ComradeKayAdams

I really like Andy Beshear, the current governor of Kentucky. He would present himself as a nice complement to Harris and a nice countervailing force to Vance. I’d also be fine with J.B. Pritzker and Gretchen Whitmer. The most realistic pick, however, is probably Roy Cooper because of his current working relationships with Biden/Harris and because of the perception of North Carolina as a key Southern swing state. FYI…progressives will NOT support Josh Shapiro (genocide apologist), James Stavridis (imperialist), or Mark Kelly (anti-labor). Harris can’t win the “northern blue firewall” (Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania) without sufficient support from progressives, and a practical path to 270 EC votes becomes too difficult for the Democratic Party without all three of those states. So it’s perfectly reasonable to think of progressives as the power brokers of 2024. Whether or not Bernie, Jayapal, and The Squad are willing to utilize this power to actually influence Kamala’s policy agenda is another matter altogether.

I assume you read this sentence near the bottom of the article: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated time and again that Israel will not end the war in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed.” If part of that peace deal included Hamas destroying itself, no wonder why Hamas rejected it… Of course, we can all rationally deduce that this wasn’t part of the peace deal. We have four variations here of the truth (besides the actual truth): what Hamas leaders say, what Israel’s government leaders say, what Blinken says, and what AIPAC-funded media sources like the New York Post report. None of these involved parties, to date, have shown themselves to be wholly trustworthy. What’s perplexing to me is why an uber-skeptical conservative such as yourself would suddenly trust the Secretary of State for Joe Biden! Assiduous readers of the Kay-mmunist Manifestos have probably already surmised what’s happening: Blinken’s mendacity regarding the peace deal is providing legal cover for Israel and the U.S., while also allowing both countries to save face in the general international community. It’s in the best interests of both countries to muddle and obviate the truth from reaching the ICJ and uncompromised media sources. For Israel’s government, the post-October 7 Gaza conflict was always about stealing land and resources more so than rescuing hostages and destroying Hamas. Violence and illegal settlements in the West Bank have escalated, while not even 50% of the hostages have been successfully returned after 8+ months and while Hamas recruitment in Gaza increases. What any permanent ceasefire means to Israel’s political leaders with ICC arrest warrants in their name (Bibi et al.) is their subsequent loss of power and their having to face domestic and international criminal prosecution. By the way: remember the recent IDF rescue mission in the Nuseirat refugee camp that saved 4 hostages? The one that you wanted me to celebrate? According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 274 Palestinians died and 698 more were injured during that mission. According to Hamas, 3 other hostages died during it. Pragmatic negotiations for partial hostage releases could have prevented this reckless carnage. Just saying… Also: I have no “embargo” on criticizing Hamas. I’ve always called them untrustworthy terrorists and psychopaths whose interests aren’t aligned with those of Palestinians. Do you have an “embargo” on criticizing Israel?? When are you going to call out their far-right government and the IDF as war criminals guilty of ethnic cleansing and genocide?? I hope you’re having a great Father’s Day, Leh-nerd. Tomorrow is Meatless Monday, so plan your meals accordingly.

That PFR HOF metric undersells Cookie’s worthiness, in my opinion. It explicitly penalizes players who only played in the AFL and not the NFL. It also excludes the 6 CFL seasons during Cookie’s physical prime (ages 21-26), years that would later qualify him for Canada’s own football HOF. 1956-1961 happened to be a time in pro football when the CFL was still considered to be roughly on par with the NFL in talent. Furthermore, the PFR HOF metric doesn’t consider Cookie’s civil rights contributions to the sport. Lynch and McCoy were both selected for the 2010’s NFL All-Decade Team, so that’s a good indication that they will eventually make it in. By any metric we use (total First-Team All-Pro nominations, total Pro Bowl nominations, accrued Hall of Fame RB seasons, number of 1k+ rushing yards seasons), the Bills are definitely up there with the greatest NFL franchises for RB’s. I’m guessing the top competitors are the Browns, Steelers, Colts, Oilers/Titans, Cowboys, Bears, and Rams. This elite status has been mostly by design because cold-weather Buffalo has always prioritized running the ball. We may even end up with the most prolific running QB in pro football history! My own top 5 all-time Buffalo RB’s ranking: 1. OJ 2. Thurman 3. Cookie 4. Shady 5. Cribbs James Cook can make my list if he has two more seasons like last one, cleans up his pass-blocking issues, and stops dropping crucial TD passes.

I was a bit “hangry” at the time of that post. Perhaps my combative tone would have been more subdued had I first consumed my pre-workout “No Cow: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup” bar?? Or perhaps not. Part of the Commie Kay experience is simply dealing with the behaviorally volatile nature. To paraphrase a seminal vegan cartoon character, “I yam what I yam, and that’s all that I yam: a SWEET potato! Now let’s have a strong posting finish while I eats me some spinach…” Didactically speaking, I rarely see the value in criticizing Hamas or in defending the defensible components of the Israeli nationalist perspective here at PPP. This is a very far-right forum (especially if you have BillStime and Tibsy blocked), so that side of the debate is thoroughly presented on just about every related news event imaginable. If this was, say, a 2010’s ISIS internet chat room, then you might think I was some ardent Zionist based on what would be the content focus of my posts. Nevertheless, I HAVE posted advocacy here before for hostage human rights and for Israel’s right to exist in peace, as well as scathing criticisms of Hamas…but you apparently don’t read my posts all that often or all that closely anymore, Leh-nerd. << Kay Adams cry emoji >> Merit in SOME of my remaining bullet points, you say?? Let’s revisit my most important debate point: #7. Israel’s government leaders now claim, post-10/7, that they can’t entertain giving Palestinians their own sovereign state (or full and equal citizenship, for that matter) because that would be akin to rewarding terrorism. Do you agree with that sentiment? Keep in mind that one could conceivably do two things concurrently: grant a particular subset of humans what should be their inalienable rights as human beings, as well as prosecute terrorists for their acts of terrorism. My central argument has long been that Israel was a terribly flawed construction since its inception, which has made their generational path to perpetual national insecurity inevitable, and which has set them on a ruinous path of moral damnation, and which can best (or only?) be salvaged with a one-state solution that also provides specifically stated tyranny-of-majority constitutional protections for Jewish people. Thank you for the well-wishes on my core workouts, Leh-nerd. It’s all about what you can wear after Memorial Day weekend. “Oooh whoa, oh-ah, it’s a cruel summer,” as Taylor Swift tells us. I like that. Which dirty name?? Oh…you mean “sh!thead?” Well, Leh-nerd, you did insinuate that I was unhappy to see Israeli hostages freed, as if the nuanced politics of Commie Kay can be reduced to such starkly Machiavellian terms… I didn’t see Muppy at the most recent TBD PPP Girls meeting, but I was the meeting recorder there (and the only one at the meeting, incidentally). The minutes read as follows: “1. Leh-nerd S. is a poopyface. 2. Crown braids FTW. 3. L. Skin-erd is a doodoohead. 4. Cucumber-based moisturizers FTW. 5. L.S. smells like fecal matter from the neck up. 6. Next meeting’s snacks: birthday cake-flavored No Cow bars.”

