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Happy St Paddies Vlad!

March 17, 2023

"Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “the Court”) issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova."

A very fitting development for child kidnappers I might add.

 

Thousands of children forcibly deported from Ukraine and sent to Russia

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/03/18/russia-childrens-rights-commissioner-war-crimes-bell-dnt-vpx.cnn

Edited by DireWolfSpirit
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A pretty big decision by World Athletics

https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/03/24/trans-women-banned-from-female-athletics/

Quote

Transgender women will no longer be allowed to compete in female track and field events regardless of their levels of testosterone, World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said today, citing fairness over inclusion.

But they say the door is not closed forever

Quote

Not saying 'no' forever

He said a working group headed by a transgender person would be created to further monitor scientific developments.

"We're not saying 'no' forever," Coe said.

"Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but we continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations.

I thought Sabine Hossenfelder did an interesting and thoughtful piece on this issue last year.

 

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I'm trans. I played sports in Highschool, with the boys.

I get embarrassed and ashamed at my fellow Ts for accepting trophies against competitors that they have a biophysiological advantage against. Full stop.

That's not fair.

No, people DO NOT transition just to compete in a field with an advantage... That's a sick and hateful argument and everyone knows it.

But transitioning doesn't erase biological facts about male musculoskeletal development vs female musculoskeletal development. And no amount of memes or whining will change that- it's called real life

I understand that that sucks. Being trans sucks sometimes and I -myself- would never want to accept a trophy against a sister of the world if I had an advantage that she could never possibly match. Being born male -especially having gone through male puberty- IS AN ADVANTAGE in physical contests. This is why we have sex-segregated sports fields.

Sex- being a biological description of reproductive (overwhelmingly binary) capacities of animals

Please, tell me I'm a self-hating creature who doesn't see myself as a woman (if not sexually female) after I "presented" on this forum for a decade explicitly as a woman. I love getting lectured about inconformity to NewSpeak and RightThink. It gives my art an extra bite for days afterwards. 

Edited by Secretary of Eumenes
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"Problematic" is my FAVORITE NewSpeak word :ninja:

As in: 

"I don't know how to argue an actual point so I'm gonna Mad Libs a bunch of nouns and conjunctions (perhaps a verb-or-two) around the word problematic and accept hero-status amongst similarly idiot-brained individuals who confuse compassion with an inability to compromise. Because I live on Twitter." 

 

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On 3/23/2023 at 7:00 PM, The Anti-Targ said:

regardless of their levels of testosterone,

So if testosterone levels are not now determinant, does this mean Caster Semenya and other females with naturally high levels can be cleared to compete?

They should be, to say otherwise is to be on both sides of the same coin in light of Coe's ruling.

Under the rules, Semenya and other female athletes who refuse to lower their naturally high testosterone levels are barred from competing in races from 400 meters to 1 mile. Female eligibility rules have been fought over in court for years and have raised heated debate about fairness and inclusion.

Edited by DireWolfSpirit
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1 hour ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

So if testosterone levels are not now determinant, does this mean Caster Semenya and other females with naturally high levels can be cleared to compete?

They should be, to say otherwise is to be on both sides of the same coin in light of Coe's ruling.

Under the rules, Semenya and other female athletes who refuse to lower their naturally high testosterone levels are barred from competing in races from 400 meters to 1 mile. Female eligibility rules have been fought over in court for years and have raised heated debate about fairness and inclusion.

It's pretty stupid. Inherent athletic ability is not equal, and neither is the intrinsic testosterone level in females and males. If people with higher than "normal" testosteronne levels must lower them by artifical means, does that mean people with lower testosterone levels than normal should be allowed to elevate them by artificial means? I aspire to athletic greatness, but my natural hormone levels prevent me from achieving that greatness. I demand to be allowed to correct for my natural deficiency in order to achieve my dreams.

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Israel faces airport closure, strikes as rage mounts over courts overhaul

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/27/israel-netanyahu-protests-judicial-reform/

'One of Netanyahu’s far-right allies, Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, warned the prime minister by tweet not to “surrender to anarchy.” Netanyahu’s government holds a four-seat majority in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party could bring down the government and force new elections if he pulled out of the coalition."

