Reblogged takashi0
Reblogged
"It's just STUFF!" they often scream, as if someone with said stuff does not have to trade actual hours of their very finite life in order to get said "stuff", so if you steal someone's "stuff" you are literally stealing their life away.
I don't know about you, but I would consider that a direct attack on my person.
We all know where it goes from there.
Reblogged beardedmrbean
holy shit prev was not joking about Doctors Without Borders
"Listen, there are massive problems with Doctors Without Borders hiring actual terrorists in an effort to pander to anti-Zionist western leftists..." [pause] "b-b-b-b-but I'm not a filthy Israel defender! I promise!"
actual comedy behavior. I'm laughing because otherwise I'd cry
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Argentina's poverty rate fell sharply in the second half of 2024, according to official data released this week, marking a major milestone for President Javier Milei's sweeping economic reforms.
According to the country's official statistics agency, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC), the poverty rate fell to 38.1 percent between July 2024 and December 2024—down nearly 15 percentage points from the first half of the year. Household poverty also declined by 13.9 percentage points, hitting 28.6 percent. And extreme poverty was cut by more than half, falling from 18.1 percent to 8.2 percent.
It's a major turnaround from the beginning of Milei's presidency. When he took office in December 2023, he inherited a poverty rate of 41.7 percent, which quickly surged to 53 percent as his administration launched a "shock therapy" program to end Argentina's economic misery.
One of the biggest drivers behind the poverty decline is the sharp drop in inflation. Annual inflation, which reached 276.2 percent a year ago—one of the highest in the world—dropped to 66.9 percent last month. Monthly inflation has also dropped, from 25.5 percent in December to just 2.4 percent in March.
"These figures reflect the failure of past policies, which plunged millions of Argentines into precarious conditions while promoting the idea of helping the poor, even as poverty continued to increase," Milei's office said in a statement following the release of the INDEC report. "The current administration has shown that the path of economic freedom and fiscal responsibility is the way to reduce poverty in the long term."
In other words, Milei's bet on free market reforms is starting to pay off.
It's worth remembering the situation he walked into. "Milei inherited a country suffering from more than 200% inflation in 2023, 40% poverty, a fiscal and quasi-fiscal deficit of 15% of GDP, a huge and growing public debt, a bankrupt central bank, and a shrinking economy," writes Ian Vásquez of the Cato Institute.
In response, Milei promised a radical shift in Argentina's economic model. His government slashed government spending, eliminated price controls, devalued the peso, cut subsidies, suspended public works, and laid off thousands of government workers. The changes weren't popular, but they were necessary. And now, the numbers are catching up.
The economy is growing again. Gross domestic product grew in the last two quarters. The gap between the black-market dollar and the official rate has narrowed. Rents have fallen and the housing supply has increased since rent control laws were scrapped. Meanwhile, investor interest in Argentina is beginning to return, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is in talks with Milei's government over a new program. The IMF projects a 5 percent growth for Argentina in 2025.
Still, challenges remain. Despite the improvement, over 11 million Argentines are still living in poverty, with 2.5 million facing extreme poverty. And more than half of all children ages 14 and under in Argentina are poor.
Milei has consistently said that his adjustment plan would have a "negative impact on the level of activity, employment, real wages, and the number of poor and indigent people," before it started to work. Things are finally starting to get better and at the right time.
With midterm elections coming in October, Milei's party, La Libertad Avanza, has an opportunity to expand its influence. Right now, the party holds only a small share of congressional seats. But with half of the lower house and a third of the Senate up for grabs, the growing economic momentum could give Milei the support he needs to deepen and accelerate his reforms.
Reblogged takashi0
Reblogged
The Switch 2 Donkey Kong game has a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $69.99.
The Launch Title for the Switch 2, Mario Kart World, has a MSRP of $79.99.
MAYBE they'll drop the price if retailers say 'no' but keep your expectations tempered.