BLATANTLY INCORRECT. My ideal peace deal would look something like this: 1. Immediate release of all hostages from October 7. 2. Immediate and permanent ceasefire. 3. Partial release of hostages whom IDF is holding. 4. Full and immediate allowance of international humanitarian aid inside Gaza. 5. Complete withdrawal of IDF from the Gaza strip. 6. Some type of international reconstruction agreement, in the spirit of the 1948 Marshall Plan. 7. Agreement to, and outline of, a one-state or two-state or contiguous two-state (including Negev Desert) or three-state (Gaza and West Bank as separate countries) solution. Note condition #1. The only reason why I’d be willing to compromise on #1 as a multi-stage process instead is because I acknowledge that #7 is going to take a bit more time to sort out than a resolution by, say, tomorrow morning. I’m simply choosing to prioritize the urgent famine crisis for hundreds of thousands of Gazan children over the extended hostage conditions of ~50-100 adults. Several problems I’m seeing with your point of view: 1. Palestinian lives are worth much less to you than Israeli lives, for some reason. 2. You don’t recognize the importance of the aforementioned condition #7 to enduring peace (as both a practical and a moral imperative). 3. You’re apparently oblivious to all the war crimes committed on Israel’s side…such as the Guantanamo Bay-like conditions to which the IDF themselves are subjecting their Gazan detainees (some genuinely guilty of something; some likely not). A negotiation is fundamentally still a negotiation, regardless of the stakes, with various gives-and-takes (cool accidental rhyme!). Or at least that’s how Hamas likely sees it. I thought we were discussing more along the lines of how the world is and not how we want it to be? Israel emboldens Hamas when they commit daily war crimes and continue to occupy/steal other people’s land, yet you’re fixated on the impact from a relative handful of powerless American leftists speaking out against genocide?? What a joke. “Powerless,” by the way, is a very apt descriptor because Biden and Congress would have otherwise ignored all the AIPAC bribes months ago and withheld munitions to Israel. Fantastic!! You did it, Leh-nerd!! You just solved the hopelessly intractable Israel-Palestine crisis!! Yay!! Netanyahu: “Release all our hostages. Here’s a very detailed outline for a peace deal.” Sinwar: “No.” Biden: “Please return their hostages. Here’s a complex, multi-phase peace proposal.” Sinwar: “Hmmm…nope.” Leh-nerd’s personal e-mail to Yahya: “Bro, you need to release all the hostages. It’s that simple. Come on now. Here’s a random pic of my hand outline on a napkin, with a ‘Go Bills!’ phrase and a poorly drawn Bills logo in the center.” Sinwar: “Okay, deal. You had me at ‘bro,’ good sir.” It’s cause to celebrate. Stop being such a sh!thead. Helpful life hack: I’m going to the gym right now to put the finishing touches on my flat summer tummy, while listening to Joe Marino’s Locked on Bills podcast, with a delicious VEGAN snack beforehand. Try my habits sometime instead of your 24/7 TBD PPP right-wing brain rot routine. P.S.: I believe Tibsy is a standard liberal and might be insulted to be lumped in with progressive leftists like myself. But he can speak for himself…he has beautiful long hair, so he’s probably busy picking out the perfect conditioner at Wegmans at this moment.

