Thanks! I was afraid you were going to say that…but it makes sense. Think I’ll go for it. Also means I can wait a while to buy Veilguard while I play Inquisition.

I’ve been needing a new big game to sink my teeth into, but I haven’t played any of the other Dragon Age games. I watched the glowing euro gamer review for Veilguard and it looks amazing to me (the slightly stylized look doesn’t bother me at all). Do you think I’ll enjoy it without much context? I don’t usually buy full-priced, but I make the occasional exception for games I know I’ll play for a while…Baldurs Gate, for example.

This kind of direct home visit has been happening for years in Muslim regions of China, for different reasons. At least these pregnancy visits (ugh feels gross to even talk about) don’t involve home stays, but any time the state shows up at your door to surveil your family, your human rights have been violated. It’s incredibly invasive and dystopian.

“Muslim families across Xinjiang are now literally eating and sleeping under the watchful eye of the state in their own homes,” said Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch.

In early 2018, Xinjiang authorities extended this “home stay” program. Cadres spend at least five days every two months in the families’ homes. There is no evidence to suggest that families can refuse such visits.

Source

The AI-generated thumbnail really undermines the seriousness of the issue.

That’s a very cool concept. I’d definitely be willing to participate in a platform that has that kind of trust system baked in, as long as it respected my privacy and couldn’t broadcast how much time I spend on specific things etc. Instance owners would also potentially get access to some incredibly personal and lucrative user data, so protections would have to be strict. But I guess there are a lot of ways to get at positive user engagement in a non-invasive way. I think it could solve a lot of current and potential problems. I wish I was confident the majority of users would be into it, but I’m not so sure.

For sure, it’s not an easy problem to address. But I’m not willing to give up on it just yet. Bad actors will always find a way to break the rules and go under the radar, but we should be making new rules and working to improve these platforms in good faith, with the assumption that most people want healthy communities that follow the rules.

I think by default bots should not be allowed anywhere. But if that’s a bridge too far, then their use should have to be regularly justified and explained to communities. Maybe it should even be a rule that their full code has to be released on a regular basis, so users can review it themselves and be sure nothing fishy is going on. I’m specifically thinking of the Media Bias Fact Checker Bot (I know, I harp on it too much). It’s basically a spammer bot at this point, cluttering up our feeds even when it can’t figure out the source, and providing bad and inaccurate information when it can. And mods refuse to answer for it.

Blinken has 0 credibility in my book.

Ah okay, it does look like it’s a common salute in Mexico. Still weird to me, but thanks for the links!

Is the nazi salute Mexico’s equivalent of ‘raise your right hand’ to take the oath of office? That first picture is really throwing me.

Similar situation going on in Israeli prisons. In case anyone wants to know how detainees are treated, it’s war crimes everywhere you look. This CNN investigation is incredibly upsetting, but very detailed and well-sourced.

Yeah I see what you mean. She does call out comments made by Lindsey Graham, John Fetterman, and Kamala Harris though, implying that she expected at least two of those people to be better. To be clear, I don’t think you’re the bad guy, I appreciate your perspective. But you’re right that tensions are very high…

Holy shit that’s wild. Just when I think I can’t be surprised by Donald anymore, boom! Woodward does his thing.

As talented as Woodward is, I really dislike that we only find out about these travesties years after the fact, when it’s all but too late to do anything about it. I understand that that’s how he is able to get access to these stories in the first place, but it feels really icky to me.

I think I get your point, but I’m not sure we read the same article. She did get pretty personal without naming names (we can’t expect anyone in her position to name names safely.)

Imagine feeling this every day of your life, it’s horrific:

…simply by paying my taxes, I am complicit in the slaughter and starvation of my own people.

And

…in 1967, my father had to flee again. He became a refugee, unable to ever return to live in the country where he was born. He has, however, taken me back to visit. I went back to his village when I had just turned six and had a brief taste of what a Palestinian childhood is like – by which I mean Israeli soldiers shot teargas at me and raided our village to burn the Palestinian flag.

Make sure you check out that Imgur link, it’s pictures of the journal she wrote when she was a kid visiting the West Bank. Doesn’t get much more personal than that.

I’m curious, to the people downvoting: why? Are you unable to see her humanity? What specifically in her deeply personal op ed made you so feel so strongly that you had to downvote this post? I’m genuinely curious. Or did you just see the word Palestinian and downvote it by force of habit, thus proving her point in the process?

This was a powerful op ed written by someone who knows what she’s talking about, exposing some uncomfortable truths about the US and what it valves.

I appreciate the clarification on how these laws work. I think you’re right that their popularity doesn’t necessarily imply effectiveness, it probably has more to do with the impulse to join in the virtue-signaling. But their popularity does send a strong message that how people and companies spend their money is important, and I’d argue that means they must be at least a little bit effective.

And the laws are wildly unpopular with the American people, but were still passed in the majority of states, which also tells me they must be doing something:

a majority of Americans oppose anti-BDS laws; 72% opposed laws penalizing people who boycott Israel and 22% supported such laws. Source

To echo some other comments, it seems like this article proves that boycotting is in fact one of the only ways to hold companies accountable. That’s why so many states in the US have passed laws making BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) illegal when it comes to Israel.

I think I’m okay with this. Ghost of Tsushima is one of my favorite games.

I was thinking, don’t I remember something about UN workers sexually assaulting a bunch of Haitians during their last peacekeeping mission? Yup, it’s right there in the article. Appalling.

The UN mission in Haiti was criticized for its role in perpetuating the political and economic structures that favored the Haitian elite and foreign investors while neglecting to tackle the underlying causes of poverty and inequality in the country. The UN’s 2004-2017 failed peacekeeping mission was also marred by allegations of sexual assault by its troops and staffers. Furthermore, peacekeepers from Nepal were blamed for introducing cholera into Haiti’s largest river in October 2010, resulting in the death of over 10,000 Haitian people. Although the UN has acknowledged its role in the epidemic and the lack of sufficient effort to combat it, it has not explicitly admitted to introducing the disease.

I’m so glad this guy is sticking with the bit. Patrick Gathara for those wondering. This framing does a spectacular job of exposing the absurdity of American politics and ‘American Exceptionalism’ on the world stage.

He did one for the Democratic Convention too, which was excellent.