Quote

 

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced mounting pressure Monday to halt his government’s drive to remake Israel’s judicial system as the backlash against the plan engulfed the country and strikes threatened national paralysis.

Israeli universities, workers’ unions, hospitals, malls and Israel’s national carrier, El Al, announced a general strike, and the international airport indefinitely terminated outgoing flights. Tens of thousands of protesters from around the country flooded into Jerusalem to express their opposition to the plan.

As calls for Netanyahu to stand down came from across the government, business community and opposition, including from Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Netanyahu’s own longtime lawyer, local media reported he would make a public statement Monday morning.

Netanyahu fires defense minister who called for halt to judicial overhaul

An official in Netanyahu’s Likud party who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to ongoing negotiations said that earlier Monday morning, the prime minister was ready to bow to pressure and halt the overhaul. Other Likud officials suggested that the move might be frozen at least until the Passover holiday and parliamentary recess next month, Israeli media reported. But the announcement was postponed amid reports that the prime minister had entered emergency consultations with his coalition partners.

“I call on all the demonstrators in Jerusalem, on the right and the left, to behave responsibly and not to act violently. We are brothers," tweeted Netanyahu Monday afternoon. He did not mention his expected announcement to freeze the legislation.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the author of the initiative, said in a statement Monday afternoon that he would abide by any decision made by Netanyahu, “knowing that the situation … may immediately lead to the fall of the government and the collapse of the Likud.”

One of Netanyahu’s far-right allies, Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, warned the prime minister by tweet not to “surrender to anarchy.” Netanyahu’s government holds a four-seat majority in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party could bring down the government and force new elections if he pulled out of the coalition.

The street leading from the central rail station disgorged a river of protesters as packed trains, some of them standing room only, delivered Israelis from around the country to Jerusalem. The atmosphere was thick with a sense of impending crisis, or perhaps victory, as many of the demonstrators hugged and took selfies to mark the moment.

People alternated between chanting, slogans and checking phones, aware that perhaps just meters away, in this center of national government, the deliberations that could determine Israel’s next phase were unfolding.

“This is our independence day, for sure we are going to prevail,” said Talia Gorodess, a researcher from the town of Givatayim wearing face paint and carrying a snare drum. “The coalition is breaking apart. There is too much resistance.”

There have been fears of violent clashes, however, as Netanyahu allies called for their own supporters to also hit the streets.

“The elections will not be stolen!” tweeted Likud Knesset member Simcha Rothman, a key architect of the plan. “The people demand a radical overhaul of the justice system.”

One far-right group known for violence, a Jerusalem soccer fan club known as “La Familia,” said it would travel to the center of anti-coalition protests in Tel Aviv.

Every hour brought announcement of new strikes and work stoppages.

Netanyahu’s political touch eludes him as Israel spirals into chaos

Israel’s main doctors union said its members would suspend non-emergency health-care services. The country’s largest shopping centers closed across the country, and fast-food giant McDonald’s said its stores would begin closing all branches starting at 12 p.m. ....

 

 

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From the Guardian... 

Noa Landau, the deputy editor of the Israeli daily, Haaretz, says the reported deal between Netanyahu and his far-right minister is a very dangerous development.

“Worse & worse: Ben Gvir now says he reached a deal with Netanyahu to delay the judicial overhaul in return to the establishment of a new police force under his direct command,” she writes on Twitter. “Ben Gvir’s private armed forces. Just what we needed…”⁦

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Saw a piece earlier criticizing western leaders reluctance to use the F-word, when plenty of Jews in Israel are doing precisely that.

Israelis are calling their leaders fascists. Why can’t British politicians?

Quote

“Since the election of the fascist Israeli government last December, there has been an increase in human rights violations against Palestinians, including children. Can the prime minister tell us how he is challenging what Amnesty and other human rights organizations refer to as an apartheid state?”

This should have been a legitimate question for a politician to ask the British prime minister in the House of Commons. But no sooner had Labour’s Kim Johnson asked it of Rishi Sunak last Wednesday afternoon, during an edition of Prime Minister’s Questions, than she was summoned to the office of her party’s chief whip and ordered to apologize.

