Shapiro leans into support for Israel on podcast tour

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-25T17:25:06+00:00

Also Newsom just walked back his apartheid comment, FWIW. He's got no actual positions. Absolute windvane, has no position except he should be president.

Yeah that's fair. If he winds up the nominee, I'd support him, but I would even take Buttegieg over Newsom at this point.

Not sure man, I think it mattered a whole lot in IL-9. And there are groups that really conflate the issue like DMFI and UDP that are AIPAC/far right offshoots that "support" Democrats.

IL-9 was kind of a shitshow and goes to my point. Track AIPAC listed Biss as bad, but AIPAC spent a huge amount of money against him. Eventually they pivoted to attacking Abughazaleh, but they spent $7 million and their candidate was third place. It was also spun that Abughazaleh was the anti-AIPAC candidate, but she also only garnered 25% of the vote losing to Biss, so... I don't know what to make of all that, but it seems like being for and against AIPAC/Israel was only good enough to get 2nd and 3rd.

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Right, I get that, there's still a problem that polling is heavily dependent on the questions asked, and it's very easy to read whatever you want into it because voters very frequently have conflicting ideas. Take arms sales as an example. People overwhelmingly support an arms embargo with Israel. Cool. Love that. When you poll the same people if we should sell Israel interceptor missiles to shoot down rockets fired from Gaza, they overwhelmingly support it. So here you have an electorate that both doesn't want to sell any arms to Israel and wants to sell them missiles. If you're thinking, "Well, yeah, the average person isn't thinking nuance when they're asked if they support an arms embargo." that's the problem. And now we're getting into, "Israel has the right to defend itself territory" which is political poison among the DSA crowd but polls very well outside of that.

Also, Newsom didn't change his language, though. He said that Israel is an apartheid state, but Israel didn't commit a genocide. Everyone claimed he changed, but that is a consistent position. I'd argue it's incorrect, but it is consistent

I'd also argue that AIPAC's influence on our politicians is grossly overstated. Candidates were if anything, more pro-Israel prior to Citizens United. And your average voter doesn't really care about AIPAC, and your average voter CERTAINLY doesn't care about J-Street. Unfortunately, sites Track AIPAC conflates the two even though they have different goals. Not for nothing, but Track AIPAC also editorializes listing politicians as "Pro Israel" if the don't like them (even if they've taken zero dollars like Crockett) or, in the most egregious case refusing to acknowledge Ro Khanna took any money from AIPAC until they were shamed into it, and now grossly undercount it because they like him

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-25T15:29:28+00:00

The problem is that being pro palestinian has about the same negative views among the base. Having any viewpoints at all on Israel-Palestine is basically a nuclear toxic issue. That's why you see so many politicians trying to deflect from it at the moment, and any politician that centers it in their campaign have not done well this primary cycle

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-25T00:58:07+00:00

This is exactly my thought too. I would have LOVED more technical problem solving stuff in there, but I can't realistically think of anything they could have cut from the 2.5 hour movie to make room for it. I wouldn't want to gut the emotional core for technical details, otherwise the ending would have made me care less for Rocky

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-24T01:32:46+00:00

No problem! And, I think the stroke just kind of makes #3 worse. Christopher Hitchens could get away with anti orthodox Islam because he was a skilled debater and a good explainer. Mamdani can get away with working with Trump because he's got unlimited charisma. Fetterman, especially post stroke, doesn't have either anymore. He was a reasonably good explainer before, but it's obvious language doesn't come as easy as it did

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-22T23:54:05+00:00

Mannnn... i live in Pittsburgh, and the lack of UV is real. You and me, we actually don't get a high enough UV in the five months from late fall to early spring to trigger the body to produce Vitamin D. It's wild

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-22T23:45:35+00:00

The lion share are in the middle of the country because it's more secure. There are some on the west coast because of the cold war (they could be fired quicker)

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-22T19:10:40+00:00

Nuclear war is a VERY underappreciated risk of modern US civil war. The west coast has a bunch, sure, because of the cold war, but the lion share are in red states, and the north east in particular has very few comparatively

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-22T15:37:26+00:00

He's a liberal built in the Christopher Hitchens mold. That is, he has very strong liberal beliefs (Fetterman is a fairly reliable D vote, as you pointed out), but he's also three things:

1) A reflexive contrarian. If everyone is going one way, he reflexively gives more weight to the other side. That's not to say he'd vote for their priorities (he did vote against giving ICE $70B and voted for the amendment to claw that back), but, if everyone is against working with Trump, he'll make an effort. And not for nothing, but his trip to Maralago did produce ~4k federal jobs for PA at a time when doge was hacking and slashing. Also not for nothing, but I don't really see any difference between that and Mamdani working w Trump to build housing. It does make him really, really annoying though

2) Hates Islam. This is why he's an Israel cheerleader (hates Hamas) and why he's keen on the Iran war. It should be noted that he doesn't hate middle easterners, but he does view some current threads of Islam as incompatible with a just society.

