Good choice – Inter is probably the best, most comfortable UI font IMO. Or Roboto.

“Cunt” is misogynist

Mod has clearly never met an Australian

Firstly, the decision to leave was made through a diplomatic referendum, which makes it practically and politically awkward to reverse without making the UK look even more foolish on the world stage. Another big reason is that the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly. Like the proverbial oil tanker, turning around is no quick and easy task – it would take years to reverse what has already been done and would leave Britain in an appalling position when it came to negotiating the terms of reentry.

Realistically, it’s been estimated that if the UK can get back on its feet and make a good go of it, the earliest point at which reentry would be advisable is in about ten years time.

Again, while there are definitely some parallels between Putin’s annexation of Crimea and Hitler’s of the Sudetenland, there are also plenty of differences that make a direct comparison complicated and not altogether helpful. Hitler’s goals were obviously more wide-ranging, proactive, and expansionist, whereas Putin’s were much more localized and reactive to a perceived threat. A diplomatic solution didn’t work with Hitler but it might have for Putin.

I understand and sympathize with Ukrainians who want to fight to the bitter end, but how much longer will that take? How many more lives will be lost? Is a military victory even likely?

With Ukraine recently being given access to long-range US missiles with which they have conducted strikes within Russian territory, the war seems to be gradually escalating with neither side willing to back down.

NO BUTS. That’s IT. Russia is IN THE WRONG.

No argument from me. I wasn’t condoning the Russian invasion so much as explaining what Russia’s grievances were.

How do you ensure a tyrant doesn’t regroup under a ceasefire and strike again after he gained a prize?

It was not Putin’s intention to stay in Ukraine for long and the war has proven to be very costly. What he really wanted was to show the world that he would stand up to what he saw as the bullying of NATO, the EU, and the US.

A diplomatic solution that would have given Putin a chance to save face while also ensuring a ceasefire would have likely been enough for him, since he knew that Russia didn’t have the military strength to beat NATO and Euro forces in an outright ground war. This, incidentally, is why I don’t buy the direct comparison to Hitler, who actually had both the will and the military / economic might to take over Europe.

As to the very reasonable question of how: One suggestion I remember liking the sound of was the idea to establish a de-militarized zone along the Russian-Ukrainian border in the contested Donetsk-Luhansk region under the joint supervision of Kiyv, Moscow and the European Union.

Either way, I’m not saying it would have definitely worked out, but it seemed to me that not enough effort was given to trying to find a relatively peaceful alternative to a war that was always going to last years and costs tens of thousands of lives.

1. I explicitly said the Russian invasion was not justified

2. Propaganda is often a kernel of truth wrapped in a lie. That’s true of US & EU propaganda as well.

I took the time to explain a nuanced alternative viewpoint and support it with reliable sources. It’s pretty unfair to just dismiss it as a gish gallop or misinformation.

I don’t have time to sit down and fully respond to your points now, but hopefully I’ll have time later today.

See my comment here as a response.

See my comment here as a response.

The Russia/Ukraine conflict is a lot more complex than people in the West generally think.

You won’t hear this often in mainstream media but NATO expansionism and the involvement of neo-nazi, far right paramilitary groups in the Maidan revolution in Ukraine, along with US State Department involvement, were legitimate grievances for Russia. (There’s a great interview with a Ukrainian sociologist here that I think explains things in a fairly even handed way).

Russia was wrong to invade Ukraine, no question, but in the beginning there was a potential diplomatic resolution on the table if the US and NATO were willing to back off Ukraine. Support for joining NATO was always mixed in Ukraine anyway - Before the war, less than half of Ukrainians wanted it.

And who says the war will be endless? That’s another Russian talking-point intending to sow defeatism.

Russia’s resources are vast and they are supported by China. Ukraine is backed by the deep pockets of NATO. Over half a million troops on both sides have been killed (edit: or wounded). A recent UN report said:

Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine, which is about to enter its third year with no end in sight, continues to cause serious and widespread human rights violations, destroying lives and livelihoods

and stated that over 30,000 civilians have already died. A diplomatic solution three years ago could have possibly prevented all that.

Yup, this pretty much sums it up.

To add, the vast majority of the antisemitism complaints involved other Labour ministers liking and posting anti-Israel Tweets that were consider too extreme. These ranged from ones that “crossed the line” of criticism against Israeli policy and the Israel lobby in the UK (some of which you can read in the report on pages 27-30) to ones that allegedly blamed Jewish members of the Labour party for making false complaints, or even tried to dimish the Holocaust (although I can’t find the exact details of those).

