China offers parents $1,500 in bid to boost births
Parents in China are being offered 3,600 yuan (£375; $500) a year for each of their children under the age of three in the government's first nationwide subsidy aimed at boosting birth rates.
The country's birth rate has been falling, even after the ruling Communist Party abolished its controversial one-child policy almost a decade ago.
China offers parents $1,500 in bid to boost births
The scheme is China's first nationwide subsidy of its kind as the government tries to tackle a looming demographic crisis.Osmond Chia (BBC News)
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The Netherlands to impose travel ban on Israeli ministers over Gaza
The Netherlands to impose travel ban against Israeli ministers and summon ambassador over Gaza
The ban targets two far-right Israeli ministers in support of the Israeli settlers' movement, the continuation of the war, and the "voluntary emigration" of Palestinians.Euronews.com
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Beijing floods: 30 killed as China sees summer of extreme weather
At least 30 people have died in Beijing and more than 80,000 were evacuated to safety, Chinese authorities said, as heavy rains and floods ravage roads and houses in northern China.
Eight other people died after a landslide on Monday in Chengde city, about three hours northeast of Beijing.
China is dealing with a summer of extreme weather. Record heatwaves hit the country's eastern region earlier this month while floods swept the country's southwest.
Beijing floods: 30 killed as China sees summer of extreme weather
President Xi Jinping called for "all-out" rescue efforts and preparation for "worst-case" scenarios.Koh Ewe and BBC Chinese (BBC News)
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China pushes back at US demands to stop buying Russian and Iranian oil
China pushes back at US demands to stop buying Russian and Iranian oil
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and Chinese officials may be able to settle many of their differences to reach a trade deal and avert punishing tariffs, but they remain far apart on one issue: the U.S.News Staff (CityNews Halifax)
I’m thinking of building a comparison tool... would you find this useful?
Heya 👋
I’m thinking of building a simple, unbiased comparison platform for products, services, tools — even technical stuff like frameworks, APIs, and AI tools — to help you decide faster with clear side-by-side insights.
Personally, I often find myself deep in Amazon reviews, YouTube videos, and scattered blog posts when trying to choose something new. While some comparison sites exist, I’ve never found a complete or truly comprehensive solution. T
he same goes for developers — when exploring new frameworks or libraries with similar alternatives, a quick, focused comparison could really help clarify things.
Before going further, I’d love to hear from you: Would you find this useful? Your feedback will help shaping what I build next.
Seriously, Why Do Some AI Chatbot Subscriptions Cost More Than $200?
Spotify fans threaten to return to piracy as music streamer introduces new face-scanning age checks in the UK
Spotify introduces face-scanning age checks for UK users, as some furious fans threaten to return to piracy
Spotify is the latest app to bring in age verificationRowan Davies (TechRadar)
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Does Spotify really have "fans"? Or maybe just users?
And what user spends time "threatening" piracy, if they know how to do it?
Also, I realized only last month that my younger brother doesn't know how to use torrents. Shame on me for having left home too early!
ChatGPT users shocked to learn their chats were in Google search results
ChatGPT users shocked to learn their chats were in Google search results
OpenAI scrambles to remove personal ChatGPT conversations from Google results.Ashley Belanger (Ars Technica)
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Technology reshared this.
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Shaolin ‘C.E.O. Monk’ Is Accused of Embezzlement and Affairs With Women
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Palestinian activist who worked on Oscar-winning film 'No Other Land' killed in occupied West Bank
Palestinian activist who worked on Oscar-winning film 'No Other Land' killed in occupied West Bank
Awdah Hathleen, a Palestinian activist who was part of the crew on the Academy Award-winning documentary No Other Land, was shot dead by an Israeli settler on Monday, the film's co-directors say.MEE staff (Middle East Eye)
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A statement released by the Mount Hebron Regional Council reads: "We will be there to support him and to call on the IDF and the government to demonstrate sovereignty—arrest the attackers, not the victims. Yinon stands on the front lines for us; we will stand there for him."
