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As of April 23rd, 2024:

People killed in the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip: 42,510

38,621 civilians

10,091 women

15,780 children

Percentage of children and women: 60%

Percentage of civilians: 91%

(source)

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People who harm animals go after someone they perceive as weaker. Many serial killers feel a sense of rejection from their parents or from someone they love; there’s either a perceived rejection or a real rejection. Rather than going after the person who rejected them, they’ll start with something that’s weaker, and often that’s an animal. It’s a matter of power.

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Yeah, I’m no expert, but that sounds about right

#askwendyokoopa #ask #answered #kristi noem #dogs #republicans #animal cruelty

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Elie Mystal covered the ridiculous, “Presidential Immunity” (aka, “Why Can’t Trump Be Treated Like A Dictator?”) case before SCOTUS

Dreeben: "BECAUSE THERE WEREN'T CRIMES!" (he didn't yell, I did, but he said "because there weren't crimes." )

Oh God, now Roberts wondering if they should send it back to the DC circuit because he's worried about presidents getting prosecuted in bad faith.

Roberts: "The court of appeals did not get into a focused consideration of what facts we're talking about or what documents we're talking about... they did not look at what courts usually look at when... taking away immunity."

Is this motherfucker serious? His argument is "Every president coups, why is mine getting charged?"

Thomas: Are you saying there's no immunity even for official acts?

And... that could be the ballgame

Roberts, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh are more worried about a prosecutor going after a president for *political* reasons than A PRESIDENT TRYING TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT.

This is just about over.

And by "this" I mean the rule of law and by "over" I mean delayed indefinitely to help Trump.

Gorsuch suggesting that under the government's standard a president could be prosecuted for leading a "civil rights protest" in front of Congress and sought to "influence an official proceeding."

Yes, because Jan 6 and a fucking sit in are the same thing, Neil.

This is goddamn disgusting.

I'm going to keep listening because it is my literal job, but this is pretty much in the bag for Trump at this point. Remand to DC Circuit for decision on "official acts" and whether organizing a coup is one.

After November, if Trump loses, SCOTUS will return to the issue.

Alito: Are you really saying the president is subject to criminal laws like everybody else?

YES YOU DICK. THE PRESIDENT SHOULD BE SUBJECT TO THE LAWS LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE!

Alito: "I'm not talking about the particular facts of this case."

WHY? WHY THE HELL ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS FUCKING CASE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU?

The question I'd have for the SCOTUS now is: If you do this, why would a Republican president every peacefully transfer power again?

Democratic presidents will because Democrats follow rules that don't apply to the other side. But why would Republicans just leave *ever again*?

Alito: Couldn't FDR's decision to inter Japanese Americans during WWII be charged [as a crime]?

He says that LIKE THAT'S A BAD THING?

And Dreeben is trying to say that he couldn't.

This country, and specifically this court, is a fucking joke.

Now onto self-pardons. Alito is just playing all the Fox News hits now.

I'm going to smoke. Biden should send Seal Team 6 to Mar-a-Lago because according to Alito there's no downside.

Alito just suggested that the last election was "questionably decided"

I have left my body and am texting things I can't say aloud to my friends.

Kagan is like the first person to be asking about the actual criminal acts Trump is charged with.

I assume Alito is not listening because Kagan is a woman while Gorsuch is probably sitting there emailing the New York Times because they got something wrong on the Spelling Bee.

I see the internet is unimpressed with Dreeben but that's being a little unfair. The Republican justices want to do this, there's nothing that Dreeben could say to stop them.

What he *could* be doing was making their hypocrisy more clear for the non-legal media following along.

But... SCOTUS advocates have to preserve their ability to argue another day, and blowing up the justices in one case

A: Doesn't help them actually win the case.

B: Actively hurts them in the next one.

Kavanaugh: "Like Justice Gorsuch, I'm not concerned with the here and now of this case, I'm concerned about the future."

I don't know why this is acceptable. I do know that the justices are sure they are right about ignoring the facts of THIS ACTUAL CASE.

Kavanaugh... who WORKED FOR KEN STARR... is basically saying that Jack Smith is politically motivated and his appoint in unconstitutional.

It's... maddening. And most of the media reports will not even point out this hypocrisy.

The "independent counsel" law was rewritten into our current "special counsel" law BECAUSE of the shit Kavanaugh helped Starr do! Everybody was like "that crap can't happen again."

Somebody get @neal_katyal and @MonicaLewinsky on the phone to blow up this asshole.

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky Every time I try to no have a stroke listening to this bullshit, they say something even more risible and stupid.

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky Kavanaugh: "President Ford's pardon. Hugely unpopular when he did it... now probably looked on as one of his better decisions."

