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2 yr. ago

  • Epistemology isn't the determining factor when it comes to human beings doing terrible things to each other on the rationale that it is for "the greater good" or the "natural order".

    Nazi Germany, the Khmer Rouge, the Cultural Revolution, European colonialism, etc saw millions dead because one group of people though they had the right to control society and shape it in the way they saw fit.

  • Agreed, but this isn't unique to religion -- the same can be said of political ideologies.

  • The speech was certainly written with the Republicans in mind, so i wouldn't be surprising if that was intentional.

  • No, it did not happen the way he described it. Firstly, there was a baby, not babies. Secondly, the child was not secreted somewhere alone, found after the parents had been shot and then deliberately killed.

    Netanyahu is deliberately embellishing the story in order to heighten the outrage over October 7th, and then trying to frame anyone protesting Israel's ethnic cleansing in Gaza as a supporter of what happened. It's disgraceful.

  • Immediately after October 7th, there were various sensational and outlandish claims made by Israeli officials that babies were beheaded, put into ovens, murdered in their nurseries, and generally singled out and made to suffer with intentional violence. Since then, no evidence whatsoever has been provided to substantiate these claims and the majority of them have been dropped completely.

    UN records indicate that one baby did actually die along with her family after Hamas fighters opened fire into a safe room in Kibbutz Be'eri (page 10), but there were no recorded cases where multiple babies were intentionally targeted and killed in the way that Netanyahu describes.

    None of this is to diminish the atrocities that were committed on October 7th, but it is telling that Israel and Netanyahu in particular seem dead set on making the events on that day seem as barbaric as possible in order to somehow justify the large-scale massacring of men, women, and children that is happening in Gaza.

  • And yet again we have congress members clapping like trained seals to debunked Israel propaganda and the characterization of anti-war protesters being in favor of the killing of civilians.

    "My friends, defeating our brutal enemies requires courage and clarity. Clarity begins by knowing the difference between good an evil. Yet, incredibly, many anti-Israel protesters choose to stand with evil. They stand with Hamas. They stand with rapists and murderers. They stand with people who came into the kibbutzim -- into a home -- the parents hid the children, the two babies, in a secret attic. They murdered the families -- the parents. They found the secret attic and then they murdered the babies. These protesters stand with them; they should be ashamed of themselves."

    *Thunderous applause, standing ovation

    https://youtu.be/Kwi0uD2QlKw?t=5589

    This is 2003 Iraq War levels of state-approved disinformation. I feel nauseated.

  • Like it or not, Twitter is still the de-facto place for breaking news stories. You just have to sift through the dross.

    As much as Mastodon is a far nicer and healthier social platform, it has a long way to go before it gets anywhere close in this particular regard.

  • Oh, don't get me wrong - Budweiser/Coors/Michelob etc. are all awful. However, most US states have good local breweries and craft beers. Lagers are generally not as popular as IPAs, but you can still get good ones. Admittedly, this varies quite a bit depending on where you are in the US.

  • It's not the job of the local police to patrol private neighborhoods on request -- that's what private security is for.

    The outrageous thing here is that public money is being used to fund it. They have the proceeds from selling off lucrative real estate on stolen land - why don't they pay for it themselves?

  • MRW I've been comparing US politics to WWE for years

    1. No it's not.
    2. I already use salted butter for toast -- American is still worse.
    3. Yes it is.
  • As a cooking ingredient, maybe, but if you're using butter on toast, bread, etc. then Irish/French/British butter is clearly better.

    Also, the superiority of European chocolate isn't to do with the cocoa content or the sweetness - it's just creamier and has a smoother texture.

    I'll agree with you on the beer, though.

  • Agreed. AFAIK not a single US mainstream media outlet has even covered the story, whitewashed headline or otherwise.

  • Partly business -- Israel and the UK have multi-billion £ trade agreements, and partly political -- the UK has long followed Washington when it comes to foreign policy.

  • Elections bring these issues into sharp relief, so of course people are talking about it -- especially since this particular election features the two most deeply unpopular candidates in US history.

    It's never the wrong time to condemn the two-party duopoly for the facade of democracy that it is, or point out that the sentiments and circumstances that led to the rise of Trump need to be tackled at their roots before they go away.

    Even if Biden somehow manages to beat Trump in November, there will be no meaningful political change until the dominance of the corporate two-party system is broken up and the financial burdens of the working classes are alleviated.

  • Implying that the UK has been overrun with scary Islamist muslims was a choice, too.

  • This story has haunted me for the last day or so since I read about. I advise caution before deciding to read all the details, as it's pretty fucking bleak and heartbreaking.

    And yet this is what Western Governments are enabling while the mainstream media ignore or minimize It. Imagine if this story was the headline on CNN...

  • A better approach I think is voting more progressive thinkers into congress and other places of power and authority.

    And as we have seen, true progressives have been repeatedly pushed from the ticket in favor of establishment-friendly centrists time and time again. The two-party duopoly won't allow it.