real Jews would never, ever, encourage this sort of behavior.

I really wish that were true. I’m a Jew, and I am fully against this genocide and Israel’s hypocrisy in general, but Israel is full of real Jews who absolutely encourage this behavior. It’s sad, demoralizing, and shameful, especially for us “normal” Jews who see it for the evil that it is, but I’m not sure enough of the world realizes how normalized this kind of violence is in Israel. I’ve spent a lot of time there, and the vapid, bloodthirsty hatred for Palestinians is absolutely real, and many many more Jews than you or I would like to believe support these atrocities.

I’m a descendant of Holocaust survivors, with a sizable contingent of family that escaped Europe to Israel, and I frankly won’t be talking to any of them ever again now that I know they happily support genocide.

I’ll enthusiastically second ProPublica. They’ve been absolutely killing it lately. They’re the gold standard of investigative journalism.

My whole team and I work remotely, so it’s not the exact same situation as you, but I made a concerted effort from day one to set social boundaries with my colleagues. First week on the job my manager found out I’m single and offered to set me up with people. I acted very weird about it, purposefully exaggerating how uncomfortable the offer made me, and she got the hint. We have a very friendly and cordial working relationship, but she no longer pries into my personal life unless I volunteer information. Been happily working under her for four years now.

That work/life separation quickly filtered down to the rest of my colleagues, to the point where now they act a little weird when a company call starts to get personal. Mission accomplished.

I think the key thing is that you’ll never get through to people if they can’t read social cues. Sounds like your workplace cliques are filled with those types of oblivious folks, so you might just need to be completely explicit about keeping things fully professional. I’m lucky that my manager is emotionally intelligent, but that’s pretty rare these days.

Good luck!!

Edit: queues to cues

I totally agree about Greenwald, but he was pushed out/resigned in 2020, he has nothing to do with them anymore. When he co-founded it, he was still a well-respected journalist. He isn’t anymore, but The Intercept still does exceptional journalism. I recommend taking another look.

Yeah I appreciate this take, and I think it’s still mostly accurate, but Glenn Greenwald was pushed out from The Intercept in 2020, when his weird political transformation became apparent. I was very sad to see his weird red-pilling, I really respected the way he handled the Snowden leak. Can’t really take him seriously anymore though. I don’t think they have anyone with his bizarre beliefs on staff anymore.

When people talk about the New York Times’ neoliberal bias, this is what we’re talking about. Lots of people won’t notice because it’s relatively subtle, but it is absolutely biased against progressives/actual liberals.

The New York Times published the headline “Bowman Falls in House Primary, Overtaken by Flood of Pro-Israel Money” — before swapping it out for “Bowman Falls to Latimer in a Loss for Progressive Democrats.”

This is why we need more independent outlets like The Intercept. This shit needs to be called out.

I used to live downwind of an oil refinery, and at least once a year (sometimes 5 or 10 times in a year) there was an illegal emission that blanketed the entire town with particulate matter. The air quality would go from perfectly safe to barely breathable in minutes. As someone with asthma, I felt it immediately, and would have to lock myself indoors with an air purifier.

We’re going to be dealing with significantly more wildfires and increasingly poor air quality thanks to climate change, so the least we could do is ensure that businesses don’t fuck up the air more than it already is.

Fuck the supreme court for doing everything it can to make our lives worse.

Okay, instead let’s care because she’s an activist and founder and director of a foundation that advocates for disabled children. Seems like she matters to a lot of people, despite who her half-brother is.

Very good points, thanks for the correction. My blind rage got in the way…

Frankly I don’t even trust the ‘liberal’ justices to get this right. There is absolutely no reason for nine lawyers with no medical background to make a ruling that will impact the availability of life-saving medical treatments for one of our most vulnerable populations.

I’ve got an idea, let women do whatever the fuck they want with their bodies, and stop being so creepy about the genders of our children. This shit is nobody’s business.

