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bolverk

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by bolverk

  1. You're absolutely correct that it's a perspective that we Americans can't really understand, and I hope to never come closer than when we did that day as a few thousand dumbasses stormed the Capitol. I can only imagine the angst that Israelis felt on 10/7, especially given their history. But I also ask you to apply that same level of empathy to the 2+ million Palestinian civilians living in the Gaza Strip, who I'm sure right now feel like they're facing quite an existential crisis knowing that there's nowhere for them to retreat to. I just went on the old MAPfrappe site to redraw a rough outline of the Gaza Strip and superimposed it over Austin. It's a very small territory that's getting smaller and smaller as the internally displaced population is getting crammed into an increasingly tight corner of the strip. Imagine the fear those people are facing as bombs keep dropping while they have insufficient food and disease is spreading due to unsanitary living conditions. https://mapfrappe.com/?show=1029 Reposting the damage map from above to visualize the destruction, as well as the extent of the "humanitarian zone" that 2+ million people are gradually getting pushed into.
  2. The last two major comprehensive immigration reform bills, one during Bush's presidency and the other under Obama, were both killed by the Right Wing of the Republican Party. Anyone bitching about our fundamentally fucked up immigration system has only that group to blame.
  3. If you haven't watched the John Oliver segment on this mess, you should do yourself a favor and watch it. From what I recall, he goes into this and says that Hamas was downplaying all the Death to Israel stuff. Instead, they campaigned on Fatah's corruption and incompetence. Of course, they later changed their tune.
  4. With whom are you disagreeing? I don't think I've seen anyone say anything in support of Iran. What I do see, however, are people saying something akin to one of two primary arguments du jour: There are no "good guys" among the combatants, including Israel. Israel is justified in destroying Gaza on the grounds that Hamas are "bad guys". Among other discussions and claims over the past couple of months that I've seen are also: Palestinians/Arabs are anti-semitic and support the destruction of Israel; therefore, Israel can't live in peace. Israel has been oppressing Palestinians in the West Bank/Gaza through occupation or blockade (apartheid/open-air prison). The Palestinians/Arabs attacked Israel 50+ years ago and lost; therefore, Israel has a right to the land they won. The U.S. shouldn't be supplying Israelis with more weapons when they clearly have a military advantage. Islam is inherently opposed to democracy/the modern world. Israel is a small country that needs to occupy land in order to have a militarily defensible position. If you can find a post where someone is saying that Iran isn't a bad actor in all this, I'd appreciate it. Because that is one hot take I have not seen, and I'd like to laugh at that poster.
  5. Cool! Yeah, I didn't stop because I hadn't planned ahead to go that way. I think I did it when there was some shit going on in BR, and Google was showing something like an hour delay for whatever reason. This was a few years ago, but I remember it being a nice change of scenery from the grind of I-10.
  6. It saved time when I did it because the delay getting through BR was so bad on that occasion. Normally, I'd say it wouldn't save time but it would save sanity by not sitting in traffic on an elevated freeway/bridge where there's nowhere to go. It's just a leisurely drive where you won't get stuck or likely won't see any speed traps. I will say there are some deep-in-the-swamp sections that are a little creepy (water on each side of the road but very little traffic). Just check it out in advance as an option. It's really not bad as far as detours go. Y'all drive safely, have a blast, and get home safe with a win!
  7. I've done the drive several times and have resorted to taking US 90 south from Lafayette through Morgan City once when it looked like Baton Rouge was all backed up. It's a fairly stress-free way to go, and if you don't mind taking about 20 more miles than the normal way, I'd recommend looking into it.
  8. Both peoples deserve to live in peace in their own homeland, but the Israeli and Palestinian extremists won't let that happen. And, so, as I said several pages ago, I'm about at the point of wishing a plague on both their houses (if it weren't for all the civilian casualties). I'm just tired of folks trying to justify indiscriminate death and destruction.
