Another excellent explainer by Vox. Goes to show how silly the US's system is.

Would you rather live in a world run by Israel or Hamas? I think we both know the answer to that. — RogueAI

You mean Likud or Hamas. Neither, because I dislike terrorists.

Would I prefer to live in Israel or Gaza? Israel, hands down. But that’s exactly the point.

If you have the right belief system, killing people is fine.

Like the US in Iraq: spreading freedom and democracy. The “right” values. You have to burn a few babies alive to spread your superior Western values? Thems the breaks I guess.

How sickening.

No, Hamas and much of the Arab world fight for a belief system that oppresses women and LGBTQ people — RogueAI

Sorry, but war is hell. Collateral damage.

Oh and the IDF fight for a belief system of apartheid and ethno-nationalism. No thanks.

aware of any civilian casualties.” — RogueAI

Oh, cool! What a shocker. I’m sure Israel has the capability for precise targeting, after all, and that no innocent people will be among the dead.

Nothing to see.

All roads lead back to WW2. — RogueAI

How tiresome.

By that logic, Hamas is also justified in what they did. Innocent people die in war — “too bad.” I suppose the Israelis shouldn’t demand justice for all the dead civilians. War is hell.

Another day, another “accidental” bombing of a school and innocent people being murdered. But war is hell and collateral damage and Hamas etc.

Looks like women are our last best hope. — RogueAI

Could be.

The planet just marked a “shocking” new milestone, enduring 12 consecutive months of unprecedented heat, according to new data from Copernicus, the European Union’s climate monitoring service.

Every single month from June 2023 to May 2024 was the world’s hottest such month on record, Copernicus data showed

12 Months of Records

Turning the planet into Venus seems to be the goal.

Electric Cars Are Suddenly Becoming Affordable

More (somewhat) good news. Thinking my next car will be a used EV.

More efficient manufacturing, falling battery costs and intense competition are lowering sticker prices for battery-powered models to within striking distance of gasoline cars.

It is interesting to watch Stewart in his old show again after nearly a decade. So much less cringey than how other “talk show hosts” handle these things, in part because he prioritizes humor.

It’s fun that he’s back for the election.

I read what you said very well, and it’s obvious where you’ve gotten your information, what you’ve been taken in by, and where you stake your assumptions.

This is obvious because I (and others), unlike you, follow this stuff closely. You show up spouting talking points straight from conservative media, Trump tropes and other bromides that we’ve seen many times and which are indeed boring and ignorant. It’s “Well Hillary was an election denier too!” and similar statements. If you really see it as the same thing from what Trump was doing and continues to do, then “reason and logic” really doesn’t apply to you, and you deserve exactly what you’ve gotten.

It's the unequal and politicized application of the law that even some on the left are deeply concerned about. — fishfry

Let the Clintons and Bidens be jailed too for all I care. The Republicans were trying for years and continue to try. Their cases are so stupid it’s not worth discussing— what they should be doing is going after stock trading and other issues like that, but because they’re just as culpable, they won’t.

So it’s not unequal — for anyone paying attention, it’s been happening for years. See Clinton 1998 or Hillary’s emails or the current impeachment “inquiry” into Sleepy Joe. Trump’s hush money case is small potatoes, but because he’s such a moron and so blatantly corrupt, it’s easy to win in court. That’s the real difference. The other cases — like overthrowing an election — are more serious.

buzzwords — NOS4A2

:rofl:

Carry on.

The most abject conjecture and persistent appeal to authority is their highest degree of evidence — NOS4A2

Says an election denier, a climate denier, and a Trump defender. :rofl:

Not that much riding on some rambling imbecile on the internet. Just come to this thread to laugh a little and go about your day.

Up is down and black is white. Don’t try to reason— just enjoy the show. Trump is perfect— the rest follows.

There are plenty wrongly convicted felons. — NOS4A2

:rofl: Yes yes!!

Please continue your incomprehensible defense of this degenerate con man. It’s comedic gold.

Trump hasn’t committed any crimes — NOS4A2

:rofl:

He’s a felon. Just convicted. Maybe you didn’t hear about it.

