Thought for the Day

[KnightHawk 2.0]

"...folded like a lawn chair..." ! Love it. Gonna pinch it.Same here. :)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Here's what in the MAGA Party's so-called Limit,Save and Grow Act: 1. Rescinding 87,0000 IRS Agents,2. Reallocating unspent COVID 19 relief money,3. Eliminating Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness Program,4. Ending tax credits for companies that invest in green energy,5.Raising the age limit to 56 from 50 on work requirements to receive food stamps from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. And 6. Blocking Biden Administration from limiting consumer access to gas stoves or ovens. The demands in MAGA Party's debt limit bill is asinine,batshit crazy,outlandish and terrible. And shows that they only care about millionaires,billionaires and corporations,and don't give a damn about the american people and also shows their disdain for President Joe Biden and unwillingness to work with him to avoid the United States from defaulting.And the US defau?,they're going to be responsible.

[blackchubby38]

I'm not a religious person. I also don't normally speak ill of a famous/infamous person who just has died. But in the case of Carolyn Bryant Donham, I'm willing to make an exception.

If there is a hell, I hope she rots there for eternity.

[Stavros]

I'm not a religious person. I also don't normally speak ill of a famous/infamous person who just has died. But in the case of Carolyn Bryant Donham, I'm willing to make an exception.

If there is a hell, I hope she rots there for eternity.

One of those moment in history that will not be forgotten, and may be part of the view that the 1950s was the decade when such acts, along with the momentum MLK gave the Civil Rights movement, led to the legally pivotal 1960s. The tragedy has been the attempt to reverse those gains.

As for religion, Pope Abbott is at it again. Note his fetish for the 10 Commandments rather than the Lord's Prayer, the Old over the New Testament. One is rife with incest and violence, the other with a bit too much compassion and forgiveness for a man who seems dedicated to inflicting as much cruelty as he can on American citizens, particularly pregnant women. I don't suppose it will succeed, but what if it does?

"In a disturbing yet not exactly surprising move, Republicans (https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/republican-party) in the Texas statehouse have taken the first steps toward passing three bills that inject religion into public schools. One requires public schools to display “in a conspicuous place” the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Another measure will allow schools to require prayer and Bible reading time each school day for students and employees who give their consent to participate.A third bill would ensure school employees the right to “engage in religious speech or prayer while on duty.”"
Opinion: Texas Lawmakers Want Religious Indoctrination In Schools — May God Help Us All | HuffPost Opinion (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texas-lawmakers-religion-ten-commandments-classroom_n_644999e3e4b04997b57599c4)

[filghy2]

I'm not a religious person. I also don't normally speak ill of a famous/infamous person who just has died. But in the case of Carolyn Bryant Donham, I'm willing to make an exception.

If there is a hell, I hope she rots there for eternity.

It's another reminder that people can do the most appalling things if their social environment permits or even rewards it. People take too much for granted the social fabric that keeps us civilised.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Last week the Right Wing Sympathizers at the News Network formerly known as CNN gave the MAGA King Donald Trump airtime at a sham of a townhall. Trump News Network is a good fitting name for them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPRI92y-tns

[Stavros]

More a question than a thought: if an Asexual person masturbates, do they need some form of stimulus to help them climax?

[Stavros]

What is the law on human trafficking in the US? Epstein was convicted of it, a celebrated member of HA some years ago was accused of it, yet if De Santis does it, he isn't arrested -why not? Because it seems to me this is human trafficking, and I assume it is still illegal in the US, regardless of the origins of the humans being trafficked.

California officials: Florida picked up asylum-seekers on Texas border and flew them to Sacramento | AP News (https://apnews.com/article/migrants-dropped-off-california-texas-florida-2ea4ea9cc6e976e97358c64bcae164f4#:~:text=(AP)%20%E 2%80%94%20The%20state%20of,and%20aid%20workers%20b y%20surprise.)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Mike-Chicken Shit-Pence talking out both sides of his mouth,shows that he's a coward and a right wing loving bitch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5rWdR-69KA

[Luke Warm]

Hard to tell who has less charisma, Pence or DeSantis?

[filghy2]

Mike-Chicken Shit-Pence talking out both sides of his mouth,shows that he's a coward and a right wing loving bitch.

It's actually an RNC requirement that candidates commit to supporting the eventual nominee. It will be interesting to see how they get such a commitment from Trump.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/02/republican-national-committee-debate-criteria-00099947

[Stavros]

It's actually an RNC requirement that candidates commit to supporting the eventual nominee. It will be interesting to see how they get such a commitment from Trump.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/02/republican-national-committee-debate-criteria-00099947

"I will support the Party's nominee as long as it is me".

[KnightHawk 2.0]

It's actually an RNC requirement that candidates commit to supporting the eventual nominee. It will be interesting to see how they get such a commitment from Trump.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/02/republican-national-committee-debate-criteria-00099947 Even if the nominee is a twice impeached,twice indicted domestic terrorist leader,racist petulant child and sore loser. Indeed it sure will be interesting.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

"I will support the Party's nominee as long as it is me". Agree 100%.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The MAGA Party are a hypocrites who can't quit their leader the MAGA King Donald Trump,and will continue to defend him,despite all of the despicable and disgusting things he said and done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiLXhLAXOcQ

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The Lincoln Project in living free the MAGA King and Petulant Child Donald Trump's head,and ripping him on the daily basis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aLa7xOMofc

[Yvonne183]

Wig on a football.

[Stavros]

Wig on a football.

Don't kick too hard, so as not to cause harm. Anyway, how are you out there in the styx? Doing well, I hope.

[Yvonne183]

Don't kick too hard, so as not to cause harm. Anyway, how are you out there in the styx? Doing well, I hope.

I'm doing good in the Styx. I'm planning to move deeper in the styx soon. An isolated homestead up in the mountains. Not only is there no internet, I have to collect rain water for my water needs.

Hope you are doing well Starvos.

[Stavros]

I'm doing good in the Styx. I'm planning to move deeper in the styx soon. An isolated homestead up in the mountains. Not only is there no internet, I have to collect rain water for my water needs.

Hope you are doing well Starvos.

Rainwater, good, if you get enough of it. Mountain lions and bears, not so good.

