donuts @ donuts @kbin.social

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Joined

2 yr. ago

Yeah, are we all stuck in some endless emperor's new clothes shit.

Can anyone honestly argue that this guy isn't either (a) super fucking dumb, (b) partially mentally deteriorated, or (c) both?

hostages one of the few ways Palestinians can actually do anything to improve their lives

Genuine question, how has Hamas taking hundreds of innocent people hostage on October 7th improved the situation in Gaza or Israel in any way? Whose life is better today than it was a couple of months ago as a result?

International humanitarian law prohibits taking and executing hostages. Such acts are considered war crimes (GCI–IV Common Art. 3; GCIV Arts. 34, 147; API Art. 75) and can be tried before any national court, under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

The Convention defines a hostage taker as “any person who seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure or to continue to detain another person (‘hostage’) in order to compel a third party, namely a State, an international inter-governmental organization, a natural or juridical person, or a group of persons, to do or to abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for the release of the hostage, commits the offence of taking hostages (‘hostage taking’)” (Art. 1 of Hostage Convention).

The Convention further specifies that not only those who commit such an act but also any person who attempts to commit or who participates as an accomplice in such an act or attempt is accountable and must be punished.

At any rate, regardless of whether you feel Hamas' jihad is justified or not (it isn't, in fact), hostage taking is an international war crime. The Geneva Convention is the bare minimum standard on this, and as such our opinions and political leanings are irrelevant.

The bare minimum Hamas can do now is to release the remaining hostages and surrender themselves to the IDF to stand trial, so that the innocent people of Gaza can start slowly putting their lives back together.

Then maybe Trump should quit "riffing" until he can string a coherent sentence together.

Because Biden is over here giving solid speeches on how this moment reflects American history, while Trump is so completely confused (and, let's face it, that's being fucking generous) that he doesn't even know that Nicky Haley (who worked in his cabinet and who is running against him as a Republican) isn't Nancy Pelosi.

Am I cherry-picking? Has Trump said anything coherent in the last 12 months? On prompter or off. That's a serious question by the way.

Time to face the facts, Biden may be a bit old and doddering, but Trump is now straight-up demented.

It's no wonder he's afraid to debate, because he seems to have barely any idea what's even going on anymore. Why else do you think his handlers have him taking cognitive tests?

Having no achievements never stopped them before.

Holding civilians hostage for 3 months isn't "war", it's an act of terrorism and a war crime.

Edit: I see I struck a nerve with that one.

They won't get anything from handing them over

I guess Allah doesn't reward people just for doing the right thing then?

There are plenty of things that people do every day that contribute to the potential spreading of diseases, from every kind of sex to not wearing a mask when you're sick.

To single out anal sex as a sign that homosexuality is immoral (despite the fact that vaginal sex can also spread diseases, and despite the fact that anal sex is not exclusive to gay people) is a sign that the person you're talking to is biased and arguing in bad faith.

Ethically speaking, if someone wants to live by a moral system that differentiates between right and wrong based on the potential to spread disease, then that's fine, but that logic still needs to be coherent and apply to all things, not just selectively to things that they dislike.

But anyway, if they're sophists, you probably aren't going to convince them. If you have to engage with that shit, then your best bet is probably the socratic method: ask them targeted questions to poke holes in their flawed logic until they back themselves into a corner. You know what they're saying doesn't make any sense, so simply asking them questions which reveal more contradictions will force them to adjust or abandon their position.

I'm not sure that getting your "news" from random TikToks is any better...

Here's an excerpt from the very beginning of Biden's speech two weeks ago:

In the winter of 1777, it was harsh and cold as the Continental Army marched to Valley Forge. General George Washington knew he faced the most daunting of tasks: to fight and win a war against the most powerful empire that existed in the world at the time.

His mission was clear. Liberty, not conquest. Freedom, not domination. National independence, not individual glory.

America made a vow. Never again would we bow down to a king.

And here's an except from Trump's speech from his most recent rally just a few days ago:

By the way, they never report the crowd on January 6. You know, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley … did you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it? All of it, because of lots of things, like Nikki Haley is in charge of security, we offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, national guards, whatever they want. They turned it down.

Biden is old, just like Trump. Nobody denies that. But surely you aren't trying to "both sides" this one by equating the two mentally or physically, right?

I wasn't trying to imply that. I've edited my post to reflect that I'm speaking generally. Sorry.

Personally I think that asexual people also benefit from sex-positivity and an honest discussion about the wide variety of forms of sexual expression. When we stop treating sex as some dirty taboo thing, and when we start accepting that everybody wants something different out of it (or maybe doesn't want it at all), I think it becomes easier to understand that all different kinds of people exist with different relationships to sex. That's not only OK, but a good thing.

A lot of social ills have come from the idea that people who express different forms of sexuality are wrong, gross, bad, sinful, mentally ill, etc. The sooner we move past that flawed and harmful concept, the better, in my opinion.