They are clling the murderer a victim.
israelnationalnews.com/news/41…
Israeli fires in self-defense amid arab riot, faces arrest
Yinon Levi, previously sanctioned by the US, arrested after defending himself from Arab rioters—one of whom was a producer of the anti-Israel film No Other Land—during violent incident near Carmel.Israel National News
Buying Private tracker invites
Are any of these services trusted? Would a private tracker lock your account as soon as they figure out you bought your way in?
And can anybody vouch for or against [redacted]?
Edit: pretty sure the site I asked about is a scammer so I removed it so nobody goes there. I had completely misspelled the tracker name when contacting them and they didn't correct me.
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Its really easy to get into MaM and TL, from MaM you can get invites to quality mid tier trackers such as BHD, Orpheus, Seedpool, Aither, ANT, and LST. For the vast majority of users that is going to cover all their needs.
Its just not worth spending money to buy invites.
You basically need a seedbox on the higher tier trackers and at that point debrid services are a better value.
Congratulations, you played yourself.
It does not "cause no seeders". It just doesn't typically seed (although some do offer seedbox options). Its a leecher, like the millions of users who torrent without port forwarding or stop seeding after the file is complete.
For debrid users it doesn't matter. The PT try hards do all the seeding and the media itself is typically already cached on the debrid services servers.
My point being if your going to pay to access pirated content, buying a debrid service is a much better value then a PT invite or a standalone seedbox.
Remember: If nobody seeds anymore, where will you get it by torrenting? At that point it's useless and you'll need to use either the interwebz or usenet.
It does not "cause no seeders". It just doesn't typically seed
You're (and the service) are a leech*
^* With an option to be only a semi-leech.
For debrid users it doesn't matter. The PT try hards do all the seeding and the media itself is typically already cached on the debrid services servers.
You leech from PT and then the media is cached (read: temporary. So how long? 2 weeks if it isnt popular?). So where are you getting the file from if not from me and other seeders keeping the torrent afloat?
My point being if your going to pay to access pirated content, buying a debrid service is a much better value then a PT invite or a standalone seedbox.
Seedbox? Maybe not $/h or GB. But entry to higher entry trackers (if that's what you are after.
If you are after small encodes or 720p YIFY encodes this aint it. At this point you might as well just stream from pirate websites because the quality is the same.
Nothing like a ctrlHD, FLUX, NTb encode but rather just, well, meh and blocky output.
PT invites? Agreed. The user will be banned either because they couldnt keep quiet or someone up the chain caught wind and banned the invite tree)
Sufficiently read your comment now?
With MAM you basically want to grab a ton of freeleech torrents so that you can max your BP out. For example I seed about 350 torrents for 550bp/hr which means every 3ish days I have max points.
You spend all that on upload credit. Once you have 1tb upload credit you can access the invites section of the forum.
From there you can get an invite to Orpheus, which is a very strong music tracker. There also some other good mid tier trackers.
No, yes, no.
There are exceptions. You’ll run into people saying that they bought an account into some tracker years ago and that was their doorway in to everything. Maybe some of those people are telling the truth.
Just get in the normal way.
Trump announces 35% tariffs on Canada starting Aug. 1
Donald Trump on Thursday announced a 35% tariff on Canadian imports, starting Aug. 1, citing that Ottawa had retaliated with tariffs against Washington.
“Instead of working with the United States, Canada retaliated with its own Tariffs,” Trump said in his letter to Mark Carney, prime minister of Canada, posted on Truth Social.
Trump announces 35% tariffs on Canada starting Aug. 1, warns of higher levies if Ottawa retaliates
President Donald Trump announced a 35% tariff on Canadian imports, starting Aug. 1, the latest letter to a trade partner that threatens high rates.Anniek Bao (CNBC)
Trump is named in the Epstein files.
Trump cut NOAA and FEMA funding before flash flooding killed over 200 people in Texas including two dozen Christian girls.
