There’s a good HBO series about this called 100 Foot Wave.

“Oh yeah? Well I’ll make my own NATO. With blackjack! And hookers!”

To be honest though it’s happening everywhere - Canada and the US have had cases of this too. They got super mad when our PM called them out on it.

We would have to solve it through sanctions / diplomatic action, but that’s politically sticky right now, at least for the US and Canada.

And we still get idiots saying “I don’t understand why we’re sending billions of dollars to foreign countries.”

These are the same “secure the border” people.

It hurts my brain make it make sense.

I drive this road a lot. There are moose warning signs often in the park.

I avoid driving early in the morning or after sundown on this road for exactly this reason.

There’s definitely a racist subtext:

1. Imagine the Queen criticizing Kate for being “flamboyant.” This word echoes negative racist stereotypes disseminated by white culture of how Black women act and dress. Now to be clear there is nothing flamboyant about this dress and when compared with Kate both dresses are large and grandiose. It’s not just that she’s not “virginal” it’s the “in your face”-ness about it that the Queen has commented on. What did Megan do differently than any other Royal bride on her wedding day to stand out except be black?
2. it is possible that the dress appears to be whiter because Megan’s skin is darker, which is also subtly racist. Black women need to be relegated to a different shade of white when they’re divorced now? Come on.
3. Camilla the divorcee wore white on her wedding day to Divorced Charles the 3rd. She just had an ugly - and I might say quite flamboyant - overcoat over it.

I think these phrases can also help if you are a person, like I am, who ruminates in unhelpful and damaging thought patterns.

Some of us think and agonize too much in an unhealthy way and definitely need ways to shut it down.

He knows he can’t so he needs to pick some distractions.

Step 3b. Kick out Al Jazeera, the (only?) news organization still reporting from the ground that would be critical of what you’re about to do

Everyone has their stuff and their time to go through it.

Looking at what others are enduring too helps for inspiration and strength - frig someone I know has a parent dying of ALS and doesn’t even show it in their day to day. That’s a rough situation, they’re in their early 30s like me and they’re handing it with so much grace.

Someone else I know, late 20s, just severely injured themselves in a foreign country to the point where they are in a medically induced coma and may never walk again. The medical bills are going to be at least $100k to evacuate them out, and they can’t leave the country until it’s paid. That’s awful for them and their family.

I wouldn’t trade either of these situations for my own.

I’m not saying OP should look down on people who have it worse or that they can’t be mad/sad with their current situation. Just that hearing others’ stories can help with the strength to move forward.

In terms of my sis, one of the greatest lessons in life I’ve learned is that you can’t make another adult do anything even when it really is the best thing for them. I think there’s a strong criminal harassment case but she’s gotta get there - I just have to support her until she does. This gets him out of the house, makes it safer for her, and then they can divide assets. She’s trying to deal with him rationally and keep harmony but it hasn’t sunk in that no matter what she does it will boost the tension and she’s just gotta rip the band aid off in the smartest and safest way. In divorce law, it can be used against you if you “abandon the home” and their home has tons of equity so she can’t go anywhere. And any subsidized housing for him is several years’ wait. Hard to convince a mentally ill person who needs treatment of that when he flip flops between his new GF, breaking up with his new GF, can him and my sister get back together, wait no my sister is the devil and me and her are both cheating on our husbands (lol not cheating in her case because they’re separated), emailing my husband these lies and then in a separate email admitting they are lies, believing her birth control IUD is actually an abortion and she’s a baby killer, then wait no GF and him are back together.

I don’t think CNN would even report on this if it didn’t have some truth to it.

The Intercept, a pretty good source, alleges that CNN runs all of their Gaza/Israel coverage by their Jerusalem team, subject to the IDF’s censor, prior to publication. They’re SUPER Israel slanted.

In the coming days I fully expect them to blame Hamas for it or something in a “quit hitting yourself” type of way.

You are right: CNN is terrorist propaganda - the IDF are terrorists too, after all.

You just gotta try to hang on. Life as you get older is a total question of wtf is going to happen next.

I’m in one of those cycles.

1. Covid
2. Walked in on my dad almost dead from undiagnosed cancer and my childhood home trashed because everything fell apart when he was looking after my mom who has early onset dementia
3. 2 weeks later my dad dies & I am visiting the hospital during the height of Covid. My mom has to live in the hospital and doesn’t know who I am anymore. She doesn’t know her husband died.
4. Cancer scare. I think it will be fine? They’re still testing.
5. Husband lost his job. I am the only breadwinner.
6. Sister in abusive relationship with a severely mentally unstable husband who is spending all of their money. I fear every day he is going to kill her and their kids. She can’t kick him out of the house because he is on disability and can’t afford his own place.
7. Substantial changes at my job leading to feelings of mega insecurity for me.

Oh yeah and my mom isn’t even dead yet!

But I’ve also had some really great experiences during this time that I wouldn’t trade for the world.

If psychedelics are safe for you and you have no history of mental illness in your family I would strongly suggest that.

I have real trouble with how the media one sides this whole thing in Israel’s favour.

Where is the reporting on what is being said at Israeli protests? I’m sure there is also some vile shit going on there, but the media doesn’t dare to report negatively on Israel with the same rabid fervour they do Palestine.

A large scale conflict like that would have economic and security implications for the rest of the world. Nothing exists in isolation.

Thanks for posting your photos. I had a nebelung cat like that who died a few years ago. Best cat I ever had. I miss him every day.

Here’s the thing too - there was an interview on the news in my country with an Israeli legal expert on sexual assault. She was pleased with the UN report investigating Hamas’ sexual assaults.

When asked if there would be a similar UN investigation for Palestinians, she said she didn’t see why the UN needed to because Palestine has its own agencies on the ground who can investigate.

Except the media also tells us not to believe anything UNWRA says because of Hamas involvement with UNWRA.

How is that fair? The Palestinian civilians are caught in an impossible trap.

Yeah because the US is the ally of my country. Geopolitically if you’re from a BRICS nation it’s not a concern. NATO and 5 eyes nations aren’t supportive of an ambitious China expanding influence and territory.

It is just common sense. Nations never do things for just one reason. Possession is 9/10ths of the law - if they fill Antarctica with their facilities they can later claim they have so many facilities they should just govern Antarctica. Not a bad strategic move in times of global warming.

And also if it’s sentient and gets the power to destroy us there would be zero hesitation if it was treated this way

I LOVE this.