Links - 23rd December 2023 (2 - Palestine/Middle East Peace)

Alberta NDP MLA says Israelis are ‘barbarians,’ guilty of genocide : Canada_sub - "The interesting thing is Palestine has repeatedly called for the genocide of the Jews throughout it’s history as it is part of their national religion as Sunni Muslims. They follow Mohammed’s teaching’s from the boom of Hadith which requires the extermination of the Jews to bring on the end times.  "The last hour won't come before the Muslims would fight the Jews and the Muslims will kill them so Jews would hide behind rocks and trees. Then the rocks and tree would call: oh Muslim, oh servant of God! There is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. - Hadith narrated by Abi Hurira  This started long before Israel ever even existed. Their leader wasn’t helping the Nazis and hangin out with Hitler in concentration camps because Israel existed.  Palestinians killing Jews happened plenty before WWII as well. Why do you think the Jews fled their homeland? There were other reasons but the Islamic conquest of the region was one of the many. This is why the Palestinians built a mosque overtop of the holiest Jewish site the temples mount and have never let Jews near it since. In fact the Jews trying to see it led to a slaughter of Jews not unlike what we just witnessed in 1929 and resulted in the eviction of a Jewish community that had inhabited the area for thousands of years, long before Palestine ever came into being. “The riots took the form, for the most part, of attacks by Arabs on Jews accompanied by destruction of Jewish property. During the week of riots, from 23 to 29 August, 133 Jews were killed by Arabs, and 339 Jews were injured, most of whom were unarmed”... That’s why you see people at the pro-Palestinian protests/celebrations waving swastikas at the counter protesters. Most people may not know the history but Palestinians remember it because it was the closest they ever came to fullfilling the “duty” of exterminating the jews.  This is why despite is seeming to make no sense Palestine never accepts peace and continues to break every peace on what seems like suicide missions. Dying for the good fight and holy war is not a bad thing under Islam and they’ve shown they aren’t going to give up any time soon.  They just called for muslims around the world to murder Jews and fulfill this dream of genocide again yesterday in fact.  Israel has never called for genocide. It has never called in Jews in the US or Canada to kill muslims around them.  Israel’s problem is that Palestine is obsessed with their annihilation  Palestine’s problem is Israel is too good at defending itself."
"Thanks. I wish everyone was forced to read this at least once. It seems ridiculous that almost no one knows this. The Palestinians have flat out refused to allow Israelis to exist and have said, in very clear terms, that there will be no peace and that the only solution is the complete extinction of the Israeli Jews. They've said it publicly, repeatedly, for half a century now.  It's like trying to be a Hitler apologist and pretend he never said the things he said in Mein Kampf. Like, fuck, how many times does a dude need to say or write something before you accept that he means it?"
"It’s because people are SO subconsciously racist and yet afraid of being racist and Islamophobic that itms easier for their brain to go Dark skin = not colonizer thus erasing the actual history and achievements of many people and cultures and the think Strong = bad, weak = good So because Israel can defend itself and Palestine goes on suicide Missin ma obviously Palestine must be good /s And then they can pay themselves in the back justified in their antisemitism while they support a regime that literally calls for Jewish genocide from a people whims leader worked with Hitler to exterminate the Jews and kid themselves about it.  But these people are anti Nazi….. well only if they have the right skin colour…. But totally not racist…  The cognitive dissonance is wild."
"Hamas is supported by the majority of Palestinians, by a far greater margin than Netanyahu is in Israel actually..  Why do we make a distinction that Hamas is not Palestine and not all Palestinians are Hamas to the point of excusing atrocities as being totally divorced from Palestine but make no distinction or separation between Israel; israelis and their leader who has far weaker support than Hamas does from Palestinians?  Why do we turn a blind eye while Palestinians around the globe in western nations gather en mass and chant to “gas the Jews” something their leadership literally took part in during the holocaust yet clutch our pearls if an angry Israeli even suggests Palestines actions might make them deserving of retribution.  There’s some interesting biases and double standards here for sure."

Richard Hanania on X - "The thing about Israel helping to create a Palestinian state is that the kind of experiment you might do is just leave some territory to the Palestinians and see what they do with it. That was exactly what they did in Gaza in 2006. Yes, people will say the experiment wasn’t perfect, which I guess means they should’ve let Hamas smuggle in more weapons, but there’s no reason I can see why that would have worked better."

Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon - Wikipedia - "From 1968 onwards, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) began conducting raids from Lebanon into Israel, while Israel began making retaliatory raids into Lebanon... The unarmed citizenry could not expel the armed foreigners, while the Lebanese army was too weak militarily and politically. The Palestinian camps came under Palestinian control after a series of clashes in 1968 and 1969 between the Lebanese military and the emerging Palestinian guerrilla forces... In 1970, the PLO attempted to overthrow a reigning monarch, King Hussein of Jordan, and following his quashing of the rebellion in what Arab historians call Black September, the PLO leadership and their troops fled from Jordan to Syria and finally Lebanon, where cross-border violence increased."
Clearly, the fact that no Arab nation wants the Palestinians is Israel's fault

Black September - Wikipedia - "After Jordan annexed the West Bank in 1950, it conferred its citizenship on the West Bank Palestinians. The combined population of the West Bank and Jordan consisted of two-thirds Palestinians (one-third in the West Bank and one-third in the East Bank) and one-third Jordanians. Jordan provided Palestinians with seats amounting to half the parliament, and Palestinians enjoyed equal opportunities in all sectors of the state. This demographic change influenced Jordanian politics. King Hussein considered that the Palestinian problem would remain the country's overriding national security issue; he feared an independent West Bank under PLO administration would threaten the autonomy of his Hashemite kingdom. The Palestinian factions were supported vicariously by many Arab governments, most notably Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who gave them political support. The Palestinian nationalist organization Fatah started organizing cross-border attacks against Israel in January 1965, often drawing severe Israeli reprisals upon Jordan... By 1970, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) led by George Habash and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) led by Nayef Hawatmeh, began to openly question the legitimacy of the Hashemite monarchy, and called for its overthrow and replacement with a revolutionary regime. Other radical groups included the Syrian Ba'ath's As-Sa'iqa, and the Iraqi Ba'ath's Arab Liberation Front: these saw Hussein as "a puppet of Western imperialism", " a reactionary", and "a Zionist tool". They claimed that the road to Tel Aviv passed through Amman, which they sought to transform into the Hanoi of Arabia. They also stirred up conservative and religious feelings with provocative anti-religious statements and actions, such as putting up Marxist and Leninist slogans on mosque walls... He quotes an observer describing the PLO in Jordan, 'They drove noisily around Amman in jeeps with loaded weapons, like an army of occupation; they extorted financial contributions from individuals, sometimes foreigners, in their homes and in public places; they disregarded routine traffic regulations, failed to register and license their vehicles, and refused to stop at army checkpoints; they boasted about their role of destiny against Israel and belittled the worth of the army. Their very presence in Amman, far from the battlefield, seemed like a challenge to the regime.'... There were frequent kidnappings and acts of violence against civilians: Chief of the Jordanian Royal Court (and subsequently Prime Minister) Zaid al-Rifai claimed that in one extreme instance "the fedayeen killed a soldier, beheaded him, and played football with his head in the area where he used to live""
Comment: "amazing, the Palestinians actually had citizenship and de facto statehood, and political enfranchisement given to them on a platter"

Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 on X - "Israel’s intelligence minister Gila Gamliel has written an essay in the Jerusalem Post arguing that the residents of Gaza be settled abroad so that Israel can have more peace. Western countries have settled many Palestinians over the years already, often to devastating effect (terror attacks, increase in domestic antisemitism, petty crime, religious and political extremism, etc.). Arab nations also experienced destabilization and have expelled Palestinians or sent them to permanent refugee camps."

- "Palestinian refugees who arrived in Denmark in the early 1990s. According to the post by Visegrad 24, which has more than one and a half million views, 64% of these refugees were convicted of crimes.  According to data from the Danish Ministry of Immigration and Integration, Denmark received 321 Palestinian refugees in 1992. By 2019, 64% had been convicted of a crime, and 34% of their children also received a conviction."

The Myth of Arab Innocence - "The myth of Arab innocence throughout history --particularly concerning Jews-- has long haunted British and American writing about the Arab-Israeli conflict...  This article seeks to disprove that false claim and demonstrate instead the systemic, juridical oppression, exploitation, and humiliation of non-Muslims --including Jews--in Islamic society. Further, whereas it used to be commonly believed that Islam was benign toward Jews, the article shows that Jews were at the bottom of the social barrel in the Islamic domain generally--although conditions varied with time and place. Moreover, this was true in Jerusalem specifically. Indeed, the famous Jewish philosopher Maimonides believed that Jews were worse treated under Islam than in Christendom. He was in a position to compare conditions in both zones because he conducted correspondence with Jews in far flung places... In the empires resulting from the Arab and Muslim conquests, Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians--and later, Hindus and others-- were subjects far inferior in law to Muslims as a class. Tolerated non-Muslims, called dhimmis, were required to pay annual tribute, jizya, for the privilege of living another year. This is grounded in Qur'an 9:29 and remains part of Islamic law to this day, although formally abolished in the Ottoman Empire in 1855. Islamic law still views dhimmis as an occupied population to be "brought low" (9:29 & 2:61). The rules of dhimmi status, dhimma, also provide that dhimmis should not bear arms, that their garments must differ from Muslim garments, that they show deference to Muslims, such as dismounting when encountering a Muslim on the road. Since a horse is a noble animal, a dhimmi must not ride one. Further, a dhimmi's testimony in court is worth half of a Muslim's, etc.  The Danish traveler, Karsten Niebuhr, visiting Egypt in 1761-1762, described dhimmis dismounting in humiliation from donkeys when encountering horse-mounted Muslims on the street. Niebuhr visited Egypt four decades before Napoleon, which is significant because Edward Said argued that similar reports made after Napoleon's Egyptian expedition were invalid since tainted with imperialism. Moshe Gil found in the Cairo Genizah, a medieval archive of Jewish writings, accounts of impoverishment and suffering caused to Jews in Israel by collection of the jizya and other taxes... Jacob Barna'i examined ledgers of the Jerusalem Jewish community in the late eighteenth century. He found a situation strikingly similar to that found by Gil for the pre-Crusades period. Besides jizya, Jews paid unofficial taxes, fees, exactions, mandatory bribes, etc. The rapacious were not only Ottoman officials but local Muslim notables and strong men. Of course, Christian dhimmis too could be oppressed this way. Jews differed by being low man on the Islamic totem pole. Israeli historian Moshe Sharon argues:      ...the fact that the Qur'an singled them [Jews] out as the enemies of the Muslims... institutionalized their inferior status in comparison to the Christians.   The Arab writer Al-Jahiz explained this by the political resistance of the Jews in Medina to Muhammad. The Hamas takes inspiration for its Judeophobia from early Islam, citing the hadith fable about Judgment Day in its charter (Article 7)...  Francesco Gabrieli, the Italian historian of Islam, wrote:      ...the name "Yahudi" [=Jew] acquired on Muslim lips the same odor of hostile scorn for the Jews that the term "Jew" had in the Western world, more hostile and scornful than that of the epithet "Nasrani" [=Christian].  This judgment is supported by a British envoy sent to the Levant in the 1830s. John Bowring reported Muslim resentment of improved treatment for dhimmis there by their ruler Muhammad Ali of Egypt...  This pecking order was confirmed by a nineteenth century Turk objecting to equalizing measures in the Ottoman Empire (quoted by Bernard Lewis):      ... whereas in former times... the communities were ranked... the Muslims first, then the Greeks, then the Armenians, then the Jews, now all... were... on the same level. Some Greeks objected... saying: "The government has put us together with the Jews. We were content with the supremacy of Islam."  The above quotes demonstrate that the Jews were generally at the bottom of Arab-Muslim society...  In the late Mamluk period (ca. 1500), the chief Roman Catholic official in Jerusalem, Francesco Suriano, hated Muslims, but appreciated how they treated Jews:      I wish you to know how these dogs of Jews are trampled upon, beaten, and ill-treated, as they deserve... They live in this country in such subjection that words cannot describe it... in Jerusalem where they committed the sin for which they are dispersed throughout the world [the crucifixion-EAG], they are by God more punished and afflicted than in any other part of the world. And over a long time I have witnessed that... Next comes a surprise witness, none other than Karl Marx:      Nothing equals the misery and suffering of the Jews at Jerusalem... the constant objects of Mussulman oppression and intolerance, insulted by the Greeks, persecuted by the Latins." [New York Tribune, 15 April 1854]...   The Walt-Mearsheimer view of Arabs generally and Palestinian Arabs specifically as "largely innocent" is blatantly false. Further, there is no longer an excuse for ignorance on the matters covered above. There are document collections covering Jews under Islam by Norman Stillman, Bat Ye'or, and Andrew Bostom, plus abundant books and articles. Moreover, there are works on Arab nationalist Nazi collaboration, Husseini's particularly, by Hirszowicz, Schechtman, Carpi, El-Peleg, etc. Yet the myth seems so deeply rooted among the press, academics, and State Department circles, that it is unlikely to dissipate any time soon if ever."