Biden family corruption is the real problem. — NOS4A2

Yes! Lol. Thanks for getting back to your funniest material.

Wait let me do one: “Trump is the greatest president in history and had the biggest inaugural crowd ever.”

It might be the soy shots, Xtrix. — NOS4A2

Xtrix is my old screenname. And what’s “soy shots”? You mean steroid shots?

Does literally everything you write have to be absurd and incoherent? It’s like a natural law.

Anyway, stick to the stuff where Trump has never committed crimes and the real issue is Hunter Biden, etc. Much funnier than when you try to be.

Unlike spouting bullshit, which need not be cited. Leaves you off the hook.

Biden is attempting to imprison Trump. — NOS4A2

Trump never committed any [crimes] — NOS4A2

:rofl:

Stop! My abs hurt.

Violent protesters were let off easy for razing city blocks, but if you take a lectern or put your feet on Pelosi’s desk your thrown in the gulag for years. — NOS4A2

:rofl:

These stats from the Gaza Health ministry? — BitconnectCarlos

Someone’s obsessed with defending genocide.

Many of us focused on the problem of climate change have been waiting for the day when renewable energy would become cheaper than fossil fuels.

Well, we’re there: Solar and wind power are less expensive than oil, gas and coal in many places and are saving our economy billions of dollars. These and other renewable energy sources produced 30 percent of the world’s electricity in 2023, which may also have been the year that greenhouse gas emissions in the power sector peaked. In the United States alone, the amount of solar and wind energy capacity waiting to be built and connected to the grid is 18 times the amount of natural gas power capacity in the queue.

So you might reasonably conclude that the market is pivoting, and the end for fossil fuels is near.

But it’s not. Instead, fossil fuel interests — including think tanks, trade associations and dark money groups — are often preventing the market from shifting to the lowest cost energy.

Similar to other industries from tobacco to banking to pharmaceuticals, oil and gas interests use tactics like lobbying and manufacturing “grass-roots” support to maximize profits. They also spread misinformation: It’s well documented that fossil fuel interests tried to convince the public that their products didn’t cause climate change, in the same way that Big Tobacco tried to convince the public that its products didn’t harm people’s health.

But as renewables have become a more formidable competitor, we are now seeing something different: a large-scale effort to deceive the public into thinking that the alternative products are harmful, unreliable and worse for consumers. And as renewables continue to drop in cost, it will become even more critical for policymakers and others to challenge these attempts to slow the adoption of cheaper and healthier forms of energy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/01/opinion/clean-energy-solar-wind.html

I can't help but notice the stark difference in tactics (violence) between the two sides — BitconnectCarlos

Yeah, 99.9% peaceful protests with .1% property damage (like burning down a police station) hyped up by Fox News and getting idiots riled up…and attacking the Capitol to overthrow an election that wasn’t to Daddy Trump’s liking, that Fox News called a “tour.”

Stark contrast indeed — about the state of one’s brain on propaganda.

Another boring “both-sides” guy. How original— how interesting.

Well said. :up:

Oh and every human rights organization and…checks notes…every country in the world is biased.

The whole world is out to get me. The teacher hates me.

Summing up 13 pages:

When we do it, war crimes are justified (or simply not crimes).

When they do it, war crimes aren’t justified. It’s terrorism.

:ok:

stumped even Plato — Shawn

That’s not how I recall the interaction with Socrates.

This verdict is a bad thing. It does not matter what you think of Donald Trump. It's a blatantly political case: a sitting president using a state judicial system — fishfry

Nope. Total bullshit.

It’s a good thing when a criminal gets convicted of crimes. This one isn’t too important — there are others. But you crying about it because you’ve bought into Sean Hannity’s analysis of political persecution by Biden— where there’s no evidence whatsoever — is a joke.

