Joel D. Parker 🤟

Reportedly he was beaten up and his ribs were broken in September. I guess that's what you're referring to. Crazy. Makes you wonder what he said. (Not to justify the beating, of course, but maybe he pissed someone off).

Wow. I'm not a shrink, but it seems like some of Trump's behavior can only be explained by and extreme narcissistic personality. One day he wants a Nobel Peace Prize the next day he wants to be remembered as the US president who broke every rule in the book. Either way we are always looking at him.

DVOŘÁK Symphonies Nos. 7 - 9 / Dudamel | Deutsche Grammophon The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Music & Artistic Director amplifies the turbulent emotions of each work and plunges deep into their often-dark inner worlds, on Deutsche Grammophon. Listen and buy now.

A fresh performance of these amazing symphonies. Recommended.
www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue...

*Hydropanels, i.e. basically fans and cooling machines that pull water from the air.

I have a side project right now of trying to figure out who's able to help Gaza with interim infrastructure aid, like solar power (or other renewable sources) and hydroplanes, or atmospheric water generators. Until there's a new grid, I think some creative solutions might help. Anyone interested?

Are people still here and not "over there"? I feel like X is horrible, and probably getting worse, not better, but I don't see much here that goes beyond the headlines. So I'm stuck "over there".

One of the founding members of this group of academics is Taner Akcam, a highly respected historian of the Armenian Genocide who has been targeted by Turkish authorities for his research. These people are serious and they are calling for an end to the genocide. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taner_A...

Excellent.

While for those, like yourself, who have been following accurate news on Gaza for months, this is sadly a consequence we knew would eventually come from Israeli policies. But for many Israelis, these pictures are completely shocking. Denial has weakened the credibility of the IDF among Israelis now.

People should be angry that Smotrich and Ben Gvir forced Bibi out of phase two and into this completely wasteful "Chariots of Gideon". As many soldiers have died in this operation as there are hostages left, and it's killing our economy before we even talk about Palestinian deaths in Gaza.

That is actually an interesting list of licensed cloud-seeing operations, one of which is actually supposed to increase the amount of rainfall in central Texas. But, as of yet, we have no evidence that this was a factor. If so, it needs to be studied very seriously for the future.

NB: Some are in fact suggesting that the unusual amount of rainwater could have been caused by cloud seeding projects that are known to exist in Texas. So in addition to human contributions to climate change, we'll have to see if any of these projects contributed. www.tdlr.texas.gov/weather/summ...

It's crazy that Israel hasn't let fuel into Gaza for over 120 days. Some Israeli analysts think the goal is to run down the reserves until Hamas can no longer ventilate their tunnels and will be forced above ground. But it's hitting the hospitals now and water supplies will be hit very soon.

This is a great book if you are new to Syria, and also for people who think they know a lot already. It's very easy to read and full of information I haven't seen anywhere else.

Iran should worry about Iran. They don't have electricity for their schools and malls. How could they even help Lebanon? Lebanon should continue to turn towards the US and Europe for help in rebuilding and disarming all non-state actors.

In June 2024, the IDF explicitly said that it would not target journalists, even if they were affiliated with Hamas, unless they were also combatants (in line with IHL). www.idf.il/en/mini-site...

It came in response to The Guardian reporting otherwise: www.theguardian.com/world/articl...

Help me out BlueSky folks. Is is okay to justify the killing of journalists (and their families as collateral damage)? This weekend at least three journalists were killed along with their spouses and children. Avi knows this. I brought it to his attention. Yet he doubles down on this line:

Top Hamas official says group would agree to truce if independent Palestinian state established along pre-1967 borders A top Hamas political official has told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a five-year truce with Israel and that it will lay down its weapons and convert into a po...

It's worth re-reading the April 25 article on Khalil al-Hayya, one of the last few senior Hamas political figures who still has an impact on the situation. He implied that Hamas could disarm and be part of a Palestinian state (w/right of return of Palestinian refugees).
www.pbs.org/newshour/wor...

Hamas has a range of opinions from hardline to pragmatic, with hardline refusing to end the fighting just like the far-right in Israel. It's possible that the "endless war" groups on both sides will simply exhaust themselves eventually and pragmatic actors can then start dealing with the situation.

As history tells us, white people notoriously always got along with each other and never did anything bad to each other because they were all just so happy to be white together.

If you read that headline with an upbeat lilt in your voice and end the sentence with an exclamation point, you'll start to get how things work now.

A map of Gaza Strip surrounded by trucks labeled "food" with barbed wire around the Strip. Title just says "This is a man-made famine."

If you need to explain Gaza to a 5 year old:

Not to mention that Trump wants oil prices to stay low, whereas KSA won't break even in public expenditures if oil stays at current levels.

Norwegian hotel emails Israeli tourists: We have to boycott you The hotel owner said booking could not be processed pending consultation with his employees whose union has decided to ban Israeli travelers. "As a Jew who

Norway's labor union pushed the national SWF to divest from Israeli companies. A hotel owner claimed that this includes a full boycott of Israeli tourists from any service!
I'd be shocked if Norway's laws allow individual discrimination by nationality, but maybe:
www.israelhayom.com/2025/05/12/n...

The US is making promises about getting aid into Gaza, and it seems that they are moving ahead on that front. The aid is very important, and also getting it restarted takes away that point of leverage from Israel.

Top Israeli reporter Barak Ravid based in DC writes, "The US claims they didn't have direct talks with Hamas to release Edan Alexander."

Top Ha'aretz reporter responds: "Yeah, that's like saying I went to a whore but put on two condoms."

This article in Turkescope by Gülistan Gürbey based in Berlin, provides important context to the situation. She notes that the Turkish government will need to release Ocalan soon so he can formally manage the dissolution of the organization. dayan.org/content/ocal...

Israelis are waking up to this reality.

At the moment, as much as I am 100% against a long-term Israeli occupation, I think reintroducing aid under almost any system would be better than zero aid. But the whole thing is a mess. We may only be in the middle of the Gaza war, as much as I wish it had ended a year ago (or never begun).

Trump is definitely going to ask him how to get a Noble. Also, if Trump can resolve the Gaza situation in a way that prevents a long-term IDF occupation and allows for aid and rehabilitation of Gaza, and gets the remaining hostages back - I would personally nominate him for a Noble Peace Prize.