iNow

As if to further amplify the ignorance of the OP, I cannot help but laugh at how this was posted in site feedback.

I think many things, but wasn't commenting there about Hamas, their intentions, nor their understanding of response likelihoods before striking. I condemn the actions of the 10/7 terrorists and those who keep attacking Israel and seeking its total destruction on other dates, too. I equally want innocent civilians across Gaza and elsewhere to stop paying the price for actions taken by leaders they didn't elect and don't support. Especially children, but not just the kids. I'm aiming for clarity on this reply. Hopefully I've achieved it.

Nobody cares who you are. Whether an expert with advanced degrees or a random dropout who didn’t make it passed grade school, all that matters is the merit of your idea and your ability to defend it against criticism using facts and intellectual honesty.

Beyond being untrue, much of this is bc it’s taken as given that both are bad actors, whereas Israel is seen as having a moral high ground they’re failing to live up to. The response is also in obvious ways asymmetric and disproportionate.

Consent matters most. Where consent can be provided without coercion and without taking advantage of the young or oppressed then we should all mind our own damned business

Boy howdy, SO glad you actively searched specifically for this topic just so you could bump it after a dozen years (more than a decade) to opine and grace us with your thoughts that child porn ought to remain illegal. Phew. My whole month just got better

TBH, I’d temper my expectations. There’s almost certainly a fundamental flaw you’re currently missing

Or to reduce losses from defensive countermeasures. Nobody is doing that. Both can be valid in parallel (Hamas responsible and Bibi complicit in various ways)

He’s actively amplified it based on what we can see in his behavior and decision to ignore calls for different paths from his biggest allies. Or maybe people go to extreme lengths to protect their self-interests and avoid letting go of power.

For pointing to the flaws in your idea? lol. Without that you can’t fix it or make it better. This isn’t kindergarten when you get a gold star for effort. Members aren’t here to coddle you and protect your ego. Your idea either has merit or it doesn’t. Full stop.

My pleasure. Please don’t take it personally when everyone pokes holes in your idea. That’s a big part of science: showing why and where people’s ideas don’t make sense or how they’re flawed. This is how we progress using only the best ideas

Your idea will be public domain and totally unprotected, but yes you can post it and no it doesn’t matter if you’re not a scientist so long as you acknowledge mainstream science criticisms and use scientific principles

We’re all biased, most often in unconscious ways. Suggesting otherwise is itself a bias.

Got it. I was wrong. Maybe you can next follow-up on the "please correct me" part of my comment?

I'm certain that will be the case with the popular vote. Sadly, that's irrelevant. All that matters is a few hundred votes in a handful of counties mostly in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In those counties, it's right now either a coin flip or Harris is trailing. Teamsters chose not to endorse either candidate this year even though Harris' policies are far better for them and union members versus Trump saying they should all be fired on the spot when striking. Reason: Too many of their members are rabidly behind Trump. Again, I fully accept Harris will win a landslide of votes. I'm not yet convinced they'll be votes from the right places.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but you appear to be suggesting that the acknowledgement of "we don't yet completely know" is functionally equivalent to the assertion that "this event happened bc there is an invisible dragon below my chair."

According to the NYT: Israeli agents built the pagers. From Axios: The plot thickens: The supposed pager-maker, BAC Consulting of Hungary, was said to be under contract to produce the devices for Taiwan's Gold Apollo. "In fact," the N.Y. Times reports, "it was part of an Israeli front, according to three intelligence officers briefed on the operation." "They said at least two other shell companies were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers."

It’s reasonably safe to assume that pagers and walkie talkies ordered by Hezbollah leadership for use by Hezbollah combatants to specifically communicate Hezbollah attack plans and tactics were primarily in the possession of Hezbollah members when they were detonated. Except for proceeding early for fear they were about to be discovered, this was probably one of the most precisely targeted attacks we’ve seen anywhere in decades. Anyway, much like trans discussions, the exchanges above reminds us of the reason our enemies so often seek to inject these topics into daily conversation given the way they so easily lead friends and family to feud. X-posted with SJ

Rocks are evil because petrologists study them and science is evil. That’s just logic, yo.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/18/us/politics/republican-officials-harris-endorsement.html

You might if you were as dumb as one.

Don't worry. I feel confident they aren't either.

If for no other reason than they're filthy and contaminated.

I think it's unethical to use legislation to ban lab grown meat because rich people in the cattle and ag-community pay off and heavily pressure their congress people to do so (not due to any genuine health risks). Same for the treatment of nut milks bc the dairy industry doesn't like it.

They did, but it was pathetically insufficient, and challenges to it thus far handwaved away: