Gromnir

Takeaways from AP’s reporting on who gets hurt by RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine work In June 2019, Kennedy and his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, visited Samoa, a trip Kennedy later wrote was arranged by a local anti-vaccine influencer. Vaccine rates had plummeted after two children died in 2018 from a measles vaccine that a nurse had incorrectly mixed with a muscle relaxant. The government suspended the vaccine program for months. By the time Kennedy arrived, health authorities were trying to get back on track. Kennedy was treated as a distinguished guest and met with the prime minister and other officials. He also met with anti-vaccine activists, one of whom wrote on Instagram that the meeting was “profoundly monumental ... for this movement.” A few months later, a measles epidemic broke out in Samoa, killing 83 people, mostly infants and children. Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccinologist from New Zealand who worked on the response, told AP that local and regional anti-vaccine activists took their cues from Kennedy. “They amplified the fear and mistrust, which resulted in the amplification of the epidemic and an increased number of children dying. Children were being brought for care too late,” she said. In an interview for a forthcoming documentary, “Shot in the Arm,” Kennedy said he bears no responsibility for the outcome. ... on the downside, adopting a code is mostly theatre as each Justice would need voluntarily interpret and follow whatever ethics rules were adopted by the Court. HA! Good Fun!

gonna once again state what should be obvious: there is no internet prizes for being first. the curious drive to immediate share ignorance when history shows time and time again that cautious reflection is the superior course is as predictable as it is unfortunate. whether is a crimean bridge explosion, an anticipated ground assault or even a police shooting in wisconsin, folks will rush to share their confident evaluations in spite o' being proved wrong after the fact over and over and over again. btw, is nothing wrong with guessing and being wrong, but all too often the speaking-out-their-kiester pundits mix their guesses with pontification. wait. best advice when info is new, conflicting, and/or unclear is to wait. nobody looks like a fool 'cause they waited. a couple days or weeks to start proselytizing 'bout the evils of ________ does not suffer 'cause an individual waited for more accurate info before sharing their outrage or scorn. am not knowing who was responsible for the carnage at the gaza hospital. am sure as hell not gonna be convinced by fellow boardies and their educated guesses, particular given how cruel history has treated vocal resident experts. HA! Good Fun!

is not as if we got any hard data, but am suspecting those maga hats helped biden more than the trump campaign. am thinking that people who buy maga hats is already diehard trump voters. the campaign contribution from hat sales is a nice bonus for trump, but he ain't getting new voters from hat sales. converse, am betting that for every X number o' hats sold, a democrat who wouldn't have otherwise voted is inspired to do so. in some cases all it takes is one dork in a maga hat acting like an arse to convince people to vote not trump, but seeing those red hats in crowds numbering hundreds and thousands adds a heaven's gate/moonies/children of the corn vibe to trumpy spectacles as the adherents parrot the nonsense o' their beloved leader. as bartimaeus implies, there is a creepy cult quality to trumpism which is driven home by the willingness o' acolytes to adopt a uniform and mindless quote scripture. ritualistic abandoning individuality is swell if you join the usmc, and it makes for great horror film fodder... but in real life, ordinary people is reasonable afraid o' cultists in red hats. admitted equal disconcerting as the maga swag from our pov are the following head coverings: HA! Good Fun!

mauritius? am having a rough understanding that modern pirates is not much like those we learned about from gilbert & sullivan, but that shouldn't prevent @Gorth from living out his secret pirate king fantasy and retiring to mauritius. HA! Good Fun!

given the kinda funds involved, the numbers always go up as long as you take a long enough view. over the course o' a worker's career, assuming +40 years, you got what amounts to a guarantee o' substantial growth... unless the apocalypse happens and then none o' your investment plans matters anyways, right? however, there is gonna be peaks and valleys, and a person retiring can't necessarily wait five years to recover from a major cratering which impacts even the most diversified portfolio and occurs at just the wrong time for a person who don't have time enough remaining to take a long view. HA! Good Fun!

