Babka

@dibabka

או֜מצװײיִק, דאָלוי פּאָליציי, they/them/zey Very Serious Political Economist

309 Siguiendo856 Seguidores2920 Publicaciones

Bluesky

¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y dibabka.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Babka@dibabka· 2d

spiritually similar to the yeti from legend of zelda

Babka@dibabka· 10d

well this is coming from someone who later in the thread states a belief that any critical mention of israel or aipac is inherently antisemitic and is implicitly suggesting leftists are an equivalent threat to Jewish people as the maga movement

gaba asserts that any time leftists talk about AIPAC or Israel they are inherently being antisemitic and explicitly compares this to MAGA dogwhistling

Babka@dibabka· 10d

i found this - wondering if it is exempt as an emergency if someone is actively crossing in front (this happens a lot IME), and given the proximity of brooklyn yards if a lot of horn use is from there. i assume max is not impacted/regulated by this tho of course it’s not nearly as loud

From the Federal Railroad Administration regarding Quiet Zones:
"A quiet zone is a section of a rail line at least one-half mile in length that contains one or more consecutive public highway-rail grade crossings at which locomotive horns are not routinely sounded when trains are approaching the crossings. The prohibited use of train horns at quiet zones only applies to trains when approaching and entering crossings and does not include train horn use within passenger stations or rail yards. Train horns may be sounded in emergency situations or to comply with other railroad or FRA rules even within a quiet zone. Quiet zone regulations also do not eliminate the use of locomotive bells at crossings. Communities wishing to establish quiet zones must work through the appropriate public authority that is responsible for traffic control or law enforcement at the crossings.

Babka@dibabka· 13d

a tale of two newspapers

oregonian with super vague wording on what happened

willamette week accurately stating what happened

Babka@dibabka· 18d

huh i didn’t realize that the price is pretty much the same as a one-time ticket on a commuter rail line (idk if there is a pass like on actual commuter rail on the easy coast)

amtrak tickets on monday august 3rd. coach is 8 dollars at 6:45am and 10 dollars at 8:30am

Babka@dibabka· 26d

if this is an accurate depiction of Councilor Novick’s statement then his Chief of Staff has been baldly lying to D3 constituents (me). here are the receipts

Thank you for reaching out to share your thoughts. The Councilor wants to be clear that despite what some are saying, the proposal does not defund or delay the work of the OCPA.

What it does is say that if at the end of the fiscal year (spring 2027) OCPA has underspending then that underspending can be used to pay for the proposed restorations. If it does not, other resources could be used, such as PCEF interest as other councilors have suggested. The full $16 million would remain budgeted and available for OCPA this fiscal year, inline with the required 5% of PPB’s budget. Additionally, OCPA will be funded at $16 million (or whatever 5% of PPB is) in next year’s budget. Like other offices and bureaus, they do not bank one year’s budget and then receive an additional $16 million on top of that next year.

In the simplest terms the proposal says to pay for the restorations first through surplus (underspend) before looking at future unallocated funds.

The reason we expect there to be underspend in OCPA is because the office is only now ramping up. They have not yet hired a director or staff. In comparison, the office of Independent Police Review which served a similar role the past few years never spent more than $3 million despite having a staff of 14. Should they need $16 million this year it will still be available to them.

This proposal will not delay or defund the OCPA in anyway. Portlander’s voted for police accountability and we will deliver it to them. As Chair of the Community and Public Safety Committee, Councilor Novick is committed to making that happen.

Best,

Spencer Knowles
Chief of Staff
Councilor Novick (D3)

Babka@dibabka· Jul 11

iykyk

oxygen not included base cooling system, which depends on running cool water through pipes to absorb heat and transfer it elsewhere

Babka@dibabka· Jun 29

they’re real??

cover of le guin’s cat wings book, about cats with wings. four winged kitties sit on a tree branch

Babka@dibabka· Apr 30

teeny zine!

the paper in the shell is unfolded and it shows a lil guy crawling into a hole in the ground with the words “the earth is deep…and cold…but…you can still find…precious things here…keep them safe”

Babka@dibabka· Apr 26

easily the funniest moment in all of neviim

Amos 8:1-8:2, the prophecy about the basket of figs

Babka@dibabka· Apr 9

i think about this at least once a week and i was never even on tumblr

Babka@dibabka· Mar 12

seems that’s the case! i looked into odot’s (soon to be outdated) info and looks like those are the main remaining undefined devices. thanks for clarifying/sharing info on this

odot chart showing different types of micromobility devices, how they are defined under oregon law, relevant restrictions and laws

Babka@dibabka· Jan 6

FACTCHECK

The New York Times did not publish a headline or story titled, “Pope Leo XIV Was a Founding Member of the 2020 Anarchist Portland Autonomous Zone known as CHAZ.”

