Some comments from reddit:

>"Russian psyop"

>"Sounds like Russia."

>"Sounds like something Russia would do to get the attention off of Trump's diaper issues"

>"Stink bombs exist, and so do non lethal crowd control smells used for force an area to evacuate. Such as IDFs skunk weapon, im sure Russia has an equivalent.

Unless they capture a farter, I think this is more likely since this event was diplomaticly quite important."

>"Russia using biological weapons"

>"It seems like a situation where the occasional gaseous emission is bound to happen, but the fact that it was eye-wateringly bad and happened while waiting for a Zelenskyy briefing makes me wonder if it was some sort of Russian-deployed fart spray meant to elicit jokes about the briefing itself. Seems a stupid, but also very Russian thing to do."

Typically excellent video from Prof. Mearsheimer. It should be required viewing for every decent human.

He provides context for the remainder of the video by explaining how Palestinians were repeatedly ethnically cleansed by Zionists and then Israelis.

He uses direct quotes from Ben Gurion to show that all of it was intentional, and resistance was expected.

He then describes the blockade, starvation, assassinations of leaders, and “mowing the lawn” (periodic mass murder) carried out by Israel against Gazans.

He ends by explaining why the October 7 attack was a predictable and legal response to a century of atrocities, carried out by people fighting for their freedom.

*cough*

🇮🇱Bodysnatching🇮🇱as a tool of colonial dehumanization

The Israelis illegally process the bodies of dead Palestinians for a financial profit.

The Israel National Skin Bank is implicated in grotesquely exploiting Palestinians, effectively skinning the dead under the guise of medical necessity, a stark violation of human decency.

This brings serious ethical questions to Israel’s status as a global donor of skin and skin graft provider. Can one ethically participate in the Israeli organ donation program writ large?

But if we look at history we can see a deeper comparison between the historical body snatching of the Irish by the British and the alleged treatment of Palestinians by Israelis. It offers a compelling examination of the intersection of dehumanization, exploitation, and political domination.

Definition: Bodysnatching refers to the secret theft of dead bodies from graveyards, hospital beds, usually to sell them to medical schools, anatomists, or physicians for dissection and the study of human anatomy. (And in the modern era for medical and biological solutions such as skin grafts etc.)

Historical Background of Irish 🇮🇪Body Snatching: In the 18th and 19th centuries, body snatching was prevalent across the British Isles, driven by the demand for cadavers for anatomical study in medical schools. While this phenomenon primarily affected the poorer classes throughout Britain. Ireland, under British rule, bodysnatching was turned into an industrial business, giving cadavers to industrial age medical schools.* The dehumanization of the Irish under British colonial rule facilitated abuses like body snatching, as the Irish were often viewed as lesser or sub-human by the colonial powers, which justified exploitation in the minds of the oppressors*.

Contemporary Allegations Against Israel: Similarly, the allegations against Israel suggest a dynamic where Palestinian bodies are reportedly used without consent for various purposes, including medical research and military training. This is reported by various human rights groups and media, indicating a parallel in terms of the possible dehumanization and exploitation of a subjugated group. For instance in the 1990’s Israeli Dr. Yehuds Hiss and doctors underneath him pleaded guilty to illegally harvesting skin and organs from dead Palestinians and gluing the eyes shut to hide the theft of organs from Palestinians**. * [See Abu Kabir]**

These callous acts reflect a severe disregard for the dignity and humanity of Palestinians, much like the British disregard for the Irish during the colonial period.

Dehumanization as a Tool of Colonialism: The critical link between these two contexts is the use of dehumanization as a colonial tool. Just as the British may have justified their exploitation of the Irish by considering them inferior, similar dynamics are at play in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This dehumanization can manifest in treating the bodies of the deceased not as humans deserving respect but as mere objects or resources to be utilized.

In light of these entrenched interests focused on domination of the Palestinian people is there any reason to believe that these abuses have stopped in the present day?

And is there any reason to trust that Israel has ceased their abuses of Palestinian corpses as outlined in the Abu Kabir case?

What does this level of dehumanization for fellow human beings mean for global stability in the short, medium, and long term?

* https://abcnews.go.com/International/israel-harvested-organs-permission-families-dead/story?id=9390407

Twice this year, supervisory personnel at the US Postal Service Michigan Metroplex in Pontiac activated sorting machinery while a maintenance worker was underneath. Neither incident resulted in an injury but in other circumstances the outcome could have been tragic, resulting in death or serious injury.

According to a grievance filed by the president of APWU local, the incidents happened in May and September of 2026. Steve Woods said the unit had filed grievances and a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as well as postal management. Woods also notified the offices of Michigan Democratic Congressional representatives Debbie Dingell, Haley Stevens and Rashida Tlaib.

The grievance filed by Woods stated, “They’ve been multiple incidents of both clerks and operations supervisors using the code” to activate the machine.

