Well obviously presidential felony convictions aren’t. But election fraud? Sure, republicans have been claiming that to some degree or other for a long time. See for example the false claims that Trump would have won the popular vote if it weren’t for undocumented immigrants voting en masse.

In any case, the specific claim I was making was that calls for civil war on social media are routine. Maybe they’re more serious this time! But maybe look for concrete plans rather than vague threats.

One thing to note is that Republicans have been talking like this for years. Minion Death Cult (tagline “The World Is Ending. Your Uncle’s Facebook Feed Is Responsible. We’re Documenting it.”) have coined “Minion’s Law”, which is that right-wing comments on a news story will have at least one person calling for civil war.

Does this mean we are at zero risk for a second civil war? Of course not. But finding people online calling for civil war isn’t sufficient cause to be worried; there needs to be at least some evidence of mobilization, as there was leading up to January 6th (for instance).

From the Order of 20 March 2024:

4. The State of Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address famine and starvation and the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza, by:

(a) immediately suspending its military operations in Gaza;

(b) lifting its blockade of Gaza;

(c) rescinding all other existing measures and practices that directly or indirectly have the effect of obstructing the access of Palestinians in Gaza to humanitarian assistance and basic services; and

(d) ensuring the provision of adequate and sufficient food, water, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, alongside medical assistance, including medical supplies and support.

Despite media claims, the ICJ already ruled to halt the Gaza genocide:

The State of Israel shall, in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in relation to the Palestinian people as a group protected by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, desist from the commission of any and all acts within the scope of Article II of the Convention, in particular:

(a) killing members of the group;

(b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the group;

(c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and

(d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

(source)

It’s hard to imagine how they could continue the Gaza “fighting” and “desist from … killing members of the group”.

No, it’s obviously soy consumption

This has placed the prime minister in a political vise. If he commits to postwar Palestinian rule in Gaza and begins acting seriously to establish it, he loses the far right. But if he commits to resettling Gaza, he loses the Israeli majority and the international community. And so, as he has often done in the past, Netanyahu has chosen not to choose

Oh, he’s chosen.

Bari Weiss 'bout to start caring about free speech again

Yeah, I sometimes forget that the law isn’t a code to be broken with this One Neat Trick. That goes double when you are going up against power.

The ToS forbids satirical reviews. I’d start a review by reading out this portion of the ToS and then make a list of things I hate, just saying I’m not allowed to talk about this aspect of the game, or this aspect of the game, etc, etc.

$375 million in today’s dollars would cover (adjusted for inflation) the marketing and development of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_video_games_to_develop

Don’t go to https://massgrave.dev/ and follow the instructions there, that would be copyright infringement and would deprive an already insanely wealthy corporation of some funds.

“yet”

Good thing we decided to beef up our pandemic response infrastructure in case this happens, right? Right?

WHAT

So easy you don’t even have to try https://www.thedailybeast.com/drudge-limbaugh-fall-for-twitter-joke-about-postal-worker-destroying-trump-ballots

Lethal injection gets botched badly enough that people notice it 7% of the time, the highest of any execution method. And again, those are the botchings we know about, because the method is designed to hide its failures. We have evidence (which I’ve already cited) that this may happen up to 40% of the time. In contrast, the next highest rate of botchings is gassing with 5%. I stand by my statement (which was hedged). Between how awful the botched deaths might be and the sheer number of them relative to how many are performed, it could well be the most brutal method.

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/botched-executions

If performed correctly, without human error, it should kill inmates quickly and painlessly. Yet each of the four main steps involved — securing IV access and then injecting each of the three drugs — has raised medical concerns. Starting an IV can be very difficult on a person who is obese, nervous or cold or who has a history of IV drug use, any one of which is not an unlikely complication in an inmate about to killed. Sodium pentothal is not packaged in solution, meaning the executioners must mix the powder with water just before killing, a somewhat delicate thing to do. The pancuronium bromide, or paralytic, prevents observers from determining if the inmate is properly anesthetized, since he can’t speak or move. Potassium chloride, which stops the heart, creates a burning sensation in the veins and might cause excruciating pain if the inmate is not properly anesthetized. (These concerns, and others, appear in the 1953 British report.)

https://web.archive.org/web/20170203051825/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/magazine/11injection.t.html

Anaesthesia during lethal injection is essential to minimise suffering and to maintain public acceptance of the practice. Lethal injection is usually done by sequential administration of thiopental, pancuronium, and potassium chloride. Protocol information from Texas and Virginia showed that executioners had no anaesthesia training, drugs were administered remotely with no monitoring for anaesthesia, data were not recorded and no peer-review was done. Toxicology reports from Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina showed that post-mortem concentrations of thiopental in the blood were lower than that required for surgery in 43 of 49 executed inmates (88%); 21 (43%) inmates had concentrations consistent with awareness. Methods of lethal injection anaesthesia are flawed and some inmates might experience awareness and suffering during execution.

https://web.archive.org/web/20130729013249/http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)66377-5/abstract

I mean, it’s all subjective. The electric chair is up there, for sure. I do think I’d rather be gassed. But the thought of being paralyzed, unable to move, while my veins are burning? That’s terrifying. My main question is: why the paralytic? The barbiturates are supposed to put you under, and the potassium is what kills you. The answer is the comfort of the executioners and witnesses.

The method of execution was lethal injection, Karen Pojmann, a spokesperson for the department, said at a news conference, adding it “went smoothly, no problems.”

We don’t actually know that, because lethal injection (needlessly) includes a paralytic. His death could have been slow agony and there would be no way to know. Lethal injection is quite possibly the most brutal method of execution the US has ever employed. If I end up on death row I’ll pray for the firing squad.

But also see:

https://piped.video/watch?v=EAogtqyN22M

You are perpetuating the harmful and false stereotype that mentally ill people are more violent than mentally healthy people. Mentally ill people are more likely to be on the receiving end of violence from mentally healthy people than the other way around.

Bringing a gun into a situation is antithetical to deescalation. The presence of a gun means the stakes have now escalated to life and death. It doesn’t matter how “well trained”, sensible, or humane the person with the gun is; the situation is now escalated and thus much more volatile.