A rare, direct warning from Japan signals a shift in the fight against child sex tourism in Asia
Japan’s embassy in Laos and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a rare and unusually direct advisory, warning Japanese men against “buying sex from children” in Laos.The move was sparked by Ayako Iwatake, a restaurant owner in Vientiane, who allegedly saw social media posts of Japanese men bragging about child prostitution. In response, she launched a petition calling for government action.
The Japanese-language bulletin makes clear such conduct is prosecutable under both Laotian law and Japan’s child prostitution and pornography law, which applies extraterritorially.
This diplomatic statement was not only a legal warning. It was a rare public acknowledgement of Japanese men’s alleged entanglement in transnational child sex tourism, particularly in Southeast Asia.
It’s also a moment that demands we look beyond individual criminal acts or any one nation and consider the historical, racial and structural inequalities that make such mobility and exploitation possible.
「目に余る」 ラオス児童買春、外務省の注意喚起を引き出した女性 - 毎日新聞
ラオスでの日本人男性による児童買春が疑われるような投稿が交流サイト（SNS）で相次いでいるとして、現地在住の日本人女性が6月初旬、撲滅を求める署名を提出した。女性は「あまりにも目に余る状況で、見て見ぬふりをできなかった」と語る。在ラオス日本大使館は女性の訴えを受けて、異例の早さで注意喚起文を出した毎日新聞
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Japan’s official warning wasn’t triggered by a government audit or diplomatic scandal. It came because Ayako Iwatake saw social media posts of Japanese men boasting about buying sex from children and refused to look away.
Ayako Iwatake the real hero.
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Pakistan: Sanitation workers facing systemic discrimination and other rights violations need better legal protection – new report
Sanitation workers facing rights violations need better legal protection in Pakistan
Pakistani authorities must ensure robust protections for sanitation workers against institutionalized religious and caste-based discrimination.Amnesty International
As governments around the world are set to make the Internet more restrictive and privacy-invading, we need a solution
I'm sure I'd be preaching to the choir if I told you that it's time for us to immigrate from übercorp owned social media and services. All of you have done so, so that's not the point of this post. Even though we are on these new platforms, the fediverse is still sensitive to requests from governmental bodies and organizations. Lemmy.zip has already blocked UK users and Lemmy.world will almost certainly do the same. Due to the size of Matrix's biggest homeserver matrix.org, the admins of said homeserver are beginning to follow the OSA and have already raised their minimum age to 18+. And instances who don't follow the Act could be subjected to insurmountable paperwork and even blocked from the UK, Australia and other countries enacting these outrageous laws soon.
Blocking UK users to avoid this is almost a necessity, and as Labour is attempting to get lawmakers to outlaw VPNs, we could be seeing the equivalent of the UK Great Firewall soon. However, it will take significant amounts of time, money and paperwork to outlaw VPNs and to get ISPs to block sites and protocols. This is where federated and open source platforms have an advantage, without being shackled by bureaucracy they are able to quickly adapt. But this is not sustainable, and eventually the UK will become even more overreaching in order to gain more control over people's Internet usage.
Darknets such as Tor, I2P and Yggdrasil are a potential solution, however they have multiple issues. Tor is slow and has a reputation of being used by pedophiles and drug traffickers. I2P is scattered in implementation and cannot handle high load. ~~Yggdrasil is alpha software and requires IPv6, which in many countries is simply not possible to use~~. Whilst these darknets are extremely resistant to censorship from other countries, with the only way to fully dismantle them would be to shutoff all access to the Internet, they still are not capable of handling modern Internet usage.
We might need new completely independent mediums seperate from the Internet to avoid this. Physical bluetooth mesh networks or other technology is an example. Maybe even a new version of dial-up. All I know is that governments will not stop here. I might seem like I'm overreacting here, but we need to be prepared for what is coming.
CORRECTION: I was told by a peer that Yggdrasil peers must have IPv6, however one does not need an IPv6 enabled network to use it, they just need an IPv6 operating system/device, which virtually every modern operating system including Windows and Linux does. Yggdrasil is actually Beta software.
