New router 1 Tom 0
Staff writer at The Atlantic. Cat guy, democracy defender. Actor for a day on Succession, Jeopardy champ. New Englander and curmudgeon.
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New router 1 Tom 0
Cities often are war zones. Where do you think wars take place? Out in the special part of the Earth marked “War zone only?”
And this is how you end up at “everything is genocide”
No one was hung at Nuremberg for trying to genocide the USSR
What about deliberately starving Germans with a blockade
Normally, experts don't gather to say something isn't happening. It doesn't work that way. And the international community - the governments that rely on those experts - are not taking action.
I was once a member and quit more than 30 years ago.
Sufficient? Nothing, imo. War crimes? A lot.
Non-combatant deaths are not immediate evidence of genocide, because every war has them (and some have immense numbers of them)
Not even close, Stu
How the hell is war crimes not enough? Widely respected spectrum of IR experts. “Ok, we have a consensus on war crimes.” Dude who googled Zionism last week. “Um, clearly genocide and I’m going to cite wiki to show 3 groups who have definitely put the word genocide in their donation requests.”
In this case, most do not, and some are not even experts but partisans (such as Amnesty)
Good luck with that.
I'd call it "war," but okay
I'll bet the case goes nowhere, no matter what the ruling is, because the international community enforces things like prohibitions on genocide, and that needle isn't moving (yet)
You bet.
Tom here wrote in a book a lot warning about cherry-picking experts and the politicization of intelligence. (I also warned about Wikipedia, too.) /1
I knew that would be the answer, but until the UN has a department of Pre-Crime, why not just stick with the crimes that have already been committed?
"In whole or in part" means "you don't get a pass if you tried tro kill them all and failed." It doesn't mean "if you killed a lot of people from one group." Otherwise, every belligerent in every war is guilty of genocide.
60,000 dead out of 2.4 million isn't the entire population. War crimes, indiscriminate killing, all ghastly. But "the destruction of an entire population" isn't accurate.
International community long ago labeled Darfur a genocide.
People who don't understand how this was written always focus on "in whole or in part" because they don't understand it has to be with *intent*, otherwise every nation that's ever gone to war is presumptively guilty of genocide.
When trying to get the international community to act, words always matter, always did, long before now.
You'd be wrong.
And then the prosecutor stood up and pointed at the defendant and said: His victim is dead, what does it matter to his victim what we call it
I've already said: War crimes, clearly. But if every instance of large and indiscriminate civilian casualties is "genocide," the word will have less meaning and world leaders will be more reluctant to use it than they already are.
After Oct 7, Israel went to war.
"What about the three million Japanese, including a million civilians, who are dead, was it genocide to them?" "What about the 27 million Soviets who are dead, was it genocide to them?"
Sadly true
and?
Very few such promises. Nobody in Bosnia thought they were bring brought upstate to a nice farm
It's like arguing Murder 1/2, Manslaughter, etc Dead is dead, but the law matters
Bluesky: Please comment on the plan to issue checks in Gaza Me: [gives views] Bluesky: No, not that, comment on the thing I think is going to happen, not the thing I asked about Not today, kids, I have to go shopping for tech
If the Rubicon was crossed it's "that", not "adjacent"
"I just got here"
okay, but then that's not this I was asked to comment on the plan, not what might happen
Coming tomorrow morning in @theatlantic.com
Usually, it's "leave here at gunpoint and go where you will die," not "here's a check"
Breathe. Acceptance. Go placidly amid the noise and haste.
Except "adjacent" is a word that means "close but not really" and is usually a device to allow using a word you wouldn't normally be able to apply.
Weird kind of ethnic cleansing, but you could make that case, yes
I collected the bubble gum cards. (I collected many, not realizing they would be worth money one day.)
It's on MeTV+ Also, weird trivia note: Two episodes back to back in 1967 featured actors who would later have small parts in the Broadway cast of 1776. Maybe filming in NYC, the show was getting people working and rehearsing on Broadway?
"Combat" and "Rat Patrol," too
Paying people to move after destroying their homes? "War crimes," but usually "genocide" doesn't issue checks
Bad cigars stink, and make your mouth taste awful and make you throw up. Good cigars smell lovely even to non-smoker and provide a satisfying taste that goes away after you’ve stopped smoking it.
