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bolverk

Certifiably Surly
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  1. bolverk

    South Park

    That one and the ManBearPig episode are the only ones that ever irked me, but I never stopped watching or enjoying the show. Of course, Matt and Trey eventually admitted they were wrong and apologized 12 years later with a 2-parter. If you recall the old Bada Bing and Cloak Room from TOS, invoking ManBearPig used to be a running gag for this community’s climate change deniers. None of those guys is man enough to admit they were ever wrong, though. I’d forgotten all about that one, which kind of goes to your point.
  2. Just checked. It's on D+/Hulu, which makes sense since it was an ABC show.
  3. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-join-south-africas-gaza-genocide-case-against-israel-icj-2025-07-23/ BRASILIA, July 23 (Reuters) - Brazil is finalizing its submission to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel's actions in Gaza at the International Court of Justice, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. South Africa filed a case in 2023 asking the ICJ to declare that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention. The case argues that in its war against Hamas militants, Israel's military actions go beyond targeting Hamas alone by attacking civilians, with strikes on schools, hospitals, camps and shelters. Other countries – including Spain, Turkey and Colombia – have also sought to join the case against Israel. In its statement, the Brazilian government accused Israel of violations of international law "such as the annexation of territories by force," and it expressed "deep indignation" at violence suffered by the civilian population. Israel denies deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians, saying its sole interest is to annihilate Hamas. Lawyers for Israel have dismissed South Africa's case as an abuse of the genocide convention. The Israeli embassy in Brasilia said the Brazilian statement used "harsh words that do not fully portray the reality of what is currently happening in Gaza," while Brazil also "completely ignored" the role of Hamas within Gaza's reality. Brazil's National Israeli association CONIB said in a statement in response to Wednesday's decision: "The breaking of Brazil's long-standing friendship and partnership with Israel is a misguided move that proves the extremism of our foreign policy." Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has long been an outspoken critic of Israel's actions in Gaza, but Wednesday's decision carries added significance amid heightened tensions between Brazil and Israel ally the United States. The Trump administration announced 50% tariffs on all Brazilian goods this month. A diplomat familiar with the thinking of the Lula administration told Reuters that Brazil does not believe its decision to join South Africa's case will impact its relationship with Washington. The United States has opposed South Africa's genocide case under both Democratic former President Joe Biden and Trump, a Republican. In February, Trump signed an executive order to cut U.S. financial assistance to South Africa, citing in part its ICJ case.
  4. "From the river to the sea." https://www.timesofisrael.com/knesset-votes-71-13-for-non-binding-motion-calling-to-annex-west-bank/ The Knesset approved a non-binding motion in favor of annexing the West Bank on Wednesday, a symbolic gesture that united the otherwise fractious right-wing governing coalition. The resolution, which passed 71-13, declared that the West Bank is “an inseparable part of the Land of Israel, the historical, cultural and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people” and that “Israel has the natural, historical and legal right to all of the territories of the Land of Israel.” It called on the government to “apply Israeli sovereignty, law, judgment and administration to all the areas of Jewish settlement of all kinds in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley,” the government’s term for the West Bank. The motion was advanced by Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, Likud MK Dan Illouz and opposition Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer. Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War, and the territory is now estimated to be home to more than 500,000 Israeli settlers, in addition to millions of Palestinians. Much of the international community says Israel is illegally occupying the territory and views the settlements as violations of international law, which Israel disputes. “This is our land. This is our home. The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel,” Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said after the vote. “In 1967, the occupation did not begin; it ended, and our homeland was returned to its rightful owners. We are the original first natives of this piece of land. Jews cannot be the ‘occupier’ of a land that for 3,000 years has been called Judea.” Annexation of the West Bank, or of its Israeli settlements, is a longtime aspiration of the Israeli right. In 2019, ahead of an election, Netanyahu pledged to annex the Jordan Valley, on the territory’s eastern flank. But that pledge and similar efforts took a backseat amid a protracted political crisis that saw a string of inconclusive elections. The government has not pursued binding annexation legislation since, though it voted in similar numbers last year against the establishment of a Palestinian state. Wednesday’s vote came days before lawmakers will break for a nearly three-month recess, and as the coalition fights for its political life. On the same day, Likud MKs voted to unseat their colleague Yuli Edelstein as chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, replacing him with Boaz Bismuth, a loyalist