Hyperreality

Have you ever considered that you don't know that much, which is why you think what the democrats are doing is easy to understand and simple, and seem to think Israel, Netenyahu and his government are all the same thing?

Here's an article from before the Hamas attacks:

The White House has finally invited Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the US after months of snubbing the Israeli prime minister over his government’s creeping annexation of the West Bank and deepening oppression of the Palestinians.

And another one:

President Biden bluntly warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he “cannot continue down this road” ... he touched off the kind of response usually expressed by America’s adversaries rather than its allies. ... “Israel is a sovereign country which makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends,” Mr. Netanyahu said on Wednesday, accusing the U.S. president of meddling in another country’s politics — which is exactly what Mr. Biden was intending to do. It was a remarkably public outbreak of the kind of disagreement that usually takes place in private. But there were other factors at work that had been brewing for many years.

And here's another relevant article:

Biden understands that Netanyahu’s position is a precarious one. His governing coalition received just 48.4 percent of the vote, and took power only because of a quirk of the Israeli electoral system. The coalition relies on an alliance of unpopular far-right parties to stay afloat, whom Netanyahu must appease to remain in office. Biden has exploited this weakness and repeatedly poked at it. Rather than directly confronting Netanyahu, he has called out his extremist partners and in this way heightened the contradictions within Netanyahu’s coalition, undermining its stability and gradually eroding its support in the polls. In July, Biden told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that Netanyahu’s government has “the most extremist members of cabinets that I’ve seen” in Israel ... This was Biden’s approach in action: criticizing Israel during wartime in front of a pro-Israel crowd, and doing so in a way that nonetheless denied Netanyahu any opening. As long as it’s Biden versus Ben-Gvir, rather than Biden versus Bibi, the president holds the upper hand. ... Biden has brought the same strategy to bear on the issue of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, which has accelerated under the cover of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Netanyahu’s coalition is unable to clamp down on these extremists and their terrorism because it is beholden to these extremists. But most Israelis have no desire to mortgage the security of Israel and its indispensable relationship to the United States in favor of some far-flung hilltop settlers in West Bank regions that few Israelis could locate on a map. Knowing this, Biden has begun unrolling a series of unilateral measures intended to raise the price of settler violence and pit Netanyahu and his allies against the Israeli public.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/12/biden-netanyahu-geopolitics-israel-hamas-war/676357/

Proper nasty politics, keep your enemies closer, and backstabbing basically.

People think Biden's this old incompetent coot, but there's a reason he's been around for decades. He's a piece of work, for better or for worse, and knows how the game is played.

Obviously plenty of people on social media have been shitting on Biden for a while now, perhaps understandably.

But this is why he has to play a delicate and balanced role. He obviously hates Netenyahu and dislikes Israel's government, but he can't push too hard, because it would only help Netenyahu cling on to power a while longer. For example:

After cautious criticism by Biden, Netanyahu rallies Israel’s right wing ... The spat was cheered by Netanyahu’s supporters, who dismiss any calls from Biden or other leaders to pull back from the military assault on Gaza until Hamas has been wiped out as a fighting force.

So although he initially publicly backed Israel 100%, the reason he's now being relatively muted in his criticism of their government, is almost certainly because he wants Netenyahu gone or wants Netenyahu to be forced to create a new coalition with more moderate parties. You know, get rid of those smug thunder cunts Ben-Gvir and Smotrich.

Meanwhile, the US is clearly pushing the two state solution hard behind the scenes. Don't think it's an accident that little America's David Cameron said the UK might recognise Palestine and apparently the US is considering it too, all while doing an intensive tour of the middle-east and negotiating with Israel's neighbours for normalisation.

Maybe something like: "I've had a bit of a bad day, but I'm really glad to see you. Let's have fun together." or at the end of the day "I was having a bit of a bad day, but you really helped me take my mind off it. Thank you."

You'll feel heard. By the end of the date, they'll feel like they helped you feel better, which will also make them feel good.

It's not just that.

It's that a lot of (young) guys rarely get to talk about their emotions. So when they meet someone who seems to care about them, whether it be a prospective partner or a friend, they overshare. It all comes out in one big trauma/emotional dump.

Which is fair enough. It has to come out some time, but it's not particular fun, sexy or fair on the other person. Especially if it's some young girl who has no clue how to deal with the twenty problems you just listed.

Better to see a therapist, work on yourself, or talk to someone who's prepared for it. Not on a third date at the theme park. Certainly not the entire story from childhood and all the stuff that they can't easily solve anyway. Better to have fun together, maybe mention you were having a bit of a bad day, and thank them for making you feel better.

Obviously, this is advice I should have followed when I was younger. It's hard. We're all human.

Nein, aber Ersatz ist auch ein englisches Wort und Freud hätte es gefallen.

You're joking, but a pro-tip: don't talk (too much) about this kind of stuff when you're romantically interested in someone. Make the first dates or ecounters with someone a positive experience, rather than ersatz therapy.

It's a mistake too many (lonely) men fall into when they feel a connection to someone new or also in longterm relationships.

Throw the nuns and monks a bone. If they can't spontaneously orgasm looking at Jesus' groin and abs, after years of abstentinence, early morning mass becomes a bit of slog. I mean orgasm metaphorically of course, because they're so devout.

I'll quote Saint Teresa of Jesus:

In his hands, I saw a great golden spear, and at the iron tip there appeared to be a point of fire. This he plunged into my heart several times so that it penetrated to my entrails. When he pulled it out I felt that he took them with it, and left me utterly consumed by the great love of God. The pain was so severe that it made me utter several moans. The sweetness caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one cannot possibly wish it to cease, nor is one’s soul content with anything but God. This is not a physical but a spiritual pain, though the body has some share in it—even a considerable share.

TBF you don't really need to have good aim when using a nuke.

Don't do continuous data.

Turn salary into a discrete variable. 0-20k, 20-40k, 40-60k, etc.

Modal salary, is the category most Americans fall into. And that is genuinely interesting to know.

This isn't an open war.

It's a limited amount of retaliatory and proportional strikes, meant to dissuade further attacks on US forces and international shipping. They've also chosen not to attack Iran, exactly because they want to avoid escalation. They also warned Iran ahead of time, so they could move out anyone important.

If the US hadn't responded, it would only have made things worse. You can't just ignore groups murdering your soldiers. That'll only invite more of this crap. Terrorists shooting at civilian container ships is also not good for anyone.

The same thing happened with Iran and Pakistan recently. Iran struck Pakistan. Pakistan struck back. They both came to the conclusion they didn't want a war, and made a statement to that effect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma

Per capita the US spends up to four times as much as comparable developed countries on healthcare, countries which often have something approaching universal healthcare which is affordable for almost everyone.

In other words, the US could spends less on healthcare, more on defense, and still have universal and better healthcare.