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Cuba's huge leap forward in trans rights– citizens can now legally choose gender
Cuba’s huge leap forward in trans rights – citizens can now legally choose gender without surgery
Cuba has taken a significant step forward in trans rights by approving a law that allows individuals to self-declare their gender without requiring surgery.Chantelle Billson (PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news)
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Yeah, they've also seemed to follow Fidel's model of willingness to reflect and grow. Early Cuba was brutal, before and after their revolution. Fidel did and ordered horrible things, but he changed and showed remorse as he aged. That trait made him stick out to me among world leaders as someone who genuinely wanted what was best for his people and country. He also seemed to try to not rob the country blind as so many in positions like his do.
I wish nothing but the best for my neighbors in Cuba. I know they're going through more rough times, but they're tough as all get out and I suspect that they're far more likely to eventually move to a stateless, moneyless, and free society than any other nominally communist nation at the moment. And to my trans siblings in Cuba, congrats
The true one:
Here's a command line interface with vim open. Close it to disable the trap.
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I love it when wild animals yell at me.
Whether it's that guy at the bus stop who blocks the traffic or the one with the bible and the speaker that renders his words into nonsense noise...
They're all a part of our ecosystem!
Brazil to double down on Brics in defiance of Donald Trump
Celso Amorim, lead foreign affairs adviser to leftwing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, told the Financial Times those attacks “are reinforcing our relations with the Brics, because we want to have diversified relations and not depend on any one country”.
I believe in the BRICS proposal. For any of you who don't, if you lived in a third world country you would understand what the missed potential is all about. Latin America is somewhat integrated, but people from Brazil could do scientific exchange with Uzbekistan, or an Algerian could be a professor in Senegal. The human potential is so great, because there are a lot of people who are left out from the current state of things.
Everyone wants to go study or be a professional in Europe, but what about all the other countries? Doing the hard thing (working together to reach new heights) is difficult, but it is the only way forward. And that's what the BRICS propose.
Our Genocide
- .
PDF:
- Full Report.
- Summary.
Since October 2023, Israel has shifted its policy toward the Palestinians. Its military onslaught on Gaza, underway for more than 21 months, has included mass killing, both directly and through creating unlivable conditions, serious bodily or mental harm to an entire population, decimation of basic infrastructure throughout the Strip, and forcible displacement on a huge scale, with ethnic cleansing added to the list of official war objectives.This is compounded by mass arrests and abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, which have effectively become torture camps, and tearing apart the social fabric of Gaza, including the destruction of Palestinian educational and cultural institutions. The campaign is also an assault on Palestinian identity itself, through the deliberate destruction of refugee camps and attempts to undermine the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
An examination of Israel’s policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes, together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack, leads to the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip. In other words: Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The term genocide refers to a socio-historical and political phenomenon involving acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Both morally and legally, genocide cannot be justified under any circumstance, including as an act of self-defense.
Genocide always occurs within a context: there are conditions that enable it, triggering events, and a guiding ideology. The current onslaught on the Palestinian people, including in the Gaza Strip, must be understood in the context of more than seventy years in which Israel has imposed a violent and discriminatory regime on the Palestinians, taking its most extreme form against those living in the Gaza Strip. Since the State of Israel was established, the apartheid and occupation regime has institutionalized and systematically employed mechanisms of violent control, demographic engineering, discrimination, and fragmentation of the Palestinian collective. These foundations laid by the regime are what made it possible to launch a genocidal attack on the Palestinians immediately after the Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023.
The assault on Palestinians in Gaza cannot be separated from the escalating violence being inflicted, at varying levels and in different forms, on Palestinians living under Israeli rule in the West Bank and within Israel. The violence and destruction in these areas is intensifying over time, with no effective domestic or international mechanism acting to halt them. We warn of the clear and present danger that the genocide will not remain confined to the Gaza Strip, and that the actions and underlying mindset driving it may be extended to other areas as well.
