"It is never appropriate to call in armed police to arrest peaceful student demonstrators....
The faculty of Columbia University has every right – and, in my view, a duty – to protect peaceful free expression at #Columbia with a vote of no confidence in Shafik’s leadership and seek to have her presidency terminated"
@inquiline No one was being arrested for speech. They were violating a university Code of Conduct - specifically, trespassing- and that’s why they were arrested. Peaceful protesters following the university code of conduct were not arrested.
@futurebird@godofbiscuits I’m not sure it’s even illegal. If you have a contract with a data broker, you can get a staggering amount of information on any American who has a credit card, subscribes to a newspaper, etc.
Have you been sad because your jam got mold after only a month or so?
That's how fancy jam works, no preservatives. You pay the price, but I've found a solution that's worked for years:
After you crack the jam open and use it (always with a clean knife, minimize time it's open! Don't let spores in!) Pour a thin layer of honey over the top of the jam. This will prevent mold. It's yummy too.
How someone responds to Stephen Fry's alternative Christmas message about #antisemitism is the most simple and easy way to tell if someone is worth talking to or should just be blocked immediately.
@futurebird@njwatt@CStamp The Amish? Now there’s a theory I haven’t heard before. I’ve taken the Northeast Corridor line many times, haven’t seen a lot of Amish on there.
Thanksgiving weekend may not be the best time to judge how well Northeast Corridor Amtrak is working, as the train capacity is maxed out and seat availability is very low. Amtrak’s demand pricing maximizes revenue in that case, to your detriment.
Every election season the message is "vote like your life depends on it because it does". 2024 is that message amplified by 100,000! Don't sit this one out! You don't even have to think about it or research. Just vote for every democrat if you still want to live in a democracy. One caveat though, make sure they aren't spoilers. (ManchSinema etc.) https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/07/american-democracy-heather-cox-richardson-trump-biden
@lin11c correction- in the primary, avoid spoilers like Sinema. In the general, vote for the Democrat even if you don’t like them, even if they don’t vote with Biden 100%. All of Biden’s legislation was passed with support from “spoilers” like Manchin. None would’ve been passed with an R senator in W.Va.
One thread of the GA crimes has always been a little unclear to me. What I gather is that Kanye West's publicist contacted Freeman & Moss (perhaps at behest of Trump) & threatened them "confess to Trump’s voter-fraud allegations, or people would come to her home in 48 hours, and she’d go to jail"
Freeman didn't seem to buy this, but also felt like she needed to take it seriously so she insisted they ... meet at a police station.
Diplomatic🕊️talks are encouraging, but it would just be a pause.
If there's a deal, will Netanyahu agree?
"CIA chief Bill Burns reportedly meets with Mossad chief and Qatar prime minister to hammer out a deal on a humanitarian pause that could lead to several hostages released and aid entry into Gaza."
@KimPerales Details matter. The proposal was to have thy 5 day ceasefire FIRST, with a pledge to release hostages afterward. Hamas can’t be trusted. This was a Hamas delay tactic to buy time. And in any case the war cabinet must agree to any cease fire, if Netanyahu turned down a good deal, you can be sure Gantz would’ve made some noise about that.
@KimPerales The good news, if there is any in this horrible situation, is that no one in Israel trusts Bibi anymore. Thus the war cabinet was forced on him. The other members, Gallant and Gantz, trust him least of all. Bibi will likely keep his job until the end of the war, and then will be forced to resign in disgrace. Gantz likely next PM with a center or unity government.
Are Trump's lawyers naturally terrible, or do the conditions of their job, probably getting yelled at for making reasonable suggestions... train them to be terrible since it's the only way they can keep the job?
If they aren't getting paid weekly... they aren't very bright.
I expect it's similar to a NFT or crypto reddit forum where there is a "no FUD" (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) rule. Of course he'll win!
At a recent event he said that he "won all 50 states"
One of the small delights of a big city is encountering people selling things who just have more customers than they can handle so they become progressively more rude and obscure about how they render the service.
Economists would say they ought to raise the price... but they don't. Raising prices changes expectations, brings different more annoying customers.
Instead you get the best chicken tenders on earth DO NOT ask if you can buy them without the fries. Fries are mandatory.
@futurebird So now I need to know the name of the place (please)?
There used to be a really legit shawarma place, Cafe Azuri, on West 51st near 10th Ave. when they ran out of fresh pita, they closed for the night. Owner was your stereotypical gruff Israeli but he loved my wife because she shares a name with his mother ¯_(ツ)_/¯ So she got excellent service. Unfortunately they closed down a few years before COVID.
My cousin is a pharmacist. I remember about 25 years ago when she graduated from college how proud her family was. Becoming a pharmacist is almost as annoying as becoming a doctor.
Everyone was saying how she was going to have a good job after that hard studying.