of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is expected to advance a law regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment. The ultra-Orthodox parties, which left the coalition due to disputes over the enlistment law, nevertheless joined Likud and other right-wing parties in voting for the annexation resolution. The opposition Yisrael Beiteinu also voted in favor. The Knesset approved a non-binding motion in favor of annexing the West Bank on Wednesday, a symbolic gesture that united the otherwise fractious right-wing governing coalition. The resolution, which passed 71-13, declared that the West Bank is “an inseparable part of the Land of Israel, the historical, cultural and spiritual homeland of the Jewish people” and that “Israel has the natural, historical and legal right to all of the territories of the Land of Israel.” It called on the government to “apply Israeli sovereignty, law, judgment and administration to all the areas of Jewish settlement of all kinds in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley,” the government’s term for the West Bank. The motion was advanced by Religious Zionism MK Simcha Rothman, Likud MK Dan Illouz and opposition Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer. Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War, and the territory is now estimated to be home to more than 500,000 Israeli settlers, in addition to millions of Palestinians. Much of the international community says Israel is illegally occupying the territory and views the settlements as violations of international law, which Israel disputes. “This is our land. This is our home. The Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel,” Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana said after the vote. “In 1967, the occupation did not begin; it ended, and our homeland was returned to its rightful owners. We are the original first natives of this piece of land. Jews cannot be the ‘occupier’ of a land that for 3,000 years has been called Judea.” Annexation of the West Bank, or of its Israeli settlements, is a longtime aspiration of the Israeli right. In 2019, ahead of an election, Netanyahu pledged to annex the Jordan Valley, on the territory’s eastern flank. But that pledge and similar efforts took a backseat amid a protracted political crisis that saw a string of inconclusive elections. The government has not pursued binding annexation legislation since, though it voted in similar numbers last year against the establishment of a Palestinian state. Wednesday’s vote came days before lawmakers will break for a nearly three-month recess, and as the coalition fights for its political life. On the same day, Likud MKs voted to unseat their colleague Yuli Edelstein as chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, replacing him with Boaz Bismuth, a loyalist of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is expected to advance a law regulating ultra-Orthodox enlistment. The ultra-Orthodox parties, which left the coalition due to disputes over the enlistment law, nevertheless joined Likud and other right-wing parties in voting for the annexation resolution. The opposition Yisrael Beiteinu also voted in favor. Voting against were the Arab parties as well as the left-wing Democrats. The largest opposition parties, Yesh Atid and Blue and White, did not vote on the motion. “Annexation of Judea and Samaria is a clear danger to the future of the state of Israel and the Zionist enterprise,” Democrats MK Gilad Kariv posted on X, calling the motion “a smokescreen for abandoning the hostages [held by Hamas in Gaza] and advancing an evasion law.” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s deputy, Hussein al-Sheikh, called the annexation vote a “dangerous escalation that undermines the prospects for peace, stability and the two-state solution.” Sheikh also called the vote “a direct assault on the rights of the Palestinian people,” who ostensibly would not receive equal rights to their Israeli settler neighbors in a scenario where Jerusalem annexes the West Bank. Urging the international community to intervene to roll back Israeli “violations,” the senior Palestinian official said countries should recognize a Palestinian state in response.
  5. Major media say their journalists in Gaza are ‘increasingly unable to feed themselves’ Four leading news organizations said Thursday that their journalists in Gaza are facing the threat of starvation as the Israel-Hamas war grinds on, while top U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff was to meet with key negotiators from the Middle East for talks on the latest ceasefire proposal and the release of hostages. The media outlets’ joint statement called on Israel to allow journalists in and out of Gaza and allow adequate food supplies into the territory. “For many months, these independent journalists have been the world’s eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering,” said the joint statement by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters and the BBC. The statement came a day after more than 100 charity and human rights groups said Israel’s blockade and ongoing military offensive are pushing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip toward starvation. “We are desperately concerned for our journalists in Gaza, who are increasingly unable to feed themselves and their families,” said a joint statement by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters and the BBC. “For many months, these independent journalists have been the world’s eyes and ears on the ground in Gaza. They are now facing the same dire circumstances as those they are covering.” The statement called on Israel to allow journalists in and out of Gaza and allow adequate food supplies into the territory. Israel has barred international media from entering Gaza independently throughout the 21-month war.