How Watermelon Became a Symbol of Palestinian Solidarity - "when cut open, the fruit bears the national colors of the Palestinian flag—red, black, white, and green... Israel lifted the ban on the Palestinian flag in 1993, as part of the Oslo Accords, which entailed mutual recognition by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization and were the first formal agreements to try to resolve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The flag was accepted as representing the Palestinian Authority, which would administer Gaza and the West Bank"

Meme - Rashida Tlaib @RashidaTlaib: "I'd like to wish my Jewish neighbors a Happy Hanukkah. Hanukkah inspires me, especially during this difficult time. I hope we can all remember that even in the most unexpected moments, miracles can happen."
Jenny Aharon @jenny_aharon: "Hanukkah's story is about the Israelites recovering their land: Jerusalem and Judea. How does that inspire you exactly?"

Meme - Rep. IIhan Omar @Ilhan: "Happy first night of Hanukkah to all those in Minnesota and beyond! May you be reminded of the power of miracles and enduring hope that exists all around us. Chag Sameach!"
Jenny Aharon @jenny_aharon: "Hannukah's story is about the Israelites recovering their land: Jerusalem and Judea. Are you sure you want us to be reminded of it?"

Meme - "Israeli Combat Vest *normal combat vest*
Hamas Combat Vest *baby strapped to front*"

Meme - Ben Shapiro: "Here's a fact you won't ever hear in the media or from the Left: If you were an Arab and you stayed in Israel proper after the 1948 war between 1948 and 1967, you automatically became a citizen of the state of Israel."
Damn apartheid!

Ian Hest 🟦 on X - "Billions of people around the globe are about to celebrate the birthday of a Jewish man where he was born 2000+ years ago but don’t think Jews lived there before 1948."

Toronto Teacher on X - "There’s a real problem happening that needs to be addressed. There is a @Facebook page, “Toronto Teachers” removing people bc they R Jews and/or support #israel. The moderator? Derik Chika (under investigation from TDSB). Admin? Elizabeth So (Ett Executive), Pia Carolina 😳"
Jonathan Kay on X - "Derik Chika is a @tdsb teacher who (by his own public admission) has been investigated *four* times for making hateful comments about Jews/Israel. He makes $109K per year, every penny of which is paid for by Ontario taxpayers. Your tax dollars at work."

Meme - "When you're mean to Israel this is who you're being mean to: *cute girl in fatigues*"

Thomas Sowell: Israel should take back the land it traded - "NO PHRASE represents more of a triumph of hope over experience than the phrase “Middle East peace process.” A close second might be the once-fashionable notion that Israel should “trade land for peace.”  Since everybody seems to be criticizing Israel for its military response to the rockets being fired into their country from the Gaza strip, let me add my criticisms as well. The Israelis traded land for peace, but they have never gotten the peace, so they should take back the land. Maybe a couple of generations of Palestinians in Gaza living in peace under Israeli occupation and a couple of generations of the occupation troops squelching the terrorists — “militants” for those of you who are squeamish — would set up conditions where the Palestinians would be free to vote on whether they would like to remain occupied or to have their own state, minus terrorists and their rockets...   Why don’t the Palestinians vote for some representatives who would make a lasting peace with Israel? Because any such candidates would be killed by the terrorists long before election day, so nobody volunteers for that dangerous role...   So-called “world opinion” has been a largely negative factor in this situation. Nothing is easier than for people living in peace and safety in Paris or Rome to call for a “cease-fire” after the Israelis retaliate against people who are firing rockets into their country.  The time to cease fire was before the rockets were fired.  What do calls for “cease-fire” and “negotiations” do? They lower the price of launching attacks. This is true not only in the Middle East but in other parts of the world as well.   During the Vietnam war, when American clergymen were crying out “Stop the bombing!” they paid little attention to the fact that bombing pauses made it easier for North Vietnam to move more ammunition into South Vietnam to kill both South Vietnamese and Americans.  After Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, if British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had heeded calls for a “cease-fire,” that would have simply lowered the price to be paid by the Argentine government for their invasion...   Today, so-called “world opinion” not only limits the price to be paid for aggression or terrorism, it has even led to the self-indulgence of third parties talking pretty talk about limiting the response of those who are attacked to what is “proportionate.”  By this reasoning, we should not have declared war on Japan for bombing Pearl Harbor. We should have gone over to Japan, bombed one of their harbors and let it go at that.  Does anyone imagine that this would have led to Japan’s becoming as peaceful today as it has become after Hiroshima and Nagasaki?  Or is the real agenda to engage in moral preening from a safe distance and at somebody else’s expense?  Those who think “negotiations” are a magic answer seem not to understand that when A wants to annihilate B, this is not an “issue” that can be resolved amicably around a conference table."
From 2016

New York pro-Palestinian activist pleads guilty to hate crimes for 3 attacks on Jews - "A pro-Palestinian activist on Tuesday pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes charges for a series of attacks on Jews in New York City in 2021 and 2022.  Saadah Masoud, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a conspiracy to commit hate crime acts. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.   “Masoud deliberately targeted three victims because of their religion and nation of origin,” said US Attorney Damian Williams. “There is no place in this country for this offensive and hateful conduct.”...   Video filmed by the protesters showed Masoud following Greenman down a street and shouting at him, along with another protester, who called him “Jew” in Arabic and said he had a “dirty fucking flag.”...   Masoud threatened the activists online in a series of messages, including, “I feel bad for you zionist people when judgment day comes and we slaughter all of them like sheep.”... Jews are targeted in hate crimes in New York more than any other group.  “A lot of these attacks are not one-offs by crazy people on the streets, these are part of an orchestrated attempt to attack and silence Jews,” Fillitti said. “We know that Masoud has been connected to WOL Palestine and he’s been connected to other individuals, and especially considering that this attack happened at a protest that was being held by WOL Palestine, the conspiracy charge is very important.”...   Around 100 demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and chanted, “Globalize the intifada,” “We don’t want no two states, we want all of it,” “Israel, go to hell,” and “From the river to the sea.”"
Weird how it's never the Jews/Israel-supporters attacking Muslims/Palestinians/Palestine-supporters. The very most people come up with is some Jews in Israel spitting on Arabs

Students riot at Hillcrest High School in Queens as terrified Jewish teacher hides in office - "An investigation is underway in Queens where students at Hillcrest High School stormed the hallways in protest after learning a Jewish teacher attended a pro-Israel rally. The chaos last Monday was all caught on camera. It lasted for hours as the terrified teacher hid in a locked office... 400 students in Jamaica, Queens, rioted inside the school... The raucous protest happened last Monday morning as kids flooded the hallways, waving Palestinian flags and chanting "Free Palestine." Students say a water fountain was allegedly ripped out and the boys bathroom was vandalized. Dozens of cops rushed to the school to restore order."
Plus, students had attacked a school safety officer the week before the riot

Meme - "When they call you an 'occupier' and their mosque is literally on top of your temple"