  9. There is that pesky matter of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, to which Israel is a signatory, that governs the rules of war and delineates what war crimes are. What was done during WW2 only matters in the sense that the Geneva Conventions were signed so that shit wouldn't happen again. And, yes, Hamas committed war crimes by indiscriminately murdering civilians on Oct. 7th and continues to do so by using civilians as human shields. Israel is also committing war crimes through indiscriminate bombings and forced displacement of civilians in Gaza, even when they're NOT being used as human shields. https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/war-crimes.shtml https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/crimes-against-humanity.shtml While "ethnic cleansing" has not yet been defined as a war crime, the Israeli government's conduct in both Gaza and the West Bank can be easily described as such. https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/ethnic-cleansing.shtml Fighting a determined enemy without causing civilian casualties in urban areas is hard, but the conduct of a modern, professional army requires them to limit them as much as possible. It's inevitable that collateral damage will occur. But, as has been mentioned up-thread, the willingness by the IDF to throw out almost any notion of "proportionality" is all out of whack. Meanwhile (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-20415675😞 1.9 million Gazans (85% of the population) have been displaced; 50% of all housing units have been destroyed; 100,000 buildings have been destroyed or damaged; and over 20,000 human beings have been killed (not verified but most experts find the estimate credible). Finally, the "safe areas" in the south where civilians were told to relocate to are coming under increasing attack along with aid from the UN and ICRC.
  10. Not sure why you posted the CO2 chart in the DACA thread, but I thought I'd go ahead and respond over here. While it's true that the US's share of global emissions, along with our total amount, we're still well ahead of other major countries in per capita emissions. Both the US and EU are heading in the right direction, though. China and India, however, are not. Still, their per capita emissions curve hasn't been quite so steep since 2010, so that's a plus (I guess). https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions
  11. Man, I hope those weren't civilian but legitimate targets. Watching those clips, I'm afraid they were the former.
  12. Four counties in West Texas: Borden, Kent, Roberts & Throckmorton. Grand total population of all four is about 3,700.
  13. Wordle 924 4/6 ⬛⬛⬛🟨🟩 🟩🟨⬛⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟨🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #202 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪 Daily Quordle 705 4️⃣6️⃣ 5️⃣7️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜ 🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟩🟨⬜ ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Daily Sequence Quordle 705 5️⃣6️⃣ 7️⃣8️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨🟩⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 🟨⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Blossom Puzzle, December 30 Letters: C E H A R T W My score: 290 points My longest word: 9 letters 🌸 💐 🌺 🏵 💮 🌼 🌻 🌹 🌷 #Worldle #708 1/6 (100%) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 ⭐⭐⭐🏙️🪙 https://worldle.teuteuf.fr #travle #381 (12/19) ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅ https://imois.in/games/travle/ ClickWord.org Daily 329: 585 points (top 20% 🎊) 10 words: ⚛️🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟥🟨🟨 💪 Best word: 160 points 🔥 Streak: 8 days 🐭 #ClickWord #ClickWordDaily329
  14. I'm not going to argue whether their fanbase has shrunk, but I just checked their home attendance this season. They averaged just over 60,000 per game in Columbia with a bunch of sellouts. Faurot isn't very big though -- its capacity is just 62,621.
  15. Wordle 923 3/6 ⬛🟨⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #201 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦 Daily Quordle 704 4️⃣6️⃣ 5️⃣7️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩🟩⬜ 🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Daily Sequence Quordle 704 5️⃣6️⃣ 7️⃣8️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟨🟨🟨🟩⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟨🟩 🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜ 🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜ 🟨⬜🟨🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Blossom Puzzle, December 29 Letters: A C I M N O S My score: 325 points My longest word: 11 letters 🌹 💐 🌺 🌷 🏵 🌻 💮 🌼 🌸 🌹 💐 #Worldle #707 1/6 (100%) 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉 ⭐⭐⭐🏙️🪙 https://worldle.teuteuf.fr #travle #380 (3/7) ✅✅✅ https://imois.in/games/travle/ ClickWord.org Daily 328: 591 points (top 20% 🎊) 12 words: ⚛️🟪🟪🟪🟪🟪🟥🟥🟥🟨🟩🟩 💪 Best word: 100 points 🔥 Streak: 7 days 🐭 #ClickWord #ClickWordDaily328
  16. Yeah, I'm not going to give that SECretin site any of my clicks. The URLs are plenty enough.
  17. Fuck! I'm running out of Arizona photos.
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