I have been in and out of hospital in recent years, but 4 ops later I am in good health now, if overweight. I had to move from the centre of town to the outskirts, but it has some benefits, not least the views. Stay well!

1422395

[Yvonne183]

Rainwater, good, if you get enough of it. Mountain lions and bears, not so good.

I have been in and out of hospital in recent years, but 4 ops later I am in good health now, if overweight. I had to move from the centre of town to the outskirts, but it has some benefits, not least the views. Stay well!

1422395

No mountain lions, but have run into bears on occasion and one mean Fisher Cat. I have a hunting dog that keeps bears away.

Sorry to hear about the hospital visits and ops. And you stay well too, my Anglo friend.


My thought of the day:
If the love of money is the root of all evil
And time is money
Is the love of time the root of all evil?

Bye Starvos, see you next year or so.

[Stavros]

No mountain lions, but have run into bears on occasion and one mean Fisher Cat. I have a hunting dog that keeps bears away.

Sorry to hear about the hospital visits and ops. And you stay well too, my Anglo friend.


My thought of the day:
If the love of money is the root of all evil
And time is money
Is the love of time the root of all evil?

Bye Starvos, see you next year or so.

But time is also motion. Stop moving, and you might end up in not-time, and we all know what that is...(about to google 'Fisher cat').

[Stavros]

Today is June 19th. Means nothing in the UK, means a lot more in the US. We have enough to worry about here, but so do Americans...

This Juneteenth, Remember the GOP Is the Neo-Confederate Party (yahoo.com) (https://uk.yahoo.com/news/juneteenth-remember-gop-neo-confederate-010248756.html)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Throw the book at,and lock up the MAGA King,Domestic Terrorist Leader,Petulant Child and Sore Loser Donald Trump. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sM9LCEn_iE

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Today is June 19th. Means nothing in the UK, means a lot more in the US. We have enough to worry about here, but so do Americans...

This Juneteenth, Remember the GOP Is the Neo-Confederate Party (yahoo.com) (https://uk.yahoo.com/news/juneteenth-remember-gop-neo-confederate-010248756.html) Indeed the GOP sure is.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The MAGA King Donald Trump claims he hires the best people,then insults them when they won't kiss his ass anymore. Shows how insecure and thinskined he is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvsTosmq27A

[broncofan]

Joe Rogan is an antivaxxer. He is not just asking questions any more than someone obsessed with the construction of gas chamber doors at Auschwitz is simply interested in carpentry. That should be obvious to all of his moron fans, many of whom are harassing Peter Hotez, an eminent doctor who fights infectious disease in developing countries and has saved countless lives. He received a death threat today which is supported by thousands of conspiracy nuts and other subliterate cousin fuckers on twitter. These ignoramuses are absolutely making this country unliveable.

[filghy2]

And guess who else weighed in? https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-joe-rogan-publicly-183306569.html

It's the standard strategy:
1. Make claims based on spurious evidence
2. Demand that experts spend time debating said claims
3. If they do, refuse to accept what they say
4. If they don't, claim that they have some motive for ignoring the issue

Its a disingenuous performance because the people who claim to be only seeking answers could easily find them if they bothered to do a bit of googling.

[Stavros]

The MAGA King Donald Trump claims he hires the best people,then insults them when they won't kiss his ass anymore. Shows how insecure and thinskined he is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvsTosmq27A

Thanks for the Lincoln Project videos which I had not seen before. But this is the problem with anyone who makes bombastic claims about themselves when they don't have the ability to support them, indeed, because of their inherent weakness, are easily exposed.

[Stavros]

Joe Rogan is an antivaxxer. He is not just asking questions any more than someone obsessed with the construction of gas chamber doors at Auschwitz is simply interested in carpentry. That should be obvious to all of his moron fans, many of whom are harassing Peter Hotez, an eminent doctor who fights infectious disease in developing countries and has saved countless lives. He received a death threat today which is supported by thousands of conspiracy nuts and other subliterate cousin fuckers on twitter. These ignoramuses are absolutely making this country unliveable.

I would like to think it is just your country in which the proven abilities of professionals, in all walks of life are subject to ridicule and threats, but it seems to be part of a global trend -either you support my argument or you are a threat that must be eliminated. This is what used to be called Stalinism, it is alive and well in the Russian Federation, where Putin's domestic tactics when dealing with criticism is no different from Stalin's.

And yet, here in the UK, Boris Johnson's career is in ruins because his lies have been exposed. Not long after his election victory in 2019 he stated his belief/desire he would be in power for 10 years, but he has now been barred from even entering the Palace of Westminster by a House of Commons Committee -most of whose members are from his own party- and endorsed by the House of Commons. Truth does matter.

The facts of the case are stark -Johnson came onto national tv to tell us, more than once, to stay at home, to limit social interactions, to wear masks in public, when he and his staff in No 10 Downing St, and at Conservative Party HQ were mocking the very same instructions. That so much has been exposed has caused immense damage to the image of the Conservative Party, but I believe there is even more damaging material to come, not least in the Covid Enquiry that began in London this week.

Add in some of the rulings in States like Alabama that have prevented the implementation of bans on the medical treatment of 'Trans Kids', and the attempt to disbar John Eastman in California (he wanted to call as an 'expert witness' on election fraud, an accountant with no election experience [!]); and one can at least see that all is not lost, that the lunatics have not taken over the asylum.

[Stavros]

I read this and wonder...no, surely not...but thereagain...are y'all thinkin' what I'm thinkin'...?

"Lake — a former news anchor who lost her bid for Arizona governor (https://people.com/politics/arizona-governor-race-katie-hobbs-defeats-kari-lake/) and, like Trump, claimed that the election was rigged (https://people.com/politics/kari-lake-attempt-overturn-arizona-governor-election-rejected-katie-hobbs-affirmed-governor/) against her — spent a significant portion of her time at Mar-a-Lago during its open season, the source tells PEOPLE. (In the summer months, the property generally clears out and even Trump heads to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.)

"Kari Lake is there every night ... She’s there all the time," the source tells PEOPLE. "There’s a suite there that she practically lives in."
Kari Lake Appears at Mar-a-Lago More than Melania Trump and 'Practically Lives' in a Suite (Exclusive Source) (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/kari-lake-appears-mar-lago-152341021.html)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

I read this and wonder...no, surely not...but thereagain...are y'all thinkin' what I'm thinkin'...?