  6. Even the doctors and nurses treating starving people are suffering from hunger. "Yesterday, some staff members ate just 10 spoons of plain white rice." Gazans Are Dying of Starvation Severe hunger has gripped the war-torn Palestinian enclave, where growing numbers of people are starving and the doctors treating them are working on empty stomachs. Atef Abu Khater, 17, who was healthy before Gaza was gripped by war, lies in intensive care in a hospital in the north of the Palestinian enclave, suffering from severe malnutrition. “He is not responding to the treatment,” said his father, A’eed Abu Khater, 48, who has been sheltering in a tent in Gaza City with his wife and five children. “I feel helpless,” he added in a phone call, his voice strained with grief. “We lost our income in the war. Food is unaffordable. There is nothing.” Gaza’s hospitals have struggled since early in the war to cope with the influx of Palestinians injured and maimed by Israeli airstrikes and, more recently, by shootings meant to disperse desperate crowds as they surge toward food convoys or head to aid distribution sites. Now, according to doctors in the territory, an increasing number of their patients are suffering — and dying — from starvation. “There is no one in Gaza now outside the scope of famine, not even myself,” said Dr. Ahmed al-Farra, who leads the pediatric ward at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. “I am speaking to you as a health official, but I, too, am searching for flour to feed my family.” The World Food Program, an arm of the United Nations, said this week that the hunger crisis in Gaza had reached “new and astonishing levels of desperation, with a third of the population not eating for multiple days in a row.” Dr. al-Farra said the number of children dying of malnutrition had risen sharply in recent days. He described harrowing scenes of people too exhausted to walk. Many of the children he sees have no pre-existing medical conditions, he said, giving the example of Siwar Barbaq, who was born healthy and now, at 11 months old, should weigh about 20 pounds but is under nine pounds. After 21 months of devastating conflict set off by the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the lack of available food and water is taking a heavy toll on Gaza’s most vulnerable civilians — the young, the old and the sick. The Gaza ministry of health has reported more than 40 hunger-related deaths this month, including 16 children, and 111 since the beginning of the war, 81 of them children. The data could not be independently verified. Throughout the war, U.N. agencies and independent aid groups have accused Israel of allowing far too little food into Gaza, warning of impending famine for its more than two million people. For much of that time, Israel has said that enough food was reaching Gaza, blaming diversions by Hamas and mismanagement by aid groups for problems. Yahia al-Najjar was 4 months old when he died of severe malnutrition on Tuesday at the American Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, his aunt, Safa al-Najjar, 38, said in an interview. Yahia was born without serious health issues, but his condition soon deteriorated, she said. The family has been sheltering under a tent made of a blanket held up by four poles. Yahia’s mother, subsisting on one meal of lentils or rice per day, could not produce enough milk to nurse him, though she had no problems nursing her previous three children. The family could not afford baby formula. At the hospital, the doctors tried to help, but he was already in critical condition and had lost weight. He died shortly after, she said. After Israel ended a two-month cease-fire in mid-March and resumed its military campaign in Gaza, it imposed a total blockade on the entry of goods for about 80 days to try to pressure Hamas into surrendering, exacerbating the already severe deprivation. Now, aid enters in two ways. One is a new, much-criticized system run by private American contractors under the auspices of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private Israeli-backed group, which has a few set distribution sites in southern Gaza and one in the center of the strip. The other consists of convoys of aid brought in by independent international organizations. Both systems have been plagued by worsening chaos and violence after months of siege, war, mass displacement and lawlessness. Most of the Israeli shootings, according to the United Nations, have occurred around the Israel-backed distribution sites. The hunger crisis is the result of human failings, with each of the involved parties blaming someone else for the suffering. Israel accuses Hamas of engineering a narrative of starvation by looting aid trucks and disrupting the distribution of aid to Gazans. It also accuses the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations of failing to collect hundreds of truckloads of aid that have piled up on the Gaza side of the border crossings. Aid groups blame Israel for laying siege to Gaza, restricting supplies and failing to provide safe routes for their convoys inside Gaza. The only solution, they have long said, is an extensive increase in food deliveries. Israel