Either way, none of the complaints involved Corbyn himself but his reputation was tarnished and it made him an easy target for his opponents.

Certain parts of the media/political establishment certainly tried to paint him that way, but really he was only guilty of not being hawkish enough on Russia.

He was always in favor of a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict instead of perpetuating an endless war.

There is no rule that says the universe must make sense to human beings. In fact the more we learn about it - subatomic particles, quantum mechanics, the multiverse, etc. the stranger it becomes and the less it appears to operate in ways that are intuitive to our primitive primate brains.

Hell, even space and time might not be fundamental properties, and could themselves be abstractions which emerge from an even deeper underlying reality…

All of which is to say your list should have an extra option:

D. Who The Fuck Knows?

It’s a big deal because the Conservatives have been in power for the last 14 years and everyone is sick of the sight of them. Current projections show that this may be their worst showing ever.

The downside is that their main rivals, the Labour Party, are a bunch of centrists who are not really promising much in the way of reform or change.

The other downside is that the Trumpish Reform party are also looking like they’ll do quite well with xenophobic, right-wing, ex-Conservatives.

Labour is expected to win 410 seats, with the Conservatives on 131

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cn09xn9je7lt

I think the phrase “landslide” isn’t going to do it justice.

As someone married to a JW and who is friends with several others, I will say this: like any group of people, they can be a mixed bag. Some are more closeted and “in the truth” whereas others are more outgoing and " worldly".

One the things that I actually admire about them (the individuals, mind you, not the Watchtower organization) is that they really seem to try and live by the teachings of the Bible and study it frequently. Much more so than, say, your average evangelical Protestant.

As someone who is mostly agnostic, those who belive that absence of evidence equals evidence of absence belong in psychotherapy.

This position is a straw man. Atheists generally do not believe that God categorically does not exist. Instead, we usually say that we don’t believe in God because there is insufficient evidence. Much like the proverbial invisible unicorn in your backyard - since there is no reason to suggest that it exists, there is no reason for it to affect how we go about our daily existence.

When it comes to whether you’re agnostic or atheist, I think it helps to answer the following question on a scale of 0 - 10: How confident are you that God exists? If you say around 4 or 5, then you’re agnostic. If you say between 0 and 2, then you’re an atheist.

I think if substantial change is what you’re expecting from a Labour/Starmer government, then you’re going to be disappointed.

https://www.politico.eu/article/keir-starmer-labour-party-uk-election-u-turns/

FYI, UN Watch is a right-wing organization that has been described as a “pro-Israeli monitor” and “lobby group” that has a history of attacking anyone in the UN who is openly critical of Israel vis-à-vis Palestine. (Source)

This article should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

Edit: I’ve had the time to read through the full article. What a joke.

First off, it claims:

The investigations division of the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services recently announced that it has opened a case into allegations of financial improprieties by Francesca Albanese

Which sounds serious and official until you click through to the source and see that this “announcement” is literally just a private email response from the UN to the CEO of UN Watch (Hillel Neuer) who sent a report to them detailing Albanese’s alleged malfeasance.

Essentially, the response says “Thank you for your report. We have sent it to the High Commissioner so they can determine if it warrants any action”. What a bombshell announcement! /s

Reading further, we find out that the nefarious “pro-Hamas” group is actually the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, whose dastardly aim is to “advocate for Australian policy to support Palestinian human rights, justice, and equality.” The bastards!

Oh, and whereas the headline claims that Albanese “took funds” from these villainous Aussies, it turns out that the $20,000 figure is the estimated cost of the trip according to, yes you guessed it, Hillel Neuer himself. Albanese states her trip was funded by the UN. Neuer offers no other evidence to the contrary.

The article then cites a laundry list of claims about Albanese being an anti-semite because of her public statements about the legality of Israel’s war on Gaza that do not conform to the official line from the Israeli government.

Hoo boy, what a load of horse manure.

Nobara may well use a non-stock configuration, but by default a three-finger swipe left or right on the trackpad will switch between workspaces. As for keyboard shortcuts, I believe they are disabled by default but you can always set your own by going to settings > keyboard shortcuts > navigation > switch to workspace on the left/right.