Talking Politics

[Sintiger]

43,736 Palestinians dead. (of which 16,765 are children)

1,139 Israelis dead.

A "young Zionist" - he called himself that (and 40 years old) - made a point of telling me recently that
"one Israeli life was worth 500 Palestinians".

1,000 Palestinian children have lost 1 or both legs.
2,500 Palestinian children need urgent medicals and aren't allowed to leave.

• More than half of Gaza’s homes (damaged or destroyed)
• 80 percent of commercial facilities
• 87 percent of school buildings
• Healthcare facilities - 17 of 36 hospitals are partially functional
• 68 percent of road networks
• 68 percent of cropland

time to stop - whatever you think

I started reading some of these posts again, from people who I haven’t blocked , and I find myself angry again at the ignorance, lack of human decency and empathy.
I don’t want us to start again what was stopped on here before. There are people on here for whom this is personal, they know people caught up in it. Trying to argue with ignorance is a waste of time.
Even flippancy in posting makes me really annoyed. This disaster is not something to be flippant about.
Everyone of those statistics you quote is about a human being, someone who imo has no greater or lesser value and right to live than you and I do.

 

[MD Jazz]

Yeh, the 'well *smile* em its all Hamas fault' attitude is pretty heartless.

The US is going down the path of having that same type of superior and empathy less attitude to immigrants, women, minorities etc.

 

[TigerMasochist]

So you expect people to sit idle and twiddle their thumbs? I would have thought these people at a minimum would want our government to stop sucking up to the country committing these atrocities.

Maybe them Israelis wouldn't be committing all these massive atrocities if Hamas n Hezbollah hadn't spent 20 years n more kabooming Israel on a daily basis.
Maybe they wouldn't have gone full rogue n torn the *smile* out of Gaza if Hamas hadn't gone on the rampage killing n raping n kidnapping a whole bunch of Israeli people last October. Funny thing is that the Israelis were actually getting some sort of peaceful negotiations n treaties in place with mobs like Qatar n Saudi to go with other earlier arranged peace deals until such time as Iran backed Hamas n then Hezbollah terrorists jumped out from behind the women n kiddies for five minutes n turned everything to *smile*.

Yeah because anyone who denounces genocide automatically supports Hamas and Hezbollah, eh?


Some seem to be more than happy to blame Israel for everything going on. Haven't seen or heard to many people insisting Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran pack up their kabooms and actually accept the right of Israelis to exist. It's always Israel must stop immediately which simply will allow Hamas n Hezbollah the opportunity to reset n reload to start again.



Wong is a traitor, but not in the way you're probably claiming. She should resign after deliberately and blatantly lying about what happened in Amsterdam.

Such a pity because I always held her in such high regard

Wong is just another Pollie n a labor one at that. Simply means that no matter what she thinks or believes she kowtows to the party first second n third. There is no other option in the ALP.

 

[tigertime2]

I started reading some of these posts again, from people who I haven’t blocked , and I find myself angry again at the ignorance, lack of human decency and empathy.
I don’t want us to start again what was stopped on here before. There are people on here for whom this is personal, they know people caught up in it. Trying to argue with ignorance is a waste of time.
Even flippancy in posting makes me really annoyed. This disaster is not something to be flippant about.
Everyone of those statistics you quote is about a human being, someone who imo has no greater or lesser value and right to live than you and I do.

I am not heartless.
I understand the pain and loss. however, where is the outrage at the 100's of thousands killed in Ukraine? Cities and towns completely destroyed by missiles and drones made in Iran!!
Trump will end the wars!! Thats what I support END THE WARS!!

 

[TigerMasochist]

I've protested against the genocide in Gaza.

Do you want me to "smile* off and stand in front of Israeli tanks TM?

Your choice Nico, don't expect me to be standing on the tarmac waving you goodbye though. Maybe you should consider going to Iran n telling the Ayatollah that the Israelis have just as much right to exist as any other mob of people n to stop loading up mobs like Hamas n Hezbollah so they can no longer try to obliterate Israelis while hiding behind the women and children as they do it.

 

[TigerMasochist]

I started reading some of these posts again, from people who I haven’t blocked , and I find myself angry again at the ignorance, lack of human decency and empathy.
I don’t want us to start again what was stopped on here before. There are people on here for whom this is personal, they know people caught up in it. Trying to argue with ignorance is a waste of time.
Even flippancy in posting makes me really annoyed. This disaster is not something to be flippant about.
Everyone of those statistics you quote is about a human being, someone who imo has no greater or lesser value and right to live than you and I do.