No I don’t, actually, and you would know that if you had been reading my earlier posts on this conflict. In my contemporary pie chart of blame, a majority of it is filled with Israel, a significant portion the United States, and some of it actual anti-Semitism. At one point in history, the pie chart was roughly evenly split between Great Britain and European/Middle Eastern anti-Semitism. LOL…so Israel gets all its hostages back and Hamas, in return, gets some vague promise of a future cessation in hostilities? Helpful hint, Leh-nerd: an important part of negotiations is trying to understand the perspectives of all involved parties. This type of offer has already been denied multiple times by Hamas, but the N-th time will be the charm? You say that “a ceasefire is in everyone’s best interest.” Is it, though? The humanitarian crisis in Gaza doesn’t seem to be the paramount concern of Hamas. They’re almost reveling in the internecine warfare because, at some level, they may even think they’re defeating Israel: the IDF can’t hold cities in Gaza, Hamas recruitment is up, Israel is losing respect internationally, Israel’s economy is declining, Hezbollah is getting involved, the Camp David Accords are in jeopardy at the Gazan border, and American leftists are applying political pressure on Biden. You’re trivializing, by the way, the importance of those negotiating factors you enumerated. Land disputes are absolutely integral (read: causal) to this entire conflict and to the motivations of both sides. Hamas prisoner swaps are valuable negotiating leverage for Israel, as are financial settlements (though who are we kidding here…the American taxpayer is going to be footing the bill for any urban reconstruction…regardless of the outcome in November’s elections). Well it shouldn’t have been okay for us then, and it’s not okay for Israel now. Are you attempting to present an argument here other than American hypocrisy? When you are a longstanding imperialistic superpower founded on principles of settler colonialism, you become inured to all the egregious human rights violations you yourself inflict abroad. The rest of the world acquiesces because seriously challenging a superpower has negative consequences. It also helps to have the Fourth Estate owned by corporate oligarchs profiting in some way from the regime change wars, military occupations, coups, assassinations, and illegal drone strikes committed…not to mention the obvious international exploitation of labor and natural resources. It also helps to have the electorally culpable civilian population geographically isolated from the blowback, thanks in large part to two major oceans. My best explanation, however, for the discrepancy in outrage you’re noting: the evolution of independent news media and social media platforms have profoundly altered the landscape of propaganda efficacy, between the Second Iraq War and today. Right, but different wars have different civilian casualty ratios. The one in this ongoing Gaza conflict could easily be as high as 10:1 or 20:1, when you consider bodies still unaccounted for that are trapped underneath the rubble, or the slipshod manner in which adult males get lumped into the category of “combatants.” I’m certainly no expert military strategist, but was it really necessary to raze ~65% of Gaza’s buildings with 70 thousand tons of bombs, including every hospital but one, all schools and universities, media centers, mosques, museums and other heritage sites, cemeteries, etc…not to mention the farmland destroyed and the severe restrictions in humanitarian aid that are creating famine conditions?? The answer is “YES” if you are intentionally trying to make a place unlivable. Just shout, “but…Hamas tunnels!” every time a human rights referee challenges a bomb strike of yours.

Yeah, what a world…a world that denounces collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, and genocide as a response to a terrorist attack…sounds like a world with a functioning moral compass, actually…a world that was overwhelmingly on Israel’s side after the October 7 attack and until Israel went psychotic… People who truly care about the future well-being of Israel will stop wallowing in realms of perpetual victimhood, stop indulging in interminable revenge fantasies, and start thinking about the factors that precipitated those unforgivable atrocities on October 7. You see the obvious analogy between 10/7 and 9/11, right?? Who is discarding common sense here?? You want a peace deal in which all Israeli hostages are immediately released. Awesome! So do I. Now what are you suggesting Hamas be offered in order for them to agree to such a deal? SUGGEST SOMETHING so that I can then give you my opinion of the likelihood that Hamas accepts it. You already know what I would suggest. If Hamas were to dare reject an Israeli offering of Palestinian statehood at this particular moment in the conflict’s long history, I believe Palestinians would quickly turn against Hamas. You don’t need to insinuate or speculate anything about me because I’ve been very clear and upfront on this topic. You can read my entire post history in this thread (February 13-16, March 4-8, March 23, April 15-22, and now). I’ve also posted in the equivalent thread over at BillsFans.com (October 10-13 and November 8). It’s disappointing that you are unable to denounce the blatant ethnic cleansing and genocide that Israel is committing in Gaza. I do think very highly of your character, believe it or not, which is why I’m particularly upset that you aren’t seeing through the Zionist propaganda permeating mainstream/corporate American media. You’re only reinforcing my point: it takes a high level of imagination to consider Mr. Lumpkins as anything other than a MAGA voter. What do you think Fuzzy’s policy stance is on gun rights?? How about eminent domain?? STOP DESECRATING MY CHILDHOOD. Next thing you’re going to tell me is that Jess Mariano wasn’t the perfect partner for Rory Gilmore, and that Rory would have been better off marrying Logan…<< Kay Adams eyeroll >>

The Powerpuff Girls reference conjured up childhood nostalgia. I was enjoying the ephemeral dopamine kick before getting to the rest of your post. An international pariah state status is a highly intolerable position in which an economically aspirational country can find itself. Ask 1980’s South Africa. I totally respect wanting all Israeli hostages released upfront in any peace deal, but my point is that Israel would need to initially offer something truly substantive to Hamas in return. Otherwise, the round of negotiations would abruptly end. That truly substantive thing would likely be on the order of a promise of Palestinian statehood, with an opening gambit maybe being the approximate pre-1967 Green Line borders? I do realize negotiations aren’t this simple, of course, especially considering that Netanyahu’s interests aren’t necessarily aligned with those of Israel (and likewise for Yahya Sinwar and Palestine). By the way, I can’t tell if you’re unaware of the full scope of the genocide in Gaza, or if you simply don’t value Palestinian lives nearly as much you do Israeli lives?? Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is doing an admirable job of collating the facts and evidence of the genocide. The picture being painted is perhaps the darkest stain on human existence in the twenty-first century. P.S. Fuzzy Lumpkins would be a MAGA hat-wearing Trump voter in the year 2024. Disagree?

A Powerpuff Girls reference?? Leh-nerd, you had my curiosity…but now you have my attention. Hostages are the main negotiating leverage Hamas has over Israel, so demanding their full release is pointless before a suitable articulation of this Phase 2 criterion is met: “a permanent end to hostilities.” Unless Israel agrees beforehand to the end of apartheid practices or to the establishment of a separate Palestinian state, I don’t see why Hamas would bother entertaining such a condition to a peace agreement. The current peace proposal is obviously a good one for Palestinians because they badly need the humanitarian aid ASAP, but it’s also a good one for Israel because it’s in Israel’s financial and national security interests to avoid their international pariah state trajectory (and because some hostages released is always better than none). Acceptance of this proposal would also be ideal for Brokering Biden in terms of party coalition building and November electability. Better late than never, I suppose, even as Genocide Joe’s main leverage (the withholding of U.S. munitions) remains unutilized... Moot debate, however, since I believe Netanyahu already rejected the proposal. It should be apparent that hostage rescue and the defeat of Hamas (a practical impossibility, by the way) were secondary objectives to Israel’s government and to the IDF. It should have been apparent since late October that Israel’s main agenda was ethnic cleansing and a genocide to facilitate said cleansing. They want to finish in Gaza (plus the West Bank via acceleration of illegal settlements…plus southern Lebanon military encroachments…plus the Golan Heights) what they started with the Nakba in 1948. National security risks and/or make-believe Biblical mandates are the lies that Israelis tell themselves to justify their support of collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. At least European settlers were a bit more forthright with Native Americans: they wanted their land and their resources, and they believed they were innately superior humans who could make better use of it all. Zionists have historically been far more duplicitous toward Palestinians, though the mask is slipping.

