bolverk

Yeah, that was a disconcerting segment, and Georgia's election may be completely fucked as a result of the shit they're trying to pull.

This American Life had an excellent piece last week about the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. https://www.thisamericanlife.org/842/51-days

Yeah, I don't know why a news article from the WSJ wouldn't be considered a credible source of information. Sure, it's right-leaning, but it's widely viewed as reliable and accurate reporting. Its editorial board is pretty fucking nuts, but the news section is good, even with an inevitable slight bias you might get from just about any major publication. On a different note, here's another article about the IDF using Palestinians as human shields (an obvious war crime) in their operations. Tell me, @statsman, you posted an article a few weeks ago about Russians dehumanizing Ukrainians. Do you maybe see a parallel here? Or do you maintain the Israelis remain as innocent as lambs? Is it okay in your mind when the IDF uses captured Palestinian civilians as human shields but not okay when Hamas uses captured Israeli civilians in the same way? Based on this piece and previous reporting of the same technique, along with the video of a Palestinian civilian being used as a literal human shield strapped to the hood of an IDF Humvee, it would seem to be a commonplace and widespread practice, especially since IDF soldiers use slang terms like "wasps" and "mosquitos" to describe Palestinians used in this way. Of course, this is just an extension of the Israeli government's refusal to recognize a Palestinian state since apparently "those people" are unworthy of the inalienable right to self-governance. And many of us seem to be perfectly fine with Palestinian noncombatants being rounded up, held in prisons and treated as hostages, sexually assaulted, and refused medical care or visits by international human rights groups like the Red Cross. How Israel’s Army Uses Palestinians as Human Shields in Gaza Israeli soldiers and Palestinian former detainees say troops have regularly forced captured Gazans to carry out life-threatening tasks, including inside Hamas tunnels. After Israeli soldiers found Mohammed Shubeir hiding with his family in early March, they detained him for roughly 10 days before releasing him without charge, he said. During that time, Mr. Shubeir said, the soldiers used him as a human shield. Mr. Shubeir, then 17, said he was forced to walk handcuffed through the empty ruins of his hometown, Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, searching for explosives set by Hamas. To avoid being blown up themselves, the soldiers made him go ahead, Mr. Shubeir said. In one wrecked building, he stopped in his tracks: Running along the wall, he said, was a series of wires attached to explosives. “The soldiers sent me like a dog to a booby-trapped apartment,” said Mr. Shubeir, a high school student. “I thought these would be the last moments of my life.”

Wordle 1,213 4/6 ⬛⬛🟨🟨⬛ 🟨⬛🟨⬛⬛ ⬛🟩🟨⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #491 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🙂 Daily Quordle 994 6️⃣4️⃣ 8️⃣7️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟨🟨🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

John Oliver had an excellent long segment tonight about the election fuckery that's been going on and what we should expect in the coming weeks.

Florida @ Tennessee going into ovetime. 17 all.

Good ending to a game I haven't paid the least attention to until a few minutes ago. Edit: Not ended yet but in the process of ending.

Florida self-destructing. 2nd & 17 from Tennesse 26-ish. Edit: 3rd & 18

Florida with 1st & 10 at Tennessee 18. 2-minute timeout just ended.

Look, I've had someone slather the devil's sperm on my burger order before, and it was pretty damn enraging. And if I had the power to bring the wrath of the state onto that establishment, I would've done the same. I'm not saying it's right, but I understand.

Wordle 1,211 4/6 🟩⬜🟩🟨⬜ 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #489 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪 I've been had. 🙂 Daily Quordle 992 4️⃣5️⃣ 7️⃣🟥 m-w.com/games/quordle/ 🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟨🟨🟨🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟩🟩🟨⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩

Had the pattern but not the right starting letter. Wordle 1,210 4/6 🟨⬛⬛🟩⬛ ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #488 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🙂 Daily Quordle 991 4️⃣6️⃣ 5️⃣7️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ 🟨⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟩⬜🟨🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I don't think that, and I didn't say that. You came in here bitching about people being scared about "mean tweets" starting a nuclear war as if you had some kind of gotcha. Apropos to what? I don't even know what you're alluding to. What's the relevance here and to Joe Biden? I do know you have a problem with the capacity to embed tweets on this site, but that's as far as I know. What I do know is relevant to what's going on right now is that "disaster Twitter" actually used to be a thing. Yes, there have always been dickheads spreading disinformation, but before, those accounts weren't promoted by the site. Now, we've got lots of folks who maybe aren't bright enough to swipe over to the "For You" feed to see what reliable sources (if they're following any) are saying during a time of crisis and are getting fed a bunch of shit about FEMA confiscate their property if they accept aid. Local officials, governors of all political stripes, and federal recovery officials are all talking about how this disinformation is endangering lives. I mean, to me, that's the bigger issue. The disinformation that's being promoted by right-wing trolls from Elon's algorithm. That's what I was calling attention to in my initial response to your vague complaint. You harped some more on nuclear war fears, and so I then replied with the most immediate recollection of how there was an actual threat created by our past president using Twitter. At the same time, I called attention to the fact that it didn't really matter he was using Twitter, because he would've found a way to freak everyone out anyway. So, yeah, I really don't know where this is going, and I certainly know that the Biden thread isn't really the place to have this off-topic discussion. So, I'm just going to bow out for the night. I hope that whatever's under your skin resolves itself.

