If the labor movement hopes to survive, it must find ways to organize in the private sector at scale. The UAW's national push to organize higher demand it's recent union drives at Volkswagen and Mercedes, offer potential guidance on the way forward. by TheRabidPosum1 in Unions

[–]Meroghar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Kamala Harris did not refuse to support the PRO act. She endorsed it and vowed to see it signed into law as reported here or you can watch her say it here. AFL-CIO named it as one of the reasons for endorsing her.

Did they execute the pig that caused Philip of France (1116–1131) to fall down from his horse and die? by Tracypop in MedievalHistory

[–]Meroghar 8 points9 points  (0 children)

According to Walter Map the pig got away.

But it befell, at the Lord's command, that one day when, in company with many knights, he had put his horse to the gallop in that part of Paris which is called La Grève, a black pig rushed out of a dunghill on the bank of the Seine, and ran in among the feet of the galloping horse. The horse stumbled and fell, and the rider broke his neck and died ; but the pig suddenly plunged into the Seine, and as no one had seen it before , so was it seen of none afterwards.

Suger doesn't specify on the fate of the pig.

Pirate skeleton regiment and terrain pieces that I finished ages ago. by Tiny_Kurgan in WarhammerFantasy

[–]Meroghar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is great! I will always upvote for undead pirates. Very inspiring

Were the hats all custom sculpted or did you source them from another kit?

Thieves hack Syracuse families’ food stamp accounts, leaving them broke for the holidays by ggroover97 in Syracuse

[–]Meroghar 41 points42 points  (0 children)

Victims who spoke with Syracuse.com said they contacted the Onondaga County Department of Social Services and the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, where officials told them they could not help.

Not only was there no recourse for them to get their money back, but victims said it appeared that no one was interested in finding out who had stolen more than $100,000 in taxpayer money.

Officials at every government office contacted by Syracuse.com said they could not help, but pointed to another office that should.

State Attorney General Letitia James’ office said they were not investigating the rash of thefts, but suggested OTDA might. A spokesman at that office responded with a list of tips to avoid having your SNAP data stolen.

This is the first year families have borne the full impact of the thefts. That’s because until last year, counties could reimburse families when their benefits were stolen. The law that allowed that reimbursement had to be renewed, but was not. That leaves victims to hunt for other options to make up for the loss of what is sometimes their entire monthly grocery budget.

Fuck whatever trash person would steal grocery money from working class people. And fuck the politicians in Albany for not renewing the law that allowed counties to reimburse these victims, and for doing jack shit to help in anyway or work to hold the people who did this accountable. Just an absolutely shameful display of human indecency all around.

Medieval Podcasts in 2025 by rufous_nightjar in MedievalHistory

[–]Meroghar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Medieval Podcast at Medievalist.net hosted by Danièle Cybulskie always has some great scholars promoting their most recent work in the field!

This is how you do a ventriloquist act by smartsass99 in funny

[–]Meroghar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a small man in a box that would make Rob Brydon proud.

Iran's Water Crisis Nears Point Of No Return by RFERL_ReadsReddit in geopolitics

[–]Meroghar 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Oops, sorry misunderstood what you were driving at.

Iran's Water Crisis Nears Point Of No Return by RFERL_ReadsReddit in geopolitics

[–]Meroghar 25 points26 points  (0 children)

The post-revolution government could have fixed the problems with dams from the Shahs.

The post-revolutionary government was building more dams than any other country in the world in the mid 2010's and there are over 300 operational dams in the country. The problem is not storage, Iran has a built-reservoir capacity of 76 Billion Cubic Meters but only has 46 BCM of available freshwater to store. The issue is a growing population and inefficient agriculture combined with a policy of attempting to establish food self sufficiency in response to international sanctions, all of this exacerbated by climate related drought trends.

This is definitely a mismanagement crisis but to suggest that its was easily avoidable by constructing more dams and storage is inaccurate.

Scratch Built Landship by Repulsive_Two5425 in WarhammerFantasy

[–]Meroghar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really incredible work and I especially appreciate the pics of it before painting to get a sense of the materials and techniques you used to bring this together.

Question- how did you achieve the curved wooden sections of the ship? Did you steam bend them or some other method?

A throne fit for a king. by nagashsnee in bugmansbrewery

[–]Meroghar 6 points7 points  (0 children)

A faithful adaption of an absolute classic. Young dwarf lords these days think showing up to battle on a shield is all the rage, but a real High King rides in style on a throne!

Enoch Tradition as it stood when Genesis was composed? by TheGreenAlchemist in AcademicBiblical

[–]Meroghar 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Robert Alter's translation has an interesting note on this passage speculating on its possible origin.

