buddha

you say that, and yet the left is veering much more toward anti-israeli rhetoric as evidenced by the last election and the demonization of any candidate who dared take money from aipac or any other israeli supporting group. if you had paid much attention to the last elections in chicago, you would have seen left wing candidates all do a desperate dance to distance themselves from israel, even in the most jewish district in the state, il-9, where the current jewish candidate retired and refused to endorse candidates in the district and around chicago who had taken money from jewish pacs like aipac (kat abuzelagh won most of the chicago portion of the district, but lost the suburbs to daniel biss, a jewish candidate who has denounced bibi netanyahu but has not gone as far as the other candidates in their extreme rhetoric toward israel). the fact that you dont know that, and you dont know who the most vociferous alderman in your own city is who espouses rhetoric on social media about "please send me an anti-zionist doctor" (or sigcho who stands before burning american flags espousing "genocide") and phrases the city council resolutions on gaza that dont mention hamas at all tells me NOT that the rhetoric on the left is fringe, but that youre not paying attention. the democratic party is very much moving away from israel, as are most left wing political parties in the western world (check out the latest british council election results and the rise of the green party). part of this is israel's aggressive military campaign and how its covered in the western media, and part of it is good ol fashioned anti western attitudes of the new immigrant class that is increasing its influence in the west. when people complain about "poxes on both houses", it usually means "dont dare put a pox on my house." so it seems it is here.

we were all really down on them after game 4 vs orlando and they won that. they can win this too.

that's not "colonizing" anything. i agree that israeli actions in expanding its settlements is unhelpful and likely illegal. israel is not without blame for its actions. now, shall we discuss hamas and hezbollah's actions? iran's actions and rhetoric?

israel is not a "colonizer" state. the situation in gaza is infinitely complicated by all the actors directly involved and those tangentially involved. israel lives next door to multiple states who base their entire existence upon israel's destruction. its in their founding documents, for god's sake. THAT is the underlying issue. the inability of "the palestinians" (really, the leadership of certain ethnic groups in the levant and iran's proxies) to move on and stop treating their people as human martyrs to the cause of killing jews. that doesnt excuse israel for certain actions and things theyve done during the war, but it does set a certain tone for how it is forced to deal with its neighbors. the naiivety of many on the american left when it comes to hamas and iran reminds me of their naiivety surrounding their embrace of communism in the 50s and 60s. anything that is anti-western is good. again, people being horrified by israeli tactics is understandable and not "anti-semitic".

i dont think "the left" is anti-semitic. i think the left is anti-american and anti-western. the left has bought into the idea perpetuated in universities that israel is a "colonizer" and that therefore it is bad. and trump supporting israel has inflamed the left because they hate everything trump touches (with good reason). but i DO think that the rhetoric matters. what the fringe right and the fringe left say filters into the mainstream (israel as a colonizer state is a good example of a fringe idea that has become mainstream left wing doctrine), and the left does have a number of prominent political figures who are moving ever so gently down the anti-semitic path. ilhan omar is anti-semitic. rossana rodriguez is anti-semitic. to your point, those are fringe figures, but the fringe sometimes becomes the mainstream. "i dont hate jews, i hate anti-zionists" is the equivalent of "i dont hate black people, i hate n-words." and i say all of this 10x about the right. they dont try to hide it like the fringe left.

yeah, its a tough situation. one that brings out a lot of emotion on all sides.

the knicks dont have interior defenders like the magic and cavs do. it will be harder to neutralize duren (but not impossible, of couse, because duren isnt good at anything else), and he should be able to outmuscle kat's pansy ass. now, duren cant GUARD kat, but they can put tobias on him. ausar can guard brunson. the pistons have owned the knicks this year because cade is now better than brunson.

whoever wins this game wins the series.

the protests at universities, the harassment of jewish students, the violence against jewish students, the increase in violence against jewish people all over the country, especially in large cities. swastikas painted in new york and other places. there were violent attacks last week against jewish people in new york again outside a synagogue. there are security details in chicago assigned to synagogues up here by me. multiple jewish people have been shot walking down the street in chicago over the past few years. there has been a huge uptick in anti-semitic violence in major cities. yes, the far right is always against jews (see tucker carlson and that nutty band of ignorant ****s), but now you've seen it in liberal areas as well. the human rights commissioner for chicago recently resigned because mayor johnson insisted that she amend her report on anti-semitism in the city. the report cited the huge upsurge in violence and threats against jews in the city, but johnson refused to release it unless it was changed to focus on other minorities. the equivalent of making "black lives matter" into "all lives matter" so the report could be diluted and it wouldnt upset his far left supporters on city council like sigcho-lopez or rossana rodriguez. the anti-israeli art exhibit at the chicago city museum. the attacks on the two israeli students at depaul. again, protesting israeli military actions in the middle east is one thing - everyone is entitled to their opinion on the war. but its spilled over into a huge surge in violence in urban areas, fed largely by online agitators and the hysterical and over-the-top way we present news on social media now. people are taking out their feelings about israel on jewish citizens. its akin to people assaulting asians after covid, but on a much much larger scale. we have 3000 years of history telling us how people treat jews differently.

so reed outplays duren all series (all playoffs) but only sees the floor when the team is down 20. ausar has two bad plays in a row and sits for the rest of the half.

stewart is hurt. has to be. he cant even jump. which is concerning because that's two years in a row when he's been hurt for the playoffs. maybe being undersized is causing it, but whatever it is, its not helping when it matters.

that means they'll be rusty and lose game one.

i think both these teams can beat the knicks.

duncan plays 29 minutes and has 4 points and 4 fouls. javonte green and ron holland cant get off the bench even when duncan is an active detriment to the team. danniss: 21 minutes, 2 points.

everyone on this thread who has paid attention all year predicted what jalen duren would - or more accurately, wouldnt - do in the playoffs. but what the hell happend to stew? he's been a non-entity since game 5 in orlando. the guy who was the heart of your team is passive and a detriment whenever he gets on the floor.