.... 

In little over a month since being sworn in, Israel’s new coalition has set about consolidating the power of the executive and legislature at the expense of the judicial branch. Its radical changes are targeting a judicial system that rarely offered much of a challenge to decades of apartheid and occupation, but did at least maintain its relative independence vis-a-vis the government. The proposed “reform” — which has generated major opposition from Israel’s attorney general, the president, and the Supreme Court’s chief justice, among many others — would strip all meaningful oversight away from the judiciary, eliminating vital checks on the government’s whims.

In addition, the coalition is reportedly preparing to bring forward legislation that would disqualify almost all Palestinian/Arab Knesset members from serving in the Israeli parliament, and ban their parties from standing in elections. This would effectively enable the right wing to dominate in perpetuity, and deprive 20 percent of the state’s citizens — not to mention its millions of non-citizen subjects in the occupied territories — from having any say in their governance. The coalition even sought to shutter the state’s Hebrew and Arabic public broadcaster, Kan, but has frozen this plan to focus its energy on neutering the courts. All these moves — from strengthening authoritarian control to disenfranchising undesired racial groups — are taken straight out of the fascist playbook.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have been demonstrating against the proposed judicial reform every weekend for the past month, in a generally conservative protest movement that talks about “democracy” and “equality” yet seeks little more than a return to the status quo ante. But even the Israeli leaders of this movement have been leveling the kinds of criticism that would earn them rebuke in the current U.K. Labour Party. For example, Moshe Ya’alon, the former IDF chief of staff who allied with Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz in their recent election bids to defeat Benjamin Netanyahu, had no qualms calling the new coalition “fascist” on Twitter.

Such language is not unusual in Israeli politics; in fact, two former prime ministers, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, have used the “f” word in recent years, long before the current government came to power. But it is not only opponents who are branding it fascist: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich referred to himself as a “fascist homophobe” in a recording published last month.

So what will it take for British officials and other international actors to start taking Israeli leaders at their word and offer any meaningful pushback? Certainly not a slew of well-researched reports from some of the world’s foremost human rights organizations accusing Israel of a crime against humanity. Nor, it seems, a further deterioration of the situation on the ground, with January becoming the deadliest month for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in nearly a decade, settler violence surging, and Israeli officials threatening further escalations. And on the heels of the most lethal year in the West Bank since the Second Intifada, 2023 could even exceed this tally.

There is no horizon for halting this deterioration without serious international pressure. But where will it come from if the likes of Opposition Leader Keir Starmer and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken are unwilling to even diagnose the reality for what it is, or recognize its rulers for what they are?

 

 

Edited by Spockydog
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I never thought anyone left in the Likud parliamentary party would ever stand up to Bibi. But it seems like enough of the local power blocks of the party did turn on the judicial "reform" bill that some of them felt they had to. His coalition is only a 4 seat margin. I don't think he has the votes now to pass the bill. And I don't think the far right pulls out of the coalition if the bill fails. They've never had power before and now they control a bunch of important ministries, which they risk losing if there's a snap election. However, I think Bibi wants the bill passed to protect himself, so he'll keep pushing all on his own. 

Guess we'll see if there's enough sustained anger to keep the pressure up or if they manage to quietly pass the bill in the summer.

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1 hour ago, Spockydog said:

Saw a piece earlier criticizing western leaders reluctance to use the F-word, when plenty of Jews in Israel are doing precisely that.

Israelis are calling their leaders fascists. Why can’t British politicians?

 

Great, another article who paints every Israeli as evil, even the ones who oppose Netanyahu and his far right government and support a two state solution.

In addition, it also fails to mention the terror attacks committed by Palestinians, or the fact that most of Palestinians that were killed were part of either The Lion's Den, PIJ or Hamas, all are terrorist organizations who planned to commit attacks on Israeli civilians.

 

As for your other question:

https://youtu.be/oXpTBt2iNbg

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3 hours ago, Farerb said:

As for your other question:

https://youtu.be/oXpTBt2iNbg

Yes.  That article was a little stupid. 