Disgraced 'anti-racism' trainer returns to threaten Trudeau - "The Canadian federal government has failed to recover any of the more than $100,000 that it paid to Laith Marouf, the federal “anti-racism” contractor whose virulently antisemitic social media posts became the centrepiece of a national scandal. But after months of apparent silence, Marouf is back online to assail his critics — and his former benefactors — with a stream of taunts and violent threats.  “Go drink the sea of Gaza you little Zionist b—h,” Marouf wrote in a Nov. 5 post directed at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  He added, “as soon as we liberate Palestine, we will be aiding our Indigenous relatives to liberate theirs. We will bring you to trial for your crimes.” To Michael Geist — a University of Ottawa law professor and frequent critic of the Trudeau government’s media policy — Marouf wrote “shut up little Jewish White Supremacist turd. We will crush your Jewsader Colony … after, we will be hunting down all Zionists and bring them to stand trial in liberated Palestine.”  And to Norm Spector, a former chief of staff to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Marouf said he would form “Zionist-Hunter squads” to “capture Genocide abettors like you and bring them to stand trial in liberated Jerusalem.”  Another post advocated the creation of armed self-defence units of Canadian Muslims to fight the police. In the summer of 2022, Marouf became the centre of a national scandal after it emerged that the Trudeau government had handed six-figure “anti-racism” contracts to Marouf’s Community Media Advocacy Centre – despite Marouf’s lengthy history of extremist cheerleading. Across social media, he had repeatedly called for the annihilation of Israel. He said “Jewish White Supremacists” deserved only a “bullet to the head” and referred to Jews generally as “loud mouthed bags of human feces.” The Trudeau government’s initial defence was that they didn’t know who Marouf was — a claim that fell apart as the scandal progressed. Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen would later tell a House of Commons committee that he’d been aware of Marouf’s extremism for more than a month before the story hit the press.  Ottawa ultimately severed ties with Marouf shortly after they’d granted his most recent contract; $133,000 to head up an “anti-racism strategy for Canadian broadcasting.”  Although the contract was revoked, the feds haven’t been able to recover any of the cash — something that Marouf seemed to mention in a post. “Clutch your purses Jewsaders!… Your Crime Minister can’t get the money back with all the might of Apartheid Canada,” he wrote... As the Marouf scandal progressed in 2022, one of the most telling things it revealed was that a government anti-racism coordinator was able to espouse extremist views for years on end without anyone batting an eye.  It wasn’t just on social media; Marouf routinely opened anti-racism training sessions with calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. At a May 14 session in Vancouver, Marouf began by thanking Heritage Canada for funding, before launching into a full-throated condemnation of Israeli “genocide” and “apartheid.” In just the last five years, the Trudeau government has leaned hard into the doctrine of “anti-racism.” This has included the creation of a Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat and a $20 million Anti-Racism Action Program – the fund which paid Marouf.  Anti-racism is an ideology imported from the United States which holds that Western institutions are irredeemably white supremacist, and thus can only be countered with “deliberate systems and supports” to favour the “equity-seeking.” Anti-racism is very different than the “racial sensitivity training” that was previously the norm in Canadian government quarters in that it frames all human inequality through the prism of an oppressed/oppressor dynamic.  “Racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and structures,” reads an official “anti-racism lexicon” published by the Department of National Defence.  The lexicon is very specific that mere equal treatment is itself racist, and the only remedy is an overhaul of “systems” and “organizational structures” so that “power is redistributed.” One of Marouf’s most incendiary claims in recent days is actually an argument frequently included in Canadian anti-racism training. “Zionism is Nazism, and Apartheid Canada was a model for both of them,” wrote Marouf on Nov. 5.  In a package of B.C. government “decolonization” materials leaked in 2022, a meme is included claiming that the “Canadian Constitution” inspired “Nazis and white South Africans creating the Holocaust and Apartheid.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, Canadian professors and coordinators specializing in “anti-racism,” “diversity, equity and inclusion” and “critical race theory” have been among those signing petitions cheering or excusing the Oct. 7 massacres.  Among the more than 700 that signed a recent petition saying that the attacks should be “contextualized” rather than condemned, was York University “equality and anti-discrimination” expert Faisal Bhabha, and Joshua Sealy-Harrington, a Toronto Metropolitan University “critical race theory” specialist."
The reality of "anti-racism" and support for Palestinian "resistance"

The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal Draws Flak for 'Supporting' Gal Gadot Following Controversial Post
Advocating for peace and for both sides "to live as a free and safe nation" gets Gadot and anyone associated with her condemned. What does that tell us about Palestinian supporters?

Avatar: the Other View

Avatar quasi-fan fic (part of it is also used in a Colonel Quaritch meme):

We cannot match the strength of wolves. We cannot hear a grasshopper in flight five meters away in a jungle. We cannot walk on branches without slipping and falling. We cannot interface with animals to make them tolerate us. We do not have neural links to a planetary deity to receive instructions on how to thrive in a hostile environment.

Make no mistake, we are frail in body, but not mind or soul. We are not weak because we fight in armor. We are not cowardly because we strike our enemies from afar. We are not evil because we harness the power of destruction. It is merely equalization. We are somewhere in the middle of all the life on our planet, and every one of them has and is trying to kill us.

See this hammer? This is a tool, a weapon, and a means. With this hammer, we battled the world's greatest terrors and won. With this hammer, we built villages, towns, cities, metropolises, civilizations. With this hammer, we harnessed fire, steel, and lightning to do our bidding. We constructed machines, vehicles, and titans of iron to tame the wilderness. We fought our way into our place in the world. We did all this to forge a safer place for our children. If there is a better way, we did not receive any messages.

Do not talk to me of your 'moral integrity'. I have seen rage, jealousy, religious indignation, lust, apathy, and failure to forgive amongst you. There is nothing wrong with our nature that you do not have.

In the end? You are no better, Na'vi.

And that is your weakness. Not only are you blind and deaf to the voice of the world, you rejoice in your ignorance. You actually believe your handicap is something to be proud of, instead of something to be pitied.

Spare us your pity, alien. You gush about your connection with nature, your primal wisdom, but what has it brought you?

Where are your marvels of engineering? Your voyages of discovery? Your great insight into the nature of the universe? Even at our basest, when we dressed as you do, dwelt as you do, hunted as you do, lived as you do, we did more than merely survive. We built wonders. We made great journeys. We forged epics. You have not.

You speak so proudly of the plugs dangling from your skulls, little realizing that they are but strings and you puppets. What little you have accomplished you attribute to the wisdom of your goddess, who is nothing but the voices of your dead echoing for all eternity. She moors you to the past, serving as a leash that keeps you as little better than apes, sad parodies of civilization that lack that special spark to become something more.

We have come to your world in search of resources. Whether your actions drive us back or we take what we want and move on, the outcome is the same. We will depart from your wretched planet, leaving you behind. And in a thousand years, you will not have changed from this contact with another world. You will remain in your trees, hunting your prey, communing with your goddess, until your sun burns out and your world dies.

And above your tomb, the stars will belong to us.

Once again, you wallow in your ignorance. You talk of your machines and monuments as great and wondrous things, when they are nothing more than lumps of sand that will soon be washed away by the tides of time. And you actually boast about such works, as if raping the earth and soiling the air and fouling the water are achievements! Your homeworld is choking itself to death as we speak, and still you dare to hold yourself as something to aspire to...

And that is how you fill your days, wallowing in ignorance and calling it civilization. Always alone in your heads, always distrustful and afraid, planning schemes and waging war to lash out at the pain in your souls. And after a scant sixty or eighty years you die, screaming in denial as you go, in dread realization that nothing about your true self will remain. You cannot even recall your own father's father's father's father, nor do you care.

Then you talk about 'insights' to one who is in tune with the world itself. Each Na'vi who ever lived, who ever will live, remains on, forever nurtured and loved as part of Eywa. When she speaks to us, it is not simply a voice inside our heads, but the collective wisdom of a million million minds, with a wisdom and insight you cannot begin to comprehend. You pray to your gods and interpret every anomaly as a response; Eywa provides for our needs in ways far beyond your myths, and if need be, the planet itself will bend to protect us all. Such is the way of the Na'vi, joined in a love and intimacy that you can never begin to approach.

So your souls cry out in loneliness, and you destroy your world — and all you touch — in response. A situation to be pitied, indeed.

Tides of time?! Such words from a stagnant and blinkered race? Even if our monuments are worn away by the eons, we still will have built them. Even after our home is dust, we still will survive.

Every human life spent pushes us forward, whether immeasurably or in great leaps. Our 'loneliness', our fraternal struggles only make us stronger. We remember and honor our past, but are not chained to it. While you, alien, are eternally bound to the same stretch of history, preening at your own simplicity because you cannot grow into something more. You boast that your planet protects you. I say you are coddled, pampered by an indulgent parent. Perhaps that is why your Eywa will not let you advance? Does your smothering "mother" refuse to let her children grow? Would she be lonely if you left her, and therefore grasps you tightly to her bosom, keeping you ignorant and childish?

But enough useless speculation. You are proud of your natural wisdom, so you will appreciate this simple fact - the strong survive. So come, alien, and test your strength against ours!

Links - 23rd December 2023 (1 - A Nazi in Canada's Parliament)

Meme - James Lindsay, honorary Canuck, eh @ConceptualJames: "I feel obligated to tell you explicitly that the Left is trying to rewrite history to downplay Nazis because their side cheered for one."
Faustian: "this should not imply that it's members were Nazi party members"
"14th SS-Volunteer Division "Galicia"... was a Wwrld War II Nazi German military formation""

Head of Canadian Ukrainian group defends man who fought for unit created by Nazis - The Globe and Mail - "The president of the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada is defending a Second World War veteran of a Nazi unit who was recently lauded as a hero in Canada’s Parliament.  Jurij Klufas has not met 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka but says the veteran is being treated unfairly. He says Hunka was fighting for Ukraine – not Germany – and that countries, including Canada, have cleared his division of war crimes... The incident drew widespread international criticism after it was revealed Hunka was a member of a mostly volunteer unit created by the Nazis to fight the Soviet Union. The revelation forced the resignation of Anthony Rota as Speaker and an apology on behalf of Parliament by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  Ivan Katchanovski, a Ukrainian-Canadian political science professor at the University of Ottawa, says the actions of Hunka’s Waffen-SS Galicia Division have been “whitewashed” in Canada.  He says supporters have tried to present the division as a patriotic Ukrainian force despite the fact it collaborated with Nazis and was involved in a variety of atrocities, including the killings of Jews, Ukrainians and Poles.  “They represent this division as fighting not for Nazi Germany, but fighting for Ukrainian independence, even though there was never any opportunity to fight for any Ukrainian independence,” he said. “They were fighting under German command until the end of World War II.”... Frank Sysyn, a history professor at the University of Alberta, says it’s accurate to say that Hunka was not a Nazi, despite fighting for Nazi Germany, because non-Germans weren’t allowed to join the party.  He said Canada's choice to allow veterans of the unit to live out their lives in the country ultimately came down to a decision that membership in the unit was not reason enough to prosecute someone, if there was no proof they committed individual crimes. Ukrainians, he added, are far from the only group of postwar immigrants to benefit from such an approach.  “Most of our Italian immigrants of the 1950s, if they were men of a certain age, had probably been in the Italian army and fought for Fascist Italy,” said Sysyn, who is a member of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies.  John-Paul Himka, a University of Alberta professor emeritus and the author of a book about Ukrainians and the Holocaust, said many of the young men who joined the Galicia division in 1943 were motivated by the atrocities they witnessed under Soviet occupation, including the murder of thousands of political prisoners and mass deportations to labour camps.  “So for the people in this region, the Soviets were the nightmare and the Germans were relatively tolerable," he said. "So that, I think, explains why so many of them thought that what they were doing fighting against the Soviets was patriotic.”  He said some Galician units did participate in atrocities, including murders in Polish villages. The division had an antisemitic newspaper and accepted into its ranks “policemen who had been very important in the Holocaust, who had rounded up Jews for execution and sometimes executed Jews themselves," he said.  He blames the Ukrainian community for failing to fully acknowledge and grapple with the country's Second World War history, including Nazi ties. However, he said many Canadians are guilty of not learning enough about the truths of the war on the Eastern front, including the rapes and murders perpetuated by the Soviets on the Allied side. Klufas blames the branding of Hunka as a Nazi on “Russian disinformation,” adding, “the fact that he was a soldier does not mean that he was a Nazi.” He also said there was nothing wrong with Parliament applauding a man “who fought for his country.” However, he conceded that it “maybe wasn’t correct” in the circumstances, given that the people there didn’t fully understand the issue."
Nuance and complexity in history are bad when they clash with political agendas

Head of Canadian Ukrainian group defends man who fought for unit created by Nazis : canada - "The irony of the “everyone I disagree with is a Nazi” or “racist bigot” liberals celebrating actual proud Nazi and murderers of Jews is unreal."