I have been re-watching "NYPD" from 1967, with the opening sequence that was later parodied by "Police Squad!"
21 or maybe 87
@radiofreetom.bsky.social explained it better than anyone; this is from a thread he posted after the 2024 election. For us, it has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with character. ⬇️
And Madge the manicurist and Mr Whipple
It’s not a new thing. I grew up with Josephine the plumber.
Trivia: this guy is the voice of Bradford in the Xcom reboot.
Interesting, because I never saw the series in its original airings. My parents didn’t watch it and it was usually too late for me. I didn’t see it until I was maybe nine or 10 years old.
Honestly, weird little Clint Howard dude scared me more than most Star Trek monsters
An interested game
It’s almost Tranya time
I think I picked this up a little cheaper in a duty-free, but I can’t remember where I got it
Yeah, but then we have to worry about all the things outside, including worming her and bugs and all that stuff
Lily really wanted to come outside and be part of the party today and my daughter filmed it and added a soundtrack (volume on)
This is the type of person Trump pardoned. He proudly asserts that they should have injured a US Capitol Police Officer worse than they did on January 6th (@sergeantaqgo.bsky.social) had to medically retire). But MAGA supports law enforcement? Seriously? Then show me by condemning this guy.
Cuban cigars are not contraband.
It was real and it was spectacular
Mmmm …Burning Cuban dog turd
Because at my age, I don’t have to listen to nagging busybodies
COLTS
I bought 2 pounds of them
The best
No, but I did put out a dish of kielbasa that I got when I was visiting my hometown and that I bought from the Chicopee Provision Company. If you’re from my hometown, you know. @danlamothe.bsky.social @barontmoney.bsky.social
My daughter has graduated from college and I have successfully thrown her both a graduation and going away party. I think I’ve earned this.
This @radiofreetom.bsky.social advice is probably very hard, but likely the right advice. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
Oh
Shoutout to @radiofreetom.bsky.social for his impeccable Cliff impression on Fridays @thebulwark.com podcast with Tim Miller.
JD Vance: “Trump is a really bad candidate and frankly, I think, a really bad person.” { ht: @patriottakes.bsky.social }
JD Vance on Donald Trump: “I’m a Never Trump guy. I never liked him. I don’t think he’s the person. I don’t think he cares about folks. I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place.” { ht: @marcofoster.bsky.social }
JD Vance: “I don’t believe Trump” will improve the lives of his voters. { ht: @patriottakes.bsky.social }
The Justice Department had once argued that Ghislaine Maxwell should be sentenced to at least 30 years in prison. Now its second-ranking official—and Donald Trump’s former lawyer—is aligned with a woman whose crimes the department had called “monstrous.”
You say that like it's bad
I really wish I didn’t think of @radiofreetom.bsky.social every time these idiots utter these words. But boy was Tom right.
I’m going to start using this pretty much as my calling card
"This is authoritarian bullying in its purest form. And Vance, I think, in some ways is the worst of the bunch because Vance more than anybody knows better." @radiofreetom.bsky.social joins @timmiller.bsky.social on today's Bulwark Podcast:
I saw it. It’s not very good.
Dorchester man. I actually have a copy of that one.
No worries, I just don't know squat about baseboards :)
(if President Barron Trump allows museums in his fourth term)
A new writer joins the @theatlantic.com Daily!
I have no idea what you just said
“Playa”
So odd that saying I'm a big fan of @radiofreetom.bsky.social and @mcuban.bsky.social is now a hot take.
Trump is a weenie dictator who can't commit: "Authoritarians usually say 'I'm in charge, I speak for the nation. I'm the mighty and powerful Oz.' You know, the wizard doesn't come out and say, 'Some people say that I am a powerful wizard.'" @radiofreetom.bsky.social joins @timmiller.bsky.social
I agree. They’re leaning too hard on that. But maybe the dancing was a set up earlier so that they could do this one episode
I’m not sure I have the heart to tell him what I did for a living
I love local news
Pretty sure someone describing themselves as a Marxist-Leninist isnt really that worried about democracy