scoobdog

Not entirely sure what you're envisioning. I don't recall any sig being specifically created as a reward, but it is something I can do on my end and give to you to attack to your account. Also, seeing as the NFL thread is unpinned, I'm doing the same for this one.

A banner? Where? I guess we really do need a hall of fame of sorts where we list the historic winners. The yellow group title below your name can’t really be changed like that because of what it is.

Crisis averted for now.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooook

Ghosty…. Dictatorships don’t count as monarchies, even if power is passed hereditarily. Here’s a weird geopolitical fact: the largest US counties by population and by area share a border.

Just depends on whose servers the messaging app uses I think. That’s why I mention it.

I don’t think that happens all that often on Apple Messages. I have had it happen in Google Chat.

Much less confusion that way.

Y’all make it sound like you wouldn’t watch your mom make out with a hot chick if she was Elizabeth Hurley.

For games where the Jets had their best offensive game to that point in a loss and a victory. If he did, then they should hire him as their offensive coordinator.,

Gotdamit ghosty, You scared me.

Yes to all your points. I obviously don’t want to get too far into it when we’re talking an unequivocal act of genocide (where the act supersedes any potential rationale), and I bring it up only in the all important context of separating the actions of the IDF and Israeli government from cultural stereotypes. FWIW, Netanyahu is a particularly odious individual who has turned personal corruption into a crime against humanity. Whatever his personal beliefs about Palestinians, his directing of IDF forces to bomb Gaza repeatedly despite knowing full well that it would disproportionally cause mass casualties amongst civilians and other non combatants makes him a war criminal.

Well, anyway, it wasn’t a statement of culpability. There are rules to stop state sanctioned murder that differ from those meant to stop brigands. Making the difference is still important because there are Israeli soldiers that are killing not because they hate Palestinians but because they’re conscripted into of a mismanaged and poorly planned operation.

RIP

That’s what you picked out of my post?

But, you’re not. I’m not going so far as to call the IDF terrorists since they’re following bad orders, but they’re perpetrating a tragedy that’s unimaginable and unrelenting in its destruction. The people of Israel are victims of this too: their elected officials not only failed to listen to intelligence resulting in a terrorist attack, they covered the failure by waging an indiscriminate bombing campaign and nearly wiped out entire generations of Palestinians. There is no right side to be had here; nobody is going to win.

Has all of Hamas been killed yet?

A Reminder of Scoob's Unpopular Opinion: We really need to stop making the Hamas conflict about anti-semitism. Don't get me wrong - anti-semitism is very real and at a nadir - but the insistence of tying the atrocities in Gaza to a historical oppression of Jews has the unintended effect of conflating two tragedies and diminishing both. I bring it up because anti-semitism has clawed its way back into the headlines and there is the very real and dangerous insinuation that those who stand up against anti-semitism are tacitly pro-genocide of Palestinians. It's by no means a reasonable take and the perpetrators are almost assuredly white-supremacists and other bad actors; nonetheless, framing hate in terms of an unrelated cause can confuse the issue and stifle discussion. It's all the more important as we approach the movement by Arab-Americans and other non-white voters to express their dissatisfaction with Biden's handling of the situation. Biden isn't advocating for the genocide of Palestinians, nor is in any position to stop a war that affects American citizens on both sides. Still, voters have every right to vote not-committed to express their dissatisfaction with the fact that the United States provides Israel with the weapons used to eradicated Palestinians. We should be discussing the security aid we provide Israel and Biden should not only be open with us about it but also explain what he intends to do to stop American firepower from being used in such a horrific manner. These discussions happen when the topic is clear and concise, not peppered with ancillary concerns, and it can't happen if support for Palestine is made to be mutually exclusive of efforts to combat normalized hate of Jewish people.

And that is where you lost us. Actually, it was earlier when you posted an article that blatantly emphasized it was only Hamas that was rejecting the peace deal and ignored the fact that Israel had rejected any possible deal about the same time.

Damn. I hope they paid Caleb’s NIL. But, seriously, this is absurd to me. Fast food, awful as it is, is a lifeline to the extremely poor and taking that away from them is catastrophic without stabilized prices and vastly improved access for fresh produce and meat. I can only imagine what the rationale for this is other than a cynical prop for operators complaining about employee wages.

You walked 15 miles?

I didn’t know coyotes worked in reverse.

Rhetorical prompt answer: Most people who cling to religion in that way do so because that's the easiest way to give meaning to one's life. Since I've stopped going to weekly masses, I've had time to process the years of repetitive scripture readings to give it some sense: the one thing that both stands out and is generally ignored in sermons is the concept of God as a detached representation of community. Spirituality is part of the contradictory tradition of asceticism; it depersonalizes both the individual and the focus of prayer, and it has a long tradition in just about every religious faith system there is. It's also become more popular as many of the established churches fight off fundamentalism and extreme conservatism, but it's also been abused by people who exploit those who flock to spiritualism because they are disaffected. Honest answer: I think it's ridiculous too, but it seems that the people most likely to be spiritual are the ones that have little to no connection with the people around them. Being self sufficient doesn't mean being isolated, it means not needing other people to "carry your load." Equilibrium between ability to take care of one's own needs and having access to resources is difficult for a lot of people. Many are damaged and limited in their ability to reach their potential. Others lack access to those resources. Still others are simply lost without any way of gauging that potential. Spirituality can fill the gap for all of them without actually fixing the underlying issue.

Any writer will tell you: simpler is better.

The Kim Manning part. I like strong women who know what they want.