What? WHAT? WHO THE FUCK THINKS FORD'S PARDON OF NIXON WAS A GOOD IDEA? WHEN DID I DIE AND GO TO HELL????

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky This could be a men v. women 5-4 ruling.

Men: Let's kick this back to DC to further delay Trump's trial.

Soto, Kagan, Jackson: Why? That's fucking dumb.

Barrett: Ladies, I agree with you, but we shouldn't call the men fucking dumb. We should politely disagree.

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky We're past the two and half hour mark for an argument where the Republican justices made their decision when they were appointed, some of them decades ago.

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky KBJ is closing by trying to answer all of Gorsuch's questions, which would be effective if Gorsuch operated in good faith. But... he doesn't. So...

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky I had hoped that *one* of the liberal justices would have made the point from the Common Cause brief, highlighting that the whole point of what Republican justices are doing is to give Trump delay.

Not a persuasive argument for the justices, but good for the media to hear.

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky The case is submitted. Court doesn't come back till May 9th which will be a decision day.

But I think they won't decide *this* case until July 3rd for max delay. And that decision will be 5-4 to remand the case back to DC, for additional delay.

@neal_katyal @MonicaLewinsky I wish I had better news for you. Thanks anyway for following along with our national descent into madness.

#politics #republicans #donald trump #scotus #elie mystal #presidential immunity

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... Dog stories are supposed to humanize the politician. Not make someone think you're the worst monster in the history of the planet

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Yeah, Kristi Noem is a real … uh … something

Tbh, after reading that story I feel sorry for any children who lived their childhood around her

People who are cruel to dogs and other animals are some of the worst people around. Idk how true it is, but it makes sense to me that animal cruelty is often a gateway to even worse cruelties against human beings—like becoming a Trump loving Republican, I guess

#the-explorers-journal #ask #answered #kristi noem #republicans #animal cruelty

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Reaching for an example of her unflinching preparedness to do anything “difficult, messy and ugly” if it needs to be done, Kristi Noem landed on a chilling example: the time she killed her pet dog, Cricket, in an execution-style gravel pit slaying.

The South Dakota governor, whose unbreakable devotion to Donald Trump has propelled her to somewhere near the top of his list of his potential 2024 running mates, reportedly included her disturbing tale of canicide in a book set to be published next month. “I guess if I were a better politician I wouldn’t tell the story here,” Noem writes, according to The Guardian, which obtained a copy.

According to the newspaper, Noem recounts the story of how she not only killed Cricket—a female “wirehair pointer, about 14 months old”—but then also proceeded to botch the killing of an unnamed goat that she owned to which she had taken a disliking.

(source)

“I hated that dog,” Noem reportedly writes, adding that Cricket was simply “untrainable” and “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with.” It was then that she realized “I had to put her down,” she adds.

Noem explains that she grabbed her gun and took Cricket to a gravel pit. “It was not a pleasant job,” she writes, “But it had to be done.” Afterward, she writes, she decided she also needed to kill a male goat she owned that was “nasty and mean” because it was uncastrated, complaining that the buck “loved to chase” Noem’s children around and would wreck their clothes by knocking them down.

She reportedly writes of the goat that she “dragged him to a gravel pit” like Cricket, but the killing did not go as smoothly. The goat jumped when she pulled the trigger, Noem says, meaning the goat survived the shot. She adds that she went to her truck to get another shell and then “hurried back to the gravel pit and put him down.”

Noem says that a construction crew had seen her killing both the dog and the goat. She also writes that when her daughter, Kennedy, came home from school, she “looked around confused” and asked: “Hey, where’s Cricket?”

(continue reading)

#kristi noem #politics #republicans #animal cruelty #the cruelty is the point #dogs #republicans are evil #gun nuts

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practice?

#allen iverson #nba #basketball #🏀 #practice? #practice

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#lol #still funny #titanic #titan submersible

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Chechen Muslims are used as cannon fodder in Putin’s war on Ukraine (source)

#politics #ukraine #russia #islamophobia #russian colonialism #russian imperialism #russian fascism ☭

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WASHINGTON, April 25 — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today released the following statement in response to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s claim yesterday that criticism of the Israeli government’s policies is antisemitic:

“No, Mr. Netanyahu. It is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that in a little over six months your extremist government has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000 – seventy percent of whom are women and children.

It is not antisemitic to point out that your bombing has completely destroyed more than 221,000 housing units in Gaza, leaving more than one million people homeless – almost half the population.

It is not antisemitic to note that your government has obliterated Gaza’s civilian infrastructure – electricity, water, and sewage.

It is not antisemitic to realize that your government has annihilated Gaza’s health care system, knocking 26 hospitals out of service and killing more than 400 health care workers.