‘Turbulence ahead’: Nearly 4 in 10 Americans lack enough money to cover a $400 emergency expense, Fed survey shows includes emergency medical. mary lou retton is in the news 'cause o' her emergency medical problem and her family were crowd sourcing to raise money for treatment. am not sure what happened to the money she earned over the years, but regardless she did not have med insurance when admitted to the hospital. how many other folks in texas is able to raise hundreds of thousands through crowd sourcing efforts to pay hospital bills? even ignoring medical, try and replace septic tank, water heater, hvac for $400. financial rule #1 is one emergency cost away from impossible for more than 1/3 of americans. HA! Good Fun!

am o' the opinion the contradiction is not all that meaningful, and in any event it isn't quite the contradiction it appears. am suspecting that since 1787, the fed government has been seen by many americans as those bums in washington. sure, we talk about fed stuff on these boards, but the real issues which impact most americans happen at the local and state level, and the fed is ordinarily a source o' bewilderment and consternation. amercian exceptionalism, whatever that is and regardless o' how important you might think it to be, is far less tied to american feelings about our national government than is true elsewhere. in fact, since before 1787 and the ratification o' the Constitution, americans were disappointed with the fed government. also, as with taxes and healthcare and other issues, am gonna caution against oversimplification on american tribalism. working class whites voted reliable democrat until relative recent. post civil war southern blacks voted republican until jfk. catholics were overwhelming democrat until the mid/late 70s. a whole lotta 2023 maga nincompoops voted for obama in 2008 'cause he offered change and hope. americans become more reliable republican voters as they age, though again, be wary o' the generalization 'cause such is less true today than previous. doctors, up through the mid/late 90s, overwhelming voted republican, but is now reversed and a similar if not so dramatic trend has occurred for those with advanced degrees o' any kind save mba. *shrug* (edit) fyi, there wasn't a washington dc until 1791, but we thought it were unnecessary to explain that the capital o' the US fed started in philadelphia, and were also at york, princeton, trenton and... annapolis? HA! Good Fun!

'tween 45% and 50% goes to medicare/medicaid and social security. another 16%-18% goes to "income security" programs such as veteran's benefits, food stamps, unemployment and federal retirement. 8ish% is paying interest on loans. ~12% is national defense. the rest goes to national highways, and fda, and thousands o' other programs so varied it is impossible to list 'em all. the federal government is inefficient and anecdotal there are stories o' mind boggling stoopid spending practices. unfortunate it has been shown time and again that when government programs is privatized they do not become more efficient save as rare exceptions and typical the opposite happens. americans is extreme reluctant to raise taxes. even the tax the rich people balk when they are asked if taxes should be raised so that high income persons is paying 50% or more o' their income on taxes. the thing is, in california, ny and other places that is already the case and most americans just ain't aware.80% (and better than 70% o' democrats) don't want an inheritance increase to represent the highest single tax as is the norm in many other nations. only slight less is people who are opposed to any inheritance tax whatsoever. so... bill gates, warren buffet and a host o' other sooper rich also all agree closing the hedge fund loophole is required. kyrsten sinema singlehanded killed the most recent effort to deal with the hedge fund issue. she were green party at one time? americans, general speaking, got a huge disconnect 'bout taxes and entitlements. is another one o' those situations where the easy solutions... aren't. HA! Good Fun!

god bless america? HA! Good Fun!

am recalling southerners proudly proclaiming they had stopped giving a $#@% about mask recommendations and covid in general long before the rest o' the country. DeSantis administration settles lawsuit, will disclose COVID data and pay attorneys fees At the time, a third wave of cases was ballooning in Florida and hospitalizations were rising dramatically, but the Department of Health was changing the way it reported death data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, giving the appearance of a pandemic in decline, a Miami Herald analysis found. The agency also had started launching a series of criticisms on Twitter, accusing the CDC of publishing incorrect COVID numbers, but offering little explanation. In June 2021, the health department discontinued its COVID-19 dashboard and changed to a weekly report. Lawmaker says DeSantis only settled lawsuit over hiding COVID data because he was ‘caught red-handed’ lying to the court During a similar contest over the discovery of documents relating to COVID-19 data, the health department indicated to the courts that the records sought by plaintiffs did not exist. However, the appellate court again ruled against the department and ordered the disclosure of the documents. In March 2023, the documents requested by plaintiffs were produced by the health department. ... “They were hiding this information from the public,” said FLCGA Director of Public Access Initiatives Michael Barfield in the same on-air appearance. “So taxpayers lost $300,000 and didn’t get the information that they are constitutionally entitled to.” ‘That decision cost lives’: Covid data case further deflates Ron DeSantis’s campaign The department will pay the plaintiffs’ $152,000 legal bill and resume regular posting of the data that DeSantis’s communications team insisted at the time was no longer necessary because cases had “significantly decreased” and that Florida was “returning to normal”. In reality, as DeSantis dismissed reporting on the pandemic as “media hysteria”, the Delta variant of the virus was just taking hold, and cases and fatalities spiked, to a record 385 a day in Florida by September 2021. Simultaneously, Florida led the nation in pediatric Covid hospitalizations. ... tens o' thousands o' floridians died o' covid during the delta surge alone and yet they were being told that there were no need for mask mandates and that florida should remain "open for business." desantis and other southern governors were telling citizens that the coronavirus pandemic were fading away when the opposite were true. unsurprising, a reason southerners and anybody subscribing to alt-right media/news sources were so indifferent to covid were in part 'cause they were being lied to for political reasons. HA! Good Fun!

