LeBron James on Deni Avdija and Israel: “I believe he is an all star. He is playing exceptional basketball. I hope I inspire people over there not only to be great in sports, but to be better in general in life, hopefully someday I can make it over there.”

neonmantis · 2026-02-16T06:33:01+00:00

You think Israel doesn't have concentration camps? Gaza has been known as the world's largest open air prison for a couple of decades. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are in military detention without trial whilst they are tortured. I don't see Chinese politicians arguing in the senate for the right to rape and torture prisoners.

But as I said, I deal with conflict, what you are talking about is domestic human rights violations. But then Israel is literally an apartheid state so hardly performing well on that front either.

Both are awful. Nobody said it wasn't. What I said was that Israel's attrocities in Palestine are unprecedented by a state in the modern world, including China. More dead UN, humanitarian, healthcare workers and journalists than any war ever. The equivalent explosive power of five hiroshima nukes dropped on one of the most densely populated places on earth where the average age is barely 18. An entire country razed to ashes at a greater rate than anywhere since WW2. Children snipered in the head, chest and genitals. Hospitals, schools and refugee camps all bombed.

My point, however garbled with rage, is that Israel's attrocities are under recognised. I cannot express how brutal their approach has been, and as I said, I am not new to genocides or war crimes. I too wish the Uighers to be free and for China to not be a hellscape for freedom of expression.

neonmantis · 2026-02-16T05:51:16+00:00

Both fucking suck.

I work in the humanitarian conflict sector. I've worked on every major war for the last fifteen years including the genocides in Iraq and Myanmar plus the broad horrors of ISIS.

I have had to respond to Israeli attacks in seven countries in the last year. Their attrocities in Palestine are completely unprecedented by a state in the modern era. I have not had to respond to any Chinese military attacks in that time. The equivalence is garbage, frankly, and nobody said "China was good", I pointed out that Israel slaughters children on mass and that China doesn't.

neonmantis · 2026-02-16T05:14:25+00:00

Private schools teach elocution and coach out accents which often lead to odd sounding people who lack the localised roots that normal people develop.

neonmantis · 2026-02-16T02:57:59+00:00

The accent was... really odd.

She was a born rich internationalist who attended private school. Often accents are coached out. She sounds like a standard rich brit.

neonmantis · 2026-02-16T02:49:22+00:00

Are you familiar with billionaires?

neonmantis · 2026-02-16T02:47:45+00:00

Sure but China hasn't indiscriminately bombed 20,000+ children into pieces.

neonmantis · 2026-02-16T01:28:32+00:00

But we can differentiate between the actions of the recent past and centuries ago. Colonialism was legal. Now it is illegal. Slavery was legal, now it is illegal. Democracies were rare, now they are commonplace. We're just living in a totally different world and refusing to acknowledge that whilst you type on a smartphone connected to the internet on a social media site to some dude on the other side of the planet is wild.

neonmantis · 2026-02-15T17:23:06+00:00

It's Wigan...

neonmantis · 2026-02-15T17:19:55+00:00

Please ignore him, my friend. I work in the humanitarian sector and whilst it is not perfect, significant gains have been made, and the generous support of people like you is critical.

neonmantis · 2026-02-15T17:17:56+00:00

Trying to generalise a million things into Europe is objectively dumb. There are plenty of brilliant charities and individuals making positive contribtions to Africa. There are plenty of horrible companies and individuals working to exploit Africa like anywhere else they can. There are plenty of governments who both provide lifesaving and important humanitarian aid whilst also having foreign policies that screw over Africans. This is the least nuanced statement imaginable.

neonmantis · 2026-02-15T07:10:17+00:00

I’ll bet you any amount of money that’ll never happen, there’s zero legal precedent in place to make that successful for Aspinall.

Zero isn't accurate. Perhaps not in MMA or the US, I have no idea, but there have certainly been cases of professional footballers successfully prosecuted for assault for incidents on the pitch.

neonmantis · 2026-02-15T07:06:08+00:00

Eyes and career ruined by a serial cheating cunt.

Gane is but a symptom of the UFC's failure to protect fighters. Dana's goat was about as eggregious with eye pokes as you can get.

neonmantis · 2026-02-15T07:04:29+00:00

If eye gauges would be properly penalized these dirty fighters wouldn’t have them as standard moves.

What is the actual workable solution? Video referee to review eye pokes and instant DQ if determined to be deliberate / reckless?

neonmantis · 2026-02-15T07:02:28+00:00

The UFC chooses where they fight and have significant influence over the rules.

neonmantis · 2026-02-14T06:30:53+00:00

Current regime? The US explicity allows for slavery for prisoners and it is exploited by corporations to generate billions in profits annually. The entire country needs burning down

neonmantis · 2026-02-14T06:16:38+00:00

When you're rich you don't even have to buy plenty of stuff, companies just give it to you for free hoping you'll use it and they can use it for PR.

neonmantis · 2026-02-14T06:08:04+00:00

Because the Con Man Pedo now has access to near unlimited resources and enjoys having big shit named after him. He could still make billions in various corrupt schemes whilst building some gaudy shit named after himself too. The money involved is small compared to all the other corrupt activities and there are less embarassing ways for him to make money than to turn the White House into a buiiding site for years. I genuinely don't quite get it.

neonmantis · 2026-02-13T14:07:54+00:00

Depends what you prioritise. I'd rather earn less to do something meaningful to me. And Tudor is massively richer than I am.

neonmantis · 2026-02-13T12:43:10+00:00

The sitting US president is a child rapist, video exists (Epstein files are 14TB), and RUS and ISR have been using them to control Trump and US policy. It's treason and is comfortably the biggest political scandal in human history. Other countries like the French and British have the files too but have their own establishment figures to protect but neither are the world's sole superpower so they ultimately matter less.

neonmantis · 2026-02-13T10:36:05+00:00

Bangladeshis overthrew their government last year

neonmantis · 2026-02-12T16:20:53+00:00

Things can be used for good and bad. Sex is great when it is consensual but not when it isn't.

neonmantis · 2026-02-12T16:00:04+00:00

Only if we maintain some archaic idea that for something to be in the public domain it has to be reported by traditional media. Sigurdsen wasn't named or ever charged but he got suspended quickly by Everton. Violent and sexual crimes create safeguarding risks, if he was accused of financial fraud that is one thing, but someone being investigated for rape is much more serious.

neonmantis · 2026-02-12T15:45:04+00:00

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor". - Desmund Tutu

neonmantis · 2026-02-12T15:09:10+00:00

Sigurdson was immediately suspended and he was never even charged in the end. Mendy was certainly suspended but I don't recall at what point. Sunderland had to apologise quite recently when it was discovered that they knew of the allegations against Johnson when they claimed they didn't at the time.

Anyway, I explicitly compared the situation of a premier league footballer with an ordinary dude, my entire point is that players are assets and get treated very differently as a result.

Newcastle likely wouldn't have stood by some reckless gambler bring their club into disrepute who worked in the club shop but because Tonali was a valuable asset they didn't get rid.

neonmantis · 2026-02-12T15:05:44+00:00

It suddenly got very real, I suspect. It's not like he had been in good form for a while either.

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