Mostly kind chonky weirdo. Gentle nerd freak of the pacific north west. All nation states are vermin.

  • 0 Posts
  • 156 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: June 24th, 2023

help-circle
  • In parliamentry systems you can dissolve parliament, requiring an election. It’s usually a way to bypass deadlock. Imagine if, when republicans are fucking around with the debt ceiling and pissing off the country, you could threaten to call a snap election and let them answer to voters then and there.

    So if this passes it would basically force a national referendum on netanyahu’s leadership.

    If gantz is pushing this, probably he thinks he can win. That could mean netanyahu’s many financial and political crimes being looked into again. Maybe.

    It could mean more of a focus on getting hostages back, but it might not lead to much change in gaza:

    Gantz’ centrism is not equivalent to Western centrism: Natenyahu’s Likud party and other Israeli nationalists have “gone so right-wing that the center in Israel has changed,” a Middle East Institute think tank fellow told Al Jazeera. Previously serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Israeli Defense Forces, Gantz has overseen two military offensives in Gaza and labeled several Palestinian NGOs terrorist organizations, indicating it is “unlikely” he would improve the conditions for Palestinians living in Gaza




  • Anyone not voting for Biden because of Gaza is a fucking idiot.

    The democracts insist on maintaining this position despite the mountain of evidence that it’s driving down turn out in their base, and does not represent the wishes of the electorate.

    Why is it that voters have to swallow genocide, and not that democrats have to stop perpetuating electorally unpopular genocide?

    Of course trump will be worse and i’ll be holding my nose and voting for biden but it makes no sense to blame voters for the inevitable and foreseeable consequences of the imperial cowardice of the democratic party.














  • I’m ~3/4s through my second playthrough and appreciating it more and more. Haven’t picked up the expansion yet either.

    I found it hits much harder with a female character. The Johnny Silverhand situation especially felt much more… metaphorically resonant? And Jackie feels more rogue-with-a-heart-of-gold when his best buddy is a woman.

    Quickhacks are OP but felt correctly haxx0r, mantis blades are super fun. I enjoyed the combat well enough. Cars are meh, but it’s cyberpunk so if you’re not riding a futuristic bike ala Akira you’re doing it wrong. And wiping out on a bike is great.

    The characterisation and world building are what really shine. I was reluctant to play the corpo background but it really makes the story sing.

    spoiler

    The first time you’re in a car with Judy she has a prominent tattoo that says “underwater where thoughts can breathe”. Then next mission or a while later her apartment has jellyfish looking paint splotches and an aquarium. It’s expanded on more explicitly later, but I really enjoy the way they pull together their characters.

    The scene with Takemura on the roof talking about Bakeneko is another moment that I enjoyed first playthrough and came to really appreciate a lot the second time. His food snobbery becomes quite endearing after he accidentally texts you his attempts to search for restaurants.




  • US support for Israel continuing the current conflict or US support for Israel in general? If really forced into it, maybe the Democrats can withdraw their blessing for the current conflict, but I don’t see how they could end support for Israel. If Putin wins the US election who knows what could happen but short of that Israel is just too important to the US empire and they know it. I mostly believe the official line from Washington that they don’t have that much leverage against Israel - in the sense that Bibi&co have enough counter levers to make acting against them more costly than it’s worth for the Democrats.

    Hence the bullshit antisemitism law, the brutalizing of campus protests, etc. Democrats are even willing to drive down turn out among their base in one of the most important elections in US history over this - I just don’t see them doing that if they had a better card to play.