lol PLEASE don’t fall for the “they’re banning TikTok bc the Zionists are controlling the media and don’t want people to know the truth about Palestine!!” shit

My guys it’s literally a national security/international relations tiff between the US and China. The ban is fundamentally flawed—not because they’re oppressing “free speech”— but because the US wants to set a precedent to seize or ban Chinese companies. It’s sinophobia, absolutely, but acting like this is a free speech issue or an example of “Zionist” media control (just say Jews, your antisemitism is so obvious at this point) is laughable. US politicians going after TikTok has been ongoing for far longer than the current crisis in Palestine. The push to ban TikTok has its roots in the Trump administration, so there’s been political momentum for over 4 years now.

Social media companies are not venues for protected free speech! They’re profit-seeking corporations and don’t give a damn about free speech if it gets them money. You’re already censoring your speech on TikTok for fuck’s sake. If I have to see one more post about “Zionists are controlling the media!” from someone that regularly types “unalive” instead of “kill” and has to put a 🐓emoji when they mean “cock” I’m gonna scream.

addendum: this post is taking off so I just want to say that for the record I am not a Zionist but it’s fucked up that some of you assume I am because I called out antisemitism. You don’t get to ignore antisemitism because you have an assumption that any Jew calling out antisemitism on the left is a Zionist. Do better.

And if you want a timeline of the TikTok ban please see this article from Axios:

[Translation]

An American friend asked me yesterday “What is it like in Israel now?”

I contemplated for a moment and then responded 'Imagine 9/11 but with a MAGA administration and that guy with the fur and horns from the capitol attack as cabinet member. There’s an Iraq-style war but it’s not in Iraq, it's in Queens. There is no US constitution and RBG rose from the dead to represent the US in The Hague'.

local woman relieved and embarrassed to report that the task she had been postponing for two months ended up taking a grand total of 4 minutes to complete

Israel has no negotiations in place for hostage exchanges, prompting family of the dead and kidnapped to accuse the government of abandoning them (especially harrowing since many have been harassed and attacked in public by likudniks and their thugs)

European envoys in Israel have met with Netanyahu’s supposed hostage coordinator Gal Hirsch—instead of talking about the hostages, Hirsch started yelling about Oslo to them 🤦

lmao average likud knesset member moment

On a more serious note, and this is just my opinion and I could very well be wrong, our leadership is working under 2 very logical assumptions: a) the hostages are held by Hamas, b) the hostages are kept in Gazas underground city, because Hamas absolutely knew that Israels response would be aerial bombardment, and the hostages are not meant to be used as human shields against that but as a bargaining chip for grander things they want, which imo could be anything from releasing thousands of their own murderers from Israeli jail, to building ports/an airbase in Gaza and other ridiculous demands they could never make before.

From whats currently circulating in Israeli media, Israel tried bargaining with Hamas over the hostages with humanitarian aid, a la quid pro quo - you give the Red Cross access to the hostages, we let humanitarian aid in to the strip. To this Hamas responded with "no, and actually we dont rly have all the hostages, some of them are being held by regular Gazans somewhere lol" which both rightfully infuriated Israel and pretty much sealed the deal on the ground invasion.

There is no diplomatic way to get the hostages back without seriously damaging Israels security image, which in the middle east is basically national suicide. There is no way for a ground invasion to occur without massive bombardment of the northern strip because entering the strip without air support is also suicide both for the IDF and for regular Gazans. Urban warfare is the worst kind of warfare, and the more densely populated your urban area is, the more civilians and soldiers youre going to lose.

Multiple military platoons (like actual soldiers) and experts who deal specifically with hostage situations landed in Israel in the past week, from multiple countries all over the world. Judging by this and by the 2 assumptions I mentioned in the beginning - Im sure there is a plan in place to rescue the hostages and it isnt being communicated to the families for obvious reasons. I understand why the families are furious but this situation is truly complex and cannot be resolved in a "better" way given the actors and the stakes at play.

I just hope that for the hostages’ and their families’ sake they get rescued soon (esp with news of an imminent invasion of Gaza) but i do think Netanyahu and his cabinet are evil and incompetent

Evil or not, if they fuck this up they know that nobody in this country will ever let them set foot in the Knesset again. I think they care more for their careers than the hostages, which is very good in this case because they know were going to eat them if they fail. There is not a single Israeli rn that is willing to accept a reality in which the hostages dont return safely.

imo theyll be rescued during the invasion, I dont see another way for it to happen unfortunately

bloodlust is the best word in the english language. she has everything. sex. violence. assonance. who can compare.

young me especially would have hated hearing this but networking is literally the most important thing you can do to improve your situation like forget economic barriers to education etc just keep making friends with different people and eventually someone will offer you a hand up just because they dig your vibe and that is exactly all that's happening when undeserving people surpass you anyway

When I look at how I survived my 20s, it was always helpful friends putting work my way. And often the helpful friends were people I had only known for weeks.

unpopular opinion maybe but waking up to rain on a quiet weekend is quite literally the most magical thing in the world

love is stored in the fictional couple i’ve gotten overly invested in

US disabled folks make sure you’re getting your meds, chain pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS are striking this week with a possible wide scale strike starting Nov 1st

Reblog this version btw

I made this post last night right before I went to sleep and didn’t have time to gather sources. Here are a few below the cut

The Republican Party suddenly starting to attack Taylor Swift after she gets 100, 000 young people registered to vote is a major red flag about then, tho.

Like, why are you mad at her? What did she do wrong? Voting is good.

Unless you just don’t want young people to vote.

But that would make horrible anti-democracy people who know your ideas are outdated.

Which, of course, you aren’t.

Right?

MARK HOPPUS & TOM DELONGE Blink 182 - World Tour 2023 (Full Updates)

I'm girls

Tis the season, y'all! 👻 🎃 🤠

Reblog if you think public libraries are important and should be maintained.