"Lake — a former news anchor who lost her bid for Arizona governor (https://people.com/politics/arizona-governor-race-katie-hobbs-defeats-kari-lake/) and, like Trump, claimed that the election was rigged (https://people.com/politics/kari-lake-attempt-overturn-arizona-governor-election-rejected-katie-hobbs-affirmed-governor/) against her — spent a significant portion of her time at Mar-a-Lago during its open season, the source tells PEOPLE. (In the summer months, the property generally clears out and even Trump heads to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.)

"Kari Lake is there every night ... She’s there all the time," the source tells PEOPLE. "There’s a suite there that she practically lives in."
Kari Lake Appears at Mar-a-Lago More than Melania Trump and 'Practically Lives' in a Suite (Exclusive Source) (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/kari-lake-appears-mar-lago-152341021.html)Yes i i am thinking what you're thinking.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Thanks for the Lincoln Project videos which I had not seen before. But this is the problem with anyone who makes bombastic claims about themselves when they don't have the ability to support them, indeed, because of their inherent weakness, are easily exposed.You're welcome. And completely agree it is a problem with anyone who makes bombastic claims about themselves when they don't have the ability to support them.

[filghy2]

I would like to think it is just your country in which the proven abilities of professionals, in all walks of life are subject to ridicule and threats, but it seems to be part of a global trend -either you support my argument or you are a threat that must be eliminated.

Yet another example of this is the harassment of academics researching online disinformation, based on spurious claims that they are colluding with the federal government to censor free speech. No doubt we will see more Orwellian proposals to suppress academic freedom in the name of free speech.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/06/disinformation-researchers-congress-jim-jordan/

As explained in this post, the allegation of a government-private censorship conspiracy seem to be based on misrepresentation of publicly-available reports and quoting statements out of context.
https://crookedtimber.org/2023/06/08/disinformation-and-the-intercept/

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Another example of the The MAGA Party's agenda,abusing their power and censuring their colleagues. Instead of doing the work of their constituents. And their vision for the country is very frightening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R3VWZ8__qk

[Stavros]

I read this and am almost speechless. What on earth has happened to the US and gun crime? You Americans may need a second Revolution to transition away from this pathological need to address every problem with a loaded gun. It's not about the man punching the woman, her son shooting the older man in the back -twice. It's the mere fact that you people are walking around with guns in your pockets, and using them. You mean there was no alternative to the situation than murder? Madness.

Charges dropped against mother and son in deadly West Pullman shooting - CBS Chicago (cbsnews.com) (https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/charges-dropped-carlishia-hood-son-murder-jeremy-brown/)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Ron Mussolini DeSantis is awkward and socially challenged presidental candidate,who is insecure and a raging maniac that has a very short tempered,and is very dangerous to be President Of The United States. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2RStLv4vog

[Stavros]

Pronouns causing panic. Pronouns becoming the weapons of war in a war nobody can win. But little focus on the actuality of language, as in people spending so much time talking about wood they forget the trees. Hence the potential for the Archbishop of York to ignite a curious war of panic over the Almighty-

"“I know the word ‘father’ is problematic for those whose experience of earthly fathers has been destructive and abusive, and for all of us who have laboured rather too much from an oppressively patriarchal grip on life,” he said."
Lord’s Prayer opening may be ‘problematic’, says archbishop (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/lord-s-prayer-opening-may-be-problematic-says-archbishop/ar-AA1dzBSK?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=2974ed4b182d41d58a5da4af4b0bcaf5&ei=47)
(Is the Archbishop dressed as a man in the photo, or does his wearing of silly hats and gowns act as signifiers of something that dare not tell is its name?)

Will the Telegraph go berserk? Not sure. But is God a Man? Or, Is God a Bloke, a Geezer, a Guy, or just a 'Dude'?

So come on, Almighty God, tell us the truth.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Tommy Tuberville is a traitor for holding up military promotions. It is childish and despicable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NplwmbI7Hg8

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Here's Vice President Kamala Harris speech on revisionist history in Florida. She gave a very strong and powerful retort to the batshit crazy and disgusting plan of Ron Mussolini and his enablers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NEjA1EkBxI

[Stavros]

One of the most successful films released in recent years, Barbie, is, we are told, Communist Chinese propaganda, Trans propaganda, featuring a de-masculanized ‘beta-male Ken’, and thus a threat to the American family. Danke schön, Frau De Santis.

Not sure if ‘get a life, dude’, should be ‘get another country, go and live there’. Da doo doo Ron is re-writing American history, Trump proposes to expand his powers if elected, to create a Presidential Dictatorship.

It can’t happen here…or can it? I think most Americans reject this ignorance and danger but will the next election be rigged?

https://www.advocate.com/film/right-wing-barbie-transgender#toggle-gdpr

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The MAGA Party is losing their minds and throwing a bitch fit over the release of the Barbie Movie. Shows how insecure they really are. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zz8CiMyttU

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The shoe definitely fits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlNE0i_Yhy8

[Stavros]

The MAGA Party is losing their minds and throwing a bitch fit over the release of the Barbie Movie. Shows how insecure they really are. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zz8CiMyttU

Is this satire?

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The GOP was racist even before they embraced the MAGA King Donald Trump,and will continue to be the party of Bigots,Racists,White Nationalists and Xenophobes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUv05bFpkck

[filghy2]

One of the most successful films released in recent years, Barbie, is, we are told, Communist Chinese propaganda, Trans propaganda, featuring a de-masculanized ‘beta-male Ken’, and thus a threat to the American family. Danke schön, Frau De Santis.

This seems to be the right-wing version of approved cinema.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/06/sound-of-freedom-movie-qanon-jim-caviezel

[Stavros]

This seems to be the right-wing version of approved cinema.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/06/sound-of-freedom-movie-qanon-jim-caviezel

The first rule of QAnon: don’t mention QAnon.
The second rule of QAnon: never document the occasions when Donald Trump made sexual remarks about his daughter Ivana Marie.
The third rule of QAnon: never refer back in history to the fate of children sold into slavery and transported to the USA.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

A perfect description of the MAGA Party. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goO7RXt6sv4

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The So-Called GOP are a bunch of whiners,and are upset because their leader was indicted for a third time. And whether they like it or not,there will be more indictments coming againist their leader. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfCGvoeM2EI

[blackchubby38]

Over the past 20 years, NYC has gone through a series of events, 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis and Super Storm Sandy. Although I think it would be fair to say that each one has had a negative impact in its own way, somehow the city has found ways to be resilient.

