When he’s being actively undermined by Republicans the whole way, just cleaning up Trump’s mess can be an accomplishment. The Inflation Reduction Act went against heavily entrenched interests to restart the US federal government’s response to climate change. It took real finesse to get that through Congress.

I can’t help but think that’s why Putin invaded Ukraine. He needed something to keep the masses distracted. He’s afraid that he’ll get assassinated if he ever leaves power, whether voluntarily or by violent overthrow.

Yeah, it’s just a bad headline.

Bingo. Letting people get strong armed into these sorts of “agreements” is a perversion of free markets.

It sounds like it was the bomber, Serhiy Batryn, that was reported as dead. Conflicting reports as to whether he has actually died. This was not related to Russia from what I could gather. He had a long standing feud with members of the local council.

That’s how I see it. Israel really hasn’t seen any public consequences from the US, its closest allies, for how it treats the Palestinians. This is kind of a shot across the bow that there is more to come. The Biden administration has indicated that they are not pleased with the scale of civilian casualties in Gaza.

I had some lucky timing with an inheritance. Also two software engineer’s salaries. Even then, it took a chunk out of our finances. We also got a bit lucky. The house was probably selling a little below its value and we got in right before the Fed really started pumping the brakes with interest rate increases.

More space dicks

Back when I was doing a weekly shopping trip on my bike with panniers, I tried self-checkout once when the cashiers were busy. Never again. The tall bags just screwed with the sensors too much. Now I’m maybe a bit more inclined to use it because I moved to a house just a quick walk to the store. It can make sense to just dump all of the items on the weighing platform and put them in my backpack and reusable bags later.

I get that, but I have had the opportunity to talk to several people from Israel. They’ve grown up surrounded by this conflict. Inflicting collective punishment on them doesn’t sit well with me. This is a more multi-dimensional situation than the apartheid of South Africa or the invasion by Russia. This is as much a string of failures of leadership in Israel and Palestine as anything else.

Interesting. I’m not going to stop doing it, but still, interesting.

Definitely avoid companies that are profiting from activity in the West Bank, but not all of Israel. Israel includes many ethnic minorities that would be harmed all the same.

Make your bed each morning. Your bedroom will look more organized and you will have a nice bed to lie down in at night.

Kind of like no independent journalists can investigate in Gaza about Israeli-built tunnels under a hospital under IDF control, right?

Okay, so explain this: why would Israel lie about the tunnels? It makes perfect sense that Hamas would operate largely in tunnels including under vital infrastructure, tunnels are used for smuggling in other places around the world, and bringing the IDF into hospitals is a huge headache in terms of PR. So what’s in it for Israel?

My understanding is this lie was used by Hamas to isolate Israel from Arab nations where much of the public was frankly horrified by the brutal violence Hamas had aimed specifically at civilians. So no, it wasn’t just “the one relatively inconsequential thing,” it is a lie that has had serious consequences.

Especially anyone who believes that individuals are less free now than they were historically in the United States. Only the ignorant or biased make that claim.

I don’t see any problem with a system to detect drunk driving and bring the car to a stop. There is no right to drive a car while drunk or otherwise impaired. Inventing one by calling upon privacy also ignores that the cops can pull you over and give you a sobriety test if they have reason to anyway. In 2021, over 13,000 people in the US died from drunk drivers. They deserve protection.

So much this. The Palestinian side has been more or less in stasis politically for what, a decade? Meanwhile Israel moves further and further to the right, constantly indulging their worst right flank including continued land theft. The Republicans in the US indulge Israel without question, while the Democrats question Israel without teeth.

Hamas and Netanyahu need to go as the baseline outcome of this debacle. I’m not sure how Hamas gets removed, or more importantly what takes its place.

For reading, digital. I can have access to a functionally unlimited number of books. They also tend to be less expensive. That makes a difference for media like manga where it racks up pretty quickly. And I can make adjustments to the text and lighting that help with readability.

I still like having some books around as decoration. They bring a room together nicely.

I just said I think IDF violence against kids throwing rocks is unjustifiable. DID I STUTTER?