Make no mistake, even if he loses the popular vote, Trump is going to take getting reelected as some kind of mandate to act as a dictator and do whatever he wants with the full power of the US government and military behind him.

Democracy will not survive another 4 years of this increasingly unhinged husk of a moron.

We were doing so well in realising that all human beings are worthy individuals with emotional and intellectual depth, yet now so many of us don’t seem to see any problem with society encouraging many to reduce themselves to sexual objects.

Human beings, like most other animals and plants, are fundamentally sexual beings.

It's good to value emotions and intellect, of course, but even before all of that comes the primitive basis of sexuality, sensual and sensory pleasure, and the propagation of species. Sex (with others or by yourself) is just as much a natural and core part of the human experience as eating, drinking, sleeping, and so on, and embracing sexual freedom and sex-positivity is in no way incompatible with emotional balance, intellectualism, or any other meaningful pursuit.

As such, masturbation or pornography aren't inherently bad or problematic in any way.

There are absolutely potential problems surrounding pornography, like human trafficking, but those issues are separate things that can and should be treated and handled as distinct. We have the tools as a society to deal with human trafficking and sexual violence, and we can do it without throwing sexual freedom and bodily autonomy under the bus.

In my view the last thing we should do as a society is to continue to engage in mindless sex-negativity, which has a long documented history of direct ties to the persecution of women and LGBTQ+ sexual minorities, as well as needlessly shaming people (sometimes to the point of inflicting real psychological damage) for exploring the full space of sexual possibilities by themselves or with consenting partners. Like everything else, ethics, responsibility, moderation and legality are things to consider, but you can do all of that while still being sex-positive and open minded about personal sexual liberty.

Changing the way you think about and practice sexuality (your own, others, and in general) allows you to know yourself and others in a more intimate, authentic and human way.

Well if you really want me to buy even more shit online (let's be real, from Amazon) this is a good way to do it.

At best I don't like small talk or dealing with other people through meaningless interactions. At worst I might have minor social anxiety. I hugely prefer to just walk into a shop, grab what I need, check myself out, and leave.

At this point I'm also just as fast (if not faster) than the paid cashiers and baggers (who need and deserve chairs or stools by the way).

So yeah, if self checkout goes away, I'm buying as much stuff online as possible and generally making fewer trips to the store.

I can only imagine being so brainwashed to believe that the Houthis harassing, threatening and attacking one of the biggest international trade routes on Earth, while indiscriminately targeting ships from various countries and ignoring multiple warnings from the UN, Britain and the US, is in any way legitimate.

They attacked civilian ships, they were warned not to, they didn't stop attacking civilian ships, and now they've been retaliated against as promised. Let's see if they're smart enough to finally stop fucking with international civilian trade ships.

Do you think America enforces sanctions against Russia by attacking their civilians?

Follow up, do you have a clue how anything in the world actually works?

The terrorist Houthis in Yemen, like Hamas, are backed by Iran--all three of which have individually called for the genocide and annihilation of Israel.

Last week America gave the Houthis one final warning (after multiple others) to knock off their piracy and hijacking of international trade routes.

Instead of widely heeding that warning, they made the very stupid decision to call America's bluff. As the saying goes "fuck around, find out."

By the way, Iran is also an authoritarian Islamic theocracy in which women are subjugated, homosexuality is subject to persecution, and freedom of expression is nonexistent. They represent the model of a Muslim State under Sharia religious law, back Islamic terrorist groups in various parts of the world, are creating instability in the region (like the Oct 7 attacks and these trade route hijackings), and are generally not your friend no matter how much koolaid you drink or what medal you pick up in the mental gymnastics Olympics.

So the Houthis get carte blanche to attack international trade routes because something someone Israel?

Hard to believe we're still making people this dumb. Darwin must have gotten something wrong.

You should be mad that Israel is getting weapons when Ukraine isn't.

But not at Biden.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-sets-test-vote-ukraine-aid-despite-republican-opposition-2023-12-06/

When it comes to Gaza...

There is no US President, real or hypothetical, who would stop military support of Israel in the wake of the October 7th attacks. And there is no US President, real or hypothetical, who is going to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza before every last Israeli hostage is accounted for.

Biden's policies on Israel so far are not far even from someone as left as Bernie Sanders, because rational minds understand that there is no simple solution to middle east peace, nor has there ever been.

We'd all like to see Hamas release their hostages, and Israel to release those who have been held without due process. We'd all like to see an end to the violence and hostility, and an end to the era where both Israel and Palestine are under the control of fascist authoritarian regimes. Sadly it's not as simple as sending Jared Kushner over or whatever delusional shit Americans want to come up with next.

I'd love to see every last dollar of the US defense budget go to whooping Putin's ass in Ukraine, but that's also not very realistic.

Oh I can fault him for things today as well

Go on.