But given the events of the past three years, I'm starting to wonder how much more this city can take. The pandemic/lockdowns, the negative impacts of the "Defund the police movement, and now the immigrant/migrant crisis.
This happened earlier this week:

http://nypost.com/2023/07/31/migrants-sleep-outside-nycs-roosevelt-hotel-as-shelter-hits-capacity/

Since that report, the immigrants/migrants that were on the sidewalk have been moved into temporary housing. But in the words of Mayor Eric Adams, the situation isn’t going to get any better. Especially since there doesn't seem to be any help coming from Washington D.C. Congress is nowhere to be found. The Department of Homeland Security said they would send a staffer. While President Biden did get a victory in court regarding his asylum policy, it is probably temporary since the ruling will no doubt be appealed. So, until a rational and permanent solution is come up with, I guess New York and other cities who are facing a similar situation are basically on their own.

Which brings me to my next point. No city should have to bear the brunt of or share the cost for several years of this country’s failed attempts at immigration reform. But this is what happens when you stand on a virtual soapbox, thump your chest, and defiantly declare you’re a sanctuary city. Your words tend to come back and haunt you.

[Stavros]

It is a disgraceful situation, and not so different from the mess being made of 'illegal immigration'/asylum seekers in the UK. In bith cases, there is it seems to me either no policy, or policies that clearly don't work. In the UK we still await a definitive legal decision on whether or not the Govt has the right to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing, a policy so daft when I first read about it I thought it was a joke. Only it ain't.

I agree it sounds morally fine to declare New York or anywhere else a 'Sanctuary city' but that is only half the cake, the rest being the reality of housing people, processing their claims and doing so in a fair way.

I think in the US you have a paralysis of decision making, overlaid by a degree of racism on the part of Republicans; it doesn't look like in practical terms there is a single coherent policy, largely because State and Federal governments are divided and bickering with each other.

What should the policy be? When there is a labour shortage, it is obvious, but allowing free movement of people seems to have become transformed from a key component of freedom itself, to a toxic social issue, as it was used by Nigel Farage in the Brexit debate to demonize immigrants.

Again: why is the US so different from Canada? And does Canada have solutions the US could try?

What Is Canada’s Immigration Policy? | Council on Foreign Relations (cfr.org) (https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-canadas-immigration-policy)

Immigration: US vs. Canada (grcglobalgroup.com) (https://insights.grcglobalgroup.com/immigration-us-vs-canada-by/#:~:text=In%20terms%20of%20policy%2C%20the,the%20f lexibility%20of%20immigration%20policy.)

Even the Cato Institute can produce this-
15 Myths About Immigration Debunked | Immigration | Carnegie Corporation of New York (https://www.carnegie.org/our-work/article/15-myths-about-immigration-debunked/)

[Stavros]

Isn't this a gift for the Democrats? Republicans at war with America's women; Republican's winning in 2024 determined to trash the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency; re-write all the history books to tell the next generation of children Slavery Was Fun; defunding Law Enforcement to be replaced with Posse Patrol...and coming sooner than they realise-the dissolution of the Sacred Military....

"The Alabama Republican senator Tommy Tuberville is “prepared to burn the military down” with his block on promotions in protest of Pentagon policy on abortion, the Connecticut Democratic senator Chris Murphy said."

"“We do not have a chief of staff of the army for a first time in 200 years,” [Nikki] Haley told (https://themessenger.com/politics/nikki-haley-on-sen-tubervilles-military-holds-goes-to-show-just-how-messed-up-our-country-is?utm_source=onsite&utm_medium=latest_news) the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. “More than 300 vacancies. It’s a mess.”"
Republican senator will ‘burn the military down’ over abortion policy, says Democrat | US military | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/08/tommy-tuberville-senate-block-military-promotions-abortion)

-And who is responsible for it, Ms Haley? You are.

Come on, ye Democrats, and cry 'burn, baby burn' just like in the old days. Only this time make it the GOP....

Or can't they be bothered?

[Fitzcarraldo]

It should be a gift, but partisan voters are firmly entrenched. They will support their party no matter what. So it depends on independents.

[Stavros]

Hmmmm...so partisan Republican voters will not compromise on an issue like Abortion which they can see loses them votes....they won't compromise on gun control with no regard to the multiple victims of gun crime, without ever offering a coherent explanation why. They bark about inflation as if it were not under control and declining, or 'open borders' where the average flow of illegal migrants has fallen, not risen. They clearly don't know enough of their own history to object to the De Santis School of History, written by frauds who can't even define slavery, let alone describe it. They want self-government while insisting Govt do this, that, whatever without paying taxes to fund it.

Then, into this soup of bewildered nonsense, comes the actual or potential threat of Independents not voting for either Biden or, if he is the one, Trump, though one hopes that were the latter to happen even Independents would go Democrat. For one of the emerging claims to the Independent vote is Cornel 'I Am a Crank' West, though in his case he is so plain daft I am not sure even the most rigid Independent would endorse him....or would they? Has the US really sunk so low?

Cornel West Should Not Be Running for President | The Nation (https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/cornel-west-presidential-campaign/)

Cornel West Made a Huge Mistake - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MdhSbJf6y8)

[Stavros]

This is quite interesting, not least because it has nothing to say about the so-called 'music', even though the mystery of rap from my perspective, is how people shouting or mumbling into a microphone can become millionaires. As for the relentless beat, well haven't Steve Reich and John Adams being writing this for years, and doing a better job of repetition than the drivel called rap?

Why are Black rappers aligning themselves with the right? | Tayo Bero | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/10/black-rappers-aligning-right-conservative-ice-cube)

Try this-

John Adams: Short Ride in a Fast Machine – BBC Proms 2014 - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LoUm_r7It8)

[Stavros]

I came across this long article on Hunter Biden and his 'laptop' -the laptop that doesn't exist, so really the 'hard drive' of which there are now multiple copies, some of them 'edited' by people with, shall we say, 'an agenda'. As the article states

"And for all the time they have spent scrutinizing his emails and his dick pics, Maxey and others have yet to find any incontrovertible evidence of criminality."
The Sordid Saga of Hunter Biden’s Laptop (nymag.com) (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/hunter-biden-laptop-investigation.html)

Can it be proven that Joe Biden benefited financially from his son's business deals in China and the Ukraine? I doubt it, but that is because of the demands of the law. Does the material exposed leave Hunter Biden with the image of a depressed man doing things with drugs and porn? Yes. Is that illegal? I don't think so.