The recognition that the Israeli regime is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, and the deep concern that it may expand to other areas where Palestinians live under Israeli rule, demand urgent and unequivocal action from both Israeli society and the international community, and use of every means available under international law to stop Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.
OUR GENOCIDE
OUR GENOCIDE B’Tselem, July 2025 Since October 2023, Israel has fundamentally changed its policy toward the Palestinians. For more than 21 months,…Vimeo
The Fediverse is the Left Wing Circle Jerk
You could be forgiven for looking around Reddit and saying "this is the most Left wing place on the Internet".
But there is an even bigger Left wing bastion of insanity, Transgender orthodoxy, and unchecked out of control Moderation. And its called "the Fediverse"
Never in my life have I seen such a Hive containing the Damned and Reprobates of life.
A wise man once said "I may had voted for Obama.....but you people are insane".
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‘Revenge Is Not a Policy’: Israelis Voice Dissent Against the War in Gaza
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All it took for the West to so much as begin turning on Israel was pictures of skeletonised children.
If America and Europe truly believed in "Never again!" we would have carrier groups running 24-hour sorties and bombing Tel Aviv into the stone age. Any other country (outside of Africa, ugh) pulling this shit would have been flattened and invaded by now.
Nope! Instead we paid for this genocide. Solid return on AIPAC's investment!
I'm fucking sick. We're seeing images out of WWII concentration camps on the 2025 news. Cut Israel out from the world of decent men. They've forfeited their right to exist. Sorry guys, used to root for you. Never again!
I'm pretty sure Yemen is outside of Africa, yet America and Europe have not gone after Saudi Arabia and the UAE for their war crimes there.
What might be the connecting factor here?
Any other country (outside of Africa, ugh) pulling this shit would have been flattened and invaded by now.
Are you not aware of many wars around the world like Myanmar (and rohingya genocide) and Ukraine? What about yazidi? You're straight up delusional if you truly think any country with sizeable power would get flattened, especially nuclear-power.
Israel only has power because America gives it to them. They would collapse overnight if we went rolled into the Mediterranean looking for a fight.
Hell, if America pulled our support, their neighbors would flatten them, Sampson Doctrine be damned.
USA didn't give nukes to Israel and the neighbour thing you talk about was already tried in arab-israeli war.
foreignpolicy.com/2025/02/07/i…
Israel's Nuclear Weapons: How Israelis Deceived American Presidents From Eisenhower to JFK and Johnson
Newly declassified documents reveal how Israel operated under the noses of U.S. inspectors.Avner Cohen (Foreign Policy)
Trump Gives Russia Less Than Two Weeks to End Its War in Ukraine
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Ah, the infamous two weeks deadline. The same two weeks he would eradicate ISIS, fix American healthcare, create peace in the Middle East etc. etc.
Which means in two weeks he will never mention it again and act like he never said it.
Thailand and Cambodia Agree to Halt Fighting That Has Killed Dozens
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Tech bug keeps Mazda radios locked in to NPR
Tech bug keeps Mazda radios locked in to NPR
National Public Radio becomes essential listening for some drivers - because they are unable to retune.BBC News
Israel committing genocide in Gaza, say Israel-based human rights groups
Two leading human rights organisations based in Israel, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, say Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the country’s western allies have a legal and moral duty to stop it.In reports published on Monday, the two groups said Israel had targeted civilians in Gaza only because of their identity as Palestinians over nearly two years of war, causing severe and in some cases irreparable damage to Palestinian society.
Multiple international and Palestinian groups have already described the war as genocidal, but reports from two of Israel-Palestine’s most respected human rights organisations, who have for decades documented systemic abuses, is likely to add to pressure for action.
Israel committing genocide in Gaza, say Israel-based human rights groups
Reports detailing intentional targeting of Palestinians as a group, and systemic destruction of Palestinian society, add to pressure for actionEmma Graham-Harrison (The Guardian)
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Two ~~leading human rights~~soon-to-be-terrorist organisations based in Israel
I guess this would be the important internal test for this society. Wether they'd snap out of it and face the crimes they committed and drastically change direction as a result. Or wherher they double down and increase domestic repression against dissenting voices who bring up those crimes. I bet on the latter since that's where many economic interests are vested and it would avoid instability at least for a while.
