> Where in reality, the war could have been over in 5 minutes if they released the hostages at any time during the past 3 years.
This talking point is very-much dated now.. Israel has said that they will not stop until Hamas is "eliminated". Netanyahu also threw in another condition to end the war: implementation of Donald Trump's plan to relocate Gaza's civilians [0]. So now I guess it doesn't end until ethnic cleansing is complete? That's lovely.
The idea of unregulated blue state militias has me chuckling a bit, given how said states have largely neutered their citizen's ability to own capable rifles.
We are to depend on our trusted local law enforcement to protect us, as well as our valiant governors who will assuredly call up local guards to do the same. Examples of brave, novel Democratic resistance to Trump abound these days. There's no need to worry!
The way blocking works on Bluesky is easily the most frustrating part of the platform I've encountered. I'm all for blocking trolls, spammers, etc but it seems even a mild divergence from the crowd gets you whacked. It's a bit stifling in my experience. I wonder if they'll change the way it works..
Indeed. I'm particularly getting concerned about co-infection leading to genes being swapped - short-circuiting the evolution needed to adapt to humans. The CDC reported this year's flu season is at the highest levels since 2009 [0]. A CDC study released in November showed ~7% of dairy workers who participated had evidence of recent H5N1 infection. Now we find out that the D1.1 variant that killed a person in Louisiana and sent a teenager in Canada into a coma is in cows [2]. That variant has the PB2 D701N mutation that's associated with mammalian adaptation.
I've been following this thing since February 2023, and it for sure feels like it's getting closer. I see you too are paying attention - cheers.
it's probably the single feature that will drive me away from Bluesky given how abused it is. not fun erroneously getting lumped in with MAGA and finding yourself in a void.
if it was aimed just at flat earthers or Qanon types that would be one thing, but that has not been my experience on Bluesky. folks cast quite a wide net and the slightest bit of opinion outside of the hive mind will get you on the shit list.
are they really missing, or is the shoe just on the other foot? i've been trying Bluesky for a month or so and it indeed seems to just be regurgitated memes and low-effort insults. the only difference is it's from a liberal/Democrat POV. the place comes off as an echo chamber sorely lacking in diversity of opinion tbh. if you go against the grain you'll be added to blocklists, which people seem giddy to use as to curate their echo chamber. hell, for daring to criticize the Democratic party from the left i've found myself on numerous MAGA and far-right blocklists. maybe this will change in due time? that'd be swell.
one would think the ranking member on the House Intel Cmte - my very own Rep - would agree with you, given how he'd be way more privy to such things than you, me, talking heads on TV, etc. yet he disagrees and cites free speech concerns [0][1].
in my mind none of these reasons add up. if this were truly about influence ops on social media we would not have blinders on for our own platforms' role in them. remember Cambridge Analytica and the 2016 campaign, or Facebook's role in the Myanmar genocide? or more-recently the ops Israel ran? furthermore if this were really about our data, we would again not have blinders on. the CCP can still purchase our data as we're all up for sale given our lack of data privacy/protection laws.
as such i tend to side with my Rep: this is bunk, and the pretexts flimsy. i believe the answer is to focus on education - critical thought particularly - and enacting data privacy/protection laws. i do not believe that would lead to 1).
now will that happen? i'm doubtful tbh. our own govt loves the fact that we're up for sale, for it allows them to side-step the need for a warrant. have a great weekend.
i don't think even that changed really tbh. 25 years ago spam was still terribly profitable, not to mention much easier to do than today. it was wide open. ah... now i'm feeling nostalgic :)
that is a good question. we've seen folks from the Biden/Harris admin resign over military aid to Israel, and it appears the admin indeed was in violation of US law when said aid was given. could they face criminal charges for complicity? i find it hard to believe they had no idea what was going on.
another question i have regards the future: it appears the US is working on even more aid for Israel, see Bernie's latest attempt to prevent that. now that leadership in Israel has warrants out for them, will the US aid continue? certainly would be a bad look to continue aiding Israel at this point i reckon.
what an absolute tragic mess all around. i'm ashamed of our complicity, and sadly will not be surprised one bit if we continue giving them aid despite it all.
yep, we're old fogies now. at age 9 my best friend and i would ride our bikes about 5 miles to the beach. no cell phones. no arrests. no problems. we'd ride our gas-powered scooters to the gas station for slushies. we too played in the woods.
i don't understand what changed or why kids today can't do anything on their own. it does not seem good for their development, which in turn does not seem good for the future of our country.
> None of those words support the initial claim that the CDC has issued guidance to cook steaks to 160F, which is a claim that at this point I can only believe to be a fabrication that was made in bad faith.
it was not the CDC but the USDA [0]:
> Bird flu virus particles were found in beef tissue taken from one dairy cow sent to be slaughtered for meat, and meat from the animal did not enter the food supply, USDA said last month.
> The agency has reported that no viral particles were found in samples of ground beef collected at retail stores, and that no bird flu virus was found after cooking ground beef to medium to well done, after it was injected with a virus surrogate as part of an experiment.
day by day, imo, this virus is inching closer to humans. recently house mice were found to be infected [1]. it's becoming a bit reminiscent of late 2019.
PLEASE make this happen Uncle Sam! i am a lover of music, my friends are lovers of music, the circles i run in on the internet are lovers of music. i cannot express in words how much Live Nation sucks. they are ruining concerts. not only do they have a strangle-hold on venues, but why the hell are they "allowed" to run some in-house scalping ops? i cannot wait for the day i see their demise. i will not pour out a beer for them! sorry for the rant HN. Pearl Jam was right decades ago man.
thank you SO MUCH fam! relisten is such a great repository and i have shared it plenty. thank you too block_dagger for phish.in, much the same.. much love!
love how i checked HN with 5/28/77's Sugaree playing and come upon this post! love how today you can still see Bear's influence on venues across the world w.r.t the sound setup. here's to Dead&Co's Sphere run, it ain't the same of course but the music never stops (~);)
i'll admit i was a little shocked when the case was dismissed. for anyone not familiar with Atlas Trading this page gives a bit of an overview: https://bullishbears.com/atlas-trading-lawsuit/
This talking point is very-much dated now.. Israel has said that they will not stop until Hamas is "eliminated". Netanyahu also threw in another condition to end the war: implementation of Donald Trump's plan to relocate Gaza's civilians [0]. So now I guess it doesn't end until ethnic cleansing is complete? That's lovely.
[0] https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-implementation-of-tr...