the first four peter gabriel albums were self titled: 77 (car), 78 (scratch), 80 (melt), 82 (security). am s'posing melt is our fave if we gotta choose. HA! Good Fun!

is not strict speaking youtube, but two o' our all-time favorite pbs series is available via youtube and other sources... if you look hard enough. at least the first four episodes o' james buke connections is youtbe accessible is ten total and we find six thru ten via various internet archives. also, ethics in america (1989.) https://www.learner.org/series/ethics-in-america/do-unto-others/ HA! Good Fun!

the real question is did you try turtle soup? HA! Good Fun!

one o' our aged aunts is coming for a visit and am contractual obligated to make her wasna. the dish is... ambiguous. every family has a different recipe for wasna (which if you know what is pemican, then you kinda know wasna) and to add to the confusion, wasna also applies to any number o' derivative dishes using wasna as the key ingredient. am making a not-stew with wasna and we call it wasna. *insert eye roll* our family makes wasna by combining dried bison or deer meat, dried chokecherries and kidney fat/suet from either bison or deer... but our grandmother also used beef suet. our aunt is gonna bring the wasna so am able to make wasna (stew.) for storage and travel purposes, our family forms little round disks or cakes outta the dried meat mixture. kinda greasy and bland, but the choke cherries, which is a bit like cranberries, has an astringent bite even when dried. when cooking with wasna, we break the wasna disks into caper-sized granules there is a fair amount o' kidney fat in wasna, so am always shocked at how long the stuff remains viable. chances are high that year-old wasna is still edible. we call the wasna stew a stew 'cause is not particular wet, not soupy, but it doesn't require a long braise to release collagen, so "stew" is less than accurate. however, this is a recipe which benefits much from our powdered gelatin. the kidney fat/suet in wasna makes it seem greasy and the last thing we want is those little pools o' fat you see in the pictures o' gołąbki included 'bove. if you think it is tough to keep the fat from ground pork emulsified, am assuring you it is even more difficult with suet. also, 'cause our older aunt is all 'bout tradition, am s'posed to avoid too much o' the colonial ingredients. *groan* potatoes, wild mushrooms and onion is ok, and we sneak in a bit o' tomato paste (and maybe red wine.) we got a large quantity o' chanterelles gathered this summer, so that will be the primary mushroom. wild thyme is the main herbal, but we throw in other stuff depending on the wasna which is always a bit different. we add a bit o' salt and pepper to the rendering wasna and then the onion goes in and is cooked 'til translucent and just starting to brown. potato starch is almost always superior to corn starch as a thickener, but both corn and potato starch is fails on reheat. once the dish cools, the thickening quality o' those ingredients disappears. so, as with most stews, even faux stews, flour is the ideal addition and the amount needed depends on how much fat were rendered from the wasna. add water, and if our aunt ain't around, we will include a dollop o' better than bullion beef base. 'cause o' the choke cherries, some kinda sugar is advisable, so we include a tiny bit o' maple syrup. all the remaining veggies go in as well as herbals, as well as our gelatin and then we bring to a boil and then simmer for a mere twenty-to-thirty minutes... again, not really a stew, but is thick like a stew, so... am always surprised at how good the stew turns out 'cause wasna is not great. serious. is greasy and bland with a bit o' tang from the choke cherries. the benefit o' wasna is it is remains shelf stable w/o refrigeration for at least six months and even longer. again, am having "good" wasna which were at leas a year old. anyways, am making wasna, so our house is gonna smell like wasna for days. *sigh* well, as long as it makes our aunt happy, right? HA! Good Fun!

for the gop base, a political stunt don't need be reasonable or produce results. 'ccording to conservative media, desantis and abbott showed america they owned the libs. desantis and abbott took the fight to dem controlled towns and cities north o' the mason-dixon line. the southern republican governors forced liberal elites to confront the living and breathing faces of illegal immigration... or something. that's a gop win. it doesn't need to make sense. HA! Good Fun!