LOL…Chase Fraser is such a showman! Many of the coolest and most creative lacrosse goals that I’ve ever seen came from him. That one-bounce goal of his last night was super fun, too. A lot of the NLL’s problems come down to really poor marketing. It’s not so much that people are rejecting the pro lacrosse product as it is that people don’t even know of the league’s existence.

I don’t still live in WNY, but I follow the Bandits as closely as I do the Sabres and only slightly less intensely as I do the Bills. By any objective measure, as of last night the Bandits are now considered the greatest franchise in professional lacrosse history! That alone is worthy of our respect, regardless of how one might feel about this sport in relation to football or hockey. Point of clarification: the top pro indoor league of lacrosse is considered to be completely on par with the top pro outdoor league. This isn’t the case for gridiron football or soccer, but it is for lacrosse! The top indoor league is Buffalo’s National Lacrosse League (NLL), while the top outdoor league is the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) which starts in two weeks. Many of the world’s top lacrosse players play in both leagues. Most of the Bandits’ offense, for example, also play together for the Carolina Chaos in the PLL (yet another Carolina/Buffalo pro sports connection…LOL…). Canadians and Indigenous peoples prefer the more physical indoor/box version of lacrosse, while Americans tend to prefer the outdoor/field version. The indoor version resembles ice hockey in style of play, with elements of strategy that are also seen in basketball. The outdoor version resembles soccer too much in pace, which is why I personally think the NLL will eventually overtake the PLL to become the undisputed top version of professional lacrosse in North America.

THANK YOU. Someone had to say it. A more understated approach to makeup application might serve her well. We actually knew Kristi Noem was a sociopath two years before news leaked of her dog-murdering ways. She is on record for defending abortion bans even in cases of rape. If you’re someone who thinks the state should force a 10-year-old girl to carry her rapist’s child to term, you’re also very likely to be someone who won’t think twice about blowing a puppy’s brains out for the crime of acting on its canine instincts. I doubt Trump was ever seriously considering her as a VP candidate. He may be a lot of things, but he’s not nearly as dumb as your stereotypical MAGA supporter who still believes Trump is fighting The Establishment (i.e., corporate oligarchs and their political puppets). Trump probably understands Noem’s limited demographic appeal. If he wants to get re-elected, he needs to expand beyond the simpletons clinging to their God, guns, and supple Ned Beatty a** cheeks in some nondescript forest parcel located in flyover country. Speaking of pig squealing…I implore all the dog-loving omnivores in this thread to look up Yulin’s “Lychee and Dog Meat Festival” and then to ponder the intrinsic differences between pets and farm animals. Spoiler alert: there aren’t any.

Yay!! You can use an internet search engine! Now use it once more for any critiques of that paper’s flaws and limitations. Doing so may help explain why a paper that is 7 years old has negligible citations and no follow-up research, from the author himself or from any peers within the skeptical climate science community. The theme of my posts has been to direct some of that same skeptical energy toward the skeptics, too. The correlation between atmospheric carbon dioxide and surface temperature has been exhaustively researched over the years, so any future hypothesis that challenges the conventional wisdom has a steep mountain of scientific tests to climb. You just looked up the stratosphere cooling effect NOW?? We’ve been talking about it for several weeks! The theory has been around for many decades, soon after the discovery of the stratosphere itself. How much more time is needed for the data to persuade you? 1 year? A decade? A century? A full geological epoch? I have already explained why the data is so persuasive. Climate skeptics always have unreasonable standards that are never rooted in scientific reasoning… A solution to anthropogenic climate change is way too nuanced for me to address in full right now (and I’d rather focus on NFL draft gossip, to be honest, because this is my personal Christmas in April!). So a very brief summary: 1. What private industries should mostly control: market-driven technological innovation in solar energy, electric vehicle battery technology, nuclear energy, other green energy (wind, geothermal, hydro, biofuel), carbon sequestration, planetary terraforming, civil engineering, agricultural tech, and lab-grown meat. 2. What the government should mostly manage: fundamental STEM research funding in everything related to the climate change problem, carbon market legislation for industries, green economy training programs for displaced workers of old energy economy, public transportation upgrades, all other civil infrastructure upgrades, regulations/land acquisitions for curbing suburban sprawl, land reforestation, and EPA oversight of environmental conservation practices. You brought up COVID, by the way, as if managing a sudden pandemic in real time is comparable to long-term planning for climate change… Ironically enough, the absence of effective government economic intervention (in the form of financially compensating citizens who were forced to not work) was an enormous socioeconomic stressor but a policy that libertarian types supported. The standard free-market solution was to keep everything open as normal, but doing so would have rapidly overloaded hospitals and led to many more deaths.

