I took the time to explain a nuanced alternative viewpoint and support it with reliable sources. It’s pretty unfair to just dismiss it as a gish gallop or misinformation.
I don’t have time to sit down and fully respond to your points now, but hopefully I’ll have time later today.
See my comment here as a response.
See my comment here as a response.
The Russia/Ukraine conflict is a lot more complex than people in the West generally think.
You won’t hear this often in mainstream media but NATO expansionism and the involvement of neo-nazi, far right paramilitary groups in the Maidan revolution in Ukraine, along with US State Department involvement, were legitimate grievances for Russia. (There’s a great interview with a Ukrainian sociologist here that I think explains things in a fairly even handed way).
Russia was wrong to invade Ukraine, no question, but in the beginning there was a potential diplomatic resolution on the table if the US and NATO were willing to back off Ukraine. Support for joining NATO was always mixed in Ukraine anyway - Before the war, less than half of Ukrainians wanted it.
And who says the war will be endless? That’s another Russian talking-point intending to sow defeatism.
Russia’s resources are vast and they are supported by China. Ukraine is backed by the deep pockets of NATO. Over half a million troops on both sides have been killed. A recent UN report said:
Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine, which is about to enter its third year with no end in sight, continues to cause serious and widespread human rights violations, destroying lives and livelihoods
and stated that over 30,000 civilians have already died. A diplomatic solution three years ago could have possibly prevented all that.
Yup, this pretty much sums it up.
To add, the vast majority of the antisemitism complaints involved other Labour ministers liking and posting anti-Israel Tweets that were consider too extreme. These ranged from ones that “crossed the line” of criticism against Israeli policy and the Israel lobby in the UK (some of which you can read in the report on pages 27-30) to ones that allegedly blamed Jewish members of the Labour party for making false complaints, or even tried to dimish the Holocaust (although I can’t find the exact details of those).
Either way, none of the complaints involved Corbyn himself but his reputation was tarnished and it made him an easy target for his opponents.
Certain parts of the media/political establishment certainly tried to paint him that way, but really he was only guilty of not being hawkish enough on Russia.
He was always in favor of a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict instead of perpetuating an endless war.
There is no rule that says the universe must make sense to human beings. In fact the more we learn about it - subatomic particles, quantum mechanics, the multiverse, etc. the stranger it becomes and the less it appears to operate in ways that are intuitive to our primitive primate brains.
Hell, even space and time might not be fundamental properties, and could themselves be abstractions which emerge from an even deeper underlying reality…
All of which is to say your list should have an extra option:
D. Who The Fuck Knows?
It’s a big deal because the Conservatives have been in power for the last 14 years and everyone is sick of the sight of them. Current projections show that this may be their worst showing ever.
Their main rivals, Labour, are going to dominate on a centrist platform, even though they are not promising much in the way of reform or change.
The biggest downside is that the Trumpish Reform party are looking like they’ll do quite well with xenophobic, right-wing, ex-Conservatives.
Labour is expected to win 410 seats, with the Conservatives on 131
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cn09xn9je7lt
I think the phrase “landslide” is going to be putting it mildly.
As someone married to a JW and who is friends with several others, I will say this: like any group of people, they can be a mixed bag. Some are more closeted and “in the truth” whereas others are more outgoing and “worldly”.
One the things that I actually admire about them (the individuals, mind you, not the Watchtower organization) is that they really seem to try and live by the teachings of the Bible and study it frequently. Much more so than, say, your average evangelical Protestant.
As someone who is mostly agnostic, those who belive that absence of evidence equals evidence of absence belong in psychotherapy.
This position is a straw man. Atheists generally do not argue that God categorically does not exist. Instead, we usually say that we don’t believe in God because there is insufficient evidence. Much like the proverbial invisible unicorn in your backyard - since there is no evidence that it exists, there is no reason for it to affect how we go about our daily lives.
When it comes to whether you’re agnostic or atheist, I think it helps to answer the following question on a scale of 0 - 10: How confident are you that God exists? If you say around 5, then you’re agnostic. If you say around 1 or 2, then you’re an atheist.
Because
It’s that simple.
I think if substantial change is what you’re expecting from a Labour/Starmer government, then you’re going to be disappointed.
https://www.politico.eu/article/keir-starmer-labour-party-uk-election-u-turns/
FYI, UN Watch is a right-wing organization that has been described as a “pro-Israeli monitor” and “lobby group” that has a history of attacking anyone in the UN who is openly critical of Israel vis-à-vis Palestine. (Source)
This article should be taken with a large pinch of salt.
Edit: I’ve had the time to read through the full article. What a joke.
First off, it claims:
The investigations division of the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services recently announced that it has opened a case into allegations of financial improprieties by Francesca Albanese
Which sounds serious and official until you click through to the source and see that this “announcement” is literally just a private email response from the UN to the CEO of UN Watch (Hillel Neuer) who sent a report to them detailing Albanese’s alleged malfeasance.
Essentially, the response says “Thank you for your report. We have sent it to the High Commissioner so they can determine if it warrants any action”. What a bombshell announcement! /s
Reading further, we find out that the nefarious “pro-Hamas” group is actually the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, whose dastardly aim is to “advocate for Australian policy to support Palestinian human rights, justice, and equality.” The bastards!
Oh, and whereas the headline claims that Albanese “took funds” from these villainous Aussies, it turns out that the $20,000 figure is the estimated cost of the trip according to, yes you guessed it, Hillel Neuer himself. Albanese states her trip was funded by the UN. Neuer offers no other evidence to the contrary.
The article then cites a laundry list of claims about Albanese being an anti-semite because of her public statements about the legality of Israel’s war on Gaza that do not conform to the official line from the Israeli government.
Hoo boy, what a load of horse manure.
Nobara may well use a non-stock configuration, but by default a three-finger swipe left or right on the trackpad will switch between workspaces. As for keyboard shortcuts, I believe they are disabled by default but you can always set your own by going to settings > keyboard shortcuts > navigation > switch to workspace on the left/right.
Stock Gnome has this too.
No, they’re not. In the past couple of years new legislation has been passed which incentivizes new builds to be high density, but there’s still a lot of pushback from home owners and cities against building them.
It’s not that simple; A court must rule that the action in question is an “official act”. As the SCOTUS intentionally declined to elaborate further on how this is defined, it will be up for the courts to decide what is and what is not covered by immunity.
Not that this couldn’t become subject to abuse and partisan rulings, but it’s more than just the presidental equivalent of
California has a housing crisis across the board. NIMBYism and city zoning practices are artificially preserving neighborhoods with expensive, single family homes over what is actually needed: multi-family condos and apartments, combined with brand new social housing projects and homeless shelters.
This is a good start, but a lot more needs to be done.
I explicitly said the Russian invasion was not justified
Propaganda is often a kernel of truth wrapped in a lie. That’s true of US & EU propaganda as well.