freebie protip: if you are gonna commit an extreme public crime, it is best to not use an alias which suggests you view the circumstances as a practical joke. HA! Good Fun!

am annoyingly blasé about our own health issues, or so we is told. converse, when family and close friends have health problems we cannot help but worry. ... is this one o' those situations when it is bad luck to wish good luck? dunno. regardless, am hopeful your wife's procedure is mind-numbing uneventful. HA! Good Fun!

were a few years past, but @Leferd mentioned he got one o' their smart ovens for christmas... and socks? am recalling socks and headphones.... something else too. oh well. with a breville joule oven air fryer pro and a couple control freaks, we could functional replace our viking if need be. am knowing breville also makes hand/stand mixers, blenders, food processors and other gadgets, but am not having heard much about those or other products in the breville catalog. edit: not that anybody cares, but if you don't need smart features and you want a countertop convection oven, our choice is the following: https://www.cuisinart.com/shopping/appliances/toaster_ovens/tob-260n1/ is half as expensive as the breville with the same capacity and power. fewer smart features so less stuff to go wrong. the device is simple and am mighty impressed with how it performs, particular at the price point. so, we would need maybe change to a cuisinart tob-260n1 toaster oven and two control freaks... throw in a cosori pro iii basket air fryer as well if am trying to replace our viking with appliances, although there is no way to replace the infrared broiler on the viking. HA! Good Fun! ps am gonna also mention our rice cooker, 'cause it cost us less than $20 when we bought original, and then three years ago when we needed a replacement 'cause we knocked it off the countertop and broke it... the purchase set us back $25. the thing is flawless when making white rice or oatmeal. we loathe wild rice and almost never make brown rice, so we can't speak to the appliance's efficacy for those grains/seeds.

more drama and a possible explanation for the abrupt interruption o' the weisselberg testimony in trump's civil fraud case we mentioned earlier: Ex-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg’s Testimony Abruptly Ended After Forbes Story Accused Him of Perjury Weisselberg insisted on Tuesday from the witness stand that he “never focused” on calculating the square footage of the former president’s Trump Tower triplex, a three-floor penthouse in his namesake skyscraper. Two days later, on Thursday, Forbes reported that emails not currently in the attorney general’s possession show otherwise. ... Forbes senior editor Dan Alexander wrote that his old emails and reporter notes contradict those denials, pointing out in his story that "Weisselberg absolutely thought about Trump’s apartment—and played a key role in trying to convince Forbes over the course of several years that it was worth more than it really was." "Given the fact that these discussions continued for years, and that Weisselberg took a very detailed approach in reviewing Trump’s assets with Forbes, it defies all logic to think he truly believes what he is now saying in court," Alexander added. HA! Good Fun!

we picked up one o' these not too long ago and it is our current go-to cooking hob/surface. only downsides is our inability to use a couple pieces o' non-magnetic cookware, and the fact it requires extra counter space which is always a premium in our kitchen. bringing stuff to a boil with the breville happens a fair bit faster than with our sooper powerful gas range, but am not gonna suggest the control freak is worth what we paid. if we ever move and need give up our viking stove/oven, then we would prefer an induction cooktop. edit: one other negative we forgot to mention is the breville has a sensor which turns the unit off if there is no pot or pan on the cooking surface. however, the sensor is weight sensitive and for one o' our lighter 10" stainless steel skillets, the the breville won't activate unless we add weight to the pan. HA! Good Fun!

Trump NDAs Scrapped: Hundreds Of 2016 Campaign Staffers Can Now Publicly Criticize Him As Court Finalizes Settlement At least 422. That’s the number of 2016 campaign staffers who are affected by the settlement, according to the filing. ... The finalized settlement could open Trump up to more legal liability, given that staffers can now make allegations of workplace misconduct or wrongdoing without fear of violating their NDA. “Anything and everything” workers could sue over “will of necessity contain some information that a Trump Person could find disparaging or a disclosure of confidential information,” attorneys argued in a previous court filing in the case, saying the NDAs “effectively strip employees, contractors, and volunteers of their ability to pursue any of their rights to redress workplace misconduct.” and weisselberg's testimony were unexpected halted today. plaintiffs and defense reserve the right to recall the trump co cfo. sidenote, aileen cannon is slow-walking the mar-a-lago case, and am not certain if she is doing to help trump or 'cause she is incompetent and recognizes her own shortcomings. this is gonna be one o' the more talked about criminal trials o' the century and cannon has virtual no criminal trial experience as a judge. every move she makes will be scrutinized particular following her earlier blunders which were admonished by an appeals court. as such am understanding a bit o' her timidity. 'course every time a discovery issue comes up, it takes cannon weeks to address and then both parties respond resulting in another couple weeks for cannon to make a decision. today cannon is finally holding garcia hearings to determine if lawyers representing multiple defendants in the case have conflicts o' interest which cannot be cured or waived and is no reason this shouldn't o' already happened. is still plenty o' time, but... HA! Good Fun!