For years, Trump couldn't get a licence to operate in China. Then he became President, and got his licence -how did that happen? And what about HIS sons, and their management of the 'Trump Organization' -which now doesn't exist, we are told. Double standards?

More pertinent, when is the contents of your hard drive legitimate public knowledge? If someone is a drug dealer, trading illegal porn, ie, breaking the law, then I guess the Courts have the right to take action -but the New York Post, or the Daily Mail?

Do Republicans want to get to the 'sordid truth' of Hunter Biden's less than perfect life, or just convict without the hassle of proof, a trial and all that messy stuff?

I guess Hunter Biden isn't the most talented person in that family but I vaguely recall Jimmy Carter's brother was an occasional embarrassment though these days he would be made more of by the Murdoch media.

Republicans Are Mad They Got The Hunter Biden Special Counsel They Asked For (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/republicans-mad-got-hunter-biden-222225202.html)

[Stavros]

Another step into the abyss, the moral collapse of the USA. Or, if voters get their way, a step forward in the extermination of the putrid Republican Party, whose leader fantasises about having sex with his daughter, whose Congressional representatives scream about corruption in the White House without being able to provide a shred of evidence for it, whose not-so-flimsy relations with American Nazis makes one wonder if the Jews will be the first minority to be expelled from the US when 'they' are back in the White House...
Girl, 13, gives birth after she was raped and denied abortion in Mississippi | Abortion | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/14/mississippi-abortion-ban-girl-raped-gives-birth)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Indictment # 4 came last night againist the MAGA King Donald Trump,and there will be plenty more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbsPPz37h_U

[Luke Warm]

Scumbag behind the "Rep. Ilhan Omar married her brother" rumor was sentenced to 21 years in prison for sex trafficking minors.

https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/who-is-anton-tony-lazzaro/

[filghy2]

Trump's latest big lie. No only does he have the weight-to-height ratio of a champion athlete, but he also plays like one, apparently.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/sport/golf/donald-trump-mocked-after-claiming-to-shoot-a-67-to-win-club-title/ar-AA1fQj9R?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=e281d458b30d4975a7fe8d1512fa2023&ei=15

If it wasn't for the fact that millions of Americans have decided this guy is the messiah, we could all laugh him off as a ridiculously delusional narcissist.

[Stavros]

Trump's latest big lie. No only does he have the weight-to-height ratio of a champion athlete, but he also plays like one, apparently.

If it wasn't for the fact that millions of Americans have decided this guy is the messiah, we could all laugh him off as a ridiculously delusional narcissist.

He has some way to go before matching the record of the deceased leader of his 'Beloved' North Korea-

" The greatest golfer in history is gone.
North Korean dictator/superstar golfer Kim Jong-Il has died at 69 -- a fitting age, because 69 is under par on every regulation golf course.
Kim shot 38 under, including 11 holes-in-one, at the 7,700-yard championship course at Pyongyang in the VERY FIRST golf round of his life, according to North Korean state media."
Kim Jong-Il -- North Korea dictator left behind laughable golf legacy - Page 2 - ESPN (http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/index/_/id/7369649)

[filghy2]

He has some way to go before matching the record of the deceased leader of his 'Beloved' North Korea-

If Trump becomes President again I'm sure we'll get to that

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Two Presidents: The current president is doing a great job of running the country and being a leader. While the former president is still spreading lies about the 2020 Presidental Election,duping his supporters into giving him money,and has been indicted 4 times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjnB8HhaaGs

[Stavros]

The Sound of Freedom, far from The Sound of Music. What strikes me about it, and I have not seen the film, is that at a time when the Governors of Texas and Florida are in a campaign to stop Latinos crossing the border, the film which one assumes is close to their ideology, is about an heroic American bringing Latinos across the border....

Sound of Freedom’s success proves America is not only a different country – it’s a different planet (yahoo.com) (https://uk.style.yahoo.com/sound-freedom-success-proves-america-121605244.html)

[Stavros]

I enjoyed reading this, brutal though it is.

'The GOP has become become anti-American, anti-government and anti-United States': Can they be stopped? | Opinion (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/the-gop-has-become-become-anti-american-anti-government-and-anti-united-states-can-they-be-stopped-opinion/ar-AA1gnmIF?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=ef87478a1bff42a6b8526599c4a4fb3c&ei=40)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

I enjoyed reading this, brutal though it is.

'The GOP has become become anti-American, anti-government and anti-United States': Can they be stopped? | Opinion (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/the-gop-has-become-become-anti-american-anti-government-and-anti-united-states-can-they-be-stopped-opinion/ar-AA1gnmIF?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=ef87478a1bff42a6b8526599c4a4fb3c&ei=40)Very interesting article. Yes the GOP aka The MAGA Party can be stopped,by voting them out of office and power and replacing them with politicians who will put country over party,and work for their constituents.

[Stavros]

Do Republicans want to get to the 'sordid truth' of Hunter Biden's less than perfect life, or just convict without the hassle of proof, a trial and all that messy stuff?

I guess Hunter Biden isn't the most talented person in that family but I vaguely recall Jimmy Carter's brother was an occasional embarrassment though these days he would be made more of by the Murdoch media.

Republicans Are Mad They Got The Hunter Biden Special Counsel They Asked For (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/republicans-mad-got-hunter-biden-222225202.html)

Let me get this right, Republicans want to prosecute Hunter Biden over some minor misdemeanor relating to the purchase of a gun -is like, er, Gun Control by any other name? Rather like the Pro-Life Republicans who terminate lives when they are Prisoners on Death Row?

Anyway, other than the laptop that doesn't exist, the hard drive the world and his wife have had access to, the mystery of why the shop owner didn't contact Hunter Biden to return it and so on and so on, this bracing critique does suggest the poor lad is being treated differently from other Americans. And you know the reason why.

