Imagine if debates weren’t aired live either. It would just serve as proof as to what fools politicians made of themselves in order to provoke a reaction. Imagine if the only way to know about what’s going on in a debate was to read the transcript or read commentary from the press. If the recorded video of what happened during the debate is only released after elections are over, it disincentivizes making the debate into an entertainment shitshow.

The problem is that if the resulting state is a democracy with equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians, Israel will no longer be a Jewish state. This is the reason why I believe a democratic Palestine, with control of all Israeli and Palestinian territories, equal rights and protections, rule of law, separation of church and state, an independent judiciary, and a system of checks and balances, would be the best solution to this problem. However, neither Israelis nor Palestinians have shown to be particularly accepting of a democratic, one-state solution, so I’m not getting my hopes up.

The problem is religion being the founding basis for the Israeli state, and the solution is separating religion from the administration of the state.

Maybe Asus Zenfone 10 is the way to go.

Personal anecdote, but I was in Taiwan recently for my grandmother’s funeral. People (at least in Taipei) are surprisingly pro China. I’ve heard excuses like, “Chinese people don’t fight Chinese people” or “China is threatening Taiwan to tell the US to back off, they don’t actually want to do anything.” Also, there has been rising skepticism towards the US due to a perceived refusal to back Ukraine by bringing them into NATO.

There is no doubt in my mind that, if China chose to go to war, that the US would defend Taiwan with boots on the ground. I see Taiwan as too strategically important for defending the liberal international world order, and letting Taiwan fall would set a precedent for the South China Sea, where China’s getting its way could spell the end of freedom of navigation in a region that a third of global trade passes through.

Given current Taiwan political trends, I think many people are dissatisfied with the Tsai administration and would like to seek more business and cultural exchange with the mainland. Among the four presidential candidates, if you add up the three opposition candidates vs the incumbent DPP representative Lai, you will see that a majority oppose the DPP. However, there has been indecision as to which opposition candidate to unify behind.

For example Red Hat Enterprise Linux. They’re FOSS but they charge money for support.

Dropsync for syncing files to my phone. Tasks.org for an open source to-do list.

I’ve been using Kagi for about a month, and I have to say the searches are excellent! No more wasting time searching through over-SEO’d ad-ridden crap! Just high quality results!