Alex Mann

Interestingly, 5.7 million is about the population of Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank and they too have a large diaspora living in Europe and the US so I guess Branko is arguing that Israel should just do whatever it wants to the occupied territories.

Factual inaccuracies aside, it‘s striking how he hates these countries for wanting to be left alone, while having no such anger for the big violent nuclear power threatening the violence. To him big countries (China, Russia) matter & small ones (Estonia, Latvia) don’t. Utterly imperialist mindset.

Mushroom picking in Ukraine is a whole different experience.

The Earth is also terrible, and dark, and cruel. The rabbit shrieks dying in the green meadows. The mountains clench their great hands full of hidden fire. There are sharks in the sea, and there is cruelty in men’s eyes.

After a poultry plant shut down in July's heatwave, the UK's meat industry trade body called for processing sites to have "continuous access to water, irrespective of wider pressures on local supplies". When those sites use more water than Brighton, that matters. www.grilled.media/data-meat-in...

There are so many crimes in this thread you have to wonder what the police and Home Secretary think they are doing at this point.

The evil AI copied itself onto the internet! No stoping it now! That's just Skynet or Ultron. Those stories rely on magic, and the audience suspends disbelief because the plot is cool. Makes no sense for AI that needs giant datacenters or live connections to them. Can we deal with reality, please?

Politicians on the centre-left and centre-right simply don't seem to understand they are in an existential battle for the future of British democracy.

If every statement about Extinction Rebellion had opened with "Climate change is the single biggest issue facing humanity, and we understand why people have legitimate concerns the world isn't doing enough to tackle it…" this approach might be *faintly* defensible. But they didn't, and it isn't.

It's instructive to compare genocide denial in Israel's case with that in Russia's case. People like Walsh would never dream of disputing expert allegations of genocide against Russia. Yet, here they are issuing the same inane apologias on Israel's behalf that tankies do for Russia. 1/2

⚡️Breaking: Germany officially blames Russia for drone attack attempt at Leipzig airport. "We have clear indications from our intelligence services, as well as from investigations in Germany and in our European partner countries, of Russian involvement," German Interior Minister said.

Large portions of the data center backlash are based on moral panic, but the the tech right VC types upset by it are very funny considering how gleeful they were about the demise of ‘legacy’ media. What’s that? You’re missing epistemic gatekeepers who would place complex facts in context? Tough shit

Glancing as estimated casualty figures, it is also the case that wherever Russian troops arrive, a lot of Russian troops cease to exist. Still, well worth remembering how total Putin's aim of destroying the Ukrainian nation is.

The ag lobby really, really, really, really, really, really, really wants you to think AI is the reason reservoirs are going empty. It's not. It's agriculture.

A Serco employee has been charged with misconduct in public office, over sharing the addresses of the houses of asylum seekers, with people who wanted to target those people. Serco says it is cooperating fully - but can not comment further while the case is active. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

PCPSR polls: -70% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza support some version of the two state solution -10% support a single democratic state between river and sea. Support for armed struggle is falling (27% compared with 41% Oct 25). 1/ t.co/vKsWZAuWRI

Pretty much everything you need to know about the British Right in two images.

A safe and stable Syria is not only morally right but an obvious European strategic interest. The fact some EU countries still bend over backwards to excuse and ignore endless Israeli aggression is madness.

The position of the Israeli government is the same as that of the American and British Right; that a state having Muslim citizens with a stake in the body politic is inherently illegitimate.

It is very hard for evil to take hold of the unconsenting soul.

You were moved to do this by pride and by hate. Is it any wonder the result was ruin?

I'm in Vyshneve. I'm not doing well, to be honest. Half the streets are closed and smoke is still waiting through the town. Most buildings don't have power.

Old Soviet joke about Kaliningrad: Why has Kaliningrad oblast produced more cosmonauts than any other part of the union? Because space is the furthest away you can get from Kaliningrad.

Mona Khalil, Lebanon’s most well-known sea turtle conservationist, died of her wounds today after being injured by an Israeli strike I feel sick

Anglophobia is the American left’s comfort blanket

You're not going to believe this but I think Anas Sarwar should resign. The best time for him to resign was immediately after losing a second Holyroor election after running a presidential campaigm. The second best time is now, after "legitimate concerns"ing race riots.

This is *such* a consistent feature of living in the UK - the actual day to day experience of people in this country is so much nicer than what the press or our leadership cadre would have you think - it is remarkable in a somewhat destabilising fashion just how stark the difference is.

I come with empty hands and the desire to unbuild walls.

#HowDoTheyRiseUp #Glorious25thMay #Discworld

accidentally ordered tokusatsu instead of tonkatsu at this restaurant and now this guy won't stop doing stunts. The waiter can't even take him back because whenever he tries the guy strikes a pose and a bunch of explosions go off behind him

The guidance issued yesterday is a disgrace, and shows just how low Labour have sunk since the days when they believed in equality and human rights. But this is far from over. Legally, politically and practically, this can and will be fought. greens.scot/news/ehrc-gu...

helen lewis has an article in the atlantic today begging everyone to read discworld and I am going to suggest she start by rereading monstrous regiment and think about how that might apply to trans issues

Things don't have purposes, as if the universe were a machine, where every part has a useful function. What's the function of a galaxy? I don't know if our life has a purpose and I don't see that it matters. What does matter is that we're a part.