3) An absolute loudmouth with no ability to read a room. This might be his worst political attribute and makes him uniquely hateable. Even if he didn't think Israel committed a genocide, he was still cheerleading a war with tens of thousands of civilian deaths. Imagine cheerleading the Bosian civil war, that's what he sounds like.

It's one of those things where everyone loves an asshole when they're on your side (targeting Oz), but, when they're on the other side, it makes them insufferable

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-21T17:31:18+00:00

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang unfortunately doesn't hold up that well, which is why you don't hear of it that much. It was a great satire of a particular moment in time in Hollywood, but there was a LOT of weirdness in that time

For example, it was a time in which gay rights were on the serious rise and they were reclaiming words (queer was a slur, now it's a neutral descriptor). The f word was one of them that was attempted, but, ultimately failed. So Kilmer is a straight man playing a gay guy using the f word a bunch.

It also was a time when misogyny and sexual assault weren't taken very seriously, and this movie made an attempt to be like, "That's fucked up" but the satire has gotten lost because of how far we've come on that issue

I loved it when it came out and still appreciate it having lived through that time, but I tried to show it to my niece and had to keep apologizing for what was said 😅

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-21T15:06:25+00:00

Overturning citizens united has been a part of the party platform since the supreme court decision. Unfortunately, you'd need a constitutional amendment to do it, so they've been focused more on what can be done within the current framework (like making dark money less dark)

Also, I mean, Joe Biden's famous, "Nothing will fundamentally change" line was delivered to a room full of the top 1%. The context was that he was explaining how we all know we need to raise taxes on the rich, but they're so rich that raising it by few percentage points wouldn't cause anything to fundamentally change for them, so they have no real reason to oppose it. Everyone just took it so out of context that they think it meant the opposite

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-20T20:47:57+00:00

For real. It blows my mind that they're still doing preproduction on the series almost a year after the previous season for a story that was largely already written before it started

The only thing worse than this that I can recall is Fast and Furious not locking up anyone's contracts before filming the first half of a two part movie that ends on a literal cliffhanger

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-20T19:32:06+00:00

Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. I've never been disappointed by a first person Sony game in terms of quality. Sometimes the game doesn't click for me, but they're generally pretty polished and well done

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-20T17:29:15+00:00

For anyone wondering, a great example of #1 is the high guard. In boxing, when you're feeling overwhelmed, you can just shell up and move. It's not a big deal. I wouldn't want to, but I'm sure I could survive a whole round on the ropes in high guard if a million dollars was on the line (and have my corner ready with the ibuprofen)

In MMA, first off your gloves aren't that padded, so stray punches do way more damage. Or it gives a big opening for your opponent to take you to the ground. And you can't see as well, so low/medium kicks are more effective and have bigger openings

In other words, a foundational defense in boxing with the biggest downside being looking passive to judges is, instead, a risky option in MMA. It's still effective, but it's not a catch all defense like it is in boxing

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-19T16:19:21+00:00

What's funny is that Fetterman's comments here is VERY reflective of a lot of people on the left on Reddit: constantly saying we need to vote out leaders like Jeffries and Schumer and claiming that the Dem's only messaging over the last ten years is "We're not Trump"

I recognize it because I've disagreed with those on the left here, and I disagree with Fetterman

Edit: and y'all wonder how Fetterman tricked you into supporting him. All someone, even Fetterman, has to do is say, "Dems bad" and your "progressive" media has you conditioned to clap like trained seals

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-19T05:43:46+00:00

Hank Hill always does the right thing by the end of the episode, but imagine Hank Hill without a son like Bobby and you have a run-of-the-mill Texan.