Davis: The facts about Hunter Biden | The Hill (https://thehill.com/opinion/4070336-davis-the-facts-about-hunter-biden/)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Trump's Charges. 91 charges against the MAGA King and Domestic Terrorist Leader Donald Trump. And
the MAGA Caucus in Congress continues to defend their leader and want to impeach President Joe,instead of working for their constituents. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhHhyrnxzVs

[Stavros]

"“I am the most investigated man in the entire Congress, and right there you saw Kevin McCarthy lying like a dead dog because I have never asked him to interfere in any ethics matter,” Gaetz said."
Gaetz says McCarthy ‘lying,’ in response to accusations he’s colluding with Swalwell | The Hill (https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4203223-gaetz-calls-mccarthy-liar-responding-to-accusations-hes-colluding-with-swalwell/)

I guess you could say Representative Gaetz is, well, barking....but then I wonder how a dead dog can do anything, let alone bark. Either a strange metaphor that in effect says McCarthy is not lying -because a dead animal can't lie- or Gaetz has a creative, if lazy way with the English language. It could be an amusing moment in the latest version of The Importance of Being Kevin, but without the wit of Oscar Wilde, it seems all they can produce is, what, dogshit?

Or The dogs that bellow, and the wolf that lies

When the Hounds of Spring Are on Winter's Traces (ronnowpoetry.com) (https://www.ronnowpoetry.com/contents/swinburne/WhentheHounds.html)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Senile. The MAGA Party are calling President Joe Biden old,but yet they want their leader to be elected president again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgjS_7eNoOg

[blackchubby38]

It is a disgraceful situation, and not so different from the mess being made of 'illegal immigration'/asylum seekers in the UK. In bith cases, there is it seems to me either no policy, or policies that clearly don't work. In the UK we still await a definitive legal decision on whether or not the Govt has the right to send asylum seekers to Rwanda for processing, a policy so daft when I first read about it I thought it was a joke. Only it ain't.

I agree it sounds morally fine to declare New York or anywhere else a 'Sanctuary city' but that is only half the cake, the rest being the reality of housing people, processing their claims and doing so in a fair way.

I think in the US you have a paralysis of decision making, overlaid by a degree of racism on the part of Republicans; it doesn't look like in practical terms there is a single coherent policy, largely because State and Federal governments are divided and bickering with each other.

What should the policy be? When there is a labour shortage, it is obvious, but allowing free movement of people seems to have become transformed from a key component of freedom itself, to a toxic social issue, as it was used by Nigel Farage in the Brexit debate to demonize immigrants.



I don't know what the policy should be, but it shouldn't have been this:

Biden angrily opposed lifting Trump immigration bans but caved to left’s demands: book

//nypost.com/2023/09/05/biden-opposed-lifting-trump-immigration-bans-but-caved-to-lefts-demands/

I think the main problem is this and its brought up in the article:

[Biden] said that voters would never appreciate the difference between refugees fleeing tyranny and economic migrants from Central American. Since he was already getting pulverized on immigration, boosting the cap would just make things worse,” the book says.

Going back to the Obama administration because he had to deal with this situation too, I think word spread that if a person crosses the border illegally and asks for asylum, it will help them jump to the front of the line of the immigration process. But there is a difference between an immigrant, a migrant, and a refugee. But now it seems those differences no longer apply, along with the reasons for asylum, and we are treating everyone as if they're a refugee. When that simply isn't the case. Because let’s be honest, not all those migrants that have been coming since the beginning of the Biden administration are going to qualify for permanent residence and are going to have be sent back. Since they are spread all over the country, that’s going to be another problem.

As for the addressing the labor shortage, since the crisis began, many people have been calling for this to happen:

www.nytimes.com/2023/08/29/business/dealbook/ceos-new-york-migrants.html

"The C.E.O.s also said that immigration control was “clearly” a federal issue, siding with Hochul in calling for federal funding for educational, housing, security and health care services for migrants.

They also supported Hochul’s and Adams’s requests for faster processing of asylum applications and work permits, since newly arrived migrants must otherwise wait 180 days before they can work legally."

But still no word from the federal government if this will happen.

While I believe in freedom of movement within a country and between them, there should be some restriction of movement when it comes to country’s borders. By no means am I saying, “Build the Wall”. Just fix the patches that already exist.

[Stavros]

What is depressing is not the absence of a solution, but the accumulation of obstacles to a solution. We can agree that there should be a sharp distinction between economic migrants and asylum seekers -where there are job vacancies, it makes sense to offer immigrants a legal entry procedure, if that does help with the job situation. Just as the processing of claims of asylum ought not to take more than 180 days where in the UK it can now take two to three years or more.

How did these conditions become unmanageable? Mostly through deliberate policies. In countries run by dictators, the solution to protest is simple -get rid of them, and if you can't kill them -as they have done in Syria, expel them, with the figures running into the millions. Russia, Syria, Myanmar have all given people they don't like a stark choice: die here, or leave.

Then there are those who exploit this for financial and political gain -viz Turkey and the scam that sent refugees from Syria to Germany -the people smugglers got their cut, the Turkish Govt got its slice of the pie from the EU. Central American countries with rampant crime and corruption could not care less how many people leave, they don't want them anyway. Again, people make money trafficking migrants north of the border.

But then in the domestic scene, if you have Govt that is more concerned with tax cuts for the rich with cuts to public services, the system begins to stall, cases mount up, while the failure of those who could do it, to create more affordable housing, to fund the public education service people want, creates its own tensions in communities that say they can't cope with new arrivals, because they can't -and that was the whole point. Because most of the tax cutting Conservatives are also racists, or play the race card to demonize immigrants of all categories without putting into place a 'cold turkey' plan whereby the new arrivals are rounded up and sent back to where they came from, if it can be done legally, which on the high seas it can not.

Until the domestic scene is properly funded, and clear and efficient, ie fast procedures put in place to process immigrants and asylum seekers, this problem will not go away. In the US you have the problem at the Federal level which is the hostility of Congress to workable solutions, but often because one party is voting on sectarian lines rather than in terms of what a good and affordable policy might be- right now you can't even agree a budget for your military for reasons that have nothing to do with military needs or policy, and everything to do with an attack on what are perceived to be 'liberal' provisions for service personnel.