It hasn't even been a day, and people have already fucked it up.
No, Switch 2 games are NOT universally 90 bucks. The Mario Kart game is 80 in USD. 90 is the euro markup.
Please do not make me defend or clarify this.
P.S. Piracy is not a boycott. Your spiteful gloating is still free marketing. Just don't BUY or USE the product. That is literally the point of capitalism.
Reblogged theliterarywolf
friends asked me to draw a bee with a binky here you guys can have it too
bee wants their binky
don't worry she's ok
22 year old Gazan anti-Hamas protestor Oday Nasser Al Rabay was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by Hamas last night.
There is no hope for peace and mutual prosperity while voices of dissent in Gaza end up murdered brutality.
Anyway, I wish a very fuck you to all the American college students complaining about how Khalil was “disappeared” for “peacefully protesting” and staying predictably silent as their favorite terrorist group disappears and murders a 22 year old protestor in Gaza.
this is a very important story, please read it:
Members of a prominent Gazan family in Deir al-Balah on Tuesday executed a man who they said was a Hamas operative responsible for the deadly shooting of one of their relatives earlier in the day.
The gunmen were members of the Abu Samra clan of central Gaza. They said they killed the Hamas member after he shot their relative Abdulrahman Sha’aban Abu Samra while he was waiting in line for flour in Deir al-Balah.
Members of the family said they managed to track down the Hamas operative responsible and brought him in front of the entrance of Deir al-Balah where several relatives opened fire.
Footage of the execution was shared widely on Palestinian social media and appeared to highlight growing fury with Hamas among Gaza civilians.
Gaza has dozens of powerful families like the Abu Samra family, who function as well-organized clans. Many do not have formal links to Hamas. They derive their power from controlling businesses and command the loyalty of hundreds or thousands of relatives. Each family has a leader, known as a mukhtar, or chieftain.
Some of the larger clans in Gaza are believed to be well-armed, and have a long history of clashing over rival interests, as well as with Hamas.
Last spring, a conflict arose between Hamas and the Doghmush clan, a powerful family in Gaza City, due to disputes over aid distribution and reports that the family was being contacted by Israel for a possible role in post-war government, an idea that Jerusalem floated at the time.
Hamas reportedly killed the leader of the clan, with reports on Arab media saying that he was “executed” in a family compound along with two others.
A wave of protests against Hamas has swept the Strip for the past week, with thousands participating cumulatively, revealing cracks in the iron grip that the terror group has over the Strip.
Participants have come under threat from Hamas and other Gaza terror groups, who have warned that they will be treated as collaborators with Israel.
A Hamas official commented on the wave of protests last week after a few days of silence from the group but insisted that the protests were directed against Israel and the ongoing war rather than against the terror group ruling the Strip.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told the Qatari channel Al-Araby that “demonstrations are expected from people facing extermination, against war and destruction.”
Despite multiple media reports, images, and videos from protests, as well as media interviews with Gazans to the contrary, Naim claimed the rallies are being misrepresented as criticizing Hamas’s de facto regime.
The terror group has violently cracked down on previous protests. However, this time, no outright intervention was apparent, which some saw as a sign of its waning power in the wake of Israel’s military campaign.
However, over the weekend, Hamas operatives kidnapped, tortured and executed a 22-year-old Palestinian man who participated in last week’s protests against the terror group, according to his family.
Oday Nasser Al Rabay’s body was left in front of his family’s home, and on Saturday, many dozens were filmed participating in his funeral procession, shouting, “Hamas out!”
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Remove society, you're still working to get your basic needs. You don't have a right to have people take care of you out of obligation. That is slavery.
At least in the US, you can live off the grid. No electric bills, no grocery bills, no water bills, no rent, etc. You cab have all of your basic needs met without getting an official job.
But you have to do all of those things yourself. Filter your own water, grow your own food, buikd and fix your own house, make your own generator. You can live the rest of your life without money or working for another person.
