Parasite, not predator.

Pro-Israeli interests have sometimes settled for manufacturing a helpful "truth" when it doesn't exist. The latest version seems to be that protesters are widely violent, hateful, and make campuses/cities unsafe. Here's a 4-minute message from a Jewish Holocaust survivor about his time in the front lines of pro-Palestine protests: "When the right-wing section of the present government is trying to press for the banning of these marches on the grounds that they create 'no-go areas' for Jews and they are anti-Semitic - we know that this is complete rubbish and the very opposite is true." He encourages "the brave student protesters" to keep going, and talks about how well they have been treated and celebrated even while wearing placards that identify them as Jews.

Here's a Jewish Londoner talking about how he's been attending UK pro-Palestine/ceasefire marches for months with a large Jewish bloc and they've "been received very warmly". The interviewer then disagrees with him, telling him that he's in danger and the marches are anti-Semitic in spite of the person who's actually been going to months of protests saying it's the opposite.

Here's a video of a woman who walked into the middle of a protest calling 911 and trying to invent a dangerous situation while everyone around her keeps their distance and assures her she is safe to leave.

Here's a study about how false claims of crimes hurt the cases of, and empathy for, real victims of crimes. Similarly there are real anti-Semites out there, and there are true cases of racially motivated aggression against Jews. However, such obvious attempts to invent anti-Semitism is "crying wolf" and damages the credibility of genuine allegations by making it easier to believe it's made up. The people trying to manufacture the situations they claim to fear need to examine their commitment to truth and the harmful impact of their obvious deception. On the protesters side, it's good they are booing and otherwise publicly rejecting anyone who steps over the line into hatred (whether genuinely or as a false flag). That's something they absolutely must stick to in order for the protests to stay ethical and also to avoid being discredited as racist.

Here's Bernie Sanders from a year ago talking about how a handful of companies control the news people see, read, and hear. TL:DR - He makes the argument that it's not fake news, that journalists are usually hard-working and honest. He says the problem is the limitation of allowed discussion - what topics make it to the consumer. He says for instance that he's never asked about wealth and income inequality.

I believe TikTok is being banned because as it stands now it brings topics outside the limits of allowed discussion to a lot of eyes in ways US government/companies haven't proven able to control. If the issues justifying a potential ban were truly data security or mental health as some argue (not without merit mind you), then the legislation to address those issues would look a lot different and include companies like Meta, Google, Instagram, etc. Those are valid concerns but the new measure is clearly not designed around them.

Finally, we've seen how Trump can tie up the courts for months on end even after all his self-snitching. Thus I very much doubt we'll see any actual action in the 9 months + 3 months grace period laid out for the resolution of the TikTok matter. There are too many constitutional and business law challenges in my (admittedly layman's) reading of expert opinion.

Oh FFS. This had better be an extremely limited response to Iran's response to Israel's bombing of an embassy. Here's hoping it's just the same type of symbolic attack that Iran made last weekend - all show and no intent. Just Israel refusing to let anyone else have the last word.

Anything more serious and things are about to become very messy and even more expensive. Although it would explain why Israel is suddenly arranging to get dozens of jets from the US in the last month or so. Lord knows they don't seem necessary if the only goal is to keep blowing up Palestinians.

Yeah, good luck with that.

Seriously, hope it works out for you. Live the dream.

Exactly. "I thought -I- would be allowed to get an abortion when I needed to, because I'm not evil or poor like the babykillers I talk about in church. I'm a good person - it's just a baby would ruin my life (usually = disclose my cheating/premarital sex/be inconvenient) so it's different." It's the classic "rules for thee but not for me" of extremists.

It's even more ludicrous because he's facing so many criminal and civil charges for provably not telling the truth. I swear reality has turned into a Mel Brooks movie.

Good on the interviewer for exposing these two as ignorant clowns. If they demand to be taken seriously they should have to provide serious evidence. As it stands they have trouble even articulating exactly what they're angry about. If this group is serious about wanting to stop grooming, they should start protesting churches, not libraries. "In the average American congregation of 400 persons, with women representing, on average, 60% of the congregation, there are, on average of 7 women who have experienced clergy sexual misconduct." And that's from a Christian watchdog group.

The outrage about indoctrinating children coming from within the echo chambers of homeschooling, religiously affiliated schools/camps, and and other child/youth groups is tragically ironic. I know, I grew up inside that system.

"Because I had never viewed [IVF] as wrong..." is not a justification. I rarely swear, but from the bottom of my heart fuck the people of any religion or political ideology who believe they have some special pipeline to absolute truth. And an extra helping if they believe that gives them the right to legislate their beliefs onto everyone else.

Congratulations "Uncommitted" voters and other protesters, it looks like you are at least part of making Biden's "blank check" support of Israel too politically expensive to continue. It will be interesting to see how this plays out as Biden tries to balance actions around an angry electorate vs. pro-Israel factions and money (which non-profit watchdog Open Secrets says he's the largest recipient of). Especially with the unofficial cease-fire deadline of Ramadan only 10 days away which is expected to be the launch of an Israeli offensive in Rafah barring a temporary cease-fire agreement. I say temporary because Netanyahu is cited in that article as saying, "If we have a deal, it will be delayed somewhat, but it will happen. If we don't have a deal, we'll do it anyway".

I hope this "no excuses" change in tone will yield meaningful results and most importantly relief for the civilians in Gaza.