ground beef is not a singular thing. is variations and gradients. ground short rib is different than ground sirloin which is different from ground chuck. etc. is all ground beef. you also got general fat-to-lean meat percentages to consider. @majestic will be amused 'cause we had almost the same gołąbki post involving the same people eighteenish months past. nevertheless, am gonna point out our grandma used 50/50 ground chuck (80/20) and ground pork, but much as ground beef is a vague umbrella descriptor, so too is ground pork. in gdańsk we were informed by multiple grandmas that the "right" way to do gołąbki is to mince pork. use pork loin-- no other meat. however, like our grandmother we use 80/20 ground chuck and ground pork loin, but you gotta make sure you got a decent butcher particular for your ground pork, and reason is the same as why you gotta be careful o' overmixing your meat. if the butcher's equipment is too warm or they is too aggressive with the grinding o' the pork, the fat in the meat is gonna melt as well as there being a tendency to release excessive amounts o' myosin. when making sausage, release o' myosin is a good thing, but for meatloaf, meatballs and gołąbki, overmix or brutal butchers is bad and as such the results will too often be gummy and less tender meat, particular if you are braising such as with many meatball recipes but most certain with gołąbki. aside, a kinda kitchen secret when making meatloaf, meatballs and gołąbki is to use science to replicate a former common solution. veal don't bring much flavour to the aforementioned, but it is a frequent ingredient and the reason why you will see veal added to the beef and pork is same as for why pot roast tastes so good. serious. what veal does have in abundance is collagen. the downside to veal is it has less o' the robust meat flavour you want in meatloaf, meatballs and gołąbki. the solution, particular for a braised dish such as gołąbki? gelatin is cooked collagen, so... add one tablespoon powdered gelatin per 2 pounds o' meat and don't over mix your rice and meat mixture 'cause good cooking is always good science. HA! Good Fun!

we didn't know if this butter was salted or not as it came wrapped and unlabeled in a kinda rustic looking parchment paper, which is why we added no salt when we did our double boiler routine with the hollandaise. our mistake were not tasting. am ordinary using unsalted butter, but the reality is you got around 1/4t salt per 8 tablespoons o' salted butter... variation 'tween brands means somewhere 'tween 1.25-1.75% salt, and that means there is extreme few recipes we would be using less salt than the fractional amounts in even the most salty butter. yeah, don't add the same amount o' salt to a dish with salted butter as you would when using unsalted butter, but is pretty tough to oversalt 'cause o' butter... or so we thought. heck, we always under-salt so we may fix at the end o' the process, though for something such as a hollandaise it is a bit more difficult to add salt late. we so didn't need to add salt late. am literal never having had butter with so much salt. shoulda' tasted. even so, as long as you assume ~1/4t salt per 8 tablespoons o' salted butter, you should be safe. should. HA! Good Fun!

ruined a hollandaise, and not in the typical manner. when finished, the sauce looked creamy and perfect. unfortunate, we didn't realize we were outta our regular butter choice until we had already separated a couple egg yolks in preparation o' making our sauce. so we used "really good" butter a friend o' ours had gifted us. we did not taste the butter before using 'cause we were already poaching eggs at the time and, well... saltiest arse butter... evar. HA! Good Fun!

