@richard_merren@mastodon.social
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richard_merren

@richard_merren@mastodon.social

Not internet famous and totally fine with that

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

taylorlorenz, to random
@taylorlorenz@mastodon.social avatar

Pro-Israel counter-protesters at UCLA previously took part in anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-vaccine events across Southern California.

Some of the pro-Israel counter protesters are also associated with local Proud Boy and Three Percenter militia chapters and fundamentalist Christian churches.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/10/college-campus-protests-far-right

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@taylorlorenz The article is pretty careful to note that these people are not pro-Israel but rather are opportunists who are there to push a separate agenda entirely. Repeatedly calling them "pro-Israel" in the post seems a bit gratuitous. When Gavin McInnes dressed up as a protester at Columbia he was doing the same thing--acting as an agent of chaos trying to find an opportunity for mayhem, not pro- or anti- Palestinian or Israeli.

sundogplanets, to random
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social avatar

Incredible auroras all night, doesn't seem like we're in Kessler Syndrome yet (yay) but apparently GPS and Starlink internet aren't working for people.

A goat got into chicken food and I had to force feed him baking soda to try to save his life (we'll see how that goes ☹️ ).

I emailed the CNN reporter who interviewed me about satellite pollution a couple years ago to see if she's interested in the space junk story.

And it's Vaisakhi/Khalsa Day, so I'm going to get amazing free food!

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@sundogplanets Are Starlink and GPS satellites just suffering interference (i.e. they'll be fine again in a few days), or are they being destroyed or rendered inoperable in some way?

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Huh. Imagine that.

👀
IRS Audit of Could Cost Former President More Than $100 Million

The tax agency concluded in its long-running investigation that Trump effectively claimed the same massive write-off twice on his failed Chicago tower. https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-irs-audit-chicago-hotel-taxes

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@GottaLaff The average taxpayer pays $13,367 in taxes. It takes the taxes of 7,481 families to make up for the $100 million that Trump cheated our country out of.

jeffjarvis, to random
@jeffjarvis@mastodon.social avatar

Some idiots are voting for the worm:
R.F.K. Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/08/us/rfk-jr-brain-health-memory-loss.html?smid=tw-share

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@jeffjarvis Doctors determined that his head is completely filled with Mezcal, which explains the worm as well as most everything he says.

GovTrack, to random
@GovTrack@mastodon.social avatar

Apparently, Rep. Bacon (R-NE2), will pursue a censure resolution against Rep. Omar (D-MN5) for remarks she made recently (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/30/us/politics/ilhan-omar-genocide-jews-columbia.html) saying that no Jewish students should be subject to antisemitism even if they’re pro-genocide. When questioned about her comments, she pointed to this report on anti-Arab & anti-Palestinian attacks: https://theintercept.com/2024/04/24/umass-amherst-palestine-protests-harassment/ which includes someone yelling “Kill all Arabs”.

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@GovTrack Republicans are new to condemning antisemitism, and focused on using it as a political tool, so they have no idea how to talk about it. Omar's comments were awful and they do demand an apology, and they do follow a history of making offensive comments. And she has, in the past, been censured by her Democratic colleagues. But Republicans need to show a broader commitment to fighting antisemitism and other bigotry before they have the credibility to criticize outside their own ranks.

GottaLaff, to legal
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

🧵starts HERE.

REMEMBER: I can’t/won’t reply while live-posting. Please use NFL (Not For Laffy) so I can skip your reply, but NO hashtag on that. Thx.

1/…

Tyler McBrien::

Necheles rises to renew Trump's objection to Daniels testifying about any "sexual details," which she says has no relevance and is prejudicial.
By details, Merchan asks, more than just "we had sex"? Yes, Necheles says.

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@GottaLaff NFL

It always makes me angry to see "eye for an eye" misused like this. That passage not call for a maximum aggressive response like Trump is suggesting here. It was a restraint that punishment should not be allowed to exceed the severity of the crime. It was a revolutionary call AGAINST violent retribution.

