Yoni Balkind

Thread of my guiding principles, values and beliefs:

@Aella_Girl What’s a flap? People here saying it a fly but then you still have to pull underwear down. What’s going on?

Men: when you pee do you use the flap or do you pull underwear down?

@Aella_Girl Who is more racist: he who hates the other race, but keeps this private, conforms to all norms of equality, does no actual harm? Or he who loves all equally, but betrays his heart, actively perpetuates racist laws and conflict, because it benefits him for his group to dominate?

@Aella_Girl I think "racism" is too a broad a word to be useful. There's lot's of subtypes and we should refer to them specifically as needed. One can be racist in deed, word or mind. Interestingly the worst racist at heart might never say or do a racist thing /

I have trouble believing people are *actually* racist, in like, the righteously overfitting that goes far past the nuance of reality type of racist. I keep instinctively thinking it's a joke, like people are larping to be edgy, cause it seems impossible ppl *really* believe it

@SaveAmericaNew I'm not a Mamdani supporter by any means but at least be accurate in your criticism. You've cherry picked his words and assembled them to make it sound like how you want it to sound. But thats how all you polemicists play the game. Polarise. Exaggerate. Lie.

🚨BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani voters are developing buyer’s remorse after he bombed an interview when asked, “How will you fund your free buses?” “How are you getting the $700M to make the buses free if the governor is not for raising taxes?” MAMDANI: Raising the corporate tax. “But she said ‘NO…’” MAMDANI: “The most important fact is that we FUND it, not the question of ‘how we do it!’” Thoughts.....??

@AIC100 @Nicole_Barlow1 @EndTribalism Exactly

@Nicole_Barlow1 @EndTribalism Yes. Jump out of the way, which is the instinctive thing to do.

Two unpopular opinions on the Minneapolis shooting: 1. The woman who died was at fault. She was acting erratically, inserted herself into a dangerous situation, and behaved in a way that put both herself and others at serious risk. 2. The ICE agent acted on instinct and fired too quickly. He should not have escalated to lethal force in that moment. We need full body cam footage to understand exactly what he perceived, but based on the video available, it does not appear his life was in immediate danger as the vehicle was moving away. The left is already calling this blatant murder. The right is already claiming the woman was trying to kill the agent. Neither narrative is accurate. The woman who died acted dangerously and recklessly, and the ICE agent drew and fired his weapon too fast. If both sides don’t pause the political posturing and focus on de-escalation, Minneapolis is headed toward another night of chaos just like George Floyd. ICE should temporarily pull back from the community, and leaders on the left need to clearly and forcefully call for calm and nonviolence. There’s almost no chance both of those things happen, which means this situation will likely get ugly and Minneapolis could burn again. I know this take won’t make me popular with either side but it’s just my initial thoughts on situation.

@myCDHands @jodavaho @esrtweet Agreed. but also, even if it’s reasonable for the cop to think she’s trying to ram him, as I see it, shooting her didn’t help. He had basically already dodged her (I think). So it doesn’t seem like necessary force to me because the best response was probably just to dodge car.

@jodavaho @esrtweet Her intent is not very relevant in a legal sense. What do her actions indicate to a reasonable person standing where that cop was. Knowing whatever he knew in that moment because he couldn't read her mind.

The weirdest part about this clip is Renee Good smiling at Ross just before she tries to ram him with her car. Brrr. If she weren't dead I think we'd be in insanity-defense territory here. Complete disconnect from reality. Once again the bodycam dynamites the bad-cop narrative higher than up. You can see him get hit and hear him register the surprise. And it's very clear that she aimed at him; this was not an accident while she was trying to do something else. No jury having seen this is ever going to convict him.

@vlok_andre My boundary on this point relates to intention. If Trump really did this for the greater good, out of moral obligation to end a dictatorship and help Venezuela, then I’d consider it possibly justifiable. There’s a bunch of nuance that I can’t fit here, but that’s the high level

For those of you comfortable with the US attack on Venezuela, are you similarly comfortable if the US does that to Greenland? If you are, do you have any boundaries at which point you would start disagreeing with such invasions, and if so, what are they? If you are not, what is your argument to distinguish between Venezuela and Greenland?

@RyanCoetzee I understood your point. Similarly those saying he’s doing it just for the Oil run into the same problem don’t they? The lack of regime change undermines both his supposed good motives and bad motives.

@YoniBalkind What I was getting at is that the people defending his action on the basis that it would bring freedom to V can no longer use that justification. Of course they just shift to saying, oh well, he was a drug dealer, so it’s fine.

Perhaps the South African supporters of Trump’s action in Venezuela would like to revise their justification since there has, to date, been no regime change. What we do know is that Trump has undermined the democratically elected government of Ukraine in its effort to hold off an attack from a country that is not, in any meaningful sense, a democracy. So, please explain your position more coherently, please. We are waiting.

@RyanCoetzee *lack of regime change

@RyanCoetzee I don't support Trump's action. But surely the lack of regime undermines his supporters and his opponents equally. It basically means that the intervention was not as good as his supporters would say, nor as bad as his opponents would say?

In an ideal world, how should the US have intervened (if at all) in Venezuela. This isn’t a trap or a loaded question. I’m genuinely exploring this question with an open mind.

The Maduro kidnapping really challenges everyone to think honestly about how the world should work. It’s easy to say, “he is a monster”. It’s also easy to say, “international law.” The hard part is to work out what to say when both are valid.

@Mishi_2210 25

No Cheating 99.9% will fail

@TheCinesthetic You left out the most important criteria (for me) - writing / dialogue

What’s the name of this movie? • 10/10 Plot • 10/10 Cinematography • 10/10 Cast • 10/10 Acting • 10/10 Soundtrack • 10/10 Direction

@nickhedley @TheKiffness How does that song have no reference or implied connection to Gaza other than the YouTube title? this looks like someone took a generic song and pretended it’s Gaza related..

@TheKiffness That’s so stupid. People aren’t protesting against Jewish people, they’re protesting against genocide and apartheid. After Israel’s 2012 bombardment of Gaza, Johnny Clegg said he was “appalled” at Israel’s actions and he wrote this song: youtu.be/pfk6IOPqEfw?si…

@MightiJamie Can’t imagine there were many good Roots Reggae albums made later than this?

What’s your favourite track on this classic album?

@MightiJamie You're asserting this grand and deliberate design to keep people poor, so its on you to prove it or at least argue it better. Because if it's not true then its highly irresponsible and disempowering and a divisive message. Use your platform responsibly.

@YoniBalkind Who owns the energy companies that are being built in Africa?

The game plan. Part 1. Keep African nations in the chains of debt. Part 2. force them to build new power stations to keep exporting to Europe. Part 3. Keep the ownership of those new power stations under European control. Distracting them with gambling and alcohol.

Whoops, wrong poster

My kids don’t usually enjoy old movies but loved The Gods Must Be Crazy. Such a uniquely sweet, classic South African film, and also a historical artifact capturing a no longer existent way of bushman life.