am not unsympathetic to the plight o' the working class american. has gotta be soul crushing to need work harder and longer every year to functional get less and less. for far too many americans, there is little job security and even less hope o' a better tomorrow. health care is a huge factor 'cause the number one source o' crippling debt in the US is related to health care costs, but health care is a big problem and not easy to fix. american farms have seeming been in trouble since before Gromnir were born and now we got climate change and regardless o' whether you think the climate change is man-made or natural, a difficult job is getting tougher 'cause natural calamities is happening with more frequency. even w/o the climate change aspects, struggling farmers has been a reality for decades. no easy fixes. automation increases has happened slower than expected but at the same time former agrarian nations is finally entering the industrial age, and those countries pay their workers a fraction o' what US workers need to make poverty level wages. it is impossible for american producers and employers o' working class americans to compete with foreign labor cost. transitioning working class americans to current and future jobs which might provide money enough to purchase a house and send 2.5 kids to college is requiring creative thinking. no easy fixes. etc. the problems ain't simple and the anger from working class whites is understandable. trump came along and told working class whites that their fears were not only legit, but he acted as outraged as they were. he told working class whites that the media and the elites were lying to 'em 'bout their problems and that he had simple and obvious solutions which would make their lives better... if he could just get another $5 campaign contribution so he could win the battle with the deep state. working class whites always suspected they were being told lies-- bs receptivity and conspiratorial thinking is most pronounced amongst groups who feel as if they has been getting the fuzzy end o' the lollypop. lack of education (as opposed to lack o' intelligence) is also a typical factor o' those likely to fall prey to bs and conspiracy. am doubting most o' the washington gop politicians believe the stoopid trump is selling, but they need the maga base to win national elections and so they engage in performance art to keep the maga base satisfied. that said, am thinking it is a bit myopic for libs to write off maga brand working class white anger. the anger is real and legit. the only reason the white working class were such easy targets for trump is 'cause from their pov, nobody were helping them. reality is complicated, but the anger is genuine. am thinking democrats need to get their act together 'cause we has seen that just 'cause the gop embraces the proud boys and david duke white supremacy does not prevent cuban-americans and second generation mexicans from supporting republicans in increasing numbers. whatever. as for the issue in gaza, the mowing the lawn/grass metaphor were swell as long as it continued to work for israel. obviously there were intelligence failures and now israel is gonna need come up with a new scheme. neither the arabs or israelis has been true interested in peace since the second intifada, so it is difficult to pretend to be surprised by the recent violence save for how unprepared were israel. the hamas attack clear took considerable planning and coordination. maybe not massive amphibious landing kinda coordination, but the hamas attacks didn't come together in days or even weeks. thanks to the cell organization employed by hamas, not a whole lotta people had to know every detail, but numerous people had to know something were happening likely months ahead o' the actual attack. israel not knowing is disappointing 'cause they is considered among the best at sniffing out such info. regardless, am not seeing any difficulty in being revolted by hamas and simultaneous recognizing israel is part to blame for the current conflagration. given the tribalism surrounding the issue, it appears impossible to find fault with both israel and hamas w/o being labeled as traitorous/naive/immoral/hypocritical/etc. yeah, hamas is a group o' terrorists who has an espoused goal o' eliminating israel by any means necessary. mistreatment o' women, jews, lgbqt, and anybody not aligned with hamas? people on this board support such a group? well, ok then. simultaneous, the situation in gaza, while hardly the genocidal campaign by israel described by a few, represents brutal and uncompromising efforts with no meaningful progress being made towards a peaceful resolution or even bettering the situation o' the multitudes in gaza. israel is active trying to maintain conditions bad enough in gaza so that hamas cannot mount effective terror attacks while at same time making not so bad that US and world outrage lasts much longer than whenever the current mow the grass effort ends. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/10/commission-inquiry-collecting-evidence-war-crimes-committed-all-sides-israel again, we got some sympathy for israel as they fight asymmetrical a terrorist organization which has been voted into power by the arabs living in gaza, a terrorist organization which has already committed war crimes in this most recent conflict. am recalling a line from a J. Scalia opinion: "one could hold up a sign saying, for example, that all "anti catholic bigots" are misbegotten; but not that all "papists" are, for that would insult and provoke violence "on the basis of religion." st. paul has no such authority to license one side of a debate to fight freestyle, while requiring the other to follow marquis of queensbury rules." am not having difficulty condemning israel if/when they shut off power and water in gaza. we won't hesitate to condemn hamas if/when they purposeful fights from places of worship, hospitals and civilian housing. am similar not so naive as to expect one side to adhere to marquis of queensbury rules. that said, regardless o' asymmetrical realities o' fighting a terrorist organization, am thinking israel needs be aware that from a practical pov they cannot expect continued US support if they exceed some fuzzy and unspecific threshold o' terrible. hamas is not constrained by limits related to western notions o' fair play and morality. just a fact. the whataboutism will be rich. apologists for the russians, serbs and chinese is already whatabouting israel and will continue to do so for howsoever long this particular bruhaha lasts, as if that in anyway diminishes the excesses o' the aforementioned. so it goes. HA! Good Fun!