It is not antisemitic to condemn your government’s destruction of all of Gaza’s 12 universities and 56 of its schools, with hundreds more damaged, leaving 625,000 students with no education.

It is not antisemitic to agree with virtually every humanitarian organization in saying that your government, in violation of American law, has unreasonably blocked humanitarian aid coming into Gaza, creating the conditions in which hundreds of thousands of children face malnutrition and famine.

Mr. Netanyahu. Antisemitism is a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to many millions of people. But, please, do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal war policies of your extremist and racist government. Do not use antisemitism to deflect attention from the criminal indictment you are facing in the Israeli courts. It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable for your actions.”

—Bernie Sanders

#politics #palestine #gaza #bernie sanders #antisemitism #pro palestinian ≠ antisemitism #🇵🇸 #israel is a terrorist state #hasbara #benjamin netanyahu is a war criminal #war crimes #genocide #ethnic cleansing

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In this video from 2015, Democracy Now! covers Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge.”

“The Israeli veterans group, Breaking the Silence, released testimonies of more than 60 Israeli officers and soldiers which it says illustrate a “broad ethical failure” that “comes from the top of the chain of command.” More than 2,200 Palestinians were killed in the assault, the vast majority civilians. On Israel’s side, 73 people were killed, all but six of them soldiers. During the 50-day operation, more than 20,000 Palestinian homes were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of people are still displaced. We hear candid video testimonies from the soldiers and speak to former Israeli paratrooper Avner Gvaryahu, director of public outreach at Breaking the Silence.”

Please listen to the soldiers who participated in this routine “lawn mowing” operation, as they testify about a fraction of the war crimes that were casually committed by the Israel army against Palestinian noncombatants. These admissions show a persistent state of mind, and that Israel has always intentionally and indiscriminately targeted civilians, and proves that the IDF is knowingly committing war crimes against the residents of Gaza.

This did not begin on October 7th. 🇵🇸

Full video here.

#politics #palestine #gaza #israel #breaking the silence #war crimes #🇵🇸 #rafah #israel is a terrorist state #ethnic cleansing #genocide #boycott divest sanction #bds

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When it rains in Nara by @AMAZlNGNATURE

#japan #nara #deer #cute animals #rainy days

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A boy enjoys the sun atop a donkey grazing in a field in the northern Gaza Strip on April 29, 2015. (Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Corbis)

#photography #palestine #gaza

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Fly me to the moon l AdamKyleJackson

#moon #luna #astronomy #photography #fly me to the moon #adam kyle jackson

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S 🇵🇸 O 🇵🇸 L 🇵🇸 I 🇵🇸 D 🇵🇸 A 🇵🇸 R 🇵🇸 I 🇵🇸 T 🇵🇸 Y 🇵🇸

#politics #palestine #gaza #campus protests #columbia university #🇵🇸 #student protests #rafah #keep eyes on rafah #solidarity #bds #boycott divest sanction

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Whew boy…

I honestly hate stepping on someone else’s feel good message (or generally any post I disagree with), but since this is an old post, I’ll make this one exception this time: I vehemently do not believe in the trope that, “someone’s cruelty helped make me a better person”

…. Like, generally speaking, by a young age you’re already a good person at heart, or you aren’t. Someone doing heinous things to you isn’t what “helped” you become a good person. People doing kind things to you and for you is what helped you to become a good person.

WTF? Is this thing working?

This self-destructive subservient mentality is a holdover from the weaponized “forgiveness narrative” or its closely related cousin, “hate breeds hate,” and PLEASE believe me when I say that these mentalities only helps bad people. It’s akin to the decidedly one-way mentality that slaves were taught, to always forgive their slave masters. I detest the notion that forgiveness is something that good people ™ must do to be good people. 🙄

There is absolutely nothing wrong with justified anger. If you choose to forgive someone, cool. But not forgiving someone who wronged you is also 100% okay.

No one is owed forgiveness. Hopefully, knowing and understanding this fact of life helps make people think long and hard before being harmful to others.

You do not have to forgive nor accept anyone’s apology, not even if they are genuinely contrite and it was a sincere apology.

You are not a bad person if you choose not to forgive someone who wronged you.

If you were raped, you do not have to forgive your rapist. If you were human trafficked, you do not have to forgive your enslavers. If your loved one was murdered, you do not have to forgive their murderer. If someone stole your life’s savings and it ruined your life, you do not have to forgive them.

I know what Godwin’s Law says, but let’s think about where this mandatory forgiveness trope eventually leads us.

It is completely possible to never forgive someone for something, and not harbor any debilitating hatred in your heart, and live a perfectly normal and happy life.

Not forgiving someone doesn’t necessarily = hating them.