crossed out fake headline with picture of pope leo

Babka@dibabka· Dec 11

iykyk

still from the video game dredge. a boat on the sea beneath some cliffs with a lighthouse, the sun setting in the background

Babka@dibabka· Oct 26

this is a portion of a drash i gave at shul for matot-massei over the summer. all the feedback i got from other synagogue members about it was positive

Rabbi Jill Jacobs, the Executive Director of T’ruah, wrote in the Forward this week “It is time for American Jewry to take an accounting of how many of our communal institutions and leaders are continuing to defend and support a war that has left an unbearable path of death and destruction in its wake.” Truthfully, not only is it long past time, but many of us have been doing that accounting for decades. Curiously, Rabbi Jacobs does not name any specific organizations in this piece.

In the context of communal politics, I can understand her strategic intention in not naming names. But for me, speaking generically and not specifically is a dereliction of our ethical obligations to our people. So let’s be clear. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations cares more about Israel than it does about American Jews. They care more about defending a genocide than they do about protecting Jewish communities in the US from fascists. The ADL cares more about Israel, about proximity to authoritarian power, and about defending literal, actual nazis than it does about American Jews. And the Jewish Federations, including here in Portland, cares more about Israel than it does about American Jews. The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland still, to this day, hosts a petition on their website explicitly calling on Oregon lawmakers to reject a ceasefire. And the Jewish Federation has been this way for years. In 2014, when the City of

Portland erased disciplinary actions against Portland Police Captain Mark Kruger for building a shrine to Nazi soldiers in Rocky Butte while employed by PPB, what did the Jewish Federation have to say? Nothing. Nothing, because they were too busy justifying Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza in July and August of 2014. Compare how the Jewish Federation addresses actual Nazi ideology among police to how they treat the Oregon Food Bank, or teachers, or nurses, or anyone else who says that it is wrong to murder children. This is the group that claims to speak in the name of our community.

Today, we have a failed group of self-proclaimed leaders of the American Jewish community. They have given in to anger and sinat chinam to justify, support, and command atrocities, just like Moshe Rabbeinu in our parashah this week. They attempt to rule by spreading fear and telling us we cannot trust anyone except them and the same security forces, like cops and DHS, that harbor white nationalists and are disappearing our neighbors. And like the Israelites in our parashah this week, we have the choice to refuse. But the choice to reject those who claim to be our community’s leaders comes with the responsibility to speak for ourselves.

Babka@dibabka· Oct 26

and here i was thinking le guin was writing fiction!

cover of ursula k le guin’s book Catwings. four cats with wings sit on a tree branch

Babka@dibabka· Sep 24

this is the only ‘mandelbrot set’ im interested in (curiously, my family’s recipe contains no almonds)

Babka@dibabka· Aug 13

like 80% of this book is laughing about bad shit, it’s the majority of my people’s humor culture

Babka@dibabka· Aug 10

just as an example - www.oregonbeachvacations.com/listings/217 i do wish it were more affordable!! sucks that there is only moderately expensive and super expensive

6 nights at a house in neskowin for around 1k

Babka@dibabka· Jul 29

this is deranged, antisocial behavior

pic of fig trees in a sidewalk median with a little sign at the bottom

sign that says “Figs: best if bent over and soft like a jelly bag. 4 for $1. Donation in mailbox”

Babka@dibabka· Jul 13

real ones know

Babka@dibabka· Jun 30

was reminded today about Yale’s weirdo philosemitic coat of arms. there actually is a fascinating story behind it tho

Yales coat of arms, a blue shield with a gold and white book in the center that says urim and thurim in hebrew. at the bottom it says lux et veritas

Babka@dibabka· Jun 30

like the value of his investments more than doubled last year!! for comparison avg hedge fund return was like 10-15% depending on metrics and S&P was 25%. wilding out here

chart from unusual whales showing Wyden’s stock portfolio value went up by 123.8% in 2024

Babka@dibabka· Jun 30

i was hanging out on state bureaucracy websites a few weeks ago, as one does, and noticed the OR dept of revenue had a big asterisk next to frivolous return penalties that led to this list and i laughed and laughed. lots of sovcits here lol

* "Frivolous" includes, but is not limited to:

An argument, without any factual basis, that your constitutional rights were violated.

Reliance on a "gold standard" or "war tax" deduction.

An argument that wages or salary aren't taxable income.

An argument that the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution wasn't properly adopted.

An argument that "unenfranchised, sovereign, freemen, or natural persons" aren't subject to tax laws.