Spare us.

whereas religion (mythos) begins with answers we are "commanded" not to question and proceeds by faith in obeying such unquestioned answers — 180 Proof

It can be that, yeah. But then, so can philosophy — and science. Dogmatism can creep in anywhere. The point for me is a broad one: what’s called philosophy and religion often overlap in what they’re interested in, what they’re questioning. A set of beliefs with rites and rituals and social gatherings is on average perhaps less flexible and open minded than simply struggling with a question and not yet believing anything firmly, but only by averages (have you been to many philosophy departments? :vomit: ).

I take your point. Mine is an outlier view and so broad as to make the everyday meaning (which is useful) empty. But still there is something to it.

Cope.

This is the least he deserves. Would have been hung for treason back in the day. Oh well.

Loving the Trumper tears though. When he loses in November, I’m perfectly happy to hear them cry about it all for the next 4 years. Otherwise some two-bit con man getting what he deserves isn’t that interesting.

Lol, good.

Raping and dismembering and killing civilians doesn't disqualify them? — schopenhauer1

Who, Israel? Clarify.

actual movement bent on PURPOSEFULLY using disgusting tactics — schopenhauer1

Again, Israel.

Oh wait, it’s only disgusting when it’s intentional. And as usual, we’re back to intention. Of course we are — since Israel has killed and dismembered, brutally and disgustingly, more people than Hamas, it must be because they do so with high tech weaponry and nothing but DEFENSE in their hearts and souls, it’s totally fine.

Never mind that they PURPOSEFULLY want the Palestinians gone, and have said so. But I suppose that’s just them blowing off steam — Hamas has a CHARTER that says so!

immanently threatening your existence as a country. — schopenhauer1

It was argued that the spread of communism did indeed threaten the very existence of our country — and immanently. But that was just the pretext for that particular war. Plenty of people bought it, plenty who said it might have even believed it.

Israel is occupying lands, illegally and against the wishes of an entire people. They know very well the Palestinians aren’t going to stop fighting. So they keep pushing settlements in the West Bank, they make Gaza a hellhole, they mow the lawn, they promote Hamas (as Hamas— like Likud— doesn’t want a two state solution, as the PA does), and now they turn Gaza into rubble and displaced a million people.

The hope is to get rid of the Palestinian problem under the guise of “defense,” hoping the world believes history began on October 7th. So far, not working. Except with you and a handful of others with vast Wikipedia research.

decades upon decades of UN Security Council resolutions.
— Tzeentch

Already addressed this, — schopenhauer1

Yeah, already addressed it: “Sorry, biased.”
Why?
“Look at all the countries we can disregard like China and Russia and all of Africa and the Arab ones…”
And what of the ones that remain, even after these bullshit eliminations?
“Well the UN is biased.”

Another masterclass in logic by resident apartheid/ethnic cleansing / genocide apologists.

Illegal action to defend themselves? Nah not buying that argument. — schopenhauer1

There you have it folks.

Yeah, the state we happen to like for whatever reason did it, so it must be defensive. The US didn’t invade Vietnam— it was defending Vietnam. Israel is committing a genocide — it’s defending itself.

I guess Hamas too was just taking “defensive actions” on October 7th. They have a right to defend themselves against Israeli occupation, after all.

What a stupid, ahistorical rationalization.

I find in most or all of the discussions about religion that while willing to go into an issue, the is a general lack of interest to ask the basic questions that would lead to an understanding of what religion IS, that is, what there is in the world that warrants interest in the first place. — Constance

Already muddled.

You talk about where you think religion comes from — but not about what it is. That would be helpful before discussing where it “rises out of.” What is doing the rising, exactly?

Religion is amorphous, so it’s worth stating what you think it means before discussing your ideas about its origins or essence.

For my part, I see little difference between religion and philosophy— both ask very universal, difficult, extra-ordinary questions about existence. That being said, your proposition seems a little out of left field.

And since no Palestinian leaders have really taken the hard(er) route of getting past absolutist terms for peace — schopenhauer1

I don't think much of the UN.. They are a biased body. — schopenhauer1

I wonder why those with basically no historical understanding whatsoever keep displaying these tired, stale, vapid observations.

It’s Israel and the United States that have blocked any peaceful agreement, and have done so for decades. But let’s blame the people we’re stealing land from and literally fencing in. How brave.