In the UK we have had 13 years of 'austerity' which has cut so much money from the agencies that process immigration, that it now takes years to deal with it, while the Home Office wants to process asylum seekers in Rwanda, as daft an idea as ever existed.

But it reveals the collapse of a rational approach to a problem that does have a solution, but not in one place. Chaos in Libya enables traffickers to load the boats that go to Lampedusa where a small island cannot cope -it was a relatively poor and deprived place before this business took off and for all his promises, Berlusconi did nothing practical to solve the problem.

I don't envy Biden or Harris trying to get to grips with this. And the problem is made worse by the shabby antics of De Santis and Abbott who traffic men, women and children for political gain rather than as a solution to the wider problem. Unless, and until a new approach is made to both immigration and the funding and staffing of local services, and foreign governments forced to take control of their own borders, this will not go away.

[Stavros]

Don't Rush with your Hosannas just yet, for we are now informed there are Good Jews, Bad Jews, and Jews Who Nose Nuffink-

"Former President Donald Trump (https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/donald-trump) marked the start of the Jewish High Holy Days with a fiery missive on Sunday reminding his followers that “liberal Jews” voted to “destroy America & Israel” through their support of Joe Biden."
Trump Says On Rosh Hashanah That ‘Liberal Jews’ Voted To ‘Destroy America’ (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-says-rosh-hashanah-liberal-114641345.html)

"Elon Musk has accused George Soros’s foundation of wanting to destroy western civilisation, as the tech tycoon prepares to meet the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu (https://www.theguardian.com/world/benjamin-netanyahu), in California."
Elon Musk hits out at Soros foundation before meeting Israel’s Netanyahu | Elon Musk | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/18/elon-musk-accuses-george-soros-foundation-of-wanting-to-destroy-western-civilisation)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The more the MAGA King And Domestic Terrorist Leader Donald Trump attacks Special Prosecutor Jack Smith,Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and DC Judge Tayna Chutkan,the bigger the hole he dug for himself gets,because everything he says in public can be used against him in court.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Fact Checking: Everything Donald-MAGA King-Trump said in the interview on Meet The Press with Kristen Welker is a lie. Another prime example of him being a pathological liar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw_enJa4PkQ

[Stavros]

I recall that in the past there were 'Southern Gentlemen' in Congress who would be passing legislation or attacking Gay Rights during the day, and 'entertain' young men at night.

Lauren Boebert, given her latest 'outing' in Colorado, seems to think it is one thing to attack 'Woke' culture, LGBTQ rights and so on, then reach for the 'Lunchbox' of her date who owns clubs that give work to the very same people she thinks are destroying her country.

Given the scurrilous claims about her past as a 'model' on sugardaddy something-or-other and those photos and that abortion, I suppose you could say, Ms Boebert has both an interest in Rod and Tackle, being possessed of Rack and Form -?

Lauren Boebert's date from groping video owns drag-friendly bar (thepinknews.com) (https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/09/17/lauren-boebert-beetlejuice-groping-video-quinn-gallagher/)

Disclaimer -I do not know if the material on this site is legit

It Appears Rep. Lauren Boebert Had an 'Explore Talent' Modeling/Actor Page and YIKES (politicalflare.com) (https://www.politicalflare.com/2021/09/it-appears-rep-lauren-boebert-had-an-explore-talent-modeling-actor-page-and-yikes/)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Trump's Instincts: A second term of the MAGA King and Domestic Terrorist Leader Donald Trump,will be a hell of alot worse than his first term because he's shown who he is,and what he's willing to do to stay in power,which includes spreading lies about election fraud,claiming he won the election and causing an insurrection by riling up his supporters to storm the capitol to stop the counting of votes. And also shown he is a threat to democracy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhr0TC4WLK4

[Stavros]

I found this on yahoo with regard to Michael Wolff's book on Murdoch

"According to a New York Times review (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/19/books/review/the-fall-michael-wolff.html), Wolff describes the Fox-host-turned-Trump-surrogate Kimberly Guilfoyle “settl[ing] into a private plane on the way to [Roger] Ailes’s funeral”, adding: “What was also clear, if you wanted it to be, was that she was wearing no underwear.”
Key takeaways from Michael Wolff’s book on Murdoch, Fox and US politics (yahoo.com) (https://uk.yahoo.com/style/key-takeaways-michael-wolff-book-090045347.html)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FslTpwcX0AAUm10?format=jpg&name=900x900

The Guest is yet to Come...?

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Strong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhYE0vnV_Bg

[Stavros]

In 1957 a feature film was released in the USSR, called The Cranes are Flying (dir. Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957). It is one of the worst films I have ever seen, so I am not surprised there is a Crane in Congress who is so offensive he should be 'flying tonight'. And no surprises he is buddies with Matthew Gaetz, who now appears to be Trump's deputy leader, indicating just how desperate this so-called party has become.

A force for change, or change by force? And with no regard for what the American people want...

"“He encouraged the audience to watch a speech by a right-wing pastor who blamed cultural change on a group of German Jewish philosophers and condemned Barack Obama for having a ‘homosexual agenda.'
”“If we don’t wake up,” Crane said, according to the Post, “if we don’t study what they’re doing, and if we don’t put people in influential positions that understand what this war is all about, what they’re trying to do and have and have the courage to call it out, we’re going to lose this country.”

In August, while standing next to Donald Trump at a campaign rally, Congressman Gaetz said, “Mr. President, I cannot stand these people that are destroying our country. They are opening our borders. They are weaponizing our federal law enforcement against patriotic Americans who love this nation as we should.”
“But we know that only through force do we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C. And so to all my friends here in Iowa, when you see them come for this man, know that they are coming for our movement and they are coming for all of us.”"
'He holds the line': Gaetz praises GOP congressman who echoes his call for change 'through force' (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/he-holds-the-line-gaetz-praises-gop-congressman-who-echoes-his-call-for-change-through-force/ar-AA1h7F1U?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=541ffa1b353b4724a723b7bef00a195f&ei=71)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

This is the GOP: A political party that embraced a charlatan and domestic terrorist leader like the MAGA King Donald Trump,and enabled his erratic,despicable and disgusting behavior for over 7 years and does his bidding by interfering in criminal investigations of their leader,launching a fraudulent impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. And is willing to shutdown the government to get their way,and don't give a damn about their constituents. Kevin-Spineless Coward-McCarthy is the Speaker In Name Only,the real speaker of the House Of Representatives is the four time indicted and twice impeached MAGA King Donald Trump https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnQUxhJ-2eo

[blackchubby38]

I guess all it took for something to be done was for Jerry Nadler and AOC to be heckled by protesters.

