Just to get it out of the way at the start - Hamas is terrible. They are violent fundamentalists and do not deserve support. Neither Israel nor Hamas are “good” and the only side that deserves support and recognition are the civilians, Israeli or Palestinian, suffering because of/under their evil regimes. Now on to the rebuttal.

Israel needs no “baiting” to kill or otherwise abuse Palestinians - it’s their policy and has been for a long time. From the Nakba until today, the history of Israeli human rights violations, violence, lies, etc. is well-established. “Look at what you made me do” is such a typical excuse used by abusers that it’s almost a trope. Moreover, Netanyahu’s government deliberately kept Hamas in power as a useful bogeyman and an way to divide/foil Palestinian statehood. There is ample evidence that Israel has directly supported Hamas and other extremists for decades.

“Hamas, for its part, is alleged to have emerged out of the Israeli-financed Islamist movement in Gaza, Israel’s then-military governor in that territory, Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Segev, disclosing in 1981 that he had been given a budget for funding Palestinian Islamists to counter the rising power of Palestinian secularists.”

"In a 1994 book, “The Other Side of Deception,” Mossad whistleblower Victor Ostrovsky contended that aiding Hamas meshed with “Mossad’s general plan” for an Arab world “run by fundamentalists” that would reject “any negotiations with the West,” thereby leaving Israel as “the only democratic, rational country in the region.” Avner Cohen, a former Israeli religious affairs official involved in Gaza for over two decades, told a newspaper interviewer in 2009 that, “Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel’s creation.”

As far as the nature of the demands: “one-sided deals” is a matter of opinion, but “we need guarantees you’ll actually leave, stop killing/injuring many tens of thousands of civilians, destroying hospitals/schools/aid, etc.” seems like a pretty standard request at peace negotiations. Especially since Israel has repeatedly promised to continue to prosecute the war and establish long-term armed forces in Gaza.

If he can follow up on even a portion of what he promises, a 2nd Trump presidency will bring the USA to a halt at multiple levels like a car hitting a reinforced wall. The best version of a Trump presidency is him raging daily as he’s blocked constantly by legal challenges and bureaucratic measures thus getting nothing done. The worst version is that he succeeds in his goals, reforms the USA into a right-wing autocracy and destroys things like checks/balances and separation of church and state.

There’s nothing damning after the “but” though. What part specifically of “but unfortunately they are the folks bargaining for Gazans” do you take issue with? That’s the provable reality of the negotiations. I even call it unfortunate.

Israel has repeatedly stated their intent to continue the war in Gaza regardless of international approval. Netanyahu, among others, has stated intent to establish a long-term/permanent security presence in Gaza.

Since Oct. 7th the Israeli military has either directly killed or provided protection to lethal settler attacks in the West Bank, resulting in over 500 deaths in a section of Occupied Palestinian Territory that theoretically isn’t at war. So there’s Israeli military presence, violence, and oppression of Palestinians even where Hamas isn’t in control.

Hamas are not good guys by any stretch, but unfortunately they are the folks bargaining for Gazans. In the face of continued Israeli aggression, disregard for international approval/law, and stated plans it’s no wonder they’re demanding that any deals have rock-solid guarantees on an enforceable timetable.

I almost never buy multiplayer-focused games anymore. Of course not all gamers are shitty, but enough are to matter. Having left those games behind I can see how they were taking more joy from my life than they added. If friends want to do private co-op that’s cool, but it’s also rarer now that we’re all older.

As far as sales go, I love playing a year or two behind new releases. Patched games at a discount ftw and timing doesn’t matter in single-player games.

Upvoted because it’s a story worth knowing, but as far as I can tell this is just further harassment/condemnation of anything pro-Palestinian. As of the end of April, independent review “finds no evidence for Israel’s claims about UNRWA and Hamas”.

Israel has declared organizations as terrorists on bad premises before. E.g. - in 2021 Defence for Children International was formally labelled a terrorist organization after they reported the rape of a 13-year-old Palestinian to the US State Department. Josh Paul, a director involved with the investigation, gives details in an interview about why he resigned from the State Dept. post-Oct. 7th. The short version is: the allegations of rape were credible, Israel was confronted, the next day Israeli forces seized all the local assets of Defence for Children International and declared them terrorists.

EU nations have formally rejected “terrorist organization” labels being applied to humanitarian/watchdog agencies in Israel/OPT before.

Agreed. This is more about the court saying, “You countries signed us into existence to monitor the most serious instances of international law and here’s our ruling as legal experts. Now it’s up to you to decide what to do with it.”

I still love seeing this because:

• It lends legitimacy to the accusations against Israel and provides a legal foundation upon which to start measures meant to bring Israel back into line with international law.
• In recent months my dreams have changed. If given the choice I’d give up personal wealth and fulfillment to see Netanyahu and his cabinet of thugs prosecuted in a modern Nuremberg Trial and end their lives in prison as befits the war criminals they are. Leaders should be held accountable for things like bombing hospitals and starving millions no matter which nation they represent.

