Posts by serge@babka.social
(DIR) Post #Acrnft86CHs1N5c7xQ by serge@babka.social
2023-12-16T11:45:12Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@BarneyDellar > a crushing blockadeNational borders exist in all independent nations.Israel has supplied free utilities to Gaza for a very long time while Egypt has, until recently, offered no help to the Gazans, yet you feel it's Israel's sole responsibility to be undemocratically "reformed" and put its citizenry under risk.Why do you feel the Jewish state should be forced to do something no other nation on earth is forced to do?
(DIR) Post #AcrysRZJ4yJx9VWts0 by serge@babka.social
2023-12-16T12:08:08Z
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@BarneyDellar I don't know what "innocent" and "a paragon of moral virtue" mean in the context of saying a country should or should not exist. Are those the demands you have of a democratic nation's existence?What other nations do you place under this absolute moral purity test?
(DIR) Post #AcrysT4XUKtjof9MBs by serge@babka.social
2023-12-16T12:13:24Z
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@BarneyDellar Will you answer the question?
(DIR) Post #AcrysUUoC9VOEQRqm8 by serge@babka.social
2023-12-16T12:17:03Z
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@BarneyDellar I'm not sealioning you at all. I'm asking you a single straightforward question.You made an assertion, I brought up that your assertion is wrong, and since then you've moved your goalpoast several times, and made strawman arguments.I'll be more simple about it...This has nothing to do whatsoever with what you think of innocent people, or innocent Arabs specifically. If it did, you'd be demanding the destruction of China and of the UK and be marching against the 500,000 people killed in SyriaYour selective outrage points to this being about hating Jews.
(DIR) Post #AcujQDVGrbgvaFbW40 by serge@babka.social
2023-12-17T20:39:24Z
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Antisemitism news out of Canada, bad and good.The good news is that Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau has made clear that while he calls for a ceasefire, he's also calling for the return of hostages and Hamas to have no part in governance of Gaza going forward.This puts Canada's position in line with the US, UK, EU, and several Arab nations, which is excellent news.On the other hand, there was a terrorist plot that was luckily stopped in Ottawa where a minor planned to use an explosive to blow up a Jewish institution.Because it's a minor, the police and RCMP have not release the minor's name, or the institution he was planning on blowing up.#antisemitism #Canada #Ottawa #Trudeau
(DIR) Post #AcujQEG43d7bvNUt04 by serge@babka.social
2023-12-17T20:46:09Z
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And while we're at it, I need to reiterate that the Local government leaders in BC open letter:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-Oay4VQ-mJFmPHZiLD1UnMp9VrJGyrTzUW7piEeinC8/editIs bad in that it does not call for Hamas's removal, and it does not make any assertion of what a breach of a ceasefire should result in, as we've seen Hamas violate a ceasefire in the last 3 weeks.
(DIR) Post #AcujQG5VFrrVbCZToe by serge@babka.social
2023-12-17T21:54:32Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@rjohnston The people of Gaza haven't had an election since 2007 since Hamas forcibly took over.
(DIR) Post #AdUPcIRFcdCk4ku7eK by serge@babka.social
2024-01-04T02:51:02Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
One of the things I miss about living on the Upper West Side is shopping at Zabars, where I could get some of the most amazing olives, cheese, coffee, and of course some of the most amazing smoked fish.While not explicitly kosher, Zabars is a Jewish institution in New York.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3p81V6IuWk#Zabars #Jewish #NYC #SmokedFish
(DIR) Post #AdUPcKZTh0yQgqlika by serge@babka.social
2024-01-04T02:55:43Z
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This video is no joke btw, some coffee photos I took in the past from Zabars.#Coffee #Zabars
(DIR) Post #AdUPcMKf94JM9Tquw4 by serge@babka.social
2024-01-04T03:07:30Z
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Also, olives and just a tiny part of the cheese department.#Zabars #Olives #Cheese
(DIR) Post #AdUQFbm5fGtfL6OfyK by serge@babka.social
2024-01-04T03:13:37Z
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@m Zabars has my heart.And yes, some of it is a little pricier than you'd find elsewhere, but you know so much of it is either made in house or made special for them, and you know you're supporting this one special local institution.Zabars isn't even especially fancy (unlike Eli Zabars, on the East Side)... it's just good... I miss it a lot.