It doesn't matter what the platform is when the President of the United States goes off shitting in his pants like this: https://theintercept.com/2022/05/14/twitter-elon-musk-trump-nuclear-war-north-korea/ When Trump took office in January 2017, U.S. intelligence believed that North Korea had manufactured dozens of nuclear devices. In July 2017, the North Korean government successfully tested intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach the U.S. It was this — the possibility that the U.S. was vulnerable to the nuclear sword of Damocles that we had dangled over North Korea’s head for decades — that caused Trump to proclaim in August that “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.” The next month at the United Nations, Trump similarly said the U.S. might be forced “to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man [i.e., North Korean leader Kim Jong Un] is on a suicide mission.” Trump then jumped on Twitter that month to proclaim that Kim was “obviously a madman” who “will be tested like never before!” He followed it up the same day by tweeting, “Just heard Foreign Minister of North Korea speak at U. N. If he echoes thoughts of Little Rocket Man, they won’t be around much longer!” Such berserk bellicosity from a U.S. president would be alarming under any circumstances but was especially so involving North Korea. Jeffrey Lewis, a longtime North Korea observer and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, was so worried about Trump’s behavior that he wrote an entire speculative novel imagining how the president might accidentally start a nuclear war via tweet. “North Korea,” Lewis told me recently via Twitter direct message, “has a nuclear strategy that relies on preemptively using nuclear weapons to repel a US invasion. If North Korean leaders think an invasion is imminent, their plan — at least on paper — is to use nuclear weapons against US forces in South Korea and Japan to destroy any invasion forces and shock the United States.” And the North Korean government, Lewis said, doesn’t “have the kind of global hi-tech monitoring system the United States does. Instead they have to rely on signs and indicators. We don’t really know what indicators they use, but we think one of the most important indicators that the North Koreans rely on is the presence of military families in South Korea. The North Koreans think the U.S. would evacuate those families to safety before any invasion.” This was the situation on January 3, 2018, when Trump tweeted, “North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.’ … I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!” Esper, then serving as secretary of the Army, learned later that month that Trump was about to order all U.S. military dependents out of South Korea — announcing it on Twitter. “Kim would probably view a U.S. evacuation as a prelude to a conflict,” Esper writes in his book, echoing Lewis’s fears. “Would he strike first, targeting Seoul? … Would this be like the beginning of World War I? … This was a dangerous game of chicken, and with nuclear roosters no less.” Thankfully for all humanity, someone — Esper still has no idea who — “talked the president out of sending the tweet. … War averted.”

I remember when Twitter was a fairly reliable source of information to get from verified accounts during crises and natural disasters before Elon fucked up the algorithms so that right-wing trolls that spread disinformation go to the top of the feed.

Like a fart in the wind.

I wouldn't be where I am today without drugs, booze, and smokes!!! Wait...gotdammit.

Russian shit going BOOM. Tricked-out, camoed-up Lada goes boom. https://www.threads.net/@_nickmelnick/post/DA9WsHVIRnk They're going to lose the whole thing. Burning, 4 days running.

Russian atrocities "Ukrainian humanitarian vehicle getting hit by a russian FPV drone. The car is clearly marked: “EVACUATION”. But they don’t care." Video of Ukrainian Armed Forces prisoners of war being tortured by russian soldiers, including beatings and threats to cut off ear. The fate of these Ukrainian soldiers remains unknown.

Zebras are assholes.

It wouldn't be painless, but you're both correct that it's not a highly traveled stretch. TXDOT actually keeps traffic counts, and you can see that about 3,000-3,500 vehicles pass through there. https://www.txdot.gov/apps/statewide_mapping/StatewidePlanningMap.html By comparison, when you get south of 5th/6th, the average daily count more than doubles. To give context, one-way Lavaca heading north is about 13,000, and Guadalupe heading south averages about 6,000 daily cars. Based on traffic counts, this is akin to suggesting shutting down Trinity over by the convention center. One thing about grids is that they give drivers multiple streets to choose from, which is where @demos's suggestions for improving (or at least doing something with) Brazos and Colorado on each side of Congress to lessen the pain for commuters who do the whole stretch of Congress from the Capitol down to the river. I'm not saying I'm fer it or agin it, but it's not too insane. I will say, however, that it fits in with the broader vision of having a nice, broad, walkable pedestrian way from the Tower to downtown if you consider what's gone on with the North Mall in the Capitol Complex connecting to the UT campus.

NOW, do you realize why you shouldn't vote against FEMA funding, you blithering bitch?

I read a piece a day or so ago about the anti-trans ads. Given that they're playing them during football games, we all expect they're being targeted towards football dads. Unfortunately, they're surprisingly effective with suburban moms who are often motivated by a hyper-concern over safety issues. So, now, those momma bears have to weigh their anger about abortion rights being stripped away against their precious babies being attacked by evil, child-molesting transpeople or, worse, being turned into one. Even the spokesperson/head of the Human Rights Campaign (blue square bumper sticker with the yellow equals sign) whom they interviewed was concerned that they were having an effect.