Head of Canadian Ukrainian group defends man who fought for unit created by Nazis : canada - "Jesus Christ man, it was 80 years ago! Hunka was a teenager at the time, and urged to volunteer to fight against the Soviets who had occupied the Ukraine. Germany offered him that chance and he took it. That was in 1943, it is unlikely any of the information on the concentration camp nightmares had come out yet. There was no internet, how in the world would a bumpkin teenager have any idea? From his essay published 12 years ago:  "Mr. Hunka describes how people in his western Ukrainian city initially welcomed the invading Germans, after years of repressive Polish occupation, followed by 18 months of brutal rule by the Soviets. He talks about how under Stalin, he saw children and their families shipped away to Siberia, and later found out his aunt and uncle had also been taken. When the Galicia Division was created, many young Ukrainians jumped at the chance to fight back, he said."  So yes, the Liberals probably should have done their homework, but a teenager is being excoriated for doing what he thought was the right thing to do 80 years ago. Now, of course, we know better. But there was no way he would have known exactly what he was getting into at the time."
Head of Canadian Ukrainian group defends man who fought for unit created by Nazis : canada - "This is the logic you would apply if he was being recognized for charity work in Canada, for instance. And it just so happened he was a Nazi and this seemed out of character and maybe irrelevant to his later work.  But he was applauded for this service. The Nazi service. Which is insane."

Head of Canadian Ukrainian group defends man who fought for unit created by Nazis : canada - "Eastern Europeans see nazis as anti communists. So culturally in my understanding they see it similar to the way many westerners see communists.  We fought the nazis. They then had to live under and fight the communists."
Head of Canadian Ukrainian group defends man who fought for unit created by Nazis : canada - "Both were awful. I think we tend to consider the Nazis worse because of how merciless and industrial the Holocaust was and because they were the enemy. The Soviets were no slouches though. The Holodomor killed around 5 million Ukrainians. 22,000 Poles were massacred at Katyn. Stalin killed 700,000 of his own people in the Great Purge. Millions like the Crimean Tatars were ethnically cleansed from their homes.  I think it is easy to sit here in the Canada in the 21st century in judgement of people that were caught in between these two killing machines. People that committed war crimes and crimes against humanity should be exposed and prosecuted, but that shouldn't apply to everyone that picked up a gun against either set of invaders."

govt.exe is corrupt on X - "#BREAKING: After missing 2 days of Question Period due to #NaziGate... Trudeau says it's a grievous attack on the rights of Parliamentarians to have intelligence agencies vet guest speakers to the HOC. Is Trudeau once again making a mockery of the situation by gaslighting?"

The Post Millennial on X - "Conservative MP Andrew Scheer: "In this case it would have taken a simple Google search to find a blog post written that individual saying that he served in an SS division, in a Nazi division, during World War II ... This issue does not end with your statement or your apology.""
Dr. Leslyn Lewis on X - "I was out of Ottawa on Friday, but was shocked to learn that the Liberals disgracefully arranged for a Nazi veteran to be honoured in parliament after President @ZelenskyyUa’s address. These visits are carefully curated and guests lists vetted. To claim that the PMO was unaware…"

Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 on X - "Justin Trudeau & his government smeared the 2022 Canadian Convoy protesters as Nazis & racists, but he, President Zelensky & Canadian lawmakers gave a standing ovation to an actual Nazi SS veteran in the parliament a few days ago. Full live video:"
Woke Canadian MP claims Freedom Convoy's 'Honk Honk' catchphrase is a secret code for HEIL HITLER - "Canadian Liberal MP Ya'ara Saks is claiming that the 'Honk Honk' catchphrase used by Freedom Convoy protesters over the past few weeks is actually a secret code for 'heil Hitler.'... In the early days of the protests back in January, a Confederate flag and a swastika flag were spotted in the crowd, which led to Trudeau calling all protesters 'swastika wavers' in a speech addressing the demonstrations."
Liberal logic: if it's a cause liberals disapprove of, one swastika or confederate flag (even if it's unrelated to the protest) means they're all Nazis. But if they approve of the cause, celebrating a Nazi doesn't matter

Glenn Greenwald on X - "How -- after a lifetime of appearing in black face -- does Justin Trudeau get caught applauding an SS soldier who fought with the Nazis, and then instantly starts babbling about "Russian disinformation"? Do you see how Western elites use RUSSIA to blame for all their failings?"

Justin Trudeau says 'it's important to push back against Russian propaganda' as he is grilled over Nazi in Canadian parliament - "Trudeau admitted it was 'extremely upsetting this happened', blamed the Speaker of the house for the 'mistake' - but then launched into a message about 'Russian disinformation.'... Rota, 62, said in his statement yesterday: 'In my remarks following the address of the President of Ukraine, I recognized an individual in the gallery... He went on to insist that it was his idea to honor Hunka... In an online blog written more than a decade ago, Hunka described the period between 1941 and 1943 as the happiest of his life."

Keean Bexte on X - "CAUGHT: Gould let's it slip that the Nazi was reviewed, vetted, and approved by the Government itself. This is not just the Speaker's mistake. The Liberal Government invited the Waffen SS soldier."

Conservatives stop Liberals from erasing Rota's praise of Nazi veteran - "Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday that “such sloppiness of memory is outrageous” and that many Western countries including Canada “have raised a young generation that does not know who fought whom or what happened during the Second World War.”"

Douglas Murray: Canada's descent into ignorance shocks the world - "Standing ovations are very rare things. They should be very special things. When a whole House stands to applaud someone they had better be very sure who they are applauding. I know that Speaker Anthony Rota has now resigned. But here is the thing. Anybody who knows anything about the Second World War knows that if you were fighting the Soviets in Ukraine in the 1940s you were most likely fighting with the Nazis. It does not require a fine-tuned expert in the era to know this. Almost anybody could have guessed this. If almost anyone knew anything. It seemed to be the assumption not just of Speaker Rota but of the whole Canadian Parliament that there existed in the 1940s some proto-anti-Putin fighting force and that the great cause of this moment has some direct lineage back to the fight of the 1940s... In a war which Putin pretended to start in order to “de-Nazify” Ukraine, how much help has Canada given by your entire Parliament standing to applaud an actual Nazi?  What makes this worse is that this all comes after a period in which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been perfectly happy to call decent, ordinary Canadians Nazis. To use measures like the de-banking of his critics in moves that have horrified most of the other democracies in the West. When a bank in my country of birth — Britain — was recently found to have de-banked a politician (Nigel Farage) for what turned out to be political reasons not only did the head of the bank resign, but politicians in Britain from across the political system condemned the bank. Such moves are unlikely to be taken by another bank in Britain again. But in Canada it seems to be perfectly acceptable, because at any time the Canadian prime minister and deputy prime minister can claim that their critics are homophobes, xenophobes, racists, Nazis, misogynists and all of the rest.  The world — especially America — has looked on in horror as the Canadian government has tried to curtail speech in the country, and looked on with ever-more horror as Canadians seem willing to go along with this. It seems to be the view of the Canadian authorities that they are capable of deciding at the merest glance who is and is not allowed to speak, what is and is not acceptable speech, what any Canadians can and cannot read and who is and who is not a “Nazi.” These being the same authorities who apparently cannot even perform the most basic Google searches on their guests.  I know that Canadians often like to look down on Americans. But as someone who spends most of his time in America I can tell you that it is the American public who now wonder at what on earth is happening with our neighbour in the north... The governing body for Ontario psychologists thinks that Peterson has committed some crime for expressing his thoughts. It is also noticed — I can assure you — that a Toronto doctor who sexually abused four of his patients was only given a six-month suspension...   Take that bizarre moment most in 2021 that I know most Canadians would wish to forget about. The moment when the country went into a bizarre moral panic after one totally unverified report claimed to have found numerous graves near residential schools run by the Catholic Church in areas with First Nations communities. That one unverified report was based on ground penetration radar that was wholly inconclusive. Nevertheless the country went into one of the most disturbing moral panics since Salem. Canadian media ran reports of the discovery of “mass graves” containing the bodies of children. How many churches were burned as a result? Some estimates say over 80, across the country. These included churches built by First Nations peoples. But it was Canadian authorities that fanned these fires. It was a Canadian law professor who called the burnings “resistance to extreme and systemic injustice.” It was a New Brunswick radio host who demanded “Burn the churches down.” It was the head of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and a former volunteer at the Newfoundland Canadian Bar Association who said “Burn it all down.” And it was Gerald Butts — friend and advisor to your Prime Minister — who said that although burning down churches may not be advisable it was certainly “understandable.”... all this in a society whose leaders seem to believe that they understand so much about “hate” and “hate speech” that they can actually put a stop to it once and forever if Canadians just put their shoulder to the wheel hard enough."
I know someone who cheered Farage's de-banking. First they came for Nigel Farage...

Dr Jordan B Peterson on X - "I think it's absolutely surreally hilarious that the @TorontoStar has accused me Of being far right Whatever the hell that's supposed to be now https://t.co/wqVjpqw7tp On the same bloody day the Canadian Parliament under @JustinTrudeau Actually celebrated an SS Nazi…"

Good guys versus bad guys: The nuance of history - "If there is one truth about people and politics, it’s this: nothing is black and white... On June 22, 1941, with his failure to conquer Britain still fresh, Hitler broke the pact and invaded the Soviet Union. Moscow was now in the war on the Allied side.  To many Ukrainians, however, the Soviet Union—not Germany—was still the enemy. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” the saying goes. And so, they chose the means at hand to further their cause of resistance.  The 14th Waffen-SS Grenadier Division was manned by about 25,000 Ukrainians over its lifetime, most driven by a desire for Ukrainian independence. They fought mostly in Slovakia, Slovenia and Poland, where they are known to have wiped out entire villages during the winter and spring of 1944...   Justice Jules Deschênes of the Canadian Commission of Inquiry on War Crimes concluded in October 1986: “The Galicia Division (14. Waffen grenadier division der SS [gal. #1]) should not be indicted as a group.  “The members of Galicia Division were individually screened for security purposes before admission to Canada,” he wrote. “Charges of war crimes of Galicia Division have never been substantiated, either in 1950 when they were first preferred, or in 1984 when they were renewed, or before this Commission.  “Further, in the absence of evidence of participation or knowledge of specific war crimes, mere membership in the Galicia Division is insufficient to justify prosecution.”   Myroslav Shkandrij, professor emeritus of Slavic studies at the University of Manitoba and author of Into the Maelstrom: The Waffen SS ‘Galicia’ Division and its Legacy, said opposing perspectives have clashed over the matter.  “Victims of German aggression have naturally seen the force as complicit in Nazi criminality, specifically in the victimization of Jewish and Polish civilians, while the counter-perspective has cast the soldiers as patriots and pragmatists who grasped arms from the Germans because they wanted to fight Stalin.  “Both views have sometimes calcified into tropes or memes.”... But in the public eye, it’s history be damned. Image is everything. And the image of Canadian parliamentarians, notably the prime minister, standing in the House of Commons to applaud a former Waffen SS soldier is a hard one to get past.  History—life—is not black and white. And the history and politics of Eastern Europe are a kaleidoscope of greys, underscored by threads of anti-Semitism, a record of pogroms—including in Ukraine—and passive and active collaboration in the Holocaust."