Try that.
"I can't believe people think that freedom is not living off of other people and being as self-sufficient as possible. Clearly only rich people could have this opinion. Also, that's is the only 'reason' it's wrong."
I think this guy's idea of "freedom" is "someone else is compelled to do what I want, for my benefit".
Billionaires' net worth is mostly ownership of things that produce economic activity (provide goods/services).
If that's "hoarding", a food cart owner is also "hoarding" their business.
When Elon bought Twitter, he didn't dip a net into his Scrooge McDuck money bin. He sold Tesla stock.
Plenty of non-rich people oppose more government power over "the rich" and handouts because they think the government is full of corrupt/ineffectual/both rich people who'll just screw over the common man.
Not their rich pals.
This is their explicit reason, and twitter OP decided to invent a guy to be mad at instead.
Reblogged otakuvampyre
video where a Gazan dissident explains he has heard he’s been issued a red classification and is “on the kill list” here:
he knows this is not an idle threat:
I kid you not that they found extensive Hamas records monitoring at least 10,000 Gazans. This in a territory that (1) needed to rely on the UN for basic services and (2) failed to provide bomb shelters for civilians, even using an extra hospital storage space that the Israelis had built which could also double as a bomb shelter. And yet somehow none of the civilians were down there when the hospital was attacked. Gaza deserves better than Hamas and the fact that so much of the Western movement has been influenced by them is a shame. Normal governments don't hide their military bases under sensitive civilian targets. Normal governments report civilian casualties separately. They've been using their own people as human shields for years and they finally did something bad enough that it gave Netanyahu the "justification" to shoot through the human shield. "Free Palestine" should include freeing them from Hamas.
Reblogged takashi0
a one minute and thirty second compliation of antis clamining to be normal while wishing the most psychopathic and deranged things to happen to proshippers when like half of the community is made up of minors
(crossposted from Reddit)
Reblogged
"It shouldn't matter if the government is efficient! It's supposed to waste money!" - a socialist
Yeah, that tracks.
Also, I love how "fascism" means reducing the size and power of the government, according to someone who, um, wants to increase it.
>Mass poverty/underemployment,
The two biggest examples of that in the last 20 years were COVID lockdowns and the subprime crisis. Both caused by the government.
>and the worst wealth disparity since pre-revolution France
And what about the coins that don't go into the community? What about kickbacks and corruption and wastage?
Why assume the money going into the community is all being spent well?
>Investing in systems to make sure no one (in power) is dipping their hands in these community coffers is worth it.
"We need to give the gov't more money and power, to prevent corruption!"
.
>The only thing conservatives are good at, when it comes to the economy, is convincing people that their way works best, even if it's patently false.
>Like with most other stuff, their greatest talent is lying.
"Pay no attention to the many liberals (like socialistexan started the thread to talk about) libertarians, ancaps, and even progressives who are also against government waste. Heck, even some lefists.
Unless this is the type of leftist who says even liberals are actually conservative, so they can feel smug about being the "real" Left..
Reblogged
Do you mean "when the hostages are returned, according to the ceasefire Israel agreed to", or do you mean "fuck the agreement we've already made with its schedule for returning the hostages, we're going to try starving you into submission"?
Nice to see that we're still ignoring how Hamas took hundreds of civilians hostage and still treating them as a legitimate actor, instead of a terrorist group, in spite of this. As though they deserve to continue existing after this war ends.
I'm not ignoring that fact. I'm saying Israel should pay the ransom for those hostages.
So it's all on Israel for not doing what the hostage takers want, and not the hostage takers for taking hostages?
Given that "what the hostage takers want" is for aid to be released into Gaza, which Israel had already agreed to as part of the ceasefire and hostage exchange, I do feel very justified in condemning Israel for refusing to allow such aid.
Aid that Hamas would steal for themselves. Why are you talking as if they care about the populace they use as human shields and have spent the past two decades oppressing?
