but it's proof they do exist. I keep reminding myself this is a four-sided conflict, two of the sides want peace -- and the two sides that don't are, in a sense, allied against the two sides that do. The peace-seekers present the existential danger for the war-seekers, in the philosophical sense of challenging the war-seeking maximalists' picture of reality. I suspect Natanyahu hates and fears peace-minded Israelis more than he hates or fears Hamas, and Hamas leaders feel the same about peace-minded Palestinians. But then, I think many people in many governments are deeply foolish, blinded by national mythologies and narratives of pride and grievance to the obvious, pragmatic courses of action that would benefit everyone. That's another rant, though. Dean Shomshak L. Marcus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted May 24 Report Share Posted May 24 I need to share this video from Jared Moskowitz' channel: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.