Broadly speaking, the purpose of these protests is to raise public awareness on any/all of the following issues: 1. The ongoing genocide in Gaza. 2. Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank. 3. Israel’s active prevention of Palestinian statehood. 4. Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians. 5. The financial and diplomatic culpability of the United States in all of the above. The hope is that increased public awareness will, in turn, lead to both political pressure in the eventual form of a permanent ceasefire and widespread economic pressure in the form of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement. Judging by the level of media coverage of these college protests, both good AND bad, both nationally and internationally, I’d say that they have been wildly successful in their objective! Recent polling trends support my assessment. Nevertheless, what’s so pathetic (but predictable) is the intellectual regression of American right-wingers. For fleeting moments within the past decade, one COULD sort of argue that they were the standard-bearers of free speech and anti-establishment politics. Their overall response, however, to the Gaza crisis and to these protestors has erased such Pollyanna-ish thoughts. You’re not for the First Amendment if you want the police to crack down on peaceful college protests. You’re not a crusader against the political establishment if you so easily fall for media narratives framed by the MIC, AIPAC, and all corporate oligarchs who financially benefit from the bellicosity of the U.S. empire’s Middle East vassal state. And you’re DEFINITELY not the ones fighting Nazis if you condone collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, and genocide against anybody!

I’m guessing you never skimmed through the articles or the Nature paper?? I’ll explain it another way: D = A – B – C D is the observed increase in Earth’s angular velocity. C is the calculated decrease in Earth’s angular velocity due to polar ice cap melting. A is the increase in Earth’s angular velocity due to mass movement within its liquid outer core. B is the long-term decrease in Earth’s angular velocity due to the Moon’s gravitational pull. “D” is what everyone agrees is happening. “C” is the subject of the Nature paper. “D” is positive and greater than “C.” So “C” is saying that global warming effects are slowing Earth down, but not enough to reverse the effects from “A” that are speeding up Earth (in the short-term). Did that clarify? And yes, I’m still quite confident in the science of anthropogenic climate change! If you have been paying attention to my posts, then you know why: data confluence plus an effective process of isolation/elimination of climate change-inducing variables. Any progress on an alternative scientific explanation for the cooling stratosphere?? Or on a scientific refutation of the causal relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide ppm and planetary mean surface temperature?? Ugh. This thread was at its peak when it was just Muppy and I analyzing awesome dresses. Somewhere between Leh-nerd Skin-erd posts, we must have leapfrogged a megalodon or two.

No, Tibsy, Israel is an ethnostate. Secular Jews benefit from the same apartheid state privileges as do practicing religious Jews (the special legal status of the ultra-Orthodox notwithstanding…even though that was very recently overturned by law). The U.S. shouldn’t be encouraging ethnostates by funding them. Until there is a one-state solution with equal rights for every Israeli citizen within the country’s borders (albeit with special constitutional protections for Jews from tyranny-of-the-majority complications), I doubt the endemic violence and political turmoil there can ever inherently go away. Two-state solutions, in my opinion, simply promote ethnic segregation and can’t practically resolve the illegal settlement issues (among so many other issues). Having said that…a two-state solution of two adjacent ethnostates is FAR preferable to the status quo! Ultimately, it is up to Palestinians and Jewish Israelis to decide how they want to live there…I’m just a silly New Yorker…with beautiful long hair…just like you, Tibsy!!

But the claims from the two articles don’t contradict each other! One is describing the larger NET RESULT of an increase in Earth’s angular velocity, mainly due to movement of mass in the liquid outer core beneath the mantle. The other is describing the smaller GROSS RESULT of a decrease in Earth’s angular velocity, due to mass redistribution from melting polar ice caps. Note that this observed net result of increasing angular velocity is an extremely temporary one, on the order of a human lifetime, compared to the vastly larger long-term trend of decreasing angular velocity due to Moon-induced tidal force friction. So all this has next to nothing to do with anthropogenic climate change and everything to do with the conservation of angular momentum. And we know that modern data collection for this science is exceptional, as are the computational models that depend on the accuracy of moment of inertia modeling (i.e. how the Earth’s mass is distributed). Even the geological data matches well with the modeling predictions: as early as around 600 million years ago, an Earth day was around 22 hours long. There’s no geological data beyond that time, but physical modeling suggests that an Earth day about 4 billion years ago was about 8 hours long. In conclusion: everyone please read these types of articles and blog posts more carefully. Apply the same skeptical energy to the skeptical crowd (who have their own agendas!) as you do to the mainstream science crowd.

I would refer to what Hamas has been doing as “terrorism,” not “genocide.” The difference lies in the power dynamics, the scale of application, and the nature of the political intent. Both Hamas and the Israeli government, however, are clearly guilty of horrific crimes against humanity. All involved participants should be removed from positions of power and brought before international courts of law. Regarding your disagreement with definitional clause “D,” think about what a pregnant woman might need to successfully give birth to a baby: sufficient food (calories and nutrients), clean water, shelter (ideally with regulated temperatures), access to medical supplies, access to a hospital and a medical staff, safe and efficient transportation services, minimal stress and anxiety (i.e. no PTSD in a war zone), etc… If Israel is NOT deliberately imposing measures to prevent Gazan births, then they sure don’t seem too concerned about the welfare of the potential mothers, either!! But the pattern of humanitarian aid restrictions and hospital destruction, along with the reports of war crimes inside these hospitals, DO strongly suggest clause “D” genocidal intent. General Austin can say whatever he wants about the slaughter in Gaza, but the conflict of interest within his professional position is apparent. He serves Genocide Joe’s administration (and would behave identically under Decimation Don’s). The United States is unsurprisingly loath to admit its role as an empire funding a genocidal vassal state, just as Israel is loath to admit its role as a settler colonial ethnostate seeking territorial control and regional hegemony.