I know you said to avoid the “just don’t connect it” advice, but I frankly think that’s your best bet without shelling out absurd amounts of money. I hate the concept of smart TVs, so like you I tried to find a reasonably priced dumb TV. Had zero luck. Instead, I bought a 55” Hisense TV (U8K) about 6 months ago, and have never once connected it to the internet. I think it’s technically a Google TV, but I wouldn’t know, since I just connect my devices to it, no internet necessary. It’s a gorgeous display with amazing picture quality. All the features are enabled, nothing was stuck behind an internet-wall. I don’t regret it.

Everything you said is true, but I still think her shift is being overblown. The opinion in which she criticized Thomas’s historical approach was a concurring opinion, she agreed with the result, but not the methodology. The result is what the vast majority of Americans will see, not that she happened to take a different road to get to the same place.

And in the same concurring opinion, she had the audacity to hold up stare decisis, despite her hair-trigger willingness to overturn precedent in critical cases like Dobbs.

I follow the court, and read the article. I guess I’m just way more cynical than you. I appreciate your moderating tone though, I hope I’m wrong about her.

It’s these kinds of whitewashing bullshit articles that are why the court isn’t even more unpopular. There’s a concerted effort to make the court appear reasonable. It’s not. Barrett might ask a question here or there during oral argument that sounds reasonable or moderate, but she still almost always votes with the extreme right wing majority. She is not an impartial jurist, she’s a hateful Christian extremist with a normal-sounding voice. Don’t fall for it.

lol I see what you did there.

For those curious, simchat means something like “rejoice” in Hebrew. It’s pronounced sim-khaat. Probably its most common usage to Jews around the world is as part of the name of the holiday Simchat Torah, when it’s customary to get absolutely shitfaced drunk and dance around with torahs. It marks the end of the reading of the torah, and the beginning of the reading of the torah. A very fun holiday.

Yeah I almost watched Baby Driver the other day, but then I saw him on the poster and got that revolting feeling in my stomach. Decided that if I have a choice, there’s just no reason to watch him. I like Ansel Elgort though, so I’ll just watch Tokyo Vice.

Revenge of the Sith

I believe there are 3 kinds of musicians. Keep in mind I have no evidence for this, it’s just what I’ve experienced through a life of playing music and being around lots of musicians.

#1 is someone with natural ability, these are the people who seem to be able to pick up any instrument and intuitively understand how to make it sound like music. This is the rarest kind of musician.

#2 is someone with a little bit of #1’s natural ability, but like 70% of their skill comes from honing it through sustained, long-term practice. It’s hard, and can be incredibly frustrating, but also very rewarding. I’d say many if not most successful musicians fall into this category.

#3 is someone with none of #1’s natural ability, but a passionate desire to learn. With grueling long hours of practicing the basics, studying some theory, and intentional instruction, #3 is perfectly capable of playing an instrument beautifully, but it will be a lot more work for them than it would be for #’s 1 and 2.

It’s probably pretty similar to sports. Some people are naturals, but almost anyone can learn to be really good at them, it just takes a shitload of work.

That’s super interesting, thanks for sharing your experience! The way you describe it, it actually makes a lot of sense that deference would be given to the defense side.

I’m so conflicted, because I tend to automatically sympathize with most defendants since the system is so often stacked against them. Trump has turned that upside down. Never thought I’d cheer for a prosecutor…

Yeah, I could see it as a conflict if she only appointed him after they started dating, but Willis testified vehemently that they only started their relationship after she appointed him. She said the witness who claimed otherwise was either lying or misremembering. I guess it comes down to who should be believed, and while I would never blindly believe any officer of the state, I think she has more credibility than Trump and his defense team.

This is one of those examples that we can all point to for why Trump’s behavior as a corrupt mob-style boss is not just bravado, and anyone who tells you it is is either ignorant or has an ulterior motive.

There is no conflict of interest here, and I also firmly believe there isn’t even an appearance of a conflict of interest. A Georgia lawyer can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe there’s a specific statue that spells out that it is acceptable for a married couple to be on opposing sides of a trial. It was determined that’s entirely fine. So how could it be that two prosecutors, who happen to be fucking, while working on the same side of a trial have a conflict of interest? What, they know how each other look naked, so that gives them some legal advantage over their platonic opposition? It just doesn’t track.