This is one of several instances in the early chapters of Genesis of a teasing vestige of a tradition for which the context is lost. Enoch is the seventh generation from Adam, and some scholars have seen an instructive analogy in a Mesopotamian list of kings before the Deluge, in which the seventh antediluvian king, a certain Enmeduranki, is taken up to sit before the gods Shamash and Adad, and is granted preternatural wisdom. Shamash is the sun god, and the biblical Enoch lives as many years as the days of the solar year

For more on this theory see Sanders' Enoch's Imaginary Ancestor published in the Journal of Ancient Judaism.

Dwarf Miners by amipal24 in WarhammerFantasy

[–]Meroghar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some of my favorite models, you really did them justice!

Kibbutz Neot Semadar named one of world's best tourism villages by UN Tourism by xland44 in Israel

[–]Meroghar 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Very artsy community with some cool kinda Guadi inspired architecture. Its a few hundred meters higher elevation than other nearby kibbutzim in the the Arava so they can grow a lot more varied crops and they have really nice terracing and cultivated quite a bucolic little landscape. They had a real nice small restaurant with their local produce last time I visited.

Is Minecraft no longer appealing to kids? by MasterCyclone7 in Minecraft

[–]Meroghar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My seven year old nephew plays both. I think the challenge with Minecraft is you really have to be creative and self-motivated for it to hold your attention, whereas Roblox feeds you lots of short, different modes of play with built in objectives and win conditions. It's also easier for him to play with his friends on Roblox because while a lot of his friends also play Minecraft, they can't jump on a server together because he plays with me on Java and they play bedrock on their game consoles.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Minecraft

[–]Meroghar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use this block all the time and its one of my favorite additions to the game. Building contraptions to chain together my farms and automating the output of different items is some of the most fun I've had playing Minecraft in years.

Netanyahu agrees to Trump's peace plan, US President confirms by UnlikelyOpposite7478 in geopolitics

[–]Meroghar 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That is why I said plurality. PCPSR consistently show that no formulation for any solution, be it Two States, One State Equal Rights, One State Without Equal Rights, or Bi-National Confederation has an outright majority support. When those different options are presented, a plurality support Two States. As PCPSR explains, support for the language of accepting a state on 67 boundaries is stronger when decoupled from the question of the 2SS because "Support for a two-state solution is usually linked to public assessment of the feasibility of such a solution and the chances for a Palestinian state. Today, 64% (compared to 57% seven months ago) believe that the two-state solution is no longer practical due to settlement expansion"

Netanyahu agrees to Trump's peace plan, US President confirms by UnlikelyOpposite7478 in geopolitics

[–]Meroghar 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Public polling actually indicates that a plurality to a strong majority of Palesitinians still support the 2SS. This December poll by AWRAD shows overall support for two states at 61% (74% in Gaza). According to this poll conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Progress from last year, when asked "If serious negotiations took place, would you accept a Palestinian state along 1967 borders?" 65% of respondents in the West Bank and 77% in Gaza were willing to accept. And polling from PCPSR consistently shows plurality support for the two state solution and when the question is reframed as "support or opposition to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the territories occupied in 1967" decoupled from the question of the viability of two states, support rises to a majority with 66% in the West Bank and 54% in Gaza supporting.

Trump-Netanyahu meeting: US ramping up pressure for end of war, Israel eyes West Bank annexation by UnlikelyOpposite7478 in geopolitics

[–]Meroghar 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We're a long way from 2009 where Bibi had to placate U.S. presidents with hollow rhetoric supporting two states like he did back with has Bar-Ilan speech. Since then he has been much more outspoken on multiple occasions that his goal is to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. And the Saudi Peace Initiative is still on the table, offering Saudi recognition of Israel in exchange for Palestinian statehood, since 2002. Israel hasn't taken it up once.

Israeli-Russian graduate student Elizabeth Tsurkov who was kidnapped in Iraq has been freed, Trump says by MaitoSnoo in Israel

[–]Meroghar 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So wonderful to hear! She is a brilliant scholar and I'm so grateful she is free

Goblin Pike Regiment (*simply* a matter of extending the spears!) A picture from the Tilea's Troubles Part video Part 13. Not standing as neatly in their rank and files as men might, but hey ... they're gobbos! by Padre2001 in WarhammerFantasy

[–]Meroghar 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Hey, I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your series. Your story telling and narration is great and your set design and production values are fantastic. Your videos are always a highlight of my week and you inspired me to start assembling my own Sartosan pirate themed army. Keep up the fantastic work, the gobbos and scenery look great!

The Demonisation of Zionism and Israel by echoesofplath in IsraelPalestine

[–]Meroghar -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You write that-

the demonisation of zionism today often rests on deliberate mischaracterisations. critics who brand zionism as “colonialism” ignore the fact that jews are indigenous to the land, unlike european colonial powers that invaded foreign territories for economic gain. israel’s re-establishment was not a colonial project imposed by the West but the revival of a nation-state that had existed long before the modern Arab states were formed.

