Rats are known to be more intelligent than us. When it comes to problem solving in as short a time as possible they win. Humans are not the samrtest animals, we are the animals capable of learning through abstract means. Our brains can encode lessons and decode them with nothing more than language. That’s what separates us. We thankfully have less need of intelligence than other animals. Despite appearances, we are the wisest animals rather than the smartest.
Far from the only joke in American politics. Will Rogers is as relevant now as always.
However much the Likuds and revisionist Zionists claim to represent all Jewish people throughout the world, they tend to more fathfully represent the enemies of Jewish people throughout the world. It really sickens me that Israel is so dominant in its media presence that it can in many cases be peoples’ only exposure to Judaism. They are by far the worst possible ambassadors. I’m with the people who actually mean it when they say “Never Again.”
Because the literal majority of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck. Trickle down doesn’t work.
This is my personal favorite moment. It’s a distillation of pretty much everything I like about Star Trek in one conversation.
This tech issue might be over my head. I would try a different browser to see if the problem persists but honestly at this point it’s going to be a troubleshooting process.
I’m most interested in these specific orders:
(3)The State of Israel shall take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip;
(4) The State of Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip;
I wouldn’t be surprised if Nethanyahu, Ben-Gvir, and Smotrich each violate #3 with impunity before the end of the day, although this could inspire switching to dog-whistles and Soprano-style doublespeak which are far more acceptable to most of the West. #4, if it has any effect, will be the difference between life and death in many cases. I’m not hugely optimistic about Israel’s immediate reaction to this ruling, but if this has a significant effect on their economy they could abandon this course just like they abandoned their partnership with Apartheid South Africa when the international community turned on them.
There’s no doubt that the ICJ has well-known limits in the enforcement of its decision, and countries have ignored ICJ rulings in the past (notably the US, as you mentioned). This to me is not a failing of the idea of international law regarding the prevention of genocide but a failing of nations who would rather exist in a world absent of law since they are able to use violence to inflict their will on others. The problem as I see it with this line of thinking is that abandoning the pretense of international law rather than attempting to bolster it as an international community makes all people in the world vulnerable. The status of nations who violate ICJ orders do not exist in a permanent state of their relative power and could suffer the consequences of a lack of international law when situations change and once-invulnerable bodies become vulnerable. I believe in the basis of the legal prevention of genocide by the international community.
This being so, I believe that there are other consequences for nations found plausibly guilty of heinous crimes in an official international court of law pertaining to laws partially written by the state of Israel itself. Israel depends a great deal on its international reputation. A reading of its history of strange bedfellows reveals this desperation. Being plausibly guilty of genocide is not good for Israel’s relationships or economy. If Israel is concerned about outside threats, scuttling itself in the name of persecuting Palestinians is not a reasonable path. Only the far-right sensibility that Palestinians are inherently unworthy of sharing a country with European colonists keeps Israel from ending apartheid and granting Palestinians full rights as citizens of a unified state.
Yes, I could intuit your opinion on the matter. This is not a matter of public opinion, it is a matter of law.
There is a huge reason to be skeptical of the efficacy of the ICJ. This however is an extremely high profile case with global attention in 2023 where the US is not quite as hegemonic in world affairs as it once was. This case could have an impact in some way, and I will be following it.
This is good to keep in mind in general although I’m not sure how it’s relevant here. In fact, there are the definitional points from Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide quoted by the order in the body of my post. The point of this ruling by the International Court of Justice is that there is a credible case for genocide here according to the definition of Genocide which Israel explicitly agreed to.
A two-state solution would not have worked in Germany in 1946 and it would not work here. Israel is responsible for every Palestinian life despite their denials. One state with equal rights for all, and probably a new constitution which would make another Netanyahu impossible, is the path forward. To preempt the common revisionist Zionist argument, I don’t think the Palestinians are too primitive and barbaric to deserve full rights. I’m from the American South and that argument is very familiar to me.
Now when this obviously absurd deal is rejected there will be another claim from the Likuds that Palestinians in general are impossible to negotiate with which will make total sense to anyone working backward from the conclusion that the secular state of Israel would never lie and can do no wrong.
Nicotine is legal because it was never made illegal, similar to most things which are legal.
Most of the time in which nicotine has been available it has been through combustion which destroys some of the nicotine and will cause a newcomer like you to cough like a maniac and vomit long before you’ve taken in enough nicotine to faint. Now that vapes designed to be easy to inhale are available and the amount of nicotine can be adjusted to be higher or lower by the manufacturer, a newcomer can inhale much more nicotine at once than has been possible until very recently. Also, the experience you just had is very unlikely to happen again for two reasons. First, you’re probably not going to take huge hits of that vape anymore and second, your brain has now been exposed to that chemical so you now have some tolerance.
The Apartheid government of South Africa this quote is in reference to no longer exists. It was abolished in the 90s.
I really recommend watching the case presented by South Africa earlier this week establishing that intent. De jure, there is clearly a case to be made.
74 lashings is insane. Whips cause some of the most severe acute pain which is possible to experience with 10 lashes often being lethal from just the shock. Hopefully the Iranian people can overcome this and take back some control.
I understand that a lot of “moral” crimes in Iran are like how Americans used to regard pot, something that is illegal which most people are fine with even though you would never want the police to find out if you had done it. Alcohol is easy to find in their public markets, for example. Hopefully this egregious event attracts some support from people who hadn’t taken it as seriously.
I was expecting Isreal to brush off the ICJ charges in contempt and ignore the process entirely like the US always has and would help them to do as well. It’s interesting to see how their PR has shifted recently from " It’s not a genocide when we do it" to “We’re not doing what we’ve been saying we’ve been doing for many decades.”
Songbirds fascinate me. I hope we can decode some crow oral history one day.