Too much clean energy that is nearly free sounds like a much better type of problem to solve than most.

I totally missed that when I wrote it.

Every time I get close it says “Press X to Interact” but I don’t think my stats are high enough yet. I’m grinding on unattended toddlers until I level a few times.

If the senior citizens near-ruling the USA from the SCOTUS find that making unpopular and legally questionable decisions is exhausting then they are free to retire. People will care a lot less about luxury RV’s, free vacations, flags, etc. when they’re no longer steering things like national reproductive rights and who actually has to obey the law.

Those are some mental gymnastics, to try to tell me that when a Palestinian purchases fuel or other products in Palestine and the tax money goes to Israel that it’s not Palestinian taxes. That it’s Israeli money and is only returned (or sometimes not) because Israel is kind to Palestine. Or that when Israel collects the taxes on a Palestinian’s job located in the OPT, i.e. all work is done outside Israeli borders, that it’s not Israel collecting Palestinian taxes.

Edit: Just to make sure I was doing my homework, I actually found a copy of the relevant agreement. Read Annex V point 1 (1st page) and Appendix V point 4 (2nd page). Both make it clear that Israel is collecting Palestinian taxes from Palestinians and on purchases made wholly in Palestine with a final destination inside Palestine. Given the very specific language of the agreement, I’m even more sure your assertion that it’s Israeli-sourced money is incorrect.

Your word alone is not enough, and in the absence of requested evidence I’m going to disregard it. I have found MANY sources going back years that state that Israel is collecting Palestinian taxes, as in money that Palestine would be collecting if it wasn’t occupied/was a self-governing nation. Israel also frequently withholds these taxes as a political bludgeon even though they are bound by their own signed agreements to pass that money along to Palestinian authorities. Israel even charges a 3% fee to do this for Palestine. I cannot find a single source that backs up your assertion that it’s actually Israel’s money transferred as an act of charity. Moreover, the idea that Israel is being unnecessarily kind clashes with decades of evidence about how Israel views, controls, and abuses Palestinians.

I upvoted, but I wanted to add a few thoughts. See, I understand what you’re saying in that US history has been littered with acts ranging from questionable to horrible the entire time. However as a Canadian some of my most treasured people, both personal acquaintances and public figures, are/were American. Even though I criticize policies US policies (a lot more recently), I still feel a kinship to Americans and I like a lot of you.

I think America has an accountability problem where a very few people in power are allowed to COMPLETELY misrepresent the positions of their constituents and make national/state decisions that outrage huge portions of the population (often for money’s sake). In the 20-odd years I’ve been an adult I’ve noticed this about the Iraq war, the 2008 financial crisis + wealth inequality in general, climate, health care, and now of course the situation in Gaza. There’s almost no meaningful consequences applied when leaders act against the wishes of the populace or even your own laws. At worst some are not elected again and have to live on whatever millions they could amass during their years in power. Some say Americans get the government they deserve, but checks and balances don’t work if the few people empowered to check and balance are on the same corrupt/unethical page.

So I’m equally suspicious of anyone who thinks that America has, as a nation, been the greatest country in the world the entire time. I would simultaneously argue though that the US is home to some of the greatest people and that a large % of the population is at least as “good” as most other countries. Of course there are genuine shitheads in America, but that’s universal to every nation IMO. The real problem in my eyes is that your leaders have not been forced to actually put the “representation” in representative democracy. If you read all that, thanks for giving me your time.

Worked through my obsessions a bit and let go of them. In the following weeks I asked three women out and got shot down each time instead of thinking about doing so for a month and being a creep.

Unironically, good on you. That’s character progress and it takes a lot of courage and self-confidence to accept rejection in a mature way and keep trying regardless. For what it’s worth I as an Internet stranger think we should help more people do the same sort of things.

The article references what you might be remembering:

“The Moms have recently attracted a swell of bad press, thanks to a disastrous 60 Minutes interview in which the co-founders struggled to defend their stances; a chapter leading quoting Hitler in a newsletter last year; some members’ close ties to the Proud Boys; and, perhaps most notably, the group’s national co-founder Bridget Ziegler becoming embroiled in a sex scandal after it came out that she and her husband, Florida GOP chair Christian Ziegler, were involved in a three-way sexual relationship with a woman—even though Bridget Ziegler played a key role in the passage of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, which forbade discussion of LGBTQ issues in many school settings. (Christian Ziegler was accused of rape by the other woman in the encounter—an allegation he denied, and which authorities ultimately declined to prosecute—and was booted from his post within the state Republican party earlier this year.)”

As soon as I hear a name like “Moms for Liberty” I just know they’re going to be a group of brainwashed outrage addicts campaigning for demonstrably harmful things.

And in trying to check the first suggestion Google has is “moms for liberty book ban list” so I have a feeling I’m right.

Her name is [kept to myself because I’m a gentleman who doesn’t kiss and tell]. I hope I, in turn, am not someone’s most alarming thing but it’s possible :P