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@GottaLaff That is so unbelievably creepy

w7voa, to random
@w7voa@journa.host avatar

White House announces “new actions to counter the abhorrent rise of Antisemitism in the United States.” https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/07/biden-harris-administration-ramps-up-actions-to-counter-antisemitism-on-college-campuses-and-protect-jewish-communities/

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@JapanProf @w7voa There is more in the world than just these protests. Jewish students have been subject to increasing harassment and physical attacks in recent years, greatly escalated since Oct 7. Even if we accept the argument that campus protesters are peaceful, not antisemitic, and insulated from criticism because there are Jews present, Jewish students are still facing nonstudent protesters, threats of violence, antisemitic graffiti, etc., from other sources.

It's not all about you.

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@JapanProf @w7voa If you are asking me to defend GOP attacks on universities, that is not going to happen. I agree that these are opportunistic attacks as part of their greater fight against higher learning. But none of that should ignore that there IS a problem with Jewish students facing record levels of antisemitism on campus, and the fears that students are expressing are real. This is a bigger issue than protests of the last several weeks, and Biden's actions here are in that context.

fraying, to random
@fraying@xoxo.zone avatar

Really fucking annoying that the far right explains what’s happening in Israel as Jews controlling Biden and the far left explains it as Biden being controlled by Jews. It’s all just antisemitism.

And neither side will acknowledge reality: Bibi is an insane war criminal. Israel is not an American colony, it’s a nation that Biden has no control of. It’s completely arrogant and wrong to think either man can control what the other does, or that the Jewish people have any say over any of it.

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@fraying @garbados This conversation is dripping with arrogance and privilege, with a peppering of "No True Scotsman" for good measure. I used to think Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickled and Dimed needed to be required reading to claim a place on the left, but for the last few years I have considered replacing it with David Baddiel's Jewe Don't Count. Maybr this guy should educate himself instead of lecturing us about the things we actually experience in real life.

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

Sometimes, I don’t block people, I mute them because I think that annoys people more.

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@StillIRise1963 Just saying to yourself "that person is spouting nonsense and I am under no obligation to respond to them" and then simply moving on with your life is a very powerful feeling.

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@StillIRise1963 I was agreeing with you and trying to affirm what you said. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear on that.

AnnaAnthro, to China
@AnnaAnthro@mastodon.social avatar

scientists create ‘water battery’ that can hold much more energy than lithium cells: study

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3261368/chinese-scientists-create-water-battery-can-hold-much-more-energy-lithium-cells-study

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@AnnaAnthro

AnnaAnthro, to Quebec
@AnnaAnthro@mastodon.social avatar

Les toilettes mixtes dorénavant interdites dans les écoles publiques

minister of education announces bans on ‘mixed sex’ bathrooms and change rooms in public schools.

https://www.journaldequebec.com/2024/05/01/les-toilettes-mixtes-dorenavant-interdites-dans-les-ecoles-publiques

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@AnnaAnthro I don't have the energy to wade through the French, but I assume he is using dog-whistle words to attack trans kids? Why are these people so obsessed about where kids go to the bathroom? It's really creepy.

tzimmer_history, to random
@tzimmer_history@mastodon.social avatar

The actual Kristallnacht was a country-wide pogrom in November 1938 in which the Nazis killed hundreds of German Jews, threw tens of thousands in concentration camps, destroyed hundreds of synagogues and thousands of Jewish businesses.

Was even a single person hurt at Columbia?

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@tzimmer_history I agree 100%. This is shamefully ridiculous. I am saddened by lots of overwrought comparisons to Nazis, the Holocaust, and genocide these days.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

2017-2020 Uncovered Emails Reveal Border Patrol Agent's Horrific Jokes About Children

“Border Patrol agents freely used the derogatory slur “tonk” to describe unauthorized migrants on government computers, at times while joking about killing or beating them, according to emails & text messages” https://apple.news/AK-D5b6k2QeWmZuqzMOfNgw

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@GottaLaff These emails are disgusting.

JoshuaHolland, to Israel
@JoshuaHolland@mastodon.social avatar

A minor point but they're driving me batty with that "threatening environment for our Jewish students and faculty" shit.

What about the many Jewish students and faculty who support these protests?

It's antisemitic AF to assume that American Jews are loyal to and its far-right government.

https://communications.news.columbia.edu/news/campus-updates

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@JoshuaHolland So the Jewish students who say they feel threatened are lying? Or do they not count? I honestly don't get your reasoning here, and why you keep dismissing the genuine fears that students are expressing. You don't have to abandon your sympathy to Palestinians, or even to student protesters, to acknowledge that kids are expressing fear. Show some humanity.