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French PM says EU-U.S. trade deal an act of ‘submission’ and a dark day for Europe
French PM says EU-U.S. trade deal an act of ‘submission’ and a dark day for Europe
France called a framework trade deal between the United States and European Union a “dark day” for Europe, saying the bloc had caved in to U.S.Reuters Staff (CTVNews)
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Thanks, good point, I think I just had a subconscious need to take a sideswipe at the reality that, had the US I was taught about in school not been a fabrication, we would not today be in the circumstances we are in.
I'm carrying a certain baseline level of rage pretty continuously since Jan 20, 2025, and it sometimes leaks out at inappropriate times.
Edit: No, since the morning of November 6th when I awoke to find myself having this reaction:
Cambodia and Thailand agree to ceasefire, says Anwar
Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire beginning at midnight, following a successful special meeting hosted and chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Cambodia and Thailand agree to ceasefire, says Anwar
PUTRAJAYA: Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire beginning at midnight, following a successful special meeting hosted and chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.The Star Online (The Star)
Israel attacks so-called 'safe zone' despite military pause
Israel attacks so-called 'safe zone' despite military pause
The Israeli military has carried out several attacks across Gaza, killing over 53 people - including 32 aid seekers - despite announcing a "tactical suspension" of operations in three areas.Mera Aladam (Middle East Eye)
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in elementary school i had a Jewish teacher. he taught me way back in 1998 that Israel was something called "fascist." he told me he didn't want to burden me too much before i was ready to know what that meant. but he told me no Jewish person could ever support fascism and remain Jewish at their core.
years later he showed me why he always wore long sleeves when teaching elementary school. it was to cover a tattoo on his arm. it was a number the nazis had assigned him when he was the age i was when we met (3). "this is why fascism is bad," was the message. "it almost killed me and my entire family," was the spoken justification for why no Jewish person could ever be fascist and remain linked to their Jewish identity.
he told me about some of the people who didn't make it out of auschwitz he had loved. his mother. his father. his sister. another little boy he made friends with at the death camp. countless people he never learned the names of but who always took a moment when they saw him to hug him and tell him they loved him, and that they envisioned a future for him where he told their stories to children so that no one would ever enact this kind of evil again.
i grew up in the south. while i was in school he introduced me to some of his friends in Appalachia.
- a cherokee man who wanted us to know his culture wasn't backwards, outdated, or novel. it was just his life
- an old man who had trouble writing because he'd been shot on blair mountain
- a gay woman who wasn't sure she believed there truly is such a thing as a "man" or a "woman" at birth, but rather that these are things our society we're supposed to be
These are just a few examples. there was always some marginalized person at his place teaching him how to make a recipe that he'd introduce to us before they moved on.
he told me in 2016 shortly before his death that his only regret in life was being a hypocrite. he told every person he ever imparted wisdom to to never hate, and to never let someone convince you to hate someone you never met. within the camp, there was a schism between people who blamed Poles and Ukrainians alongside nazi Germans for theis presence there. he told me the person who held his hand and walked him out of auschwitz was a Ukrainian man. my teacher didn't speak Ukrainan, not yet anyway. but he led him to a stew pot, hugged him, and gave him a bowl of borscht, made in the jewish style rather than the Ukrainian style. he learned in that moment that no one is ever simply part of a group, or that any group is simply represented any individual in it. people are complicated and groups are complicated.
but what made him feel like a hypocrite ever since the 1960s was that he couldn't find it in his heart not to hate israelis. he felt so deeply offended and betrayed by the usage of symbols he identified himself with to implement the very things that had taken from him nearly everything that it made him hate. i knew this man for the last 21 years of his life. the idea that he could hate anyone was… shocking. it… kind of shifted my world view forever because like… he never allowed himself to share this hate with anyone. he would criticize israel in action, he would tell us the star of david was not meant to represent what they used it for, he would explain to us their recontextualize the menorah to mean something it oughtn't was hurtful, but the idea that there were people on earth he didn't have the patience to listen to because he found them so wretched and vile that it twisted his soul in a knot was new to me.
