Holy shit, I’m so sorry to hear that. I’ve been going through a physical rehab of my own the past year and it is so awful. Recovering from such a major surgery as that must be horrible, I can’t imagine.

It seems to be human nature to group together like that. It makes sense from a game theory perspective, too. Perhaps political parties are inevitable

Last year suffered a severe shoulder dislocation that lasted ~2.5hrs, while in the middle of nowhere. It was unimaginably painful and I struggled to believe it would ever be over. The ambulance took so long to arrive.

But the real fear came in the following days, weeks, months. Knowing that it could happen again at any moment without warning, even from the simplest movement with no strain at all. When the severe one happened I wasn’t doing anything unusual, I just reached out to pick something up and pop. My damaged muscles were in such a state that it could pop out with no real cause.

Nowadays I’m doing much better. I’ve had a surgery to fix it, with 90% success rate. But that 10% risk still keeps me up at nightbsometimes.

Experiments in rats have found that once plastic is introduced to their environment, their ability to reproduce declines drdmstically. Genitalia are smaller, slerm rates lower. And the effect compounds and grows generation after generation, getting worse and worse so long as plastic is consumed.

Studies have also shown that human fertility (regarding actual physical ability to reproduce, not the choice of whether to do so) has dropped dramatically genetation on generation since the rise of plastics

https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2023/dec/19/chemicals-affecting-sperm-reproductive-health-infertility

https://youtu.be/KNzlfYJaaCg?feature=shared

And in that situation, the safest bet is to say no. See: the invisible dragon https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/The_Dragon_in_My_Garage

I think you’re missing their point a bit

Don’t give them so much credit. The GOP just see what the populus is riled up about, and promise them that to win votes. Sometimes they will join in generating misinformation, soweing division, pushing controversial narratives, etc but it is always for the sake of winning more votes in the short-term. They don’t think ahead, they are very simple.

You’re talking about Jarusalem and most of what you say is true, but it isn’t true of Gaza. Gaza has a known history going back 4,000 years starting as a Caananite settlement. Yes various different powers have controlled the region, it has been repeatedly fought over. But the geographic distinction has long been there and maintained some degree of cultural uniformity through numerous wars and other mass migrations.

You are talking about a guy who takes economic advice from a “psychic medium” who he believes is in turn talking psychically to his dogs, who he believes are clones of resurrected jesus-dog.

Organic typically has a higher carbon footprint because it requires more land and often even water resources and of course more labour.

Less pesticides, yeah, sure. But those pesticides allow us to grow crops much more efficiently. Everything is a trade-off I suppose, but I am very skeptical that the trade-offs of organic are worthwhile.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/10/22/132497/sorryorganic-farming-is-actually-worse-for-climate-change/