In response to the reports many workers posted on social media expressing concern and shock that proper lockout/tagout procedures on machinery were not in place at the Metroplex. One worker wrote, “I work at the metroplex and I can say [from] first-hand experience that place is being ran down to ground. This is not the first time nor the last time.” Another responded, “I work there as well and you’re absolutely right when you say it’s getting ran down to the ground.”

Another posted, “I am an ET at that facility and that machine should’ve been LOTO. (locked out) ESPECIALLY that machine! It’s over 100 ft long and taller than he is and he was INSIDE of it! So REGARDLESS of who pressed the start button, it should’ve been powered down.”

The same Pontiac facility was investigated a decade ago after workers raised the alarm over multiple employee deaths. A February 2016 USPS inspector general’s alert recorded a complaint that five workers had died in 14 months. A later APWU account gave a different chronology: four workers were taken from the plant by emergency services between October 2014 and August 2015 and subsequently died, while a fifth died under similar circumstances in June 2011. They ranged in age from 38 to 64.

One of them was Keesha Gray, 38, who died on June 9, 2015. Her family’s attorney, Brian McKeen, told WXYZ that she felt ill at work and informed managers she was going to her car. She collapsed and died there, remaining undiscovered for nearly two hours. APWU officials questioned why managers had not noticed her prolonged absence. The medical examiner attributed her death to bronchial asthma. Her family hired McKeen to investigate whether conditions at the facility contributed.

A local mail handlers’ representative told WDIV that the five deaths involved three reported heart attacks, an asthma attack and a stroke. Coworkers also complained of headaches and coughing. The Metroplex was built on a contaminated former General Motors foundry site, with ventilation and methane-detection systems intended to prevent gas accumulating inside. The inspector general found the detection system had malfunctioned since March 2015. USPS maintained that testing showed safe methane levels; no causal link between methane and the deaths was established. Its January 2017 follow-up nevertheless documented continuing deficiencies in sensor maintenance and staff training.

...

Similar conditions exist at postal facilities around the country. Postal workers filed 38,977 federal workers’ compensation claims in 2025. That was almost half of all federal workers’ comp cases opened that year.

These are just a few of the deaths and life-threatening situations workers have suffered resulting from the efficiency schemes and speed up imposed by management and their collaborators in the union bureaucracy as safety conditions erode. These measures are aimed at improving “efficiency” and slashing costs in preparation for the privatization of the post office.

These attacks have accelerated under the Delivering for America (DFA) restructuring launched by former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in 2021. The plan consolidates work into fewer, larger automated facilities, cuts jobs and combines routes; Palmetto opened as part of this program. Workers’ testimony to the postal inquiry described billions being invested in automated equipment while basic medical equipment, trained medical staff and written emergency procedures were absent. Cutting staffing and treating every interruption as lost productivity puts workers under pressure to keep working through illness and to service machinery without adequate safeguards.

DeJoy’s successor, David Steiner, is preparing further cuts after the New Year. At the August 7 Board of Governors meeting, he said management “would not take any action until after the New Year,” while threatening changes to service standards and the closure of “thousands of unprofitable post offices.” He has told Congress that USPS plans to employ 30,000 to 35,000 fewer workers within four years. Further reductions would intensify the understaffing and overwork already endangering workers while accelerating the dismantling of the post office as a public service.

No confidence can be placed in the APWU bureaucracy, Democratic politicians, OSHA or USPS to address these conditions or to implement the measures needed to keep postal workers safe. Acker’s coworkers told the WSWS that safety grievances had been filed less than 90 days before his death and that APWU officials knew about them. One worker described disabled stop switches and the removal of the additional worker who should have been available to stop the machinery. The grievance machinery left these dangers unresolved.

The APWU leadership continues to channel opposition into appeals to Congress. At its August convention, President Jonathan Smith declared: “Congress just has to get off of their ass and act.” But at a House hearing in March, ranking Democrat Kweisi Mfume said USPS “obviously needs to cut costs and increase revenue.” The union apparatus subordinates workers to the same political framework of cost cutting that management invokes to justify restructuring. Workers need organizations capable of enforcing safety against management’s production demands.

The Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee is fighting these conditions based on mobilizing the independent strength of workers themselves. It unites postal workers across the US, Canada and internationally in a common fight. Workers must organize at their worksites independently of the union apparatus to assert their own interests. These committees give workers the means to expose unsafe conditions and organize a collective fight back, including worker oversight of safety and the right to refuse unsafe work.

One person, one vote, but you can split it with multiple candidates.

If you select one person on a ballot that's one vote for them

If you select two people on a ballot they each get half a vote.

If you select three people on a ballot they each get a third.

Etc.

The result?

Someone can get one vote because one person gave them one vote or they get one vote because two people gave them half a vote.

A person can get three votes because six people gave them half a vote.

If 4 people are running it's possible for them to tie because they each got a singular vote from 25% of the population, or they tie because they each got a quarter vote from 100% of the population.

Any thoughts on this?