i don't hate the israelis the way he hated them. i don't think i'm capable. not without the pain he suffered. but i do find them offensive on his behalf. i do think often about how wretched a person must be to wound the soul of someone so unfailingly patient and kind. i think about the crises of faith their re-contextualizing of his symbols gave him. but most of all i think about what he told me (paraphrased because this is a memory and memories change a little bit every time you access them)
"Some of my elders tried to teach me to hate the Ukrainian and make my way to Israel when everything was over. A few considered themselves Ukrainian in addition to being Jewish and told me that the way to make the world safe for Jews wasn't to go to Israel, but to go anywhere the poor and downtrodden are and help them resist their pharaoh. The soldiers who freed us were mostly Ukrainian. They fed us borscht because they knew from first hand experience that a starving belly can eat borscht without vomiting. Borscht makes you strong. It gives you power. The russian commanders wanted to send us to reeducation centers and bring us into the fold of authoritarian communism. One of the Ukrainian soldiers falsified documents for me and my Uncle to come to the United states to stay with 'our family' (his family) in hopes that we were more likely to be allowed to be ourselves here.
"Here in the United States, that soldier's cousins would tell me that under nazi occupation, Ukrainians were offered, in effect, 3 choices for survival. Collaborate with the Nazis, work with the antisemitic underground movement, or join the red army. Many like that soldier chose the red army even though it meant giving up on the dream of an independent Ukraine for a long time because Jews had been their friends and neighbors for 1600 years. They chose when faced with their burning home to save their friends rather than any of their own possessions. It was a grand act of kindness given to us by an entire group of people who had already suffered immensely under Bolshevism.
"Israel does not represent to me any future for the Jewish people. They are the same death cult that tried to kill me as a child for the unforgivable crime of existence. Every day, I work to make the world a better and safer place. Everyday it is made harder by people who claim that they do it in my honor. It hurts me in ways I cannot describe. Someday a time will come you will need to assemble a coalition of misfits. People will despise every member of your group. If you do it right, you will find at least one Ukrainian who will find you. They will be building their own band of misfits. Our people lived together for 1500 years before the Time of Separation started in the 1880s. We work the same way in times of desperation. We learned it from each other. It will be okay in that time to be selfish in your help. It will be okay to see someone in need and and feed them some soup for the selfish reason that the world will get safer for you when people in more danger than yourself are made safe."
i have spent the decade since his passing at the age of 76 trying to become the person he always hoped i'd be. he spent a lifetime trying to figure out his religious identity. i find myself on a similar journey, having started my political life as a democratic socialist, then moving into the space of anachocommunism and now operating in a space somewhat between anarchocommunism and religious anarchism. but the one thing that has never changed about my politics is the core of what drove his religious practices. it's basically the following principles:
- if you are hungry, i will feed you
- if you are thirsty, i will water you
- the only people who will be denied either of these gifts will be racists
- racists in hunger will be offered food, but not water
edit i math bad from 2016-1940 and missed my teacher's age by a decade
I found this the other day:
Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Ariel Sharon criticised the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia as an act of "brutal interventionism" and said Israel was against "aggressive actions" and "hurting innocent people" and hoped "the sides will return to the negotiating table as soon as possible".
