I feel like every article out there is missing this and keeps blaming Windows Update vs an update pushed to a specific piece of software by a third-party developer. I get end-users not understanding how things work but tech writers should be more knowledgeable about the subject they write about for a living.
I got fooled (like a lot of people) in 2016 to vote 3rd party and we got trump.
So rare to see someone actually say these words outside of pointing the finger at others. Kudos.
Hey now, stay on narrative - shhhh! /s
I'm aware of how it turned out, but, for the sake of clarity, I was speaking about a month prior to that outcome where the President of South Africa made it clear that he would now allow Putin to be arrested in the event that Putin chose to attend in person. Assuming his statements were straight forward, I even get the logical underpinnings of what he was saying here - it just seems an odd contrast for the SA government to turn around and champion the ICC months later. It's hard to take a country that recently publicly pragmatized away the need to uphold the legitimacy of ICC authority seriously when they're now using the ICC as a threat. Another country would be better to lead the charge here on behalf of the ICC.
Setting aside (but stating) my stance that Israel's policy of collective punishment against innocent Palestinian civilians is completely wrong and thus unconditional support from the US government for Israeli actions is also wrong - South Africa isn't a good faith actor here.
What was South Africa's official position last summer, as a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC and thus a nation obligated to arrest those with an ICC arrest warrant that step foot in their territory, about honoring their obligation to execute an arrest on the ICC warrant issued for Putin for war crimes should he step foot in their territory? It almost seems like they're trying to distract from something or are maybe working towards mutual goals with some other entity (or entities) behind the scenes... Hmm.
"Biden's a feeble, senile old man who has absolutely lost control of everything and he is the mastermind bringing to bear all of the levers of power against us!"
Interestingly Michael Godwin, the creator of Godwin's Law (which OP's attached meme more or less references), had the following to say about Trump in 2023:
“Trump’s opening himself up to the Hitler comparison,” Godwin said in an interview. And in his view, Trump is actively seeking to evoke the parallel.
...
“You could say the ‘vermin’ remark or the ‘poisoning the blood’ remark, maybe one of them would be a coincidence,” Godwin said. “But both of them pretty much make it clear that there’s something thematic going on, and I can’t believe it’s accidental.”
I personally think Eco's 14 points pretty perfectly align with Trump/Trumpism, though I imagine those around him would tell me I'm confusing their embrace of 14 words to mean they meet the criteria laid out in the aforementioned 14 points.
Here excerpt from a mostly overlooked 20 Feb, 2016 piece that chronicled his death the night before (Harper Lee's passing, also on the 19th, received more coverage by most English news orgs that day):
It was a solemn scene in Umberto Eco's Milan home the night of 19 February, 2016 as the renowned philosopher and novelist lay gasping on his deathbed. His family surrounded him, grasping the elderly intellectual's withered hands.
Lying mostly comatose for the better part of the past day, the renowned professor, philosopher, and novelist's eyes suddenly fluttered open. In a hoarse, rattling whisper, he addressed those around him. "Devo... avvertirvi tutti..."
They all leaned in closer, tears welling up in their eyes. "Sí?."
Mustering his last ounce of strength, Eco raised a trembling finger skyward. "MA LE SUE EMAIL!!!" he suddenly boomed with surprising force. "Ho scritto Ur-Fascismo per mettervi in guardia da tutto questo! State attenti!!!"
Everyone recoiled in shock and confusion as Eco's arm went limp, crashing back onto the bed. The brilliant mind had left this world with one final proclamation.
The room fell into a bewildered silence, the haunting words still hanging in the air. "Papà?" one of his children finally uttered meekly. But Umberto Eco had already passed, leaving his dumbfounded family to grapple with those jarring final words (roughly translating to): "BUT HER EMAILS!!! I wrote Ur-Fascism to warn you all of this! Beware!!!"
One by one the confused members of the family said their goodbyes and opened the door, got on the floor, everybody walk the dinosaur! open the door, get on the floor, everbody walk the dinosaur!
^^^^/s ^^^^I'm ^^^^sorrrry
Biden's red line just so happens to be an infinitely elastic rubberband.
!Biden!< As if any viable candidate for/holder of executive office at the federal level in the US has ever done anything but support the state of Israel lol. Just say "US", since Trump was and would be arguably even more supportive of Israel. To put it another way, compare Biden's tone (even if it's ultimately meaningless) on Israel to that of any other US president - have any of the other presidents pissed off Likud to the degree that Biden has? (Well, there might have been something about Obama that they didn't like, but I doubt any Likud officials ever managed to put their finger on it publicly.) The Biden admin is clearly shooting themselves in the foot here with the murky half-assed statements and actions here and in a perfect world they would have clear messaging and actions along the lines of the idea that sometimes supporting an alliance means forcing your ally to act correctly according to international law.
Obviously, Palestinian civilians don't deserve any of the horrors and injustices happening to them - we have international law for a reason and it should be upheld. Obviously the US is complicit in not upholding international law on behalf of Palestinian civilians and in aiding Netanyahu's sociopathic, self preserving collective punishment campaign.
That said, the GOP, whose members hate both Jews and Palestinians, (but is happy to support far right regimes however it can) is quite happy to see the left focus on the issue through the lens of blaming Biden and will continue to stir that sentiment in hopes of getting Trump in place again (whereupon everything will be worse). They must be laughing behind closed doors that this is being blamed on Biden and might get them in power where they will be much, much worse in every regard. Big picture, eye on the prize, etc...
For those that care about Palestinian civilians, messaging needs to be akin to "Kill Hamas, not civilians!" in order to short-circuit right wing attempts to conflate support of Palestinian civilians with support of Hamas or crocodile tears over supposed antisemitism. I wouldn't be surprised if later we find out that some of the "leaders" on the left are acting in bad faith, influenced by a certain foreign power to purposefully make the messaging easy for the right wing to attack. (I'm reminded of the phrase "defund the police," which was so comically bad that it seemed almost like it was designed to sound unreasonable and to ensure there could be no productive public discourse. Agent provacateurs stirring up things up with bad faith messaging and actions to discredit the left wing is a classic right wing tactic.)
Anyway, not directed specifically at you, just at the general sentiment.
OpenAI/MS media alliance goes brrrrrr
I think it's a dig at Fox. Or MacFarlane?