I’ll add UN Watch to the list.

MBFC rates it as “highly credible” despite it publishing laughably bad hit-pieces on UN officials who openly criticize Israel.

I did a debunk on one of their articles that was removed from this very community due to disinformation, but I’ve posted a screenshot of my critique here for anyone who is interested.

See my comment here as a response.

See my comment here as a response.

The Russia/Ukraine conflict is a lot more complex than people in the West generally think.

You won’t hear this often in mainstream media but NATO expansionism and the involvement of neo-nazi, far right paramilitary groups in the Maidan revolution in Ukraine, along with US State Department involvement, were legitimate grievances for Russia. (There’s a great interview with a Ukrainian sociologist here that I think explains things in a fairly even handed way).

Russia was wrong to invade Ukraine, no question, but in the beginning there was a potential diplomatic resolution on the table if the US and NATO were willing to back off Ukraine. Support for joining NATO was always mixed in Ukraine anyway - Before the war, less than half of Ukrainians wanted it.

And who says the war will be endless? That’s another Russian talking-point intending to sow defeatism.

Russia’s resources are vast and they are supported by China. Ukraine is backed by the deep pockets of NATO. Over half a million troops on both sides have been killed (edit: or wounded). A recent UN report said:

Russia’s full-scale armed attack on Ukraine, which is about to enter its third year with no end in sight, continues to cause serious and widespread human rights violations, destroying lives and livelihoods

and stated that over 30,000 civilians have already died. A diplomatic solution three years ago could have possibly prevented all that.

Certain parts of the media/political establishment certainly tried to paint him that way, but really he was only guilty of not being hawkish enough on Russia.

He was always in favor of a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict instead of perpetuating an endless war.

As someone married to a JW and who is friends with several others, I will say this: like any group of people, they can be a mixed bag. Some are more closeted and “in the truth” whereas others are more outgoing and " worldly".

One the things that I actually admire about them (the individuals, mind you, not the Watchtower organization) is that they really seem to try and live by the teachings of the Bible and study it frequently. Much more so than, say, your average evangelical Protestant.

As someone who is mostly agnostic, those who belive that absence of evidence equals evidence of absence belong in psychotherapy.

This position is a straw man. Atheists generally do not argue that God categorically does not exist. Instead, we usually say that we don’t believe in God because there is insufficient evidence. Much like the proverbial invisible unicorn in your backyard - since there is no evidence that it exists, there is no reason for it to affect how we go about our daily lives.

When it comes to whether you’re agnostic or atheist, I think it helps to answer the following question on a scale of 0 - 10: How confident are you that God exists? If you say around 5, then you’re agnostic. If you say around 1 or 2, then you’re an atheist.

Because

• None of the above legally prevent him from running.
• Republican voters will still vote for him en masse.

It’s that simple.

FYI, UN Watch is a right-wing organization that has been described as a “pro-Israeli monitor” and “lobby group” that has a history of attacking anyone in the UN who is openly critical of Israel vis-à-vis Palestine. (Source)

This article should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

Edit: I’ve had the time to read through the full article. What a joke.

First off, it claims:

The investigations division of the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services recently announced that it has opened a case into allegations of financial improprieties by Francesca Albanese

Which sounds serious and official until you click through to the source and see that this “announcement” is literally just a private email response from the UN to the CEO of UN Watch (Hillel Neuer) who sent a report to them detailing Albanese’s alleged malfeasance.

Essentially, the response says “Thank you for your report. We have sent it to the High Commissioner so they can determine if it warrants any action”. What a bombshell announcement! /s

Reading further, we find out that the nefarious “pro-Hamas” group is actually the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, whose dastardly aim is to “advocate for Australian policy to support Palestinian human rights, justice, and equality.” The bastards!

Oh, and whereas the headline claims that Albanese “took funds” from these villainous Aussies, it turns out that the $20,000 figure is the estimated cost of the trip according to, yes you guessed it, Hillel Neuer himself. Albanese states her trip was funded by the UN. Neuer offers no other evidence to the contrary.