Links - 22nd December 2023 (2 - Climate Change)

The Myth of the German Renewable Energy 'Miracle' - "There is a widespread belief that Germany has demonstrated that large amounts of intermittent renewables can be easily integrated without adversely impacting the reliability of the bulk power grid.  This article has noted that such a conclusion is not supportable:  1) Germany has not integrated as high a level of renewables as many suppose, 2) Germany is part of and relies upon a larger integrated grid which contains even lower levels of renewable resources and 3) Germany has incurred nontrivial transmission costs, reliability concerns, and marketplace dislocations associated with their efforts to integrate renewables."

Climate censorship is worse than you think - "The CPO reprimanded Peterson for, among other things, remarks he made on a Joe Rogan podcast concerning climate-change policy, a subject that bears no relationship to his clinical practice as a psychologist. Many observers have pointed out the chilling effect of the CPO ruling: members of any professional association (engineers, lawyers, accountants, medical professionals, teachers, etc.) will now hesitate to speak up on matters of public interest, even if these have nothing whatsoever to do with their professional activities.  Even worse (if possible) have been the tactics used to discredit Peterson’s views. Consider an article by Josh Marcus in Britain’s Independent noting that Peterson supported his climate views by referring to a 2021 book (“Hot Talk, Cold Science”), one of whose co-authors, S. Fred Singer, was the founder of an organization that received some funding in the past from the Heartland Institute, which in turn received some funding in the past from Exxon.  Conclusion: Peterson’s views are therefore to be completely discounted. Worse than merely an ad hominem attack, this is guilt by extremely indirect association. Moreover, Marcus failed to mention that Singer was a Princeton physics Ph.D., that his co-authors have Ph.D.s in atmospheric physics and climatology and that their book includes two forwards by Princeton physicists, one a former president of the National Academy of Sciences. Concerning the link with dirty fossil fuel money, the Heartland Institute notes, “When Exxon was a donor to Heartland, from 1998 to 2006, its contributions of about $50,000 never exceeded more than five percent of our annual budget.” Needless to say, Peterson’s views should not automatically be accepted because of the credentials of the authors he cited. On the other hand, they should not automatically be dismissed for the reasons the Independent invokes — even if they were true. Like any propositions about science or public policy, they should be discussed and debated openly and publicly and evaluated on their merits. Peterson makes no claim to being a climate scientist. But intelligent, well-informed lay persons who have clearly done their homework must not be discouraged from participating in open debate.  These days, however, censorship extends not only to intelligent lay persons such as Peterson but also to views that have passed peer review and been published in prestigious academic journals... a group of Italian scientists published a paper in The European Physical Journal Plus that, relying on official data, assessed trends in extreme weather events. They concluded — correctly given the data but not politically correctly — that there are no noticeable trends in the frequency or severity of extreme weather events in recent years. The article initially passed peer review and was published in 2022. Then, a group of academics including Michael Mann of Climategate fame, complained to the editors, who retracted the article. The second case is a good example of the chilling effect of censorship. Patrick Brown, co-director of the climate and energy team at the Breakthrough Institute and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University, published (with co-authors) a paper in Nature on California’s wildfires entitled “Climate warming increases extreme daily wildfire growth risk in California.” More important than the contents of the paper are what it left out, however. In an article in the Free Press, Bari Weiss’ new media company, Brown wrote, “I knew not to try to quantify key aspects other than climate change in my research because it would dilute the story that prestigious journals like Nature and its rival, Science, want to tell … And the editors of these journals have made it abundantly clear, both by what they publish and what they reject, that they want climate papers that support certain pre-approved narratives — even when those narratives come at the expense of broader knowledge for society.”... Citizens are expected to vote concerning matters such as climate-change policies. They benefit from exposure to all sides of these issues. Those who would instead deny climate dissent need to recall a famous line from John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty: “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.”"
If you don't Trust the Science, you are a Climate Change Denier

EXPOSED: Climate change documentary 'The Year Earth Changed' used photoshopped images - "The wildly popular climate change documentary "The Year Earth Changed" has now been thoroughly debunked by various sources, showing that, among other things, it used doctored images... In the trailer itself put out by the BBC, a man says on camera at the 38-second mark, "For the first time in a lifetime, we can see the Himalayas", which shows the same shot as in the video above. One can clearly see the same people dressed in the same clothes (pink t-shirt, blue t-shirt) inside the frame"

The One Person Who Shows Just How Unhinged Global Warming Alarmism Has Become - "Greta Thunberg has been thrust into the spotlight, tagged as the child who will lead us away from our inevitable climate disaster — if only we let her. Adults hang on her words, regard her as an omniscient oracle, insist that we are in the presence of our savior... But then if that voice had instead been telling us capitalism has lifted more than a billion out of poverty, Thunberg would have no forum. Though true, it doesn’t fit the narrative.  Because her message does fit, this child mystic of Sweden has been allowed to speak at the Davos economic conference, in Britain’s Parliament, and at a United Nations convention. She’s inspired a global school walkout and protested in front of Sweden’s legislature when she should have been in school. The kids at Vox have declared that when watching Thunberg speak, “it’s hard not to think of Cassandra, the brash young warrior of Greek myth who beseeched Apollo for the gift of prophecy.”  The more reasonable among us see a young lady who’s being exploited by an intractable, alarmist movement and a set of parents craving, what, relevance maybe.  The Voxers are correct though in observing that “Thunberg’s fearless rhetoric has proven to be enormously influential.” And therein is the problem...   When Thunberg says “we need to rapidly remove all fossil fuels from our everyday life and leave them in the ground,” that “we must remember that this is above all an emergency — not primarily an opportunity to create new green economic growth. We need a whole new way of thinking,” she is doing nothing more than following the alarmist handbook. There’s no revelation there, no new words from Heaven. Just the tired, unoriginal rhetoric we’ve endured for years...   Of course Thunberg, her handlers, and fanatic followers will count our commentary as an attack on her. It’s a cheap way to deflect and invalidate legitimate criticism. In fact, they’ve even dared doubters to speak. In The Guardian’s recent fawning coverage, Thunberg said “I think that as long as they go after me personally with insults and conspiracy theories then that is good. It proves that they don’t have any arguments.”  Actually, skeptics and lukewarmers, even the “deniers,” have arguments. And they are compelling.
To start with, the temperature record is unreliable. This blogger has it exactly right when he says: “The thermometer network is made up of a patchwork of non-research quality instruments that were never made to monitor long-term temperature changes to tenths or hundredths of a degree, and the huge data voids around the world are either ignored or in-filled with fictitious data.”
The data used to reach the “consensus” that man’s fossil fuel habits are causing the planet to overheat have been doctored.
The models on which the entire edifice is built have been consistently wrong.
Predictions that storms would become more common and more destructive have also been wrong.
Those pushing the hardest for extreme measures to “fight” global warming have been hiding their true agenda, which is to dismantle and replace capitalism. Some are even suggesting that the “fight” is an opening to establish authoritarian control.
Earth’s climate has always changed and nothing is occurring today outside of the historical variability.
Carbon dioxide, a weak greenhouse gas, is one of many variables that affect climate.
Science does not work on “consensus,” nor is it ever “settled.”
Claims that 97% of scientists agree that man is causing climate change have been debunked.
Man’s use of fossil fuels has yielded unprecedented human progress."

Greta Thunberg pleads not guilty after arrest at London protest - "The 20-year-old was detained by police on Oct. 17 after she and dozens of demonstrators locked arms to obstruct the entrances to a hotel where an oil and gas conference was taking place... As she left the court building in central London, a small group of climate demonstrators chanted "Climate protest is not a crime"... She appeared in court alongside four other protesters who all pleaded not guilty... Before her arrest in Britain, she has this year been detained by police or removed from protests in Sweden, Norway and Germany."
Good luck to anyone blockading a climate change conference

Climate activist Thunberg flogged for 'crush Zionism' chant - "Footage showing climate activist Greta Thunberg chanting “crush Zionism” at a recent pro-Palestinian rally in Sweden is provoking harsh-worded criticism of her by prominent Jewish environmentalists.  The actions by Thunberg, whom many regard as a symbol of the environmentalist movement, reflect how “large parts of ‘the left’ or ‘progressives’ have been intellectually captured by a naive, distorted and frankly bigoted anti-Zionism,” Nigel Savage, a UK-born environmental activist and founder of Jewish environmental nonprofit organization Hazon, tells The Times of Israel... Alon Tal, a former Israeli lawmaker and a prominent environmental studies scientist, says that Thunberg has had “a historic role in raising global awareness about climate change,” but has “misused her stature to promote racist, violent positions.”  A Swedish 20-year-old who dropped out of school in 2018 to pursue a full-time activism career against what she warns is an impending climate-related crisis, Thunberg is a vocal supporter of Palestinians and has posted photos of herself with signs supporting Gaza, including ones reading: “Stop the Holocaust” and “Jews for the liberation of Palestine.”"

We won’t stop speaking out about Gaza’s suffering – there is no climate justice without human rights | Greta Thunberg and Fridays for Future Sweden
People dying actually reduces carbon emissions, so
Why do left wing positions always come in a package?

How the 'octopus' became a symbol of anti-semitism and landed Greta Thunberg in trouble - "Climate activist Greta Thunberg has deleted a pro-Palestine social media post after critics claimed a stuffed blue octopus visible in the photo could be viewed as an 'anti-Semitic' symbol."

Greta Thunberg briefly interrupted by man on stage at climate protest in Amsterdam - "Climate activist Greta Thunberg was briefly interrupted Sunday by a man who approached her on stage after she invited a Palestinian and an Afghan woman to speak at a climate protest in the Dutch capital... a man came onto the stage and told her: “I have come here for a climate demonstration, not a political view,” before he was ushered off the stage."