countered the images of starving children this week with images of pallets of supplies lying uncollected on the Gaza side of a border crossing and footage of what the military described as Hamas terrorists enjoying platters of food and fresh fruit in the group’s underground tunnels. The military declined to say when the video was recorded. The leaders of Israel and Hamas are engaged in sluggish negotiations, through mediators, for another temporary cease-fire that could bring relief and have Hamas release hostages it is holding in the tunnels in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody. Doctors warn that malnutrition in early childhood can have long-term effects, disrupting growth, cognitive ability and emotional development. Mohammad Saqr, head of the nursing department at Nasser Medical Complex, said that on Monday afternoon alone, the hospital received 25 women and 10 children requesting intravenous glucose solution. While the treatment may briefly relieve symptoms, Mr. Saqr warned, “they feel the hunger again soon after.” He added, “Some arrive shivering from hunger.” The hospital’s limited supply of IV solution cannot meet the growing demand, he said, adding: “The team is exhausted from hunger. Yesterday, some staff members ate just 10 spoons of plain white rice.” Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City had recorded three deaths from malnutrition in the previous 36 hours, Dr. Mohammad Abu Salmiya, the hospital director, said in an interview on Tuesday. One was a 5-month-old baby. Collecting water in Gaza City last week. Children outside a charity kitchen in Gaza City on Wednesday. A man carried the body of an infant who died of starvation, according to health officials, at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Tuesday.
  7. Wordle 1,496 3/6 ⬛⬛🟩⬛🟩 ⬛⬛🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #774 🟨🟩🟪🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🙂 Daily Quordle 1277 4️⃣7️⃣ 5️⃣6️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
  8. Palestinians are beginning to die from starvation. Aid Groups Blame Israel’s Gaza Restrictions for ‘Mass Starvation’ More than 100 organizations, including Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders, added to growing calls for aid restrictions to be eased and the war to end. More than 100 aid agencies and rights groups, including Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders, warned on Wednesday that “mass starvation” was spreading across Gaza, adding to calls for Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave. The joint statement is the latest attempt to draw attention to a growing hunger crisis in Gaza. It was released after the European Union and at least 28 governments, including Israeli allies like Britain, France and Canada, on Monday condemned the “drip feeding of aid” and said that civilian suffering had “reached new depths.” Doctors Without Borders in Gaza has reported a “sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition.” Adults frequently collapse from hunger, the aid groups said in their statement, adding that stockpiles of food and other supplies warehoused outside the territory were being prevented from reaching people in need. Gaza’s health ministry said on Wednesday that hospitals had registered 10 deaths because of famine or malnutrition in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths from hunger since Saturday to 43. There was no independent confirmation of the toll and the ministry did not give details. Health experts say that deaths from malnutrition are often undercounted because acutely hungry patients often die of other causes, such as diarrhea or viral infections, that their bodies are too weak to fight. The United Nations’ World Food Program said this week that nearly a third of Gaza’s population, which stands at 2.1 million, was not eating for multiple days in a row. “People are dying for lack of humanitarian assistance,” it said in a statement. Israel blocked deliveries of aid between March and May after it ended a cease-fire with Hamas. Since then, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private Israeli-backed group, has managed a new system in which people go to a few distribution sites to obtain aid. The government says that the new system is designed to prevent Hamas from stealing aid, and the sites are in areas of Gaza controlled by Israeli forces. But the new system has been marred by near-daily violence. The United Nations said last week that more than 670 people had been killed near the new aid sites, many as a result of gunfire, and that hundreds of others had been injured. One consequence has been that some people have been deterred from approaching the sites, which itself has exacerbated hunger, aid groups say. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/world/middleeast/aid-groups-gaza-starvation.html https://archive.is/wR60n
  9. If you believe that talking shit about another country is "Cloak Room," you had better not participate in any thread ever again that talks shit about a foreign country. I can be a pretty fucking petty person, so I will look out for it from you and will pester the shit out of you every time I see it.
