@QasimRashid Biden also ordered the Pentagon to share its intelligence on possible Russian war crimes with the ICC. The Pentagon normally objects to sharing intelligence with 3rd parties, but Biden publicly overruled them. It is almost like Biden thinks the ICC is a legitimate institution for the prosecution of war crimes.
He just doesn't like it when the "Rules based order" he so claims to cherish comes down in favor of something contrary to his administration's desires.
@QasimRashid He wants an international rules based order where the US is the only one setting the rules. That isn't a rules based order where all parties are equal before it, it is the appearance of law, but with unequal application. It is a tool of US hegemony or nothing.
You see the same thing at the UN, with the major security council players repeatedly vetoing widely desired attempts to establish some sort of international law with actual teeth.
It sounds like a lot of Icelandic people are deciding to personally boycott watching the fest and have gone to set up a televised Palestine solidarity concert with former Icelandic Eurovision participants, which will be broadcast right after Tuesday's qualifier in which Iceland's Eurovision entry is participating. We've got a sort of dueling banjo situation developing. Stay tuned!
Iceland's coverage has been interesting as a poll showed that the majority of the country wanted Iceland to boycott the competition because of Israel's inclusion. Ultimately, the broadcaster elected to go on. There were also some controversial voting hijinx in Iceland's selection process, with the final selected performer being one who wanted to perform regardless. Some of the other candidates telegraphed if they were selected as Iceland's entry that they'd personally boycott.
So, the Eurovision song contest kicked off today with opening ceremonies. This year's contest is particularly controversial due to the inclusion of Israel (notably not a European nation) and their attempts to submit a song which appeared to reference the October Hamas attacks. Political songs are not allowed in Eurovision.
I've been mostly watching news on the contest through following Icelandic papers as part of my fascination with the ongoing eruption there.
Rafah has twice the population density of the Warsaw Ghetto at its peak during WWII and Israel is telling people to evacuate or its not their fault if they die. Actually it is, Rafah is right up against the Egyptian border and there's nowhere left in Gaza that hasn't been substantially bombed by Israel.
55% of the buildings in the whole of Gaza are damaged or destroyed.
@arstechnica It's been widely reported at other affected dairies as well. This virus is absolutely lethal in cats. Half of 24 farm cats at the one dairy where they took samples died.
@peter World Central Kitchen to date served over 42 million meals. The US airdrop mission, per US Centcom, is at 546k and change, but they also appear to count drops that go right into the sea. ~60 of the bundles they dropped today went into ocean (which at about a ton per bundle is probably substantially everything).
@peter It should be noted that this attack doesn't at all appear random, either. WCK had coordinated this relief effort with the IDF for weeks. The boats they brought in today carried more tonnage than the entire US airdrop effort by a factor of 2-3x.
They're systematically attacking any effort to feed that Palestinians which is more than performative/token in nature.
And they've suceeded, WCK is halting its operations.
The IDF has killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers traveling in a convoy of three vehicles. World Central Kitchen aid workers are clearly identified by their clothing and their vehicles always contain highly visible large logos. This isn't imo a mistake. They were targeted.
I've actually personally witnessed a scam like this 4-5 years ago, minus the ai, with an individual pretending to be someone's grandson. Their basic ruse was that they'd been on vacation in Mexico and had gotten arrested because some friends they were riding with had marijuana and needed bail money wired. Call quality was bad, but understandable. Call came in to the business line of a u-store storage locker company. I played along, which I found quite amusing in retrospect.
@randahl This guy was instrumental in getting the British government onboard with the Zionist movement.
"...it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine."
A hundred years on and that whole preserving the rights of non-Jews thing isn't going so well and it started with him.
@arstechnica I recall earlier in the pandemic there was a man who had gotten vaccinated a ton, for fraud purposes. He'd get people legitimate proof of vaccination cards by filling out the forms using their names and actually getting vaccinated.
Interests:-Castles and British history-Vintage computing-Gadgets-Photography -Horror films -Snorkeling I'm a Covid cautious person doing my best to avoid plague carriers. Splitting my plague era between Maui and the PNW.I've been a one man tech support guru for ages. I mostly do managed solutions / sysadmin type stuff for small businesses and remote tech support for end users, chiefly in the greater Seattle area. I like being exposed to a wide range of technical challenges.