(DIR) Post #AhLozc4t9QqTFVg9SK by serge@babka.social
2024-04-21T04:24:22Z
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This idea of "Jews interpret everything as antisemitic" is about as real as voter fraud in the US. It basically doesn't happen, but it's used to justify absolutely awful people and awful policies.This narrative has a name, it's called "Weaponized Antisemitism" and it is indeed hateful and antisemitic as it says that Jews lie and manipulate to gain sympathy and wield power. It also says Jews can't be trusted on their own hate speech.#antisemitism
(DIR) Post #Ai5YRstU8eNWEuyyi8 by serge@babka.social
2024-05-20T01:26:04Z
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I'm seeing a very odd narrative by US Democrats when it comes to Biden.They're telling each other "Yes, Biden is pro-Genocide, but Trump would be worse." and then wondering why they're losing numbers.Instead, they could look at the data and bring a reality-first approach.There's a serious humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but there's no genocide.That would be both intellectually honest and it would isolate the fringe elements, as well as disarm the Republicans who are "pro-Israel".But they're rather capitulate to the extremists and lose their support anyway.
(DIR) Post #AiK4X7TjG3fHfPul3Q by serge@babka.social
2024-05-27T05:12:56Z
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The Fediverse is weird, and by weird here, I mean in some ways kinda bad.I write a lot of negative stuff about antisemitism, and I do it for a reason- because I feel that many Jews don't feel they can speak up about this stuff.They're going to be attacked online, or face further social isolation, so I make myself a lightening rod and take one for the team.Not everyone agrees with me, and that's cool too. No one has to agree with me just because they're Jewish. I'm speaking for me, not for all Jews, and not even for Babka Social.But it turns people off, because it's a lot of negativity. They'd rather I post about other stuff, and maybe not even Jewish stuff, which, to be honest, would be kinda nice.But when I do, I don't get nearly the same response. People aren't that interested in a video about a hotel that doesn't exist anymore, or my thoughts on my past career, or my tummy troubles- shocking I know!1/2
(DIR) Post #AiK4X9Vvgqc5yoxXlI by serge@babka.social
2024-05-27T05:16:00Z
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But that's a trap in itself...Positive reinforcement is a powerful motivator, on both a conscious and unconscious level.Your brain wants more of the feel-good-juice it gets with external affirmations.But that leads to really homogeneous, and negative postings.This is a serious, and I'd argue a core problem.Gamification leads to changes in behavior that lead to outcomes people don't really like in the long term- whodda thunk it.But let's think about how to undo it.2/2
(DIR) Post #AiL65wnxEG31oJVPiy by serge@babka.social
2024-05-28T04:18:17Z
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Game Masters, do you give your NPCs full stats?#ttrpg
(DIR) Post #Aigqx5km3MlEkNiT9E by serge@babka.social
2024-05-28T17:53:07Z
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When I created Babka Social, I did so with the intent that it would be a place for Twitter and Facebook users to go.While I think new users on the instance is great and I encourage and welcome folks, I find it hard to celebrate that people are coming here because they feel unwelcome due to antisemitism or antisemitic admins on other instances.That's a Fediverse problem.
(DIR) Post #Ak4cD93JEVXbTsyiNU by serge@babka.social
2024-07-19T01:46:21Z
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@kjr @raf The tl;dr is that Babka Social has multiple instances running at once and they don't always sync up. They all use the same cache, but the cache mechanism doesn't seem to catch this.This is what I think is happening.Sorry, it's been a long long day/week.
(DIR) Post #ArythlMyy8Gy3mtdtg by serge@babka.social
2025-03-12T14:30:46Z
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@kjr Can you show me where the EU is doing this?I only see them implementing tariffs on "products typically made in red states", which is similar but not the same.
(DIR) Post #Aryu07yZeqWRNvEjU8 by serge@babka.social
2025-03-12T14:34:07Z
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@kjr I think that difference is larger than it might feel from the outside.Tariffs by sector vs exclusion by state of origin.Two boxes of cereal, one banned and the other not.