  10. This is some fucked up shit. Basically, it looks like they're trying to make protesting ICE illegal, in plain violation of the First Amendment in many cases, by intentionally conflating opposition to their activities with serious crimes. This is the kind of stuff that dictators do. And give me a break about "doxing" agents. Pretty soon, some local jurisdiction will make the same argument about regular beat cops, saying their identities should also be shielded from the public for their safety. Imagine the next time you get stopped for a broken taillight or something, and the cop who comes up to your car door is wearing a fucking mask, like in The Watchmen? Is this what people want, living in a police state where bullshit laws are enforced based on assumptions and not facts or evidence? https://theintercept.com/2025/07/23/feds-criminalize-protests-masked-ice/ https://archive.is/sQii5 Speaking on Fox News last week, a top official from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency was expanding its dragnet for arrests. “I think we all know that criminals tend to hang out with criminals,” ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan said. “And so when we start to build a case, we’re going to be going after everyone that’s around them. Because these criminals tend to hang out with like-minded people who also happen to be criminals.” The pledge to broaden arrests came as an immigration sweep that sowed fear across the Los Angeles area has been met by a growing protest movement to stop the raids and arrests. In addition to arresting hundreds of immigrants across Southern California, the government is targeting a mounting number of people who are responding to the raids or helping protests. Some of those targeted have provided supplies to protesters or tried to identify ICE agents conducting raids in masks and plain clothes. The remarks from Sheahan, the ICE official, came three days after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop indiscriminate ICE raids in LA. In the order, Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong condemned the administration’s use of a person’s characteristics — like their appearance, accent, or occupation — as a basis for arrest. “Roving patrols” operating without reasonable suspicion and denying access to lawyers violated the Fourth and the Fifth Amendments, the judge wrote. “What the federal government would have this Court believe — in the face of a mountain of evidence presented in this case — is that none of this is actually happening.” Now, those accused of helping the anti-ICE movement are facing prosecution or investigation. Earlier this month, a federal grand jury indicted a man after he handed out face shields to people protesting ICE in Los Angeles two days after President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard. Alejandro Orellana, 29, pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiracy to aid and abet civil disorders. According to a grand jury indictment, the face shields were “advertised as designed to protect from chemical splashes and flying debris.” “Alejandro Orellana’s arrest for distributing supplies is an outrageous violation of civil rights and should be a wakeup call to people everywhere,” said California attorney Thomas Harvey. “This appears to be a targeted, political attack on resistance to a military incursion on our communities,” Harvey said. “Distributing supplies to protesters is not a crime. It’s a critical role to help keep people safe — especially in the face of some of the most violent police repression I’ve seen since the Ferguson uprising.” In Orellana’s case, an agent from the FBI made a claim similar to the one the ICE deputy would later make to Fox News — that it was assigning criminality to people based on assumptions, not on evidence. The agent claimed in an affidavit that wearing such gear like the face shields, designed to protect against law enforcement using pepper spray or tear gas, “is not common amongst non-violent, peaceful protesters.” Instead, he argued, the face shield was “the kind of item used by violent agitators to enable them to resist law enforcement and to engage in violence and/or vandalism during a civil disorder.” Identifying Masked ICE Agents As part of expanding its definitions of criminal activity to include forms of protest responding to ICE, the government ramped up its efforts to investigate people suspected of providing identifying information about ICE agents. On July 11, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem released a statement condemning “anarchists and rioters” in Portland who posted