@George-K said in The Two Big Myths about the Middle East: Myth 2. Palestinians No state, no nation, no people. Palestine never existed, hence Palestinians never existed, do not exist. Full stop. Today at the UN https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148731?_gl=1bg71ms_gaMjA2OTM4NTgwLjE3MTM0OTE1MTQ._ga_TK9BQL5X7Z*MTcxMzQ5MTUxMy4xLjEuMTcxMzQ5MTU4Mi4wLjAuMA.. In a vote of 12 in favour to one against, with two abstentions, the Council did not adopt a draft resolution that would have recommended the General Assembly to hold a vote with the broader UN membership to allow Palestine to join as a full UN Member State. The draft resolution is among the shortest in the Council’s history: “The Security Council, having examined the application of the State of Palestine for admission to the United Nations (S/2011/592), recommends to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership in the United Nations.” For a draft resolution to pass, the Council must have at least nine members in favour and none of its permanent members – China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States – using their veto power. The US voted against it because they said that granting Palestinian full membership would be the same as acknowedging Palestine as a state. Whether or not palestine becomes a state is part of the negotiations between Isreal and Palestine. I agree with this assessment.

@Horace said in Meet the LatinX: the culture in the government was to encourage females in positions of leadership, to create a balance I agree with this. One of the things I noticed when I was in china, was that there was a greater % of females in upper level organization positions than pretty much any other country. (Side note: Dont know if they still do it, but government companies used to require upper management to spend a 1/2 day every month doing manual labor. So for example, in a oil refinery, you might see the refinery manager on a Friday afternoon sweeping up the trash, or doing touch up painting, etc. Not I bad idea I dont think.)

Yes, I would say so. She needs either a receiver/amp with a phono stage inputs or she needs to buy a separate phono stage that can be connected to the Aux inputs in an home entertainment amp that does not have phono inputs. Decent phono stages are not that expensive. Likewise there are also turntables that plug into a computer to play through either headphones or speakers as well. I would guess hers will do either. Audiotechnica make good entry and mid range turntables.

@Doctor-Phibes said in Tucker in Moscow: @Horace said in Tucker in Moscow: @Doctor-Phibes said in Tucker in Moscow: Well I for one don’t think he’s ‘good people’ as you put it I'm able to understand him in non-Manichean terms, and I often appreciate his voice. I get that good vs evil perspectives are important, and my wording triggered that. I don't see any easy, coherent way to consider him to be bought and paid for. He goes off the rails sometimes, but I attribute to stupidity what others may attribute to malice. Evil’s a strong word, not sure I’d want to go that far. I don’t think he’s trustworthy in any way. His pandering to Trump whilst saying he hates the guy behind closed doors pretty much confirms that. I think Tucker probably cares more about Tucker than anything else. His texts to a confidante about Trump being a jerk were in the context of Trump claiming a bunch of election fraud, which Tucker trusted he had evidence for, and reported as if the evidence existed. The evidence never materialized, and Tucker got angry. But Tucker will still vote Trump this year.

Yes, it changes everything. What is wrong with this picture. [image: 1713471466596-c8aa4e96-b0f3-4da9-be0e-184874d94cc8-image.png]

The government spent $100MM last year to fund this study about how much Americans threw away in coins last year. They wrote a check for the funding, so that explains why it wasn't counted in the results.

Let’s open up the NBA D-League (player salaries ~$120K) for female athletes to compete as well and see how that goes.

This is old news from last week.

@Doctor-Phibes said in Nate Silver on Substack: As much as I might dream of spending election night on a beach in Thailand, there’s no escaping the fact that I’m going to have a lot of my mental bandwidth devoted to the election whether I want to or not. Give that man a medal. I'm certainly not going to give him $8 a month. Yeah, that’s the interesting part of these independent journalists on substack. The materials very few are going to be able to offer enough material to justify the subscription rates. I have a subscription to Bari Weiss’ Free Press, but that’s it..:

My doc has known me since 1977. He wouldn't even bother to ask.

@Renauda said in RFK Jr. - nope, I won't be the VP candidate: In this case, blood is certainly not thicker than water. The Kennedy blood is well known to contain a lot of thinner. You could probably strip paint with it.

Betts had huge boots to fill immediately after Duane Allman was killed. He did it admirably and with great musical skill. Brothers and Sisters was very good album and really launched the band into something more than a southern rock/blues jam band that primarily appealed to other musicians- in particular, guitarists - and a select sector of blues fans. Betts’ solo album Highway Call (1974) focussed on his Country Swing influences and remains to this day an overlooked gem. Certainly one of my all time favourite albums from the era. R.I.P.

this ‘masterpiece cafe’ in Tokyo discourages socializing and forbids mobile phones Ha! Wait 'til neural implants become ubiquitous.

https://www.npr.org/2024/04/18/1245491081/lawyers-for-nassar-assault-survivors-have-reached-100m-deal The U.S. Justice Department has agreed to pay approximately $100 million to settle claims with about 100 people who say they were sexually assaulted by sports doctor Larry Nassar, a source with direct knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday. An internal investigation found that FBI agents mishandled abuse allegations by women more than a year before Nassar was arrested in 2016.

[image: 1713456248304-d4e1836a-8f92-40af-a1d9-865eaa1ef248-image.png] https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-unveils-official-campaign-slogan-death-to-america?utm_source=The Babylon Bee Newsletter&utm_medium=email

https://www.mainepublic.org/politics/2024-04-18/legislature-passes-spending-bill-gun-control-measures-after-marathon-session Earlier in the day, lawmakers gave final approval to a suite of gun control measures roughly six months after the worst mass shooting in Maine history made gun safety a top political issue of the legislative session. One bill will require buyers who purchase from a licensed firearms dealer to wait 72 hours before picking up their guns. Another bill bans the sale in Maine of "bump stocks" and other mechanical or electronic devices that allow a semi-automatic firearm to function more like a machine gun. Opponents said the 72-hour waiting period would not have prevented last October's mass shooting in Lewiston that left 18 dead. But supporters like Democratic Sen. Anne Carney of Cape Elizabeth predicted that the delay will help deter impulsive decisions that can end in suicide or homicide. "This legislation doesn't look backward," Carney said. "It looks forward at how we can prevent suicide and harmful behavior going forward." Lawmakers also passed a bill sponsored by Mills that will require background checks on all private gun sales that were advertised online or in print. Another provision of the bill would make it a felony offense to "recklessly" sell a firearm to a prohibited person. The bill also seeks to remove a perceived barrier to police utilizing the state's "yellow flag" gun confiscation law by allowing police to take a potentially dangerous person into "protective custody" even if they have not committed a crime. The change is a direct response to the fact that police did not attempt to yellow flag the Lewiston gunman, in part, because they felt the did not have legal grounds to take him into protective custody in order to bring him for a mental health evaluation.