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…and why do kids these days say ooh-wooh?
…and why do kids these days say ooh-wooh?
It reminds me of this more recent fashion trend:
buying bottled water
perfectly good pond in background
It’s easy to act self-righteous when that has no consequences, but in practice most people on this planet live in countries (including democratic countries) that probably would actually kill the children in an analogous scenario.
If you present me with a trolley problem in which the only way to destroy Hamas also kills a million children, I won’t know what the right answer is. I suppose it would depend on what would happen to Israel if Hamas wasn’t destroyed.
However, the moral calculus for nations is not the same as it is for individuals. The standard established the last time the Western world fought a war it took seriously does seem to be “as many as it takes” and I suspect that this would still be the standard if such a war happened again. (All those nuclear missiles we have ready aren’t precise weapons…) In that context, demanding that Israel should show restraint that other countries haven’t and wouldn’t seems like hypocrisy.
If you trust the casualty numbers that the UN Is using, then they imply approximately 3.7 civilians killed for every combatant (with the assumptions that children make up half the population and that children are never combatants). I don’t trust those numbers but I admit that if I did, I would think they didn’t look good for Israel. I suppose we’ll have a better idea of what the truth is years from now when historians reach a consensus, but until then I’m going to reluctantly trust Biden’s judgement because the US government probably has secret information unavailable to the public. (Biden is biased by his need to be re-elected, but I don’t get reports from the CIA so that’s the best I can do.)
As for justification: Israel should make reasonable efforts to minimize civilian casualties while accomplishing its legitimate military objectives, but Israel should not sacrifice its ability to accomplish those objectives in order to protect civilians. In other words, Hamas doesn’t get to hold Palestinian civilians as hostages against Israel. If they try, then they are to blame for the resulting civilian casualties. The alternative is simply unworkable in practice, because the ability of Hamas to put Palestinian civilians at risk is almost total.
over 2/3 being civilians by their own count
People often bring this up without noting that such a ratio would not be unusual in urban warfare against a well-prepared enemy even when the attacking army is doing what it reasonably can to reduce civilian casualties. Compare it to Mariupol, an example of what happens of the attacking army is unconcerned about civilian casualties: 25/26 of Ukrainians killed were civilians according to Ukrainian estimates. (8/9 were civilians if we use the Ukrainian numbers for how many of their soldiers were killed but the more conservative Human Rights Watch numbers for civilian deaths.)
They’re on the windowsill. Just open the window and help yourself…
Does that doll have Spock’s head?
Is this unusual? I thought wild-caught fish often (usually?) had parasitic worms in it, and that they were generally not dangerous to humans, at least as long as the fish was cooked. There’s a video I saw, which I don’t suggest looking up, in which a chef explains that he knows the fish is fresh if the worms are still moving.
The summoning circle is broken! You’re free!
Places with traditions of mummification have dry climates in which bodies may mummify naturally, so it’s not something the people just came up with out of nowhere.
calls himself a predator
van isn’t windowless
I can’t even.
If Tourette’s involves a compulsion to say socially inappropriate things, what happens if those things don’t turn out to be socially inappropriate? Does the compulsion switch to something else? Does it fade?
I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.
Given the context of a certain other person accused of financial crimes… Average real-estate over-valuation fan vs. average tax-evasion enjoyer.
I’m pretty sure Putin also thinks that Ukraine had nothing to do with it.
It’s show-accurate, for those wondering. At one point, Pinkie Pie makes a bunch of magical clones of herself, but they’re really annoying so her friend Twilight Sparkle pops them like balloons. It’s OK though, the original Pinkie Pie survives. (Probably.)
I don’t know about Oregon, but I see how people ride their e-bikes here in NYC and it makes me suspect that most e-bike/car collisions are the e-bike’s fault.
Dibs on being the palm tree.