flyers with identifying information about ICE agents and said the department would prosecute “those who dox ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law.” Last month, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced a bill that would make identifying ICE officers a federal crime. In another case in May, ICE agents raided the home of a family in Irvine, California, on a criminal search warrant. They were investigating the source of flyers that had been posted around LA earlier this year with identifying information about ICE officers. The government suspected the family’s son was responsible. Rep. Dave Min, D-Calif., issued a statement after the May raid saying he was “deeply concerned” with news of the raid and had asked federal law enforcement for more information. Min’s office did not respond to questions about whether they had yet received any such information. Several of the efforts to further criminalize protest flyers or mutual aid have also been used against pro-Palestine student protesters, Cop City activists in Georgia, and people providing water to migrants. Police charged protesters opposing the construction of the so-called Cop City police training facility with felonies for posting flyers in 2023, The Intercept reported. The activists had posted flyers in a neighborhood where a police officer lived, naming him and alleging that he was connected to the killing earlier that year of Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán. Police shot Tortuguita 57 times, killing the activist during a multiagency raid on the Atlanta Forest protest encampment. In 2023, prosecutors brought charges under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law against 61 activists for their participation in organizing bail funds for Cop City protesters. Prosecutors dropped charges against three of the activists last year, and others are still awaiting trial. In a slew of other high-profile cases, elected officials have been arrested for aiding migrants being pursued for arrest by ICE agents. Earlier this year, the FBI arrested a judge accused of helping a man use an alternate exit from a courtroom when ICE agents were waiting outside the main door. In Arizona in 2018, prosecutors famously slapped humanitarian volunteers offering food, shelter, and water to migrants in the desert with federal criminal charges. Border Patrol targeted their faith-based group as a criminal organization. In 2005, activists with the same group faced criminal charges for transporting migrants to receive medical care; the charges were later dismissed. “It should be terrifying to every person that the U.S., which has long held political prisoners, is ramping up its oppressive tactics,” said Harvey, the California attorney. “And now, with the new funding, ICE will have more money than any policing force in U.S. history to build a gulag system filled with localized versions of ‘Alligator Alcatrazes’ to cage immigrants and political dissidents.”
  11. Jesus. Read this portion of my sentence again very carefully: "the overall argument is that ICE agents shouldn’t be going to schools to round up children, which you apparently agree with." I'm a little tired today, so maybe I could've been clearer, but I'm stating that you agree with the idea that children shouldn't be rounded up at schools.
  12. As someone who hasn’t been part of this conversation, may I ask the purpose of this crusade you’re on? ICE agents attempted to gain entry into an elementary school, according to various news reports. Had the principal not denied them access, they would have. You stated you’re glad they couldn’t go in, but your making nine posts on this page about this pedantic quibble is a bit odd. If we’re going to get really technical about it, I’d bet they at least opened the front door and made it to the front office. My daughter’s no longer in school, and I did teach high school for a year in the early 1990s. But from my experience, when walking into a school, there’s rarely a person actually guarding the door throughout the day, much less the principal. Now, granted, things may have changed in the past several years with all the fucking school shootings, and this is Los Angeles, so I could very well be wrong, but this is a really weird argument over such a minor detail when the overall argument is that ICE agents shouldn’t be going to schools to round up children, which you apparently agree with. Again, I’ll ask, what point are you trying to make here? Do you demand verbal precision in every conversation that you have? If so, may I point out the number of grammatical errors in your previous posts?