The article then cites a laundry list of claims about Albanese being an anti-semite because of her public statements about the legality of Israel’s war on Gaza that do not conform to the official line from the Israeli government.

Hoo boy, what a load of horse manure.

No, they’re not. In the past couple of years new legislation has been passed which incentivizes new builds to be high density, but there’s still a lot of pushback from home owners and cities against building them.

It’s not that simple; A court must rule that the action in question is an “official act”. As the SCOTUS intentionally declined to elaborate further on how this is defined, it will be up for the courts to decide what is and what is not covered by immunity.

Not that this couldn’t become subject to abuse and partisan rulings, but it’s more than just the presidental equivalent of

California has a housing crisis across the board. NIMBYism and city zoning practices are artificially preserving neighborhoods with expensive, single family homes over what is actually needed: multi-family condos and apartments, combined with brand new social housing projects and homeless shelters.

This is a good start, but a lot more needs to be done.

The first thing to understand is that Israel’s parliamentary system of government is quite different from the US’. Instead of two main parties dominating the political landscape, i.e. Republicans vs Democrats, Israel has around a dozen main parties which work together to form coalition governments where more than one party is in power at one time. Under this fragmented landscape, if you have a religious or ethnic minority who all tend to vote for the same party, that can lead to a situation where one group in society may hold sway over others politically even though they are not as as large a population numerically.

And yes, you’re quite right - a lot has changed since 2016, and some Haredi (especially the young) have been increasingly drifting towards the far-right nationalist parties like Likud (Netanyahu’s party) and the Religious Nationalists. However, as this AP article suggests, these recent converts moving away from the traditional Haredi parties are still a minority.

While the majority of Haredim living outside Israel still do not identify as Zionists (as per this recent, post-Oct 7th survey), I admit I don’t have any hard polling data for the current situation in Israel itself. If anyone else does, I would appreciate the info.

The vast majority of Hareidi Jews are Zionist.

According to a recent survey, less than half of Haredi Jews outside of Israel identify as Zionists, post October 7th.

In 2016, the percentage of Israeli Haredim who identified as Zionist was just 33%.

Do you have any recent figures for within Israel itself that confirms a “vast majority”?

I didn’t say they weren’t politically powerful. The two main Haredi (Ultra-orthodox) parties are significant part of Netanyahu’s coalition, and they have always had a disproportionate power compared to the Haredi population because almost all Haredi voters vote for them.

Within the Haredi community there is still a wide range of opinions, of course. However, even within Israel most have not traditionally described themselves as Zionists (only 33% percent, according to a 2016 survey).

Most ultra-orthodox Jews are actually anti-zionists. It’s not uncommon to see them joining pro-palestine peace protests.

Within Israel they are a minority, and their broadly anti-war stance combined with their dependence on the state for financial support (most of the men are unemployed) have made them quite unpopular in the eyes of the general population.

How so? I think it’s quite an accurate summary. The German economy has been stagnating for a while, mainly due to its poorly handled transition towards an economy based on renewable energy. Their reliance on cheap Russian gas was shattered by the onset of the war in Ukraine, and their economic and political influence within the EU has been in steep decline ever since.

Or the EMF generators they carry around with them in their pockets, A.K.A their phones.

From the article:

A 2022 study found that of the 57 justices who have sat on the court over the past century, the six justices with the most pro-business voting records are the six members of today’s 6-3, rightwing super-majority, all appointed by Republican presidents

I’d say a good-sized part of it is simply the American preference for watching beautiful, weathly people doing beautiful, wealthy people things. Hollywood rom-coms and US TV shows in general clearly skew towards upper middle class settings when compared to the equivalents from, say, the UK.

In other words, I reckon US media prefer their fictional characters to be aspirational whereas other cultures prefer theirs to be relatable.