It comes down to power differentials and leverage. Israel is a full-fledged nation with a bona fide military that the U.S. funds. Hamas is a comparably small band of psychotic and intransigent insurgents. The first step of negotiations is for the U.S. to get the far-right Israeli government to stand down. Steps down the line, we’ll need the Gazan populace to turn on Hamas. But the latter can’t proceed before the former. FYI: No one in this subforum condones the actions of Hamas, though a handful of us here do have a more complete and thoughtful understanding of why they occurred. Oh, IN THEORY, I totally agree with the distinction you articulate between MAGA and neocons! IN PRACTICE, however, my argument is that MAGA types tend to easily fall back into more comfortable realms of political tribalism and traditional conservative biases. In other words: they’re not very policy-driven after all. This current Middle East conflict has been a good case example of what I mean. MAGA people fashion themselves to be standing in great contrast to MIC-loving neocons like John Bolton, but a vocal majority of them have been in full support of Israel’s genocide while cheering on extremely aggressive provocations toward Iran, dating back to Trump’s reign (reneging on JCPOA, the Abraham Accords, Soleimani’s assassination, etc.). These provocations, of course, can quickly spiral into boots-on-the-ground internecine warfare a la the 2003-2011 Iraq War, which is great for the MIC and neocon politicians but bad for Americans and the world. MAGA types believe in American primacy to the point that our country’s own policy vacillations aren’t considered from Iran’s perspective, which is not only terrible diplomacy but also arguably deeply rooted in reactionary prejudices. I do really like your post, by the way! By linking neoconservatism with neoliberalism, you clearly understand what it means to be a “populist” fighting the corporate oligarchy (a.k.a. the true “establishment”). I agree that the European countries, through the web of NATO, operate as vassal state extensions of American imperialism. I also agree that our overextended military is helping to eventually bankrupt us and destroy the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency. Regarding Islamophobia: Fear of religious zealotry and religious nationalism is always rational, but that’s equally true for Christianity (see: Bible Belt abortion laws) and Judaism (see: Gaza genocide) as it is for Islam. The crux of Islamophobia is judging the character of individuals and prioritizing human life based on religious affiliation. What the Sam Harris types don’t get is that you can’t uncouple the current state of Muslim-majority countries from the influence of American and European imperialism. Once upon a time, the Islamic world was a nexus of human enlightenment while the Christian world was an intellectual backwater…so other factors are apparently in play. Good morning, sunshine! Yay!! You unblocked me! Springtime: a season of verdant bloom and floral ebullience, of new beginnings and rekindled friendships, of political revolution and Marxist subversion…welcome back, dear reader. That’s reasonable retrospective advice for Hamas and Iran, but I’m more focused on our own country’s involvement and what we, as a free-speech-loving democratic nation, can presumably control in this moment. I call balls and strikes with public policy, regardless of the administration in office, and especially given the gravity of what’s at stake. Such is the modus operandi of one Commie Kay. My perspective: Biden took the 100% right approach by helping to defend Israel from Iran’s attacks and then subsequently telling both Israel and Iran that the U.S. won’t participate in any retaliatory offensive. Conversely, Biden has been largely terrible since October 7 by not placing conditions on our aid to Israel (and by not threatening sanctions down the line, for that matter). It should be super obvious that Bibi has been working to undermine any hope of rapprochement between the U.S. and Iran. His objectives are territorial seizure and broader regional hegemony, and Iran is the biggest impediment to these objectives. Drawing the U.S. into a war with Iran is the only way Bibi can achieve them. And yes, of course I’m staying mad about possibly getting sucked into another Middle East war!!! I guess I’m one of those crazy peace-loving hippy types that supports nuclear power plants, not nuclear weapons. I think Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane were pretty groovy, too. Oh, and fashion fads from the late 60’s and early 70’s? Yes, please. PEACE out, - Commie Kay

Yup. Sadly, I fully expect Israel to escalate. The time of their response probably depends on the time that they plan to initiate the Rafah offensive in southern Gaza. Having to manage a war on multiple fronts (including the Hezbollah one), with a sagging economy and limited manpower and strained international relationships, COULD hopefully convince them to abandon a retaliatory response altogether. However…Israel’s motivations for bombing the Iranian consulate building in Syria were fairly transparent. A regional war for them accomplishes the following: 1. Further delays Israel’s calls for elections, thereby allowing the domestically unpopular Bibi to maintain power and avoid facing corruption charges. 2. Sinks Biden’s own domestic popularity possibly through November. Trump is likely viewed as the more reliable ally to Israel who will let Bibi do whatever he wants (which is not to say that AIPAC-controlled Genocide Joe has been a shining beacon of morality, but it’s obvious which side in American politics faces more anti-Zionism pressure from its constituents). 3. Bolsters wavering U.S. motivation to continue supplying Israel with weapons that, in turn, can also be used (illegally) for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 4. Distracts from the Gazan genocide. 5. Provides the means and justification to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities (Israel’s ultimate objective with Iran). Quick Angry Kay Side Rant: What’s so amusing to me are all the MAGA types criticizing Biden for his dovish stance on Iran. Whatever happened to being anti-war, anti-establishment, and anti-MIC?? These alleged right-wing “populists,” blinded by their political tribalism and latent Islamophobia, are essentially American supremacists and closet neocon imperialists…intellectual children whose minds exist in a dichotomous world of good guys vs. bad guys, like some bad Hollywood action movie. Some of these MAGA-ts also have significant financial investments in military contractor companies, yet no children of their own who would be sent to fight and die in another stupid Middle East war. Ugh! Angry Kay is angry!