  13. Wordle 1,495 3/6 ⬛⬛🟨🟨🟨 ⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #773 🟩🟨🟪🟨 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🙂 Daily Quordle 1276 8️⃣4️⃣ 5️⃣7️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 🟨⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
  14. Yeah, I know. Just realize that where I live now is 80/20 Trump country. From my backyard, which sits on a steep ridge, there’s a creek that’s less than two football fields away from a creek that feeds directly into the Colorado River, and eventually the Highland Lakes. Stuff gets filtered, ends up in Spence, Ivie, Buchanan, and then on down the line. Fortunately, for me, I'm now on a well now, drinking ancient dinosaur piss. Unfortunately, you and the rest of Austin aren't so lucky. Enjoy. What we choose to do directly affects others. Refusing to force them to take care of their own shit will eventually fuck you over, too. You know this, and I know you know this, and I'm as embittered by everything as much as you are, but I don't know what else to say at this point in terms of flood mitigation and/or water quality. A regional authority of some sort should be the answer. Look, my stating obvious answers to hydrological conundrums isn't going to solve shit. I know that -- I'm not naive. I'm just giving voice to obvious fucking answers that shouldn't require a degree for such a simple gotdam response. Mystic? You fucked up. Children in your care died. Kerrville/Kerr County? You fucked up, too. Both children and daytrippers died. Texas? Yeah, treat flood stuff like you did 100 years ago when state highways -- along with FM and RR roads -- became a priority because those corrupt early-20th-century knobs who implemented such a far-reaching system were more sophisticated than current state leadership is today. Hell, who gave LCRA the authority to budget its waters? It's all so gotdam obvious. But, without state leadership, nothing is going to get done. This state needs an LBJ-type guy to throw his considerable swinging dick weight around for these numbskulls to even consider thinking more than one step beyond what grandma is cooking for Sunday lunch.
  15. Here’s the shitty thing about living in a fucking society: the insanity of others affects us and/or others, one way or another. In this particular case, Comfort apparently has a flood warning system to protect it, and New Braunfels has the dam at Canyon Lake. Yes, lucky them. But fucked up shit happening -- due to negligence, slothfulness, spite, or idiocy -- tends to have downstream effects on innocent parties, regardless of whether we’re citizens, taxpayers, or just visiting places with the worst gotdam leadership in the state. Greater good, social contract, and all that. Believe me. I’d prefer to let Kerr County molder at this point, but chickens come home to roost to peck all our eyes out and bingo-shit all over the place. I don’t know what else we do unless we want to just live in a Mad Max world with walls and shit around the sanctuary cities, which wouldn’t be great for commerce, going to away games, or going hiking. "On the Road Again" would be a very different song.
  16. https://archive.is/ctGGE
  17. I can see the appeal.
  18. Not sure which trip it was, but I don't think I've ever been more miserable than being dragged around old New Orleans cemeteries, hungover, on an August afternoon.
  19. Thanks for this. It's been posted before but I'd totally forgotten about it. It's absolute perfection for the past few pages of this thread.
  20. Honestly, we're all fucking weird -- otherwise, we wouldn't be hanging out here. But, yeah, my weirdness was on full display during Shaggy's heyday with way too much oversharing.
  21. I don't think he's from the cast of past characters. He's a legitimately different guy as far as I can tell. There's a lot more to him that can be found elsewhere, but I won't go into further detail. In a general sense, I think he's just a techbro or engineering type of dork who seems to have found a middle-aged love for partying and gets really enthusiastic (and compulsive) about sharing shit. Based on the content I've read, he doesn't seem to be much into circumspection or deep thought -- at least that's how he portrays his personality through his posts. I don't think he's a terrible guy necessarily. He tends to throw caution to the wind a lot, without much reflection, is the best way I can think to put it. He's also a pretty frequent poster over on the Football and 9.95 boards, if I recall correctly. Edit: I'll also add that I went kind of crazy in my early 40s, too, but that was because I was fucked up over my divorce, got laid off from a dream job at the tail end of the Great Recession, and made an ass of myself A LOT on these boards, too.
  22. Well, that fucking sucked. Seriously, the proposal to form a committee from the public and private sectors by THIS regime over the next few years gives me zero hope.
  23. I assume you've read "Bowling Alone." Putnam was on to something.
  24. I get it, and it's frustrating as shit. "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." Bullshit. You shove a hose down his neck and make him, in this instance. It's a regional public safety matter, and the State should take the lead. As it stands now, the patchwork quilt of flooding mitigation has too many holes in it. Some local governments have stepped up, but Kerr County made a conscious decision not to do so. Don't give them an option to be short-sighted and stingy fuckheads. None of the entities at any level (city, county, state) want any responsibility or accountability in this, which, ironically, makes them all fucking culpable. State leaders have been warned about it, and planners have been requesting it from all levels of government. Likely, what will happen is that they patch up a couple of holes and call it a day until the next tragedy in 5-10 years, when another Hill Country town gets flooded.
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