Fact Checking The Claim Of 97% Consensus On Anthropogenic Climate Change - "The 97% number was popularized by two articles, the first by Naomi Oreskes, now Professor of Science History and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, and the second by a group of authors led by John Cook, the Climate Communication Fellow for the Global Change Institute at The University of Queensland. Both papers were based on analyses of earlier publications. Other analyses and surveys arrive at different, often lower, numbers depending in part on how support for the concept was defined and on the population surveyed.  This public discussion was started by Oreskes’ brief 2004 article, which included an analysis of 928 papers containing the keywords “global climate change.” The article says “none of the papers disagreed with the consensus position” of anthropogenic global warming. Although this article makes no claim to a specific number, it is routinely described as indicating 100% agreement and used as support for the 97% figure.  In a 2007 book chapter, Oreskes infers that the lack of expressed dissent “demonstrates that any remaining professional dissent is now exceedingly minor.” The chapter revealed that there were about 235 papers in the 2004 article, or 25%, that endorsed the position. An additional 50% were interpreted to have implicitly endorsed, primarily on the basis that they discussed evaluation of impacts. Authors addressing impacts might believe that the Earth is warming without believing it is anthropogenic. In the article, Oreskes said some authors she counted "might believe that current climate change is natural." It is impossible to tell from this analysis how many actually believed it. On that basis, I find that this study does not support the 97% number.  The most influential and most debated article was the 2013 paper by Cook, et al., which popularized the 97% figure. The authors used methodology similar to Oreskes but based their analysis on abstracts rather than full content. I do not intend to reopen the debate over this paper. Instead, let’s consider it along with some of the numerous other surveys available.  Reviews of published surveys were published in 2016 by Cook and his collaborators and by Richard S. J. Tol, Professor of Economics at the University of Sussex. The 2016 Cook paper, which reviews 14 published analyses and includes among its authors Oreskes and several authors of the papers shown in the chart below, concludes that the scientific consensus “is robust, with a range of 90%–100% depending on the exact question, timing and sampling methodology.” The chart shows the post-2000 opinions summarized in Table 1 of the paper. Dates given are those of the survey, not the publication date. I’ve added a 2016 survey of meteorologists from George Mason University and omitted the Oreskes article.  The classification of publishing and non-publishing is that used by Cook and his collaborators. These categories are intended to be measures of how active the scientists in the sample analyzed have been in writing peer-reviewed articles on climate change. Because of different methodology, that information is not available in all of the surveys. The categorization should be considered an approximation. The chart shows that over half the surveys in the publishing category and all the surveys in the non-publishing category are below 97%. Cook is careful to describe his 2013 study results as being based on “climate experts.” Political figures and the popular press are not so careful. President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have repeatedly characterized it as 97% of scientists. Kerry has gone so far as to say that “97 percent of peer-reviewed climate studies confirm that climate change is happening and that human activity is largely responsible.” This is patently wrong, since the Cook study and others showed that the majority of papers take no position...  it is clear that support among scientists for human-caused climate change is below 97%. Most studies including specialties other than climatologists find support in the range of 80% to 90%. The 97% consensus of scientists, when used without limitation to climate scientists, is false.  In the strict sense, the 97% consensus is false, even when limited to climate scientists. The 2016 Cook review found the consensus to be “shared by 90%–100% of publishing climate scientists.” One survey found it to be 84%. Continuing to claim 97% support is deceptive. I find the 97% consensus of climate scientists to be overstated. An important consideration in this discussion is that we are attempting to define a single number to represent a range of opinions which have many nuances. To begin with, as Oreskes says, “often it is challenging to determine exactly what the authors of the paper[s] do think about global climate change.” In addition, published surveys vary in methodology. They do not ask the same questions in the same format, are collected by different sampling methods, and are rated by different individuals who may have biases. These issues are much discussed in the literature on climate change, including in the articles discussed here.   The range of opinions and the many factors affecting belief in anthropogenic climate change cannot be covered here. The variety of opinion can be illustrated by one graph from the 2013 repeat of the Bray and von Storch survey showing the degree of belief that recent or future climate change is due to or will be caused by human activity. A value of 1 indicates not convinced and a value of 7 is very much convinced. The top three values add to 81%, roughly in the range of several other surveys."

Economic impacts from the promotion of renewable energy technologies: The German experience - "The allure of an environmentally benign, abundant, and cost-effective energy source has led an increasing number of industrialized countries to back public financing of renewable energies. Germany’s experience with renewable energy promotion is often cited as a model to be replicated elsewhere, being based on a combination of far-reaching energy and environmental laws that stretch back nearly two decades. This paper critically reviews the centerpiece of this effort, the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), focusing on its costs and the associated implications for job creation and climate protection. We argue that German renewable energy policy, and in particular the adopted feed-in tariff scheme, has failed to harness the market incentives needed to ensure a viable and cost-effective introduction of renewable energies into the country’s energy portfolio. To the contrary, the government’s support mechanisms have in many respects subverted these incentives, resulting in massive expenditures that show little long-term promise for stimulating the economy, protecting the environment, or increasing energy security."

The Myth of Green Energy Jobs: The European Experience - "Spain has long been considered a leader in the drive to renewable power. Indeed, Obama singled out Spain as an example in a 2009 speech...
Since 2000, Spain spent 571,138 euros on each green job, including subsidies of more than 1 million euros per job in the wind industry.
The programs creating those jobs destroyed nearly 110,500 jobs elsewhere in the economy (2.2 jobs destroyed for every green job created).
The high cost of electricity mainly affects production costs and levels of employment in metallurgy, nonmetallic mining and food processing, and beverage and tobacco industries.
Each “green” megawatt installed destroys 5.28 jobs elsewhere in the economy on average.
These costs do not reflect Spain’s particular approach but rather the nature of schemes to promote renewable energy sources.
Spain has found its foray into renewable energy to be unsustainable... And then, there is the matter of corruption...   A similar situation has played out in Italy, also a leader in wind and solar-power deployment. A study performed by Luciano Lavecchia and Carlo Stagnaro of Italy’s Bruno Leoni Institute found an even worse situation...
'the same amount of capital that creates one job in the green sector, would create 6.9 or 4.8 if invested in the industry or the economy in general'... The researchers also found that the vast majority of green jobs created were temporary...
[In Germany,] Rather than bringing economic benefits in terms of lower-cost energy and a proliferation of green-energy jobs, the implementation of wind and solar power raised household energy rates by 7.5 percent. Further, while greenhouse gas emissions were abated, the cost was astonishingly high: over $1,000 per ton for solar power, and over $80 per ton for wind power. Given that the carbon price in the European Trading System was about $19 per ton at the time, greenhouse gas emissions from wind and solar were not great investments...
Denmark can only produce and consume as much wind power as it does due to a convenient circumstance: neighboring countries have a lot of hydro power that can quickly and effectively balance the flow of electricity on its energy grid, allowing it to export surplus wind capacity. “Denmark manages to keep the electricity systems balanced due to having the benefit of its particular neighbors and their electricity mix. Norway and Sweden provide Denmark, Germany and Netherlands access to significant amounts of fast, short term balancing reserve, via interconnectors. They effectively act as Denmark’s ‘electricity storage batteries.’... the CEPOS study found that Danish consumers are the ones who take it on the chin. Denmark’s electricity prices are the highest in the entire European Union. And the greenhouse gas reduction benefits? Slim to none, since the exported wind power replaces hydro power, which does not produce significant greenhouse gas emissions. The wind power consumed in Denmark does displace some fossil-fuel emissions, but at some cost: $124 per ton, nearly six times the price on the European Trading System. Regarding green jobs, CEPOS found “that the effect of the government subsidy has been to shift employment from more productive employment in other sectors to less productive employment in the wind industry. As a consequence, Danish GDP is approximately 1.8 billion DKK ($270 million) lower than it would have been if the wind sector work force was employed elsewhere.”   Not surprisingly, Denmark is also finding renewable power unsustainable and is backing away from the technology...
the UK and Scotland have fared no better than the other countries discussed above in their pursuit of the new green-energy/green-jobs economy, as a recent report by consultancy Verso Economics points out. The study is particularly interesting because its methodology is touted as superior to the methodology used in the Spanish and Italian studies. Verso uses what economists refer to as “input/output” tables to estimate the number of jobs that were foregone in the UK general economy in favor of the green jobs “created” through government subsidies... While the UK and Scotland may have avoided the problems of corruption that afflicted Spain and Italy, they learned something that the warmer countries did not: wind turbines can freeze in winter."
From 2011

Woke eco-protesters offered therapy for 'climate change stress'
Too bad it won't solve their neuroses over climate change, but encourage them

Jury clears climate protesters of causing damage to HSBC London HQ - "Nine climate protesters have been cleared by a jury of causing £500,000 worth of criminal damage to the windows at the headquarters of HSBC bank in London.  The women, who were all taking action as members of Extinction Rebellion, sang and chanted as they shattered the custom-made glass windows with hammers and chisels at about 7am on 22 April 2021... Opening the case, Sally Hobson, prosecuting, said: “They accept that on 22 April 2021, they went to the HSBC building armed with hammers and chisels and they also accept that they used those tools to break the windows – they were responsible for the damage.  “The value of the damage caused is in the region of £500,000 and additional security measures caused further expenditure so as to ensure damage was not caused again.  “Although the defendants accept they caused the damage, they deny that their actions amount to criminal conduct. Simply put, the damage was caused during a protest and the defendants say that they were lawfully justified in doing what they did.  “We say that whatever the purpose behind them causing the damage there was no lawful excuse for doing so. It was, we say, unlawful conduct outside of a lawful protest.”"
Good luck causing damage if it's a cause the left disapproves of

Ten years on, and we haven’t learned a thing from “Climategate” - "Every layperson who identifies as an alarmism skeptic has his or her own pivotal moment, and that idiotic “news” story in the Globe was mine. When reporters and editors act like deer in the headlights in the reception and dissemination of demonstrably impossible “information,” it’s clear evidence that they have been gripped by a socially contagious virus. These are the people who in the 19th century would have believed tulip bulb prices were never going to peak, even if every single family on the planet had enough tulip bulbs to fill a half-acre garden.  The late writer Michael Crichton, author of the best-selling 2004 techno-thriller, “State of Fear,” was one of the first independent students of environmentalism to define environmentalism as a “religion,” and to observe that its principal characteristic was to cater to the state of alarm he believed is an inherent human need. Its dogmatists act as though they have been appointed Morals Police. And they do not take kindly to dissent. Al Gore, whose 2006 documentary film An Inconvenient Truth was received with uncritical awe, (one of my friends, normally very brainy, described it as a “religious experience”) was later found by a UK court to contain “nine key scientific errors.” It was deemed rife with “serious scientific inaccuracies, political propaganda and sentimental mush” and the judge ruled that the “apocalyptic vision” presented made it not an impartial scientific analysis, but a “political film.” He continues to hector the world as though that never happened from the depths of a home whose electricity kilowatt hours exceed twenty times the national average. In 2007, environmental guru David Suzuki stormed out of a Toronto radio station interview when the host suggested global warming was not yet a “totally settled issue.” The incident revealed the mindset of the enviro-ayatollahs. (We see its 16-year-old version in little Pied Piper leader of the Children’s Crusade Greta “how-dare-you” Thunberg.) Suzuki perceived the radio host as a blasphemer, unworthy of his rational rebuttal. Suzuki actually felt enviro-infidels should be literally suppressed, and even opined that politicians who aren’t on board with his views should go to prison. You’d think a guy that far down the rabbit hole would be minding his own enviro P’s and Q’s, but like Al Gore, his real estate portfolio is humongous and his carbon footprint immense. Ordinary Canadians were afraid to criticize Suzuki, but he got his comeuppance in 2013 in Australia when, speaking to an audience of actual scientist who knew their stuff, he revealed his ignorance about actual climate data. I confess to a very satisfying hour of Schadenfreude in watching him make him a fool of himself on camera. Thankfully, hopefully feeling a bit chastened, he retired from the scene in 2014... Let me offer a word of advice to my fellow non-scientists who think they do not deserve to have a voice in this discussion for lack of credentials. Do not allow yourself to be intimidated by those who wield the scimitar of “authority” to speak on this issue because you are not a “peer-reviewed” PhD or because you don’t cite “primary sources.” You’ll notice they don’t scold Greta Thunberg for her reliance on others."