Wow! So 24 hours later and no responses from the pro-Zionism crowd?? Not even a perfunctory eyeroll or mock laugh emoji reaction? THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING. Moving on… Let me address the “intent” component of Israel’s genocide. Political analysts fixate on the overly retributive self-defense explanation, as well as an explanation imbued with religious directives. Both are obviously true to some extent, but in my opinion Jared Diamond-esque geopolitical explanations are far more instructive. Israel is a modern-day case study in settler colonialism, so this is more about geography and the age-old motivations of land grabs and natural resource seizures for the purposes of wealth and power aggregation. In three ways this appears to be true: 1. Gaza: It’s at a strategically situated position on the Mediterranean, with potential for a far greater seaport, prime coastal real estate development, and untapped offshore natural gas fields. Ethnic cleansing removes the indigenous people in the way; genocide thins the herd and expedites the cleansing. 2. West Bank: Its western geographical limit is as few as 12 miles away from the Mediterranean Sea coast at Tel Aviv. The western frontier of the West Bank also features a bunch of hills perched above the lowland bottleneck of Israel’s middle section. A military strategist might argue that this is a natural military “choke point,” and that losing sudden control of it would easily cut off Israel’s two halves from each other. This is likely a big reason why Israel is accelerating its illegal settlement encroachment into this particular area of the West Bank, while the slaughtering continues unabated in Gaza. 3. Negev Desert: It’s an extensive region of land that still remains significantly underutilized, in terms of desert agriculture methods and natural resource extraction. Israel understands that a two-state solution with a non-contiguous Palestine (or a non-contiguous Israel) can’t relieve certain levels of tension (partly due to national transportation logistics), and that contiguity may likely require relinquishing this connecting region between Gaza and the West Bank (a region, by the way, that contains Israel’s critical nuclear weapons facility near Dimona). It’s in Israel’s interest, therefore, to remove Gaza from the entire equation of negotiation. Summary: I think geopolitical explanations are more fundamental. Retributive self-defense and religion are what settler colonialists tell others and each other to justify their horrible behavior. Thoughts?? Am I right? Wrong? Can I at least get an eyeroll acknowledgment, pretty please?! Thank you.

In their partial defense, Justice, they’re being fed a steady dose of Zionist propaganda from corporate media and/or independent far-right media. Most here are likely unaware of the recent settler rampages in the West Bank. Now seems like a good time to update my post on the ongoing genocide (page 183 of this thread; March 4). As a reminder to the readership, systemic reckless indifference to civilian casualties can constitute legal proof of genocidal intent. We don’t need to wait for Bibi to hold up a sign that states, “Hey everyone! I am officially committing genocide!” We don’t need a particular minimum number of casualties. We don’t need to see red-soaked, red-handed IDF hands holding Hutu-fashioned machetes. Not every genocide looks the same. Further evidence of genocide: 1. The aforementioned systemic heedlessness toward civilian casualties: Euro-Med HRM can’t report as often because virtually all aspects of societal order in Gaza have collapsed. Nevertheless, the latest update on April 3 reports 37,676 civilian deaths and 3,280 combatant deaths for a historically unacceptable 9.86:1 civilian casualty ratio (for comparison: the overall ratio for WW2 was no worse than 2:1). This is the numerical consequence of indiscriminate bombing and AI programs like “Lavender” and “Where’s Daddy.” There are also numerous reports of Gazans being killed despite waiving white flags. 2. Weaponizing famine: significant delays and restrictions (~70%) to food convoys, cancelling UNRWA, widespread destruction of Gazan farmland, and of course the World Central Kitchen murders that fit within this larger pattern of similar behavior. 3. Targeting health care workers: Never mind the near-complete eradication of Gaza’s hospital infrastructure; a frightening number of reports have been coming out of hospital staff members being deliberately targeted, such as those at Gaza’s critical Al-Shifa Hospital. The IDF have also destroyed most Red Crescent vehicles in Gaza, in addition to the Palestine RC Society headquarters in Khan Younis. 4. Suppressing war crime coverage: Al Jazeera was recently banned throughout Israel. Gaza has now set the record for the most journalists killed in one location within one year. There are also numerous reports of IDF bulldozers burying bodies before Gazans can get to them. Poopiness…gotta get ready for work…later today or tonight, I want to post additional thoughts on the “intent” component behind Israel’s genocide. I’m sorry your people are experiencing this, Justice. I wish I could do more to help than write super lengthy posts that no one reads, in a sad politics subforum of a perennially disappointing pro football team.

This is such a good idea that I’m guessing Democrats have already been planning to do so immediately before their Congressional summer recess. It might be more politically strategic to have the Comstock Act become a major topic of debate leading up to the national party conventions. A few other thoughts on this topic: 1. Abortion is exposing multiple cracks in the Constitutional edifice that probably shouldn’t have been left unrepaired for this long. One of these cracks is the failure of the Bill of Rights to more explicitly protect the right to privacy. At the moment, this right has been left vague enough and piecemeal in the First, Third, Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. An all-encompassing right to privacy should specifically mention a right to “sexual” privacy, thereby preventing ridiculous state laws like 6-week abortion bans and no protections for rape cases. I realize that such an amendment won’t realistically pass for at least another generation’s time, but Democrats in the meantime can put this goal in their official party platform while stridently advocating for a federal codification of Roe v. Wade (with clarification on temporal limits, exceptions, and who adjudicates the exceptions). Another Constitutional crack in need of repair is articulation of the Supreme Court branch. It should be democratized with limits on term, limits on number, codes of conduct, and a better federal system of oversight. 2. National poll trends continue to show independent voters shifting to the pro-choice side since Dobbs (June 2022), regardless of Trump’s messaging obfuscation on how to proceed (Tenth Amendment argument vs. federal ban) or on who to blame (Jackson WHO vs. himself and his SC Justice nominations). I count six swing states: Arizona (11 EC votes), Nevada (6 EC votes), Wisconsin (10 EC votes), Michigan (15 EC votes), Pennsylvania (19 EC votes), and Georgia (16 EC votes). Everywhere else, Trump holds a narrow EC lead of 235 to Biden’s 226 (source: 270towin.com). We all know what happened in Arizona recently. We all know how badly Republicans have been underperforming polls recently in elections with abortion referendums. At this point, Trump’s only way out of this catch-22 issue will be to simply ignore and deflect, focusing 100% on Biden’s cognitive health or the mishandling of the genocide in Gaza or perhaps…oh, I don’t know…the scourge of communist Marxist atheist “trannies” illegally crossing the border so to participate in women’s sports (a.k.a. the resonating right-wing social crisis du jour)??? Eeek!!! 3. Women stuck in red states should be made aware of The Brigid Alliance, a national nonprofit organization that addresses the financial and logistical challenges of those seeking an abortion over long distances. I liken them to the Underground Railroad of the post-Dobbs era because their services are most pertinent in the South. Every Bible Belt state now has some sort of draconian abortion law.