Because the alternative is cartoonish villainy. "Muahaha, we live comfortably in Qatar, while the people we claim to support get massacred by Israel, and then we steal the aid they're supposed to get. We are very fortunate that nobody has yet decided to replace us as the alleged protectors of Gaza, and the people of Gaza are still brainwashed to believe we stand for them enough to join our militias." Ridiculous.
(Also, I'm beginning to think Israel gets more out of the "human shields" stuff than Hamas does. It means Hamas is to blame for putting innocent civilians in harm's way, rather than Israel for shooting them.)
Muahaha, we live comfortably in Qatar, while the people we claim to support get massacred by Israel
Congratulations, you have accurately described the mindset of both Hamas and every dictator ever. They ARE evil, and this is hardly "cartoonish". It'd be weirder for autocrats to not have offshore accounts and properties.
We are very fortunate that nobody has yet decided to replace us as the alleged protectors of Gaza
Oh, you mean that thing Israel's been fighting this war to do?
the people of Gaza are still brainwashed to believe we stand for them enough to join our militias
Funny thing about 2 decades of dictatorship-it lets you propagandize to kids and then have them be old enough to hold a gun
I'm beginning to think Israel gets more out of the "human shields" stuff than Hamas does. It means Hamas is to blame for putting innocent civilians in harm's way, rather than Israel for shooting them.)
Do...do you not understand how terrorists work? They do not value human life. Period. And do you really see Hamasniks out there doing anything other than blame Israel for Hamas's decision to stick rocket launch sites and the like in civilian areas?
Ridiculous.
What about what you said as a supposed pastiche of these genocidal terrorists is ridiculous? What about this group which was founded on "the Jews want to rule the world, we must destroy Israel" and is backed by the Islamic Hellstate of Iran is not all those things you just said? Hell, I'll do you one better-what do you think the motivations of these genocidal terrorists who deliberately provoked this war by massacring civilians and taking hundreds of hostages including a baby and a Holocaust survivor are if not "we want to kill Jews and destroy Israel"?
Tl;dr-Do you or do you not understand that all terrorists organizations have, as their baseline, the morality you just wrote off as "cartoonish", because that is the morality necessary to intentionally slaughter civilians with said slaughter being the goal?
> We are very fortunate that nobody has yet decided to replace us as the alleged protectors of Gaza Oh, you mean that thing Israel's been fighting this war to do?
It's not doing a very good job of protecting Gaza. I would argue that Israel's current actions are in fact the main thing from which Gaza needs to be protected.
Funny thing about 2 decades of dictatorship-it lets you propagandize to kids and then have them be old enough to hold a gun
Again, given what Israel has done to Gaza, Hamas doesn't need a whole lot of propaganda to get people to take up arms.
Do…do you not understand how terrorists work? They do not value human life. Period. And do you really see Hamasniks out there doing anything other than blame Israel for Hamas's decision to stick rocket launch sites and the like in civilian areas?
Yes, thank you for illustrating my point about the utility of claiming "human shields". Israel is not responsible for putting rocket launch sites in civilian areas, but it is very much responsible for the strikes it makes against those civilian areas, and the casualties from those strikes.
What about what you said as a supposed pastiche of these genocidal terrorists is ridiculous?
I'm not talking about morality, just actions and reactions. You're saying that the people of Gaza, including the people working in/for Hamas, haven't recognized that Hamas leadership is not on their side? That Iran is propping up Hamas, and is OK with their funds going towards Hamas leadership in Qatar, rather than towards liberating Palestine or fucking with Israel? That's the stuff of Saturday morning cartoons, not real people driven by material concerns.
Also- "Islamic Hellstate of Iran"? I guess that's my cue to start talking about the support Isnotreal receives from the United $nakes of AmeriKKKa.
Again, given what Israel has done to Gaza, Hamas doesn't need a whole lot of propaganda to get people to take up arms.
