Me.

Raise Taxes on the Rich? These Rich New Yorkers Are All for It.

🙄

"Mr. Tobias said that most wealthy residents would be fine, though he had empathy for a family that makes just above $1 million annually and has high expenses.

“If you have a place in the Hamptons and three kids in private school, it’s probably tough to make ends meet,” he said."

The Statues Were Mostly Men or Nude Women. So These Knitters Got to Work.

Gift Link

Last night, I finished a month of intense work and long hours.

So tired. I have some wrap-up work to do today and then I think I may just crawl back into bed.

Gullible, Cynical America The trouble with believing anything and nothing at the same time

America's epidemic of gullibility & cynicism: "gullicism"

"This rejection of empiricism makes selling falsehoods easier & contradicting them harder, which creates a fertile environment for anyone with something to sell, whether shady businesses or authoritarian governments."

Perfect for MAGA/MAHA.

I may wait to suggest it! But that's a good idea, thank you.

Definitely.

My daughter put on Hamnet this evening.

So apparently (this may be a spoiler?) Shakespeare had twins. And the boy died.

My daughter was caught off guard. She started sobbing. So we shut it off. She's okay.

My kids are twins, and they have always had a certain amount of separation anxiety.

The yoghurt delivery women combatting loneliness in Japan As loneliness deepens in one of the world's fastest-ageing nations, a network of women delivering probiotic milk drinks has become a vital source of routine, connection and care.

“Japan is the world's most rapidly aging major economy." ~30% of its population is now 65+. The number of elderly living alone continues to rise. "As families shrink and traditional multi-generational households decline, isolation has become one of the country's most pressing social challenges.”

Tucker Carlson slammed for linking Chabad to Iran strikes | The Jerusalem Post Columnist Joel Mowbray argued that the claim is both unfounded and dangerous, noting that Chabad institutions and events have historically been targets of antisemitic violence.

Well, that's certainly a take.

"Tucker Carlson claims Chabad behind strikes on Iran in effort to destroy al-Aqsa Mosque"

Raise your hand if you have more than two brain cells and saw this coming.

'Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatens the “complete destruction of the region’s military and economic infrastructure” if the United States continued its actions in the Middle East.'

AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations Leading AIs from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google opted to use nuclear weapons in simulated war games in 95 per cent of cases

Well, this isn't at all worrisome.

that they have kept their relationship intensely private to the point that this is how we find out is probably the best sign they might actually make it

anyway, rules are rules, here is the exact moment she fell in love

Reports are currently between 148 and 165 people dead in that school attack in Iran. Most are probably children.

A disgusting and horrific atrocity.

Jewish Dual Loyalty: The Classic Anti-Semitic Stereotype Accusations of dual loyalty are the main anti-Semitic hate motif worldwide, as well as in the US. Extrapolating from poll data, it can be inferred that up to seventy-five million Americans might belie

Some context, perhaps, about what was clearly the amplification of an antisemitic trope. One that's a core element of that hateful screed, the Protocols: Dual loyalty.

besacenter.org/jews-dual-lo...

Perspective, it helps.

The moment Iranian state TV confirms Khamenei's death.

(Translated): "It is announced to the martyr-nurturing people of Iran that Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, was martyred in a joint attack by the criminal United States and the Zionist regime."

When it comes to regime change in Iran, Jews should be careful what they wish for While even in Tehran some have welcomed Israel's attack, we need to consider what comes next

Worth reading. From last June.

Please remember you are likely to see even anti-war and anti-intervention Iranians celebrate Khamenei’s death (if confirmed) as he has been a source of death, tyranny, destruction, and has held Iran back.

If he is dead, I hope that in the end, Iran and all of it's people benefit from the final outcome. Khameini has been responsible for so many atrocities.

With a leadership vacuum, the regime may fragment into factions: Political, Clerical and Military. All trying to fill it. There will be intense pressure from internal protests.

And of course, the son of the last Shah, will claim the right to retake his royal dynasty. (Ugh.)

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The Iranian president, head of the judiciary, and a jurist from the Guardian Council would temporarily assume Khameini's duties until a new supreme leader is appointed. Because Khameini didn't appoint an heir.

Lacking direction, IRGC hardliners may launch retaliatory attacks on their own.

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Israeli media is reporting that Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei has been killed, and his body has been located. This is as yet unconfirmed by Iran.

If true, what happens next?

Short term: possibly dangerous chaos.
Long term: unknown.

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For my space-loving friends (which is all of you, right?)

things every single republican president of your lifetime has done

- started a war in the middle east
- completely destroyed the economy

עדכון מצ'אט הכתבים של N12 דיווחים שוטפים ישירות מהכתבים

Also see: mobile.mako.co.il/news-reporte...

For live updates that haven't hit the Israeli news feed yet.

(Not that it matters, but I'm not a tankie or cheering any of this awfulness on. It's a goddamned tragedy. We have family outside Tel Aviv, and obsessively worry about them.)

This could easily spiral out of control, and hundreds of millions of lives could be endangered.

My biggest fear for the region has been a war between a handful of countries that engulfs the entire region and drags much larger, more heavily armed countries into conflict. China. Russia. The US and others.

The real danger has always been Trump, Khomeini and Netanyahu sparking WW III.

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In retaliation, Iran has tried to attack US military targets in Saudia Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain. Syria and Iraq may have also been attacked. They're reporting missile interceptions.

Pakistan has stopped their air war in Afghanistan temporarily.

This is a nightmare.

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To no one's surprise, Israel and the US struck Iran overnight. Iran has retaliated. Israel is once again locked down.

A school in Iran was reported hit, with 51 people killed, many of them children. No confirmation on whether the attack was Israeli or American. As if it matters.

Live updates:

It was a profoundly disturbing shift. Simmons' site forum developed into a racist and classist cesspool that should have had "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here" scrawled across the lintel.

Anyway. I wish he'd written more books like Hyperion. They were flawed, but thought-provoking.

There was islamophobia in the Hyperion series. It went off the rails in his next books: Ilium/Olypus.

Simmons himself careened into far right politics, climate change denial and racist Islamophobia 20 years ago. He blogged against progressive politics, claiming they'd lead to America's downfall.

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