Saudi forces arrest pilgrim for raising Palestinian flag in Mecca
Saudi forces arrest pilgrim for raising Palestinian flag in Mecca
Saudi security forces arrested an Egyptian pilgrim at the Grand Mosque in Mecca after he raised the Palestinian flag beside the Kaaba and called for an end to Gaza’s siege and starvation.MEE staff (Middle East Eye)
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Inside the drugs factory: How captagon is fuelling the war in Sudan
Inside the drugs factory: How captagon is fuelling the war in Sudan
Deep in an industrial wasteland on the eastern bank of the Nile stand three unremarkable, half-finished buildings surrounded by a minefield.Daniel Hilton (Middle East Eye)
SYRIA: Authorities must investigate abductions of Alawite women and girls
Syria: Authorities must investigate abductions of Alawite women
The Syrian government must urgently step up efforts to prevent gender-based violence and promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate cases of abducted and kidnapped Alawite women and girls, and hold perpetrators accountable, Amnesty Internationa…Amnesty International
Physicists Create First-Ever Antimatter Qubit, Making the Quantum World Even Weirder
Physicists Create First-Ever Antimatter Qubit, Making the Quantum World Even Weirder
In its second antimatter breakthrough this month, CERN announced it successfully created the first-ever antimatter qubit, paving the way to even weirder quantum experiments.Gayoung Lee (Gizmodo)
How have humans gone from the Stone Age to being able to manipulate subatomic particles in just a few thousand years?
And it’s not just normal subatomic particles. My mind is kind of blown when I think about this.
Scotland streets fill with protestors as Trump arrives to play golf
Scotland streets fill with protestors as Trump arrives to play golf
U.S. President Donald Trump is in Scotland Saturday to play golf, and is expected to hold trade talks with the UK Prime Minister Starmer and EU Commission President von der Leyen.globalnewsdigital (Global News)
US won't fight for it self, let alone the politic spam about Trump.
Its a golf course, you will need a good arm... Or a taco cannon...
(Internet, write that down, we need to make a taco cannon)
Thai military fires artillery toward Cambodia amid escalating tensions
Thailand fires artillery toward Cambodia amid escalating tensions
Thailand’s military fired artillery toward Cambodia as tensions further escalate between the two countries over a century-old border dispute.NBC News
This Tiny Radio Lets Me Send Texts Without Wi-Fi or Cell Service
This Tiny Radio Lets Me Send Texts Without Wi-Fi or Cell Service
Nope, it doesn't need satellite either.Jordan Gloor (How-To Geek)
German politician steps down over swastika on ballot
German politician steps down over swastika on ballot
The German state of Baden-Württemberg's deputy speaker stepped down after admitting he drew a swastika on a ballot beside an AfD lawmaker's name. Daniel Born said he had made a "serious mistake" during a vote.Richard Connor (Deutsche Welle)
magna carta
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betterdeadthanreddit
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floop
in reply to MicroWave • • •Maybe this will stop Chinese tourists from holding their babies over trash cans, so they can shit into them….
Because, really, it really seems that what the Chinese could use is diapers, and the training to use them.
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prole
in reply to floop • • •Pardon?
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reddig33
in reply to prole • • •The Split Pants That Are China's Alternative to Diapers
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floop
in reply to prole • • •prole
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floop
in reply to prole • • •If you are not hostile towards bigots and racists, it’s because you are a bigot and racist.
Blocked
prole
in reply to floop • • •I simply asked what you were referring to? Thankfully, someone else posted the reference...
What a weird interaction.
Thanks for doing me a favor, I guess.
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floo
in reply to floop • • •psx_crab
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funkajunk
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in reply to MicroWave • • •jol
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in reply to jol • • •grrgyle
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Rozz
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Mac
in reply to Eril • • •WanderingThoughts
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itslilith
in reply to WanderingThoughts • • •Venus_Ziegenfalle
in reply to itslilith • • •itslilith
in reply to Venus_Ziegenfalle • • •Yes, it's about two- to three times as high. I realized I messed up in my original comment, tho:
255€ a month, vs 500ish$ a year. That's several times more (and still not enough), and it lasts until the child is grown up, not just three years. This will not have an impact on China's population crisis
NatakuNox
in reply to MicroWave • • •Peck
in reply to NatakuNox • • •NatakuNox
in reply to Peck • • •Peck
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in reply to Peck • • •SoftestSapphic
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