But we’re doing so much more than mere guessing! The theme of these climate science discussions should be “data confluence.” The confluence of data is what gives us our confidence in the consensus science. With respect to the stratosphere topic, we have all of the following support: 1. Predictive theories based on very well-established physics subfields (mostly stat mech and a/m/o physics, mixed in with some fluid mech at the troposphere below, plasma physics at the ionosphere above, and a delightful dash of basic quantum mech throughout). 2. Computational models whose guiding equations are based on the aforementioned theories. 3. Tabletop experiments of the atmosphere layers, analogous in spirit to what aeronautical engineers do with scale modeling in wind tunnels. 4. Direct measurements taken from air balloons and satellites over the past century, which NACA and later NASA recorded. I’ll argue that the structural simplicity of the stratosphere is what further increases our confidence. At steady-state conditions, it’s basically an altitude-dependent thermodynamic system of temperature, pressure, and gaseous composition (nitrogen, oxygen/ozone, and a few trace gases). There’s very little water vapor, carbon dioxide, or air turbulence to complicate things. You have typical transient behavior and diffusion at boundary layers, but nothing that can individually explain a global temperature variation trend sustained on the order of several decades! So there’s nothing wrong with extrapolation when your assumptions are so strong. Historical behavioral extrapolation comes down to two basic cases, each unassailable without some sort of paradigm-shifting explanation from physics or atmospheric science: 1. Uniform temperature growth in each atmospheric layer, due to solar activity. 2. Inverse temperature growth, divergent at the stratosphere-troposphere boundary, due to major volcanic emissions or life-induced (i.e. plants, microbes, humans) changes to atmospheric composition that, in turn, alter the greenhouse effect. P.S. Your apology is kindly accepted, though it wasn’t necessary to offer one! The prerequisite for PPP subforum participation should be a thick skin. All of us here have failed the mantra of “attack the message, not the messenger” from time to time. It happens often enough that the subforum moderator** has given up moderating personal attacks. P.S.P.S. The Finger Lakes were likely ancient river valleys. Glaciers from the most recent ice age likely carved them further into their current form. (P.S.) x 3: I trust government and politicians about as much as I do private corporations. Trust is earned with proof over time, buttressed with systems of oversight and power checks/balances. ** - His moderating presence, in fact, is so light that some have suggested he’s not even technically a moderator!! << Commie Kay shockface emoji >> But um…I’ve already said too much, lest I be banished to an even lower Dante-esque forum circle of heck than PPP, with nothing but a red stapler in hand. EDIT: Additional notes on extrapolation case #2: “Major volcanic emissions” was more a reference to Earth’s volatile early atmospheric history, not to random individual volcano eruptions. Effects from isolated cases of meteorites and major wildfires can be similarly transient. Certain human-generated industrial air pollutants can actually mitigate the stratosphere cooling effect from greenhouse gases.

I’ll get to your ad hominem attacks in a second. But first: 1. You think satellite data is necessary to understand historical ice sheet size?? El. Oh. El. As I’ve repeatedly explained, we have WAY more than 30 years of climate science evidence for the troposphere and for the oceans. Extrapolation is necessary for understanding the historical stratosphere, but even for all the upper atmospheric layers we can make strong educated guesses based on other indirect evidence like from ice sheet gas bubbles (particularly from migratory ozone concentrations). You hate extrapolation probably because you have ZERO understanding of molecular physics and statistical thermodynamics (plus plasma physics, if analyses include the layers sandwiching the stratosphere from above). And again…if you hate extrapolation so much, then at least offer your own explanation for WHY THE STRATOSPHERE IS COOLING WHILE THE TROPOSPHERE IS WARMING. Tell us why we should believe your garbage science instead of consensus science. And again…three decades’ worth of data points are sufficient to quantitatively define a climate. This is a mathematical/statistical/graphical argument and not a completely arbitrary definitional one. One thing you got right here: deforestation practices do threaten rainforests way more than climate change (even though I never argued otherwise…but whatevs). 2. Agreed! Too many Luddites on the political left oppose nuclear fission power plants. 3. What kind of nonsensical argument is this?! Yes, of course civilization will adapt to a dystopian planetary environment because we will technically have no other choice. But do you properly understand how much money and human suffering it will cost along the way to adaptation?! Damages to global food supplies, coastal city alterations, natural disaster relief, increases in the spread of infectious diseases, vulnerable island nations, mass population exoduses from newly uninhabitable regions (such as large swaths of the Middle East)…we should try to minimize or avoid what we can of all this. 4. Okay…and perhaps these environmentalists were making reasonable predictions, depending on the specific assumptions of petroleum engineering tech advancements and geo-exploratory land/sea availabilities with which they were working?? That was my point. How is this relevant, anyway, to the topic of anthropogenic climate change from the perspective of professional climate SCIENTISTS?? 5. My point here was that the U.S. government intervened and enacted meaningful change to the specific problem of North American acid rain. Yes, I’m fully aware of the general pollution problems with China and India. Acknowledging that reality doesn’t justify neglecting other problems over which we have some degree of control. Now regarding your doubts of my education: If you have a BillsFans.com account, it shouldn’t take you too long to find my LinkedIn and Instagram profiles. Go ahead and evaluate my STEM credentials if you’d like. I’m wearing a blue sleeveless pencil dress in my LinkedIn pro pic and an “earthy-colored” hippy-looking bell-sleeved skater dress in my Instagram pro pic (background: the Long Island Central Pine Barrens, my absolute favorite place in our beautiful state of New York!). Regarding my nuttiness: Dude...bruh…I’m a Slavic-American girl from Western New York who has endured a 17-year playoff drought and now an ongoing 13-year one. You were expecting sanity?? EDIT: Forgot an “s” in BillsFans.com. Great site! Former TBD PPP’er, Foxx, is the owner over there.