Babka@dibabka· Jun 26

i don't think this is reflected in contemporary historical texts on the issue. generally the period of French influence shows a *worsening* of Muslim-Jewish relations in day-to-day life bc they were governed by diff laws. for example, from Wyrtzen's Making Morocco (2016)

by the time of the Roman Empire, Jewish communities were firmly established
in the far west of North Africa. These so-called toshavim , or original
“residents,” who arrived in antiquity, are distinguished from the megurashim , the
“expelled” Sephardic exiles who were forced to leave the Iberian Peninsula in
the fifteenth century. 5 Although this binary, as Schroeter (2008) demonstrates,
oversimplifies the multiple and complex identifications of Jews in Morocco,
in rough terms, the toshavim settled in both urban and rural areas, with sizable
populations in Sefrou, Marrakesh, Mogador, and in the Souss region, the
Atlas ranges, and the palm oases on the edge of the Sahara, while the selfidentifying
Sephardic megurashim tended to be located in the northern urban
areas Tetouan, Tangier, Fes, and Rabat-Salé, where they settled alongside their
Muslim counterparts from Al-Andalus. In urban areas, Jewish communities
spoke Arabic and Hakétiya (a Judeo-Spanish Ladino-like dialect) and wrote
in Arabic, Hebrew, and Judeo-Arabic, which was written with the Hebrew
alphabet (Gottreich 2007, 6). Jews in the countryside were integrated in both
Tamazight (Middle Atlas and Central High Atlas) and Tashelhit (High Atlas
and Souss) Berber-speaking communities. Although a few communities were
monolingual Berber/Judeo-Berber speakers (in the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas),
most also spoke Arabic (Schroeter 2008, 148–49; Chetrit and Schroeter 2003).
When Muslim dynastic states rose in Morocco in the ninth century, Jews
and Christians were classified as dhimmi , protected religious minorities. 6
Although dhimmi did not enjoy as many rights as Muslim subjects, they did
have some rights. In exchange for paying the jizya tax, they came under the
protection of the Muslim ruler, were not obligated to serve in the military,
and were granted a degree of administrative autonomy. By the Middle Ages, Morocco’s indigenous Christian population had more or less disappeared and Jews constituted the sole dhimmi

protections made Morocco and other areas of North Africa an attractive refuge
for Jews fleeing persecution under Christian rule on the northern shores
of the Mediterranean. The Andalusian influx in the fourteenth through
the sixteenth centuries initiated a cultural florescence, and Fes became a
major center for Jewish and Muslim learning. Under subsequent Marinid,
Saadian, and Alawid dynasties, Jews were incorporated into the makhzan
as key advisors. The special relationship between the sultan and the Jewish
dhimmi became a prominent feature of urban geography in Morocco’s royal
cities, particularly after the creation of the first Jewish quarter, or mellah ,
in Fes in 1483. 8 Because of their linguistic skills, business contacts, and the
extended networks across the Sephardic diaspora, prominent Moroccan Jews
were sometimes sent on diplomatic missions to Europe in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. 9
In the nineteenth century, the dhimmi status of Morocco’s Jews began to
be more ambiguous (Schroeter 2003). In the early 1800s, several major Jewish
merchant families were designated as the tujjar al sultan , or royal business
agents, in charge of makhzan monopolies over key Moroccan agricultural and
manufacturing sectors (Abitbol 1998; Schroeter 1988). At the same time, Jewish
traders served as key intermediaries for European economic interests in
Morocco, which grew steadily throughout the century. Under the agreements
that multiplied between European states and the sultan in the wake of the
1856 Anglo-Moroccan commercial treaty, these protégés (which also included
numerous Muslims) were granted legal and fiscal immunity (including exemption
from the jizya taxes non-Muslims were required to pay), transforming
the dhimmi status quo that had been in place for centuries under Islamic law
(Kenbib 1994, 1996). In the 1860s, there were several Western interventions to
“protect” Morocco’s Jews, beginning with a visit to Marrakesh in 1863 by Sir

Babka@dibabka· Jun 24

if u live in these lines then Kathleen Taylor - 1 of 3 senators trying to kill PFA - is your state senator. tell her this amendment is antidemocratic and would destroy a desperately needed lifeline for young families capitol line - 503-986-1721 email - sen.kathleentaylor@oregonlegislature.gov

map of state senate district boundaries, showing that kerns, laurelhurst, buckman, sunnyside, hosford abernathy, richmond, brooklyn, creston kenilworth, reed, woodstock, sellwood, and eastmoreland are all in Kathleen Taylor's district

Babka@dibabka· May 19

me when i do an injection with absolutely no pain, blood, or medication leakage

screenshot of the stardew valley perfection tracker at 100%

Babka@dibabka· May 9

about 18 seconds in :/ hate when the state goons do this

screenshot of one of the state security people grabbing their holstered gun, circled in red

Babka@dibabka· Apr 29

is this portlands version of the creationist museum

a diorama attached to a power pole on the street with dinosaurs and painted Jesus/catholic saint looking characters on the sides

Babka@dibabka· Apr 18

many are saying this