In the context of a semi-nomadic culture that had just conquered the urban Canaanites, pigs were city animals distinct from the nomadic sheep and goats—a ban on pork would prevent cultural assimilation. Same with the ban on shellfish that would have been standard in the coastal cities.

For a parallel, look at segregation-era white Americans banning music and other cultural pratices associated with African-Americans.

If n is the day the item is introduced, the total quantity is 42-(n-6.5)².

Lapsang Souchong (smoked black tea).

The Harappan language—then you could decipher the script of the Indus Valley civilization.

Harris went from polling 3.7 points higher than Trump in August to losing by 3.4 points in November. Do you think it took people that long to realize she was a woman of color, or do you think her actions in the interim changed peoples’ perception of her?

Similarly, by refusing to explain why she had abandoned the progressive positions on crime, immigration, health care, and climate change, she blurred the public’s perception of her and opened the door to the Trump campaign’s charge that she was a closet radical. Thinking back to the successful campaign of Bill Clinton in 1992, some Democrats were hoping Harris would have a “Sister Souljah” moment in which she broke with some party orthodoxy in order to show her independence, but this did not happen.

So Galston recognizes that abandoning progressive positions weakened the public’s perception of her, but he thinks the solution should have been to double down and attack progressives more?

As a resource, here’s a PDF of the party bylaws, which define how the DNC and its officials are selected.

The lack of support for Harris among Arab-Americans may not have been rational, but it was completely predictable—and it was something the Harris campaign could have addressed by at least suggesting she was open to reconsidering Biden’s policies.

Blame isn’t zero-sum—we’re all responsible for the predictable results of our actions (or inactions), even if those results were overdetermined.

Interesting approach—to detect fake news by simulating humans’ reaction to it rather than judging the content itself.

It could just be that more men and/or more Republican voters refused to participate in a CNN exit poll.

Hopefully the appeals court judges are on the list.

https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/hawks-helping-keep-oakland-streets-safe-by-dispersing-crow-roosts/

while Baz insists he has nothing against crows, it’s the mess they leave behind that has people crying foul.

I know which of you supports the Democratic Party and I will not help you survive the end of days.

If he ever decides the “end of days” is in progress, I think it would be safer for Democrats and Republicans not to be around him anyway.

Incendiary devices found at shipping hubs could be Moscow putting pressure on West not to support Ukraine

Yeah, that’s totally how countries react to terrorist attacks.

That’s what I’m secretly training the crows for.

I doubt the falconer would have any issue with me—I’m helping to keep them employed.

You can’t keep your shit and throw it too.

I’m indifferent to squirrels… but my city has hired a falconer to scare the crows away with hawks, so now the crows symbolize the oppressed masses being persecuted by the state.

A crow-calling whistle and a small tin of peanuts.

As many others are pointing out, cultural hegemony plays a major role—but I think there’s another factor at play as well:

Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology have been dead and fossilized for a thousand years and more, and in the meantime a long tradition grew up of mining them for allegory, with their prior religious significance stripped away. Most other world mythologies, on the other hand, still form part of active belief systems, or recently died out under colonial occupation and so carry postcolonial political overtones. So borrowing from them could be more problematical, whereas classical mythology has basically been left up for grabs by its former adherents.