Things have not gone as expected. Chain pharmacies have basically ruined the profession. But pharmacists are mad and doing a walkout. I'm cheering them on.
$19 an hour ain't it chief! Not for that kind of work. Hell no.
OK one time was strange. But this has happened twice.
These politicians and their weird adopted kids?
Mike Johnson and Matt Gatez seem to like each other a lot and they both have these "kids" ... that have me wondering what the heck is going on exactly.
@futurebird White evangelical Christians adopting children to “save” them is a thing, I’ve heard. Don’t know much about it. Every kid needs a family, but this is kinda creepy.
Elon’s tweet disparaging the need to support the Wikipedia has stuck with me. How could anyone, even a creepy libertarian who hates government find fault with wikipedia? The wikipedia is an independent not for profit corporation. It’s the way the libertarians always assure us public goods can still exist even in their fantasy futures. And in this limited area the wikipedia largely works. A backbone for the web of human knowledge. But somehow even this is still objectionable.
I think what's singularly gutting is that not just governments are silencing activists, but so many of the organs of civil society are just as hostile.
Pres Biden must demand a #ceasefire, more aid to the Palestinians & diplomatic talks from #Netanyahu before Israel receives funds/EQP from the US.
IL would like for 20 trucks to pass into Gaza, but won’t commit on future aid flows. The INTL comm. wants 100 or more trucks a day. “What undoubtedly needed is a steady flow of much bigger quantities of humanitarian assistance🚨,” the EU humanitarian aid COM Lenarcic -the EU is the biggest INTL aid donor to the Palestinians.
@KimPerales I see a lot of demands for Gaza aid, but I’m waiting for anyone to demand that the International Red Cross be given access to the Hamas held hostages, and that civilian hostages be released. Crickets.
Would Israel really bomb a hospital? I read there are reports that it was an explosion from a misfired HAMAS rocket that hit an ammo depot near the hospital. I don't know what to believe at this point with so much misinformation everywhere. I guess wait and see.
@lin11c Not intentionally. It’s contrary to their military doctrine, a PR disaster for them, and of course a tremendous tragedy for the killed and injured civilians. On the other hand, Hamas is known to base fighters and stockpile munitions within hospitals. If this was the result of an Israeli bomb, it was most likely a targeting error or some other failure- not intentional. We will have to wait for more definitive evidence to find out the truth.
I lived in NYC on 9/11. It was bad. Scary watching the way the country changed, and was shaped to change. But, in the days after the attack I remember thinking. "Well, at lest the people who did this won't go unpunished. They will be found." I thought it was a silver lining on all the vengeance in the air.
Heh.
Boy was I wrong about that. American pain & anger was shaped to serve all manner of purposes. The one person most people agreed was "responsible" roamed free for years.
@futurebird Well, it took an awful long time to track him down. He had very good operational security and likely help from some parts of the Pakistani security apparatus.
I installed the new BBS02 motor onto the Yuba Kombi last night without any problems. Where I did run into problems was getting the battery installed. The hailong G56 battery does fit in the frame, but afaict doesn't allow sliding out unless I drill some new holes right where the battery plugs into the base. I obviously don't want to start drilling until I'm 100% sure it'll work, but also there's no way to hold the base down and test the battery slide/release without using bolts. 🤷
As many of you here, and as all of you who have met or worked with me, know, I am an Israeli.
I’m also a life long peace activist for Israel-Palestine.
Unfortunately, MANY of you have taken the last few days to attack me, call me a murderer, lecture me about the world I grew up and lived in for 35+ years of my life, dare to speak down to me and over me, erase my history and lifelong dedication for Palestinian rights, and even wished me to die.
Others of you have taken the opportunity to call me an antisemite, a race traitor, a horrible person, a hypocrite, a terrorist, and erase my history and lifelong dedication to Jewish life and making Israel a better place to live.
Yet, VERY FEW of you have asked how I am. How is my family? How are my friends? How are YOU?
Well, no. I have my family & friends in deep crisis. Many have lost their own other family and friends, parents, siblings, kids and lovers - some by bullets, others by fire, others by kidnapping. A comrade of mine lost his parents. An other had their 16 year old son taken into Gaza. Too many people I know or am connected to have been murdered or taken. And I use the word murder, not killed, because sleeping civilians in their home or at a party are not military combattants. Babies aren’t targets.
I also have Palestinian friends who have lost families in Gaza from the bombs currently falling from IDF planes. My heart aches for them too as theirs does for me.
But many of you only care about death when one side fits your own narrative and unformed and ignorant beliefs.
@AutisticMumTo3@theautisticcoach@actuallyautistic@mazeldon That’s not why Egypt closed the border (or, not entirely why.). Egypt keeps tight control of the Rafah crossing because they don’t want Hamas in Sinai and they don’t want to deal with a large refugee influx from Gaza. I’m not saying it’s right. But that’s the reality.
