But you raise an interesting point. The way people's pasts are probed when running for office is pretty ugly and it does mean you end up with very privileged, very weird candidates who don't understand their constituents or (worse) have lobby money behind them from day one.

I don't think it's necessarily about them being too high, it's the difference between salacious gosssip and details pertinent to their performance in office. Most of a candidate's past shouldn't be fair game. But a Nazi tattoo is very political, so it's highly relevant to holding office.

Mehdi Hasan has been one of my least favourite public figures for over a decade. But he's right here. The call to prayer is beautiful too. I prefer it over the sound of church bells personally. It only seems to be the Islamophobes who can't seem to hear the natural beauty of it.

This is the most sane view. I don't know the guy, so I wouldn't presume to know his motivations. He seems genuine. But it's not about whether or not we think he's a Nazi today. It's about maintaining high standards for office, which is especially important given the state of things in the US.

Some people don't see any contradiction between those two claims. Certain more conspiratorially-minded anti-Zionists believe the plan is to increase antisemitism against diasporic Jews so they feel unsafe and return to their ancestral homeland.

"If Israel is Ukraine, then Gaza is Donbass: two peoples on the wrong side of the Western empire, trapped behind barbed wire and digital crosshairs. And if Russia is anything in this equation, it may be what Iran is to Gaza, an imperfect ally, vilified for even daring to intervene."

It's quite extraordinary to read. This author is pro-Russia, pro-Iran, anti-Ukraine and anti-Israel. Just take a breath. You can be against Israel's actions without going completely mental. It is possible to take balanced view on these things.

Probably my favourite protest photo of all-time.

I'd take, "Hi Jew" over, "You Zionazi genocidal piece of shit" any day.

One crazy myth I’ve seen recently is that DNA tests are illegal in Israel. That seems to be widely believed, despite it being instantly disprovable.

It’s slightly complicated, but if you look up DHCP, firewalls and smart TVs, there are solutions to this. They sound more difficult than they are. With a little ChatGPT help, you can make your smart TV dumb in a couple of hours

It cuts both ways. Some also go to the other extreme, defining Zionism as white supremacy (which is just an insane slur) or genocide (a more understandable slur atm). But I do agree with your overall point in terms of a state being explicitly Jewish by fiat rather than historical development.

This meme may tell an egoically satisfying story to those of us without devotional religious commitments, but I’d caution that it’s a reductive account of reality. Many religious people are highly committed to making the world a better place, even while hoping for religious salvation.

Literally all political debates online. #tresksky #borg #voyager

I'm into this. It feels like a cross between The Sims, No Man's Sky and Star Trek Away Team (and/or Stars! by Empire Interactive, an early 4x space game). You should make it so that, if you get assimilated, you have to play on, but just as a drone doing drone things.

I can't tell you how happy this made me.

I can't disagree with you. People do recognise the genuine concerns of the other when they sit down and talk without a gallery to play to. It's a shame most of the discussion is online where it's much easier to demonise people with different views. In reality, most people are actually decent.

Pragmatism is often missing from progressive politics. But there's a limit, right? Maybe he got the tattoo in error? I don't know. But if a Republican candidate had a Totenkopf on their chest, we wouldn't accept an excuse, and Nazism is the worst issue on which one can apply a double standard.

one side must suck it up and deal with their feelings? All I’ve seen so far are solutions that, at their heart, are couched in the assumption that the other side is comprised only of bad actors. We know deep down that assumption is the product of ignorance.

your perspective on that question. Women, particularly those who’ve experienced sexual violence, have concerns about trans-inclusive policies. At the same time, trans women exist and need to access public services with dignity. Do you see a compassionate solution? One that doesn’t say…

I think the question of binaries is a proxy for the substance people are trying to discuss. Which is what how we organise society in a way that respects everyone’s needs. Whether the world accepts or rejects a binary view, that question remains the issue at-hand. I’d be interested to hear…

Thank for being so even-handed. Anyone in his position should have their words and associations challenged, but not through Islamophobic euphemism. Most of us who recall the 2008 US Election will remember the same playbook being used against Obama. New Yorkers didn’t fall for it then either.