Shooting Star / On the toilet / Car Ad

*shooting star*
Small-breasted woman to man: "Look babe, you can make a wish"
*Big-breasted woman*

"No matter how beautiful you are, you are still like this when you go to the toilet😝😂 *woman peeing and shitting*"

"2012 Chrysler 200 Touring Sedan 4D
$4,000 $5,000
Driven 136,867 miles
Automatic transmission
Listed 2 hours ago in St Peters, MO
*Woman in boot*"

Links - 22nd December 2023 (1)

Being 'boring' isn’t in Poilievre’s DNA—And thank God for that - "Poilievre didn’t win his party’s leadership in a landslide by bowing out of big fights, ceding major public policy territory to his opponents, and hoping the media wouldn’t notice him (or that they wouldn’t find him too offensive). We don’t have to imagine how the Conservative party would fare if it tried to avoid big important fights—we already know. It would linger in opposition, as it has this last decade. "

Meme - "You weren't though."
Dan Hentschel @danghentschel: "Oh you don't want to tip? *spraying Raid insecticide into McDelivery McDonald's bag"
Dan Hentschel @danghentschel: "You've got to be kidding me."
"We're sorry to tell you this. The safety of our community on and offline is our highest priority. We have made the decision to suspend your account."
I wonder if this was DoorDash

Americans are getting tired of tipping, survey shows. Here’s why - "Americans are tipping less often for a variety of services, demonstrating a steady decline over the last few years, according to new data from Bankrate released this week.  Also, two-thirds (66%) of the survey's respondents have a negative view about tipping, including 41% saying they feel like businesses should pay their employees better rather than relying so much on tips. And, people are feeling annoyed about pre-entered tip screens (32%), sharing that the present tipping culture has gotten out of control (30%), and noting they would be willing to pay higher prices if they could do away with tipping (16%), and being confused about who and how much to tip (15%)... "I was recently asked to tip by a self-checkout machine at Newark Airport. I also don’t like how Hopper, the online travel agency, asks for tips when people book travel on their website. I’ve even heard of some doctors’ offices asking for tips," Rossman says. "These all feel like overreaches and blatant revenue grabs."... Americans are tipping less often for numerous services, demonstrating a steady decline over the last few years. According to its research, Gen Zers (ages 18-26), millennials (ages 27-42), and men stand out for being the worst tippers across multiple service categories...  "While 53% of U.S. adults who have a hair stylist/barber always tip them, just 24% of Gen Zers, 40% of millennials, and 46% of men always do so, compared to 60% of women, 67% of Gen Xers, and 70% of baby boomers." Similarly, 50% of U.S. adults who order food delivery always tip the delivery person, but just 31% of Gen Zers, 42% of millennials, and 45% of men do the same, compared to 54% of women, 63% of Gen Xers, and 62% of baby boomers, Bankrate’s study reports.  Finally, according to the study, while 40% of U.S. adults who ride in taxis/rideshares always tip the driver, just 22% of Gen Zers, 30% of millennials and 36% of men always tip them, compared to 45% of women, 51% of Gen Xers, and 56% of baby boomers."

Self-checkout machines now ask customers to tip - "Self-checkout machines want you to tip them for all that they do...   Many companies told the Journal that these tipping prompts are completely optional, and the extra gratuity is split between all employees.  However, experts say that tips at a self-checkout machine might never even get to an actual employee since protections to tipped workers in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act don’t extend to machines, according to WSJ... The option to tip by credit card at Starbucks was introduced in September 2022 and received mixed reviews from both customers and employees — the latter of whom admitted they feel embarrassed to ask for a tip on what is, essentially, fast food."

Outraged trader shares image of tip screen that suggested a HUNDRED PERCENT gratuity at Alaska restaurant - as top etiquette expert says she never gives in to their greedy demands - "Harrison Snowden from Chicago was beginning his vacation in Anchorage with two friends earlier this month when the mood turned sour... The tourist was so shocked that he tipped just 8 percent, less than he would normally have done, and took a picture of the screen. He then shared the shocking image with friends."

The sneaky trick American businesses are using to get extra tips: Square payment expert reveals how suggested amounts on gratuity screens are being increased - "almost three quarters of Americans leave a higher tip when they are presented with a digital screen at check out... Emily Post Institute - a group of etiquette experts - say that wait-staff should receive a pre-tax tip of 10 to 20 percent, while 10 percent to-go orders or curb delivery is appropriate but not required. Some 73 percent of people said they gave a gratuity at least 11 percent higher when tipping digitally, as opposed to with cash... not all respondents felt negatively towards adding gratuity, the study found, with 36 percent saying it made them feel 'happy', and 33 percent saying they felt 'grateful'.   When it comes to which services people are most likely to tip for, servers at sit-down restaurants topped the list - with 58 percent of respondents saying they would tip after a meal.   Some 46 percent said they would tip food delivery drivers, and 39 percent said they would typically offer gratuity at a bar.   Only 20 percent, however, said they would tip for child care, and just 17 percent said they would offer extra to movers.   A separate survey earlier this year found Americans were becoming 'stingier' with their tipping habits.    The study by Bankrate found the number of people who always tip for servers at a sit-down restaurant has declined by 12 percent in the last four years - from 77 percent in 2019 to 65 percent in 2023"

Determinants and consequences of female attractiveness and sexiness: realistic tests with restaurant waitresses - "Waitresses completed an on-line survey about their physical characteristics, self-perceived attractiveness and sexiness, and average tips. The waitresses' self-rated physical attractiveness increased with their breast sizes and decreased with their ages, waist-to-hip ratios, and body sizes. Similar effects were observed on self-rated sexiness, with the exception of age, which varied with self-rated sexiness in a negative, quadratic relationship rather than a linear one. Moreover, the waitresses' tips varied with age in a negative, quadratic relationship, increased with breast size, increased with having blond hair, and decreased with body size. These findings, which are discussed from an evolutionary perspective, make several contributions to the literature on female physical attractiveness. First, they replicate some previous findings regarding the determinants of female physical attractiveness using a larger, more diverse, and more ecologically valid set of stimuli than has been studied before. Second, they provide needed evidence that some of those determinants of female beauty affect interpersonal behaviors as well as attractiveness ratings. Finally, they indicate that some determinants of female physical attractiveness do not have the same effects on overt interpersonal behavior (such as tipping) that they have on attractiveness ratings. This latter contribution highlights the need for more ecologically valid tests of evolutionary theories about the determinants and consequences of female beauty."

I Wear Pigtails As a Server to Get More Tips. It's Gross but Works - "I wear pigtails to work to make more money. If you think I'm playing the men who tip me, then I'll say this: I am playing them, and I love it. I've spent my life under the male gaze, and now I'm making it work for me. It's empowering, and I'm glad to do it.  I started wearing pigtails to my job as a server because I thought they looked cute, but then I realized I was making more money when I wore them versus when I didn't. I've noticed that braiding my pigtails makes my tips climb even higher, so now I do that too... It's pretty disgusting that this is what men like, but at the same time, I may as well make money off it — I need to pay my rent.  I even explained the pigtail theory to one of the guys I was serving, and he said: "Yeah, it works because we want to pull them." I was like, "Well, that's disgusting, but OK. I'll take your money."  It feels empowering to turn it on them. Like, it's gross that you like this, but I'm making money off it."

PornHub launches BeeSexual campaign, follows in footsteps of Bee Movie, Aqua. - "The site’s new BeeSexual channel features videos of bees—like, actual bees, that’s not a euphemism—with titles such as “Pollen squirter gets raided by exotic explorer” and “Mature natural gets plowed by worker bee.” For the next month, Pornhub will donate to Operation Honey Bee and The Center for Honeybee Research according to how many views the videos, which feature voiceover commentary by actual porn stars, receive."

Amber Heard Claimed Jason Momoa Dressed Like Johnny Depp On 'Aquaman' Set - "Amber Heard told her therapist Jason Momoa was purposely dressing like her ex Johnny Depp while filming the 'Aquaman' sequel ... one of many claims just now coming to light."

Alaska Airlines flight diverts after off-duty pilot attempts to disable engines - "An Alaska Airlines flight bound for San Francisco was diverted to Portland, Oregon, after an off-duty pilot inside the flight deck attempted to disable the aircraft engines.  The suspect, 44-year-old Joseph David Emerson, was booked on 83 counts of attempted murder and endangering an airplane... the off-duty pilot sought to disable the engines on the Embraer 175 regional jet by deploying the fire suppression system, and added the crew was able to subdue the individual and remove him from the flight deck."

Why Alberta is still ‘rat free.’ No, really
The animal rights people must be very upset

Kim’s a la Cart has been serving up Korean street food for more than 10 years. The family wants to keep ‘a richer food culture in Toronto alive’ - "Kim’s offers a taste of what Toronto’s street food scene could have been... The cart is a relic of the now defunct Toronto a la Cart project, which began in 2009 as a city-backed initiative to go beyond hot dogs when it came to street food... Kim’s a la Cart was one of the project’s original vendors, some of which served injera, samosas, roti and souvlaki. Kim’s served bulgogi, bibimbap, tteokbokki and, on occasion, japchae. But the Toronto a la Cart program fumbled from the start as vendors were caught up in red tape.  The project started with 15 vendors, but seven dropped out before it began. The eight remaining vendors each paid $30,000 to operate a cart that was bulky, often malfunctioned and weighed around 800 pounds (still, the cart would slide in heavy winds)... The city didn’t properly research the spots it assigned to the vendors. Some vendors were placed in areas with existing hot dog carts or spots that didn’t have enough pedestrian traffic. It also cost up to $15,000 in annual location fees at the start... In 2011, city staff recommended that the program be immediately shut down. Toronto a la Cart was officially over, but the family stuck it out.  They switched to a hot dog vending licence, retrofitted the cart so it provided shelter during the winter and shifted from full meals to an under $5 menu of snacks to better reflect what Korean street vendors actually sold. The menu now includes pan fried beef dumplings, fish cakes, meat skewers, gimmari (fried seaweed noodle rolls) and tteokbokki. Bungeoppang, crispy fish-shaped waffles filled with red bean paste or gooey custard, are cooked over a fire using a mould imported from Korea (the batter is prepared by Simon’s and Isaac’s father, Myoung Choul Kim). The family also expanded with a bakery, Red Bean Waffle House, at a nearby plaza at 100 Steeles Ave. W., which also serves as a production kitchen for the cart. The bakery is where Simon and his pastry chef wife, YoungIm Na, are found, serving bungeoppang and fluffy, not-too-sweet Korean-style cakes in flavours like black sesame (intense, slightly savoury and full of ground sesame) and its seasonal special, mugwort, a springtime medicinal herb with a subtle green flavour... “We thought of moving (the cart) to one of those micro-restaurants at the bottom of a condo, but we take a sense of pride that we’re bringing a part of Korean street food culture to Toronto,” said Isaac.  “In some ways, our family sees our existence as a protest. By surviving we keep the pulse of a richer food culture in Toronto alive. As long as we operate, in the future hopefully stalls like ours will be more of a common thing.”"