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@JoshuaHolland I have followed you for years, and your odd intransigence on this issue is just bizarre. You have repeatedly offered up excuses that keep turning out to be terribly wrong. (There's no violent speech or violence l, that guy is not really a leader and he said he was sorry.) I am sure you'll be happy to hear that I will not follow you any more and I will stop replying to you. I can't imagine what line you have that has not yet been crossed at Columbia, but it has gone far past mine.

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@JoshuaHolland Trump held a seder, too. He has "blacks for Trump" at his rallies. Antigay churches frequently feature "reformed" gays. But I am not arguing that the camps are based on Antisemitism I assume the Jews in them are sincere in their beliefs. But to say that there is not real stuff happening that some Jewish students can reasonably be afraid of is naive or dishonest. It is like criticizing women who are afraid to walk alone at night because there are others who do it every day.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Via Kyle Cheney:

👉🏼House Dems make it official: If [Marj Q Greene] tries to oust Speaker Mike Johnson, they will help block it >>>>

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@GottaLaff Johnson is in trouble with the wingers for accepting Democratic help. This will just make those folks even madder at Johnson, while letting Jeffries and Dems look more reasonable. Well played.

aaron.rupar, to random

PELOSI: Trump has the worst record of jobs loss of any president

KATY TUR: There was a global pandemic

PELOSI: He had the worst record of any president. If you want to be an apologist for Donald Trump, that may be your role

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@jsit @atrupar Other presidents had depressions, world wars, major terrorist attacks, stock market crashes, financial crises, Wham breaking up. None of them were the worst. Trump was the worst. Don't make excuses for him.

deshipu, to random
@deshipu@fosstodon.org avatar

I remembered how surprising it was when the archaeologists reconstructed how all those classical Roman and Greek sculptures were originally painted in garish colors, and that got me thinking: maybe all those helmets and pieces of armor that we see in the museums, dug up from warrior graves and so on, were also painted? Maybe the plain-looking ones actually had intricate images on them, but the paint didn't survive?

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@deshipu When I was in college, everyone put messages on their mortarboard hats during graduation. I wonder how many roman soldiers scrawled rude graffiti on their shields. (Nowadays the commanders would sell ad space on their soldiers' shields and form up the lines to achieve maximum ad revenue.)

atomicpoet, to random
@atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org avatar

Now I remember why I do everything on a desktop computer instead of a laptop on the couch.

I have an ergonomic chair that gives me excellent lumbar support for my back. As well, I have my monitor attached to a pneumatic arm that adjusts the height with complete precision. If I’m sitting for an hour, my smartwatch reminds me to stand up and take a walk.

And to keep my back healthy, I’m in the gym three times a week.

A good chair, monitor adjustment, and exercise pay dividends. Ever since I made these adjustments, my back and neck pain has entirely gone away.

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@atomicpoet I get lazy occasionally and work from the couch, and it usually takes a couple of standing desk days to fix the lower back pain.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Via Acyn:

CNN's Bash: Lawyers for are telling Fox News to correct the record on bribery allegations made by a discredited FBI informant or face a defamation lawsuit..

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@GottaLaff After he wins a huge settlement from Fox, Republicans will investigate whether Biden is under the influence of foreign money from Rupert Murdoch

deadtom, to photography
@deadtom@dice.camp avatar

A bit of fun news today, I ordered a new camera last night. It's an old model, a Nikon D7500, but it is brand new, and I feel like I got a pretty good deal on it.

My first DSLR was a D50. I now carry two D3100 SLRs with me when I'm out shooting. This new camera will be the first one I've owned that wasn't near the bottom of Nikon's more economical line of SLRs.

I will probably never own the latest, greatest thing, so I get excited when I can splurge a little.

richard_merren,
@richard_merren@mastodon.social avatar

@deadtom I used the 3100 for years and then got my dad's D7500 when he passed away a few years ago. It is a little heavier, but otherwise an upgrade in every way. I have since moved to a Z5, which I love, but the D7500 is still great.

One thing I didn't know for years until I started looking at full-frame lenses for the Z: you can use "screw drive" AF/AF-D autofocus lenses on the D7500. There are some great, cheap, used lenses that I wish I had been using, like the AF 20mm f/2.8.

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