aleph

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[–] [email protected] 96 points 7 months ago (2 children)

“You have your tax dollars being given in grants to things like the Fringe Festival, which is like a sexual festival where they’re doing all this stuff,” DeSantis said during a Thursday press conference, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Hmm, I wonder what kinds of "sexual stuff" he's referring to.

the Tampa Bay Times reports that the governor’s spokespeople did not respond to questions about specific events he found objectionable.

Oh.

Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani (D), who attended this year’s Orlando Fringe festival, told the Times that she saw nothing “sexual” at the festival.

“It does feature drag queens and other forms of artistic expression that DeSantis has wanted to censor despite courts telling him otherwise!” Eskamani said.

So a man dressing in women's clothes is an inherently sexual act, according to these sexually repressed freaks.

[–] [email protected] 92 points 7 months ago (5 children)

I prefer the original version with the Rupert Murdoch allusion.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

The first thing to understand is that Israel's parliamentary system of government is quite different from the US'. Instead of two main parties dominating the political landscape, i.e. Republicans vs Democrats, Israel has around a dozen main parties which work together to form coalition governments where more than one party is in power at one time. Under this fragmented landscape, if you have a religious or ethnic minority who all tend to vote for the same party, that can lead to a situation where one group in society may hold sway over others politically even though they are not as as large a population numerically.

And yes, you're quite right - a lot has changed since 2016, and some Haredi (especially the young) have been increasingly drifting towards the far-right nationalist parties like Likud (Netanyahu's party) and the Religious Nationalists. However, as this AP article suggests, these recent converts moving away from the traditional Haredi parties are still a minority.

While the majority of Haredim living outside Israel still do not identify as Zionists (as per this recent, post-Oct 7th survey), I admit I don't have any hard polling data for the current situation in Israel itself. If anyone else does, I would appreciate the info.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

The vast majority of Hareidi Jews are Zionist.

According to a recent survey, less than half of Haredi Jews outside of Israel identify as Zionists, post October 7th.

In 2016, the percentage of Israeli Haredim who identified as Zionist was just 33%.

Do you have any recent figures for within Israel itself that confirms a "vast majority"?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

I didn't say they weren't politically powerful. The two main Haredi (Ultra-orthodox) parties are significant part of Netanyahu's coalition, and they have always had a disproportionate power compared to the Haredi population because almost all Haredi voters vote for them.

Within the Haredi community there is still a wide range of opinions, of course. However, even within Israel most have not traditionally described themselves as Zionists (only 33% percent, according to a 2016 survey).

[–] [email protected] 66 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (15 children)

Most ultra-orthodox Jews are actually anti-zionists. It's not uncommon to see them joining pro-palestine peace protests.

Within Israel they are a minority, and their broadly anti-war stance combined with their dependence on the state for financial support (most of the men are unemployed) have made them quite unpopular in the eyes of the general population.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

How so? I think it's quite an accurate summary. The German economy has been stagnating for a while, mainly due to its poorly handled transition towards an economy based on renewable energy. Their reliance on cheap Russian gas was shattered by the onset of the war in Ukraine, and their economic and political influence within the EU has been in steep decline ever since.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

This article is a good (albeit long) explanation of what the MSV system is and why it sucks, but it neglects to mention the important fact that, thankfully, most US states have either already banned it from their public school curriculums or are moving away from it to more evidence-based approches:

https://www.lexialearning.com/blog/sound-it-out-the-shifting-landscape-of-literacy-from-three-cueing-to-science-based-reading

[–] [email protected] 44 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Or the EMF generators they carry around with them in their pockets, A.K.A their phones.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago

Yeah, that was the single biggest Biden blunder of the evening, IMO. I was dumbfounded.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Biden has been conspicuously avoiding speaking at unscripted public encounters for quite a while now, though, and reading from an autocue at SotU is a far cry from having to react on the fly and put together coherent arguments in response to moderator questions and Trump's lies during a debate. I have the feeling Biden's staff knew full well that the debate was going to be rough going into it.

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