Sadly there's rarely been a period of human history where there hasn't been a war happening somewhere, often multiple wars going on at the same time as is happening right now. It's simply what we humans do best n we're getting better n nastier at it every time we start up. War deaths, transport deaths, disease deaths, violence deaths, age deaths. Some ways are nastier n more personally uncomfortable than others, but they've been ongoing since forever n there's not much chance that things are ever going to change.

 

[tigerlove]

Australia plans to ban social media for under 16s. One expert calls it ‘momentous' — CNBC

One expert says Australia is "on the verge of reclaiming childhood after it had been stolen for 15 years."

apple.news

What are the odds of this going through? I hope it does.

Won't stop some of them. As one example, using a VPN I can, for all intents and purposes, be in another country that doesn't have bans. Other mediums will pop up. Overall it may be beneficial but in the end some responsibility lies with the guardians.

 

[Willo]

Won't stop some of them. As one example, using a VPN I can, for all intents and purposes, be in another country that doesn't have bans. Other mediums will pop up. Overall it may be beneficial but in the end some responsibility lies with the guardians.

You’re probably right. But it’s a start and something to keep working at. Can they ever shut down or regulate vpn’s? I doubt it’s possible.
Kids are probably too smart these days, but if it reduces significantly the younger ones at risk, it’s worth it.

 

[tigerlove]

You’re probably right. But it’s a start and something to keep working at. Can they ever shut down or regulate vpn’s? I doubt it’s possible.
Kids are probably too smart these days, but if it reduces significantly the younger ones at risk, it’s worth it.

It would certainly dissuade some but to give an idea:

VPN bans in countries like China and Iran are partially effective but face significant challenges. Despite China's strict internet controls, VPN usage has nearly doubled, as tech-savvy users seek to bypass censorship. China blocks VPN websites extensively and employs tactics like DNS tampering and deep packet inspection to disrupt VPN connections. Similarly, Iran blocks non-approved VPNs and imposes penalties for their use. However, these measures are not foolproof, as many users find ways to access VPNs, indicating that while bans create obstacles, they do not completely prevent VPN.

VPN providers adapt their services to evade government blocks through several strategies:
Obfuscation Techniques: VPNs use obfuscation to disguise their traffic as regular internet traffic, making it harder for deep packet inspection (DPI) to detect and block them.
Port Switching: By changing the ports used for VPN connections, such as using port 443, which is common for HTTPS traffic, VPNs can bypass port-based blocks.
Frequent IP Updates: Providers frequently update server IP addresses to avoid blacklists maintained by governments.
Multi-hop and Shadowsocks: Some VPNs route traffic through multiple servers or use Shadowsocks to further obscure traffic.

 

[snags]

It would certainly dissuade some but to give an idea:

VPN bans in countries like China and Iran are partially effective but face significant challenges. Despite China's strict internet controls, VPN usage has nearly doubled, as tech-savvy users seek to bypass censorship. China blocks VPN websites extensively and employs tactics like DNS tampering and deep packet inspection to disrupt VPN connections. Similarly, Iran blocks non-approved VPNs and imposes penalties for their use. However, these measures are not foolproof, as many users find ways to access VPNs, indicating that while bans create obstacles, they do not completely prevent VPN.

VPN providers adapt their services to evade government blocks through several strategies:
Obfuscation Techniques: VPNs use obfuscation to disguise their traffic as regular internet traffic, making it harder for deep packet inspection (DPI) to detect and block them.
Port Switching: By changing the ports used for VPN connections, such as using port 443, which is common for HTTPS traffic, VPNs can bypass port-based blocks.
Frequent IP Updates: Providers frequently update server IP addresses to avoid blacklists maintained by governments.
Multi-hop and Shadowsocks: Some VPNs route traffic through multiple servers or use Shadowsocks to further obscure traffic.

This VPN control is a situation we have here in the UAE. The national firewalls prefer its traffic without encryption It does disuade the majority. The paid VPN providers like PIA use very advanced techniques to evade. I've not had issues for years with it and the lawful intercept platforms here are very mature. For me the biggest challenge is going back the other way and convincing geoblocked content like foxtel that I'm located in Australia.

 

[DavidSSS]

Your choice Nico, don't expect me to be standing on the tarmac waving you goodbye though. Maybe you should consider going to Iran n telling the Ayatollah that the Israelis have just as much right to exist as any other mob of people n to stop loading up mobs like Hamas n Hezbollah so they can no longer try to obliterate Israelis while hiding behind the women and children as they do it.

Do Palestinians have a right to exist in your eyes?

Do they have a right not to be occupied?

Do they have a right to not have their country taken from them?

DS