Meme - "10 years ago I was addicted to drugs. Now I have a wife, family, car and a great job
NOTED. Step one: Get addicted to drugs."

Meme - Detective: "MOTHER OF GOD... NOTHING HUMAN COULD HAVE DONE THIS." *red liquid splattered all over kitchen*
EARLIER. *dog squeezing ketchup on burger*

Meme - "Ces choses gui n'existent pas :
les licornes
les sirènes
l'honneur des anglais
les filles sur le groupe"

Meme - "How to spot a drunk driver
In Europe
Sober *driving straight*
Drunk *driving in zigzag manner*
In Thailand
Sober *driving in zigzag manner to avoid potholes*
Drunk *driving straight*"

Meme - "Give us back our friend *2 pandas trying to pull panda away from human staff member taking it away*"

Meme - "What happened on 9/11?"
"The gender reveal party for the Statue of Liberty. It was a girl"
"Have some empathy, I lost my relative that day. Be ashamed of yourself for making a joke about this tragedy."
"sorry for your loss"
"Thank you for your kind words. He was the best pilot in the Middle East."

Meme - Canary to other Canary in cage in mine: "WANT TO ReALLY MesS WITH These GuYs? LAY Down AND TAKe A NAP"

Meme - "UM, EVE, THAT'S NOT A SALAD, THATS MY DIRTY LAUNDRY... *Eve eating leaves*"

Meme - "Believe in myself?? the same person who got me into this mess?"

Meme - "Harry, there will come a time when you must choose between what is hard and what is easy. Harry, can I tell you a secret?"
"Yes, professor."
"I'm both. Right now."

Meme - "Most Embarrassing Sex Moment GO"
Adam John Pilling: "few years ago, went on a date with a disabled girl. Went cinema and for some food. Went back to hers and was kissing in the garden, she told me to lift her onto this swing hangin off a tree. And we had sex on the swing with her legs dangling around like noodles.. I put her back in the chair and took her inside before I left. And her dad came up to me and said quietly "thanks mate , most lads just leave her stuck on the swing""

No, an Austrian airport doesn’t have a desk for travelers who thought they were going to Australia - "CLAIM: Salzburg Airport in Austria has a help desk specifically for people who intended to fly to Australia. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The European airport confirmed it does not have a desk for misguided tourists trying to get Down Under. The misconception stems from an advertisement for a technology company that ran on a baggage carousel at the airport, which joked about offering such a service... Indeed, the sign also includes the address of Commend’s website and reads: “Commend provides Security and Communication. From Salzburg to the rest of the world. Even for the most unlikely of situations.”  Wolfgang Peer, a spokesperson for Commend International, confirmed to The Associated Press that the advertisement was real, but had been discontinued in 2022."

Adam Johnson fallout continues: Decade-old video 'appears to show Matt Petgrave doing the same maneuver that resulted in on-ice fatality on Saturday in England' - "A video has surfaced from over a dozen years ago appearing to show Matt Petgrave performing a similar illegal move to the one that resulted in Adam Johnson's death last Saturday.  Johnson was killed during an Elite Ice Hockey League game in England when his throat was slit by Petgrave's skate following a collision. His passing on October 28 is still under investigation from the South Yorkshire Police.   Now, X user @WallStreetSilv is accusing Petgrave of intentionally extending his leg during the collision in an effort to 'take out' Johnson - and to prove that point, the popular social media account shared old footage of an allegedly similar incident. The clip appears to show Petgrave throwing his left elbow and right trailing leg at an opposing player, sending him spiraling in the air and smacking to the ice neck and upper back first."
Weird how this "freak accident" has happened before

Singapore schools starting to carry out anti-terror ‘lockdown’ drills - "For the first time, schools here are conducting “lockdown” drills, with teachers and students locking themselves in classrooms and hiding from sight, in case an intruder with heinous intention enters the premises.  The move marks a shift in schools’ response to emergency situations, from what used to be a focus on fire drills. And it comes as the Government recently rallied industries, businesses and workplaces to prepare and brace for a terror attack, under the national movement for such efforts, SGSecure."
From 2017

Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show - WSJ - "“Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,” the researchers said in a March 2020 slide presentation posted to Facebook’s internal message board, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves.”  For the past three years, Facebook has been conducting studies into how its photo-sharing app affects its millions of young users. Repeatedly, the company’s researchers found that Instagram is harmful for a sizable percentage of them, most notably teenage girls.   “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls,” said one slide from 2019, summarizing research about teen girls who experience the issues.  “Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,” said another slide. “This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups.”   Among teens who reported suicidal thoughts, 13% of British users and 6% of American users traced the desire to kill themselves to Instagram, one presentation showed.   Expanding its base of young users is vital to the company’s more than $100 billion in annual revenue, and it doesn’t want to jeopardize their engagement with the platform...   In five presentations over 18 months to this spring, the researchers conducted what they called a “teen mental health deep dive” and follow-up studies.  They came to the conclusion that some of the problems were specific to Instagram, and not social media more broadly. That is especially true concerning so-called social comparison, which is when people assess their own value in relation to the attractiveness, wealth and success of others.   “Social comparison is worse on Instagram,” states Facebook’s deep dive into teen girl body-image issues in 2020, noting that TikTok, a short-video app, is grounded in performance, while users on Snapchat, a rival photo and video-sharing app, are sheltered by jokey filters that “keep the focus on the face.” In contrast, Instagram focuses heavily on the body and lifestyle.   The features that Instagram identifies as most harmful to teens appear to be at the platform’s core.  The tendency to share only the best moments, a pressure to look perfect and an addictive product can send teens spiraling toward eating disorders, an unhealthy sense of their own bodies and depression, March 2020 internal research states. It warns that the Explore page, which serves users photos and videos curated by an algorithm, can send users deep into content that can be harmful... she found her peers using Instagram as a tool to measure their relative popularity. Students referred to the number of followers their peers had as if the number was stamped on their foreheads, she said... Facebook executives in public have often pointed to studies from the Oxford Internet Institute that have shown little correlation between social-media use and depression.  Other studies also found discrepancies between the amount of time people say they use social media and the amount of time they actually use such services. Mr. Mosseri has pointed to these studies as evidence for why research using self-reported data might not be accurate... “People talk about Instagram like it’s a drug. But we can’t study the active ingredient.”... Facebook experimented with hiding the tallies of “likes” that users see on their photos. Teens told Facebook in focus groups that “like” counts caused them anxiety and contributed to their negative feelings.  When Facebook tested a tweak to hide the “likes” in a pilot program they called Project Daisy, it found it didn’t improve life for teens... Part of the challenge, the researchers said, is they struggle to determine which users face the greatest risk. The researchers also said that the causality of some of their findings was unclear, and noted some of the studies had small sample sizes."

Meme - "Normies this month: No Nut November
Me: I'm on seventeen! *Legolas at Helm's Deep*"

Meme - Anime foxgirl: "PLEASE DON'T PARTICIPATE IN NO NUT NOVEMBER! HOLDING IT IN ISN'T GOOD FOR YOUR BODY AND MENTAL HEALTH. YOUR WELL-BEING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MEANINGLESS SELF-IMPOSED CHALLENGE. DON'T NEGLECT YOUR YEARNING. TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN NEEDS. A SATISFIED MIND IS THE KEY TO HAPPY LIFE. LOVE YOURSELF MORE, NOT LESS. JUST GO NUTS!"

Matt Gurney: An easy way to end the stupid Amber Alert whining — drop the buzzing alarm - "The Alert Ready system is a blunt instrument. The same system that’s used to notify the public of a child abduction is the same one we’d use, God forbid, to alert the public if someone had launched a volley of nuclear-tipped missiles at our cities. But there’s still a way to separate out the Amber Alerts: sending the messages without sending the loud, jarring alarm. Most of the time, the shrill buzzing tone is a feature, not a bug. The system is designed to get your attention, even wake you up, when your life is in immediate danger. If there is a tornado bearing down on you, you’ll want to know about it, even at quarter past three in the morning.  Amber Alerts are different. They do not require immediate, urgent action by the entire public. They don’t require people to be woken in their beds so they can take cover from an imminent danger. They are a way to pass on information to the public quickly and broadly, but with no real expectation that the public is going to immediately do anything about it. If you’re awake and on the roads or out-and-about, yes, by all means, keep an eye open for the child and any suspects the police are looking for. But you don’t need to hurl yourself from your bed to begin your own search for the child.  In other words, public awareness of Amber Alerts, though urgent and indeed emergencies, can wait. They aren’t like warnings of destructive storms, chemical spills or incoming ICBMs. Since no one will be able to help find a child until they’re out of the home anyway, they can wait until morning to learn about the alert. Amber Alerts can, and should, still go out via TV and radio. That’s only going to reach people who are already awake and paying attention. A text message to a cellphone, likewise, will be noted by those people already awake. Everyone else can wait until morning to discover that there is an Amber Alert. They won’t be useful before then anyway."
Clearly the author is a selfish prick who doesn't care about children. Because when children are concerned, there can be no compromises or discussion

WARNING: Interweb Conspiracy | Ultimate Pheasant Hunting Forums - "Tomorrow, Facebook will change its privacy settings to allow Mark Zuckerberg to come into your house while you sleep and eat your brains with a grapefruit spoon. To stop this from happening go to Account> Home Invasion Settings> Cannibalism> Brains, and uncheck the "Tasty" box. Please copy and repost.... :eek: :D :p :rolleyes:"
From 2011

Meme - "Two people on donkey's back. Poor Animal"
"How cruel he is by letting his wife walk"
"How stupid he is by letting his wife take the ride alone?"
"Fools! Don't even know how toutilize the Donkey"
"moral of the story : You cannot please everybody. Whatever you do, people will always criticize you or have something to say. So just do what is right, and don't be distracted by criticisms."

Meme - "I forgot my cat outside. I am too scared to let him in now. This may be my last post"

Meme - "Please do not enter the women *Japanese sign*"