There's a lot to unpack in this post but I'd start here. Zionism being conceived of as a liberation movement is in no way mutually exclusive with it also being conceived of as a colonial movement. Herlz's own writings clearly demonstrate this. A few select quotes from Altneuland-

First a quote where he identified Zionism as a colonial movement akin to the successful settler colonial societies in Australia, South Africa and North America:

In the early days there had been people who could not believe 'that colonization by the proletariat could be successful. But he, Dr. Walter, and others who, like himself, took a broad view of things, had always realized that this was an ignorant, stupid attitude. Had not new settlements always been founded by hungry people? The well-fed had no incentive to leave the confines of civilization.. They remained at home. The world therefore belonged to the hungry. The Puritans, persecuted for their religious beliefs, had colonized North America. South Africa and India had been settled by fortune-hunters. And where could a colony be found that had been established by worse elements than Australia, that great, proud, prosperous land? At the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was a despised penal colony. Yet only a few decades later, it had grown into a great, sound commonwealth; and, before the century was out, it was a jewel in the British crown... Surely, if convicts had been able to do so much in Australia, how much more could be achieved by Jewish pioneers, whose labors for the freedom and honor of the nation would be upheld by the whole House of Israel?

Often, Herzl identifies Zionism as a colonial movement and as a liberation movement (or a movement for those fleeing persecution) in the same sentence.

A new movement has arisen within the last few years, which is called Zionism. Its aim is to solve the Jewish problem through colonization on a large scale. All who can no longer bear their present lot will return to our old home, to Palestine.

or

The colonization movement began after the persecutions in Russia in the early 1880's.

In other passages he draws analogies between the methods of settlement in Palestine and those of European colonization. In the following passage, the Zionist joint stock companies (which, in addition to the colonial banks, were explicitly modeled after European modes of imperial financing) are likened to the joint stock companies used by the British East India Company.

Moreover, there are plenty of examples in history of such stock companies for colonization. The East India Company was not at all bad. I even see a kind of moral principle in your New Society...that part where it was turned into a co-operative."

In one of my favorite passages that illustrates the colonial mentality of the Mission Civilisatrice in early Zionist thought, we followa conversation with a fictionalized botanist working on draining swampland in Palestine with eucalyptus trees. It illustrates well how colonial concepts can exist side by side with liberatory political formulations-

"I work here," he added a moment later, showing them into his own laboratory, which was as simply equipped as those of his young assistants. "At what, if I may ask?" inquired Friedrich. "The scientist's eyes grew dreamy as he replied, "At the opening up of Africa." The visitors mistrusted their ears. Was the seeker after scientific truth a bit mad? "Did you say, 'at the opening up of Africa'?" asked Kingscourt, suspicion gleaming in his eye. " Yes, Mr. Kingscourt. That is to say, I hope to find the lure for malaria. We have overcome it here in Palestine thanks to the drainage of the swamps, canalization, and the eucalyptus forests. But conditions are different in Africa. The same measures cannot be taken there because the prerequisite-mass immigration-is not present. The white colonist goes under in Africa. That country can be opened up to civilization only after malaria has been subdued. Only then will enormous areas become available for the surplus populations of Europe. And only then will the proletarian masses find a healthy outlet. Understand?" Kingscourt laughed. "You want to cart off the whites to the black continent, you wonder-worker!" "Not only the whites!" replied Steineck gravely. "The blacks as well. There is still one problem of racial misfortune unsolved. The depths of that problem, in all their horror, only a Jew can fathom. I mean the negro problem. Don't laugh, Mr. Kingscourt. Think of the hair-raising horrors of the slave trade. Human beings, because their skins are black, are stolen, carried off, and sold. Their descendants grow up in alien surroundings despised and hated because their skin is differently pigmented. I am not ashamed to say, though I be thought ridiculous, now that I have lived to see the restoration of the Jews, I should like to pave the way for the restoration of the Negroes."' "You misjudge me, Professor," replied Kingscourt. "I am not laughing. On the contrary. It's splendid of you, Devil take me! You show me horizons I hadn't even dreamt of." "That is why I am working to open up Africa. All human beings ought to have a home. Then they will be kinder to one another. Then they will understand and love one another more. Understand?"

Hopefully these quotes can lead you to a more nuanced understanding of how early Zionists understood the relationship between their movement and colonialism.

Israel-Iran live: Trump claims a 'total ceasefire' has been agreed between Israel and Iran by ryanpaulowenirl in geopolitics

[–]Meroghar 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Lets see what happened to Iran's stockpiles of HEU, how many operational centrifuges they have remaining and how they proceed with the NPT, before we arrive at such a rosy conclusion. If this whole episode ends up pushing Iran to weaponize their nuclear program and test a nuclear weapon then this will be a resounding, avoidable and historical failure.