This does not change the fact that they control the government in Gaza and thus have no opposition to spreading their propaganda.
Israel is not responsible for putting rocket launch sites in civilian areas, but it is very much responsible for the strikes it makes against those civilian areas, and the casualties from those strikes.
So it is 100% Israel's fault and 0% Hamas's fault, despite Hamas putting rocket launch sites in civilian areas specifically for the purpose of creating the "do we let them attack us with impunity or do we cause civilian casualties to protect ourselves" dilemma which they can then use for propaganda purposes whenever Israel chooses the latter option? Hamas has no blame here, it's all on Israel?
You're saying that the people of Gaza, including the people working in/for Hamas, haven't recognized that Hamas leadership is not on their side?
Many of them know, but because things like this risk getting shot at by Hamas's internal police, you don't see them as often as in Israel, a country where protest is a protected right.
That Iran is propping up Hamas, and is OK with their funds going towards Hamas leadership in Qatar, rather than towards liberating Palestine or fucking with Israel?
Yes. Are you seriously denying that Iran backs Hamas when they took credit for masterminding October 7th?
That's the stuff of Saturday morning cartoons, not real people driven by material concerns. Also- "Islamic Hellstate of Iran"? I guess that's my cue to start talking about the support Isnotreal receives from the United $nakes of AmeriKKKa.
...you have no idea how unaware you are. Iran's government is one of the most evil regimes to exist in the present day. They punish blasphemy and homosexuality with death. They arrest women for not wearing hijabs, and often beat them in prison afterwards, sometimes to the point of death. They have killed literally hundreds of protestors since unrest broke out over the death of a woman who was arrested for not wearing a hijab and subsequently beaten to death in prison. They are a hardcore theocracy that enforces the strictest Sharia law upon the population, forcing all non-Shi'a to follow it despite their beliefs, and heavily persecuting all such religious minorities. They are directly supporting theocratic terrorist groups in any country they can find, chiefly Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and yes, Hamas in Gaza. They were the main regional backer of Assad's chemical-weapons-using regime in Syria. Let me repeat that first point again just to hammer it home-in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the laws formally on the books state that blasphemy and homosexuality can be punished by DEATH. "Hellstate" is, if anything, underselling it. I can count the number of countries that would be worse to live in and that are not also active warzones on one hand, and could probably afford to chop off a finger or two.
Have you just...never heard anything about Iran? Never done any googling about them? Does the term "Axis of Resistance" mean nothing to you? I'm genuinely amazed that someone is weighing in on the war in Gaza despite seemingly knowing jack shit about the primary backer of one of the two sides and its primary goal in life of making Israel stop existing by any means necessary.
Btw, at least one person (that I have heard about anyway) was tortured and killed for participating in that protest.
But sure, @darthbob88 Hamas is totally the protectors of Gaza. They totally care about the people of Gaza, are wanted by the people of Gaza as their rulers (that's why elections haven't been allowed since they took power), and it's totally Israel who are the bad guys cuz hostage-takers who tried to return the corpse of an unknown woman in the place of Shiri Bibas, one that did not match the DNA of either her NOR any other female hostage, aren't having their demands met.
Oh, they also threatened to kill more hostages when they sent over the corpses of Shiri's children if Israel started the war again. Something I'm sure you'll defend, cuz apparently killing children is fine for you if it's Hamas.
Reblogged siryouarebeingmocked
freedom of speech is one thing, but the protestors have assaulted people, taken over buildings, held people hostage, and prevented Jewish classmates from attending their classes. that's where the illegal part comes in.
Illegal vs legal. Just because people butthurt over something doesn't mean the law changes to suit their fragile sensibilities.
it says right there "the right of the people to peaceably assemble". these have not been peaceful protests.
Yeah, if he specified they only target illegal protests, then it isnt contradictory to the the right to protest.
Otherwise eco terrorists or those annoying anti-gas protestors that destroy art would be protected.
Seems perfectly fine.