Look, I’m almost 40yrs old and I understand that sometimes people make mistakes and it’s not really who they are. I get that. I really do. But in my 39 rotations on this blue marble, there’s only one or maybe two people who I will never forgive for their past actions (and no, it’s not my ex-fiancée or ex-girlfriends, lol). Maybe that feeling will change one day, or maybe it won’t. But what I dO know for sure is, I don’t waste any time thinking about those people; me not forgiving them hasn’t stunted my emotional growth or my mental wellbeing.

Think of it like this: if no one ever forgave anyone for anything, the world would be a more hellish place than it already is. And conversely, if everyone was required to forgive everyone for everything, no one would have a reason to change, and the world would be even more hellish.

Again, if you feel in your heart like forgiving your trespassers, that’s fine—do you. But please don’t forgive someone because you were guilted into it, or because you feel like that’s what all “good people” must do.

Don’t sell yourself short, okay? If you overcame hardships in life, it’s because YOU were able to do that, and probably because you had loved ones and genuinely kind people helping you through it—but you did not prosper and overcome hardships “thanks” to anyone who purposely inflicted those hardships on you.

Ao please don’t ever believe that someone’s cruelty is what “helped you” become a better person in any meaningful way. No one deserves to be thanked for bringing you pain, harm or hardships.

I mean, what’s next, thanking conservatives and Republicans for all of the evil dirt they routinely inflict upon others??

“I wish to see this one person before I die, but I have yet to find him. It feels I have seen everyone except for him. I met him 50 years ago when I first came to Seoul and worked any manual labor job that I could find. He followed me around like a younger sibling calling me ‘brother brother’ so we became really close. One day, my parents from the countryside sold a patch of rice paddy and sent me the money so that I could find a place to live. The time was late when I picked up my money from the bank, so I got a room at a motel and my friend stayed with me. But, oh my, when I woke up in the morning, he had already taken off with the money. Do you know how much a patch of land is? It is worth about one hundred million won (ninety thousand US dollars) now. That day I didn’t even have a penny, so I walked from Segeomjeong to Miari hill (over 9km) to find him. I also slept on the street because I didn’t have any money.” “What are you going to do if you see him?” “Well, I can’t ask him for the money anymore. It’s been 50 years so what can be done? I can’t beat him up or kill him. I’ll just say ‘you are lovely’. “Lovely?” “Yes. You have done what you did to make me into a good and mature person.. You go and have a good life. Now I am tired of hating him, I just simply want to see his face.”

“내가 죽기 전에 꼭 만났으면 쓰겄는데, 아직 못 만난 사람이 있어. 다른 사람들은 다 보이는데 그 놈은 안 보이네. 50년 전에, 내가 서울로 올라와서 노동일도 하고 별 거 다해먹었을 때 만난 애야. 나한테 ‘형님형님’하면서 따라다니길래 동생 같이 가깝게 지냈지. 어느날 시골에 계신 부모님이 서울에서 방 얻으라고 논 한 마지기 팔아서 돈을 부쳐줬거든. 돈 찾은 날, 시간이 늦었길래 여관에서 묵었지. 그 동생이랑. 근데, 아이고. 아침에 일어나 보니까 이놈아가 그 돈을 가져가 버렸어. 논 한 마지기면 얼만 줄 알아? 그게 지금 시세로 치면 1억은 가요, 지금. 그날 차비 한푼이 없어서 세검정에서 미아리 고개까지 걸어갔어. 그 놈 찾을라고. 땅바닥에서 잠까지 잤어요. 돈 한 푼이 없어서…” “만나면 어떻게 하실 거예요?” “이제 돈도 돌려달라고 못 그러잖어. 50년이 지났는데 어떻게 할거야. 때릴 수도 없고 죽일 수도 없고. 예쁘다고 내가 해줄라고.” “예쁘다구요?” “그래. 나를 참 사람 되게 하려고 니가 그랬구나… 너 잘 먹고 잘 살어. 이제 미워하는 것도 지쳐버렸고, 그 사람 얼굴이나 봤으면 좋겠어.”

#on hell no #he gets a beat down 50yrs later fr #yall gotta stop being the bigger person sometimes #think of it like this - youre helping teach him or his children about accountability and fafo #there is a time and a place for everything under the sun #the time for his ass whuppin is whenever you see him again #its on sight #idgaf if hes on oxygen and life support - he at minimum gets a punch in the nose #you can forgive someone and still teach them a lesson

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#the apologies only come after no one is around to face direct consequences for committing atrocities ← #palestine #israel #war crimes #politics #gaza #israel is a terrorist state #🇵🇸

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'Giving up out of fear without being asked' is how MAGA took over the Republican Party.

#politics #republicans #donald trump #timothy snyder #tyranny #authoritarianism #fascism #on tyranny twenty lessons from the twentieth century #on tyranny 20 lessons from the 20th century #trumpublicans