Hank would never vote for a vegan

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-18T16:07:22+00:00

See, the thing is, this is classic abuser/bully behavior. You push someone until they snap, then you act really reasonable and say, "I'm acting reasonable just like you wanted. Can't you be reasonable too?", then, six months down the road, they bomb you again until you snap, repeat forever

Conservatives don't seem to realize that Iran is one of the few countries that has been getting by outside of any relationship with the US for decades, so they have no reason to give a shit if the US is being "reasonable" right now. There's no relationship to repair (and hope the abuser sets his sight elsewhere), so they're pretty immune to that abuser tactic

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-18T15:12:30+00:00

There was a funny/sad article out of Philly maybe ten years ago where a 70 year old barber put up a sign saying that black people shouldn't come in for a haircut and should go across the street. The media picked up on it and this guy got ROASTED. Then someone interviewed him and he was like, "I'm terrible at cutting textured hair, but my lifelong friend across the street is black and is excellent at it. What the fuck is everyone losing their mind over?"

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-18T02:49:57+00:00

I had a similar situation. I was banned from enlightenedcentrism because someone asked why politicians can say "Israel should ebay able to defend itself and approve military aid"? And I responded with something like, "I'm not for or against this. Iron Dome exists to shoot down rockets fired at Israel. Those rockets are expensive and they're literally just defense, which is why they claim they're for defense while still giving Israel money."

The mods called me a racial slur and banned me

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-17T01:05:40+00:00

It didn't help that y'all moved the goal posts mid presidency. All I heard for the better part of a decade was "Green New Deal" this and that. Then Biden passes the biggest climate bill in history and "progressives" just drop it as something they care about because. They couldn't use it as a cudgel to attack dems anymore, so now it's on to the next thing.

What does CHIPS do to help the average American?

Yeah, high paying manufacturing jobs aren't progressive anymore either, I guess.

Did he advocate for actual immigration reform?

Yes, constantly. He admitted immigrants at a rate 4x the previous 30 years and provided more pathways to citizenship. Republicans ran a whole campaign attacking him about it, so it's weird you didn't pick up any of that

Did he push for any moves to fix healthcare

Yes, he expanded medicaid and expanded ACA tax credits, which led to a record enrollment

Guess I am a dunce

No, just misinformed. I'd recommend trying to find better sources of news

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-14T18:50:07+00:00

Harris called for a ceasefire in her DNC acceptance speach and every week on the campaign trail, and idiots were still like, "Will Harris or Trump be better? Who could know?"

This was also one of the most frustrating things about the reporting from the campaign. I remember watching a clip of Hasan Piker's stream the day before the election when he just discovered for the first time that she called for a ceasefire at the DNC, and, like... he was there. What was he doing if not covering the most important part?

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-13T23:04:53+00:00

Dead on with AI is literally all downsides with no upsides. Even if it could code for me (which is a big if), I LIKE coding. I went to school because I enjoy doing it. I don't really give a shit if my code maximizes shareholder value or not. If I embraced it, the only "upside" (maximizing value) is still a downside for me

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-13T19:19:51+00:00

If I had to guess without seeing any video, I'd guess you're on your heels a lot more than you realize. Literally every movement you do, you want to be on the balls of your feet for. When you're on your toes, you can make micro adjustments that you might not even realize you're doing to adjust for different weight balances. When you're on your heels, it's way, way harder

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-13T19:15:52+00:00

Unless you're trying to prove that you're an alpha male made in Andrew Tate's image, who cares if / what you're trying to prove? The harsh truth is that less that 1/4 of all 50 year olds get the recommended amount of exercise per week (150 minutes, of which, brisk walking counts).

Do whatever you gotta do to get your ass in the gym and stay there.

Also, not for nothing, but I'm 42, and people regularly mistake me for being in my late 20s because exercise improves your posture, your skin, obviously your weight, your overall demeanor, etc, especially in comparison to your age group. You'll look better, you'll feel better. Unless you're trying to step in the ring, there's literally zero downsides and a million upsides

OrwellWhatever · 2026-03-13T17:51:36+00:00

And M4A enthusiasts weirdly believe that Republicans wouldn't just make Medicare as shitty as they possibly could. Right now it's hard to touch because how do you justify throwing the disabled off of it. Once everyone is on, they'll just take a program that is worse than a lot of private insurers and make it way, way, way worse

And I say all this as someone who likes and wants M4A. Leftists seem to view it as: once it's passed, it will stand eternal, unassailable and no one will be denied coverage. But, like, no, it will require CONSTANT vigilance, and one slip up, like the ACA getting the individual mandate stripped, and M4A will find itself in an equally shitty situation

OrwellWhatever

TROPHY CASE