I would also add though that i'm not sure these governments would call any purported ally "fascists".  Has Hungary been so labelled?  Or any of the many other fascist "allies" in the Middle East?

Its an incendiary label, which is hard to imagine would help any situation.  But people like labels and flinging them around.  Even though the debate then ends up more about the label than anything else.

3 hours ago, Farerb said:

Great, another article who paints every Israeli as evil,

I'm not sure about this though.  The author of this article is certainly to the left of this debate in Israel but I don't get the impression that Moshe Ya’alon, Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz are evil from reading it, even if they are more conservative than the author of the article.

We are back to labelling issues.  Just because the author disagrees with a large proportion of the Israeli population doesn't mean he is labelling nearly every Israeli evil (although, he almost certainly would label Netanyahu’s and Ben-Gvir so).  But ending up debating who is evil and who isn't is one of those pointless debates.

And the article wasn't focused on Palestine, so I don't think it needs to denounce Palestinian led violence.   I appreciate the sensitivity around that but there are many other better criticisms of that article one could call out.

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Amsterdam asks ‘wild’ young male British tourists to ‘stay away’

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/young-male-british-tourists-amsterdam-intl-scli/index.html.

Quote

 

... If British tourists search online for terms such as “stag party Amsterdam,” “cheap hotel Amsterdam” or “pub crawl Amsterdam,” a video advertisement will appear, warning them of the consequences of drinking too much, taking drugs or causing trouble through antisocial behavior. ....

.... The “Stay Away” campaign may expand later in the year to include visitors from the Netherlands and other EU countries who have the potential to cause nuisance, according to the local authority.

Amsterdam will also launch a “How to Amsterdam” campaign this month, aimed at visitors already in the city. Through social media and street signs, tourists will be warned about drunkenness, causing too much noise, buying drugs from street dealers and the ban on urinating in public.

The city council is also in talks with bachelor party providers to work out how they can reduce nuisance tourism in the city center, and is awaiting research results on the possibility of applying a tourist tax.

Mayhem and mischief: How tourists behaved badly in 2022

Last month, Amsterdam announced a ban on the use of marijuana on the street and several restrictions on alcohol use in its red light district, where about 10% to 15% of the city’s tourist industry is based.

This year, the city is expected to receive more than 18 million overnight visitors – the number at which the city council is “obliged to intervene,” under a 2021 ordinance called “Amsterdam Tourism in Balance.”

 

 

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7 hours ago, SpaceChampion said:
The rest of Wu's comment should be read on the bird site to get it in full.

Oligarchy's Nepo babies ruining things everywhere.

There's a fascinating comparison between how China is treating its blue-collar jobs versus the West, where they've come back into vogue and many people have ditched the idea of becoming a banker or businessman to become a plumber or electrician, and because of supply demand issues, they can make even more money.

6 hours ago, Zorral said:

Amsterdam asks ‘wild’ young male British tourists to ‘stay away’

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/young-male-british-tourists-amsterdam-intl-scli/index.html.

There's a very cliched view of Amsterdam in the minds of many British people that wasn't really true any more last time I visited (in 2006!), let alone today. If you're visiting Amsterdam to embrace the full experience of a great, relatively chilled European capital with tons of culture, it's awesome. If you want to go on some absurd bender, there's dozens of much better places for that.

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You're outta date on that, buddy.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/01/amsterdam-to-move-sex-workers-out-of-city-centre-in-tourism-reset

Guys bein' crazy drunk and fighting, from Germany and England, were all over the place way back already on my first trip there.  They said it and everyone else knew it, they came to Amsterdam to do that.

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2 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

But where else can you go window shopping for hookers?

When we went, it was a very interesting experience. We had a mixed group of men and women, people who went for the weed and others who went for drinking and people who went for neither, and we had a couple of locals advising us on how things worked. One of the most notable things - aside from the fact that the red light "district" was absolutely tiny compared to what people think it is - is how much security they had and also how they discourage people going "window shopping," you have to be pretty serious about it and actually go into the establishments. If they think you're out for a perv and not serious business, they slam shut the windows and wait for you to fuck off. It was  all very professional (and I understand it's gotten far moreso since then, and they've moved a lot of the locations out of the city centre).

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