U.S. Will Allow Nearly 500,000 Venezuelan Migrants to Work Legally

http://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/nyregion/biden-adams-migrants.htmlby protesters.

Mexico makes agreement with US to deport migrants from its border cities as one mayor warns his city is at ‘a breaking point’

www.cnn.com/2023/09/23/us/mexico-us-border-patrol-agreement-migration-surge/index.html


There is something I have been wanting to mention in regards to Governor Abbott and his sending of busload of migrants to Democratic cities. Yes it was a political stunt, one with a racial component to it. It was no coincidence that initially 3 out of the 4 cities that the busses were sent to had black mayors. Philadelphia being the lone exception. If I'm not mistaken, Los Angeles didn't start receiving migrants until after Karen Bass was elected mayor last year. It was also a stunt that at times was inhumane. Like when a bus dropped off migrants in front of Kamala Harris' residence in the middle of a freezing night in December.

Having said that, his bussing of migrants is not the sole reason why NYC finds itself in the middle of this crisis.


New York City’s not-so-sudden migrant surge, explained

Why New York City is struggling to house thousands of arriving migrants.

www.vox.com/policy/2023/9/26/23875580/new-york-city-migrant-crisis-influx-eric-adams


Like I before, no state should have to bear the brunt of this country's failed immigration policies. Especially the border states. What Abbott's stunt did was focus the media and the nation's attention on what those states have had to deal with in the past. It also showed what happens when ideals and values collide with reality. It all good to say that everyone that enters a city has a right to shelter. But compassion can only go far if you don't have the means to provide it.

[Stavros]

Blackchubby you make some good points, some of which are as applicable to other large cities, be they in the US (San Francisco seems to be a model) or London where house/accommodation price inflation means that low paid workers, students and certainly new arrivals struggle to find a place to live that does not take 30% of their income. How an immigrant who may have nothing is supposed to make it I don’t know. A relative in Toronto being removed due to demolition is facing a staggering rise in costs as that city has not stopped expanding for years now. But if cities don’t have the funds or spend it on other things, or there is a political prejudice against City owned, low cost accommodation, how can cities absorb any new arrivals? And when those long term residents on lower rents enable landlords to raise the rent to ball breaking levels?

I think urban living needs a re-think in terms spatial density, architecture, above all costs. It just seems to be out of control and is not limited to NYC. In London also there is a campaign against Ultra Low Emissions Zones expanding out of the centre but a campaign which I believe is part of an extremist response to climate change and immigration - they claim London air is not polluted where it is shown that ULEZ zones have reduced it, but it remains a problem elsewhere- and I assume NYC has a post 9/11 pollution problem too.

Out of interest- the Bronx in the 1970s and 1980s had a terrible reputation for crime, poverty and so on, but would I be right in thinking Fort Apache is being turned into Fort Amici if you got the dollars?

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Matt-Perverted Creep And Pedophile-Gaetz makes good on his threat to file a motion to vacate againist the Speaker In Name Only Kevin-Spineless Coward-McCarthy for reaching a bipartisan deal with House Democrats,to the keep government open for 45 days and averting a shutdown. And the MAGA Caucus don't have the votes to elect a new speaker of the House Of Representatives,and the Democrats shouldn't help Kevin-Spineless Coward-McCarthy keep his speakership,because he has proving he can't be trusted,and doesn't have any control over his caucus and is doing the bidding of his leader Donald Trump. Meanwhile the MAGA King,Domestic Terrorist Leader,Charlatan and Fraudster Donald Trump was in a Manhattan Courtroom for the first day of New York Fraud Case against him,attacking New York Attorney General Letitia James and the judge,the more he talks the more legal trouble he gets himself into.

[Stavros]

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has issues an important statement, being one of the 'Elder Statesmen' of Unionist Politics in Northern Ireland-

" "A united Ireland won’t happen in my lifetime"...
" “I think the people of Northern Ireland will continue to vote to remain part of the sixth largest economy in the world. And to be part of a nation that has influence right across the globe.” " (my emphasis in bold).
Ireland won’t be reunited in my lifetime, says DUP leader (yahoo.com) (https://uk.style.yahoo.com/ireland-won-t-reunited-lifetime-123631767.html)

Out of touch, and probably out to lunch. But does it sum up, perfectly, how 'Unionists' see themselves and their place in the UK/the World...?

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The MAGA Party has nine candidates who are running to become the new speaker of the House Of Representatives ,seven of them objected to certify the 2020 Election because their leader lost. And just like Jim Jordan,the other eight candidates will come up short because they don't have the votes,and the Democrats aren't going to help them. The MAGA Party brought all of this on themselves,when Matt-PCAP-Gaetz filed a motion to vacate and kicked the Spineless Coward Kevin McCarthy out of the speakership role. And the clown ship in Congress will continue,and if the government ends up shutting down on Friday November 17th,the MAGA Party will be solely responsible. And play a role in them losing the House Of Representatives and the Democrats becoming the majority in January 2025.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The Last Sane Republican: Mitt Romney. One of the few republicans who voted to certify the 2020 Election. And also voted to impeach Donald Trump for his role in the Wedmesday January 6th 2021 Attack on the US Capitol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2zvX2jJC48

[KnightHawk 2.0]

No sympathy for the self-proclaimed constitutional law expert Jenna Ellis,who was one of the conspirators who tried overturn election results in Georgia. Nobody's buying her crocodile tears or fake ass apology. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTuo4y8GIHw

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Hakeem Jeffries Speech: A phenomenal speech that shows contrast between
House Democrats who are doing the work of their constituents by protecting Abortion Rights,LGBTQ Rights,Voting Rights,Social Security And Medicare. While the MAGA Party elected Mike Johnson who is anti-abortion,election denier and a conspiracy theorist to be the speaker of the house of representatives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFw9kcPEfuw

[Stavros]

Hakeem Jeffries Speech: A phenomenal speech that shows contrast between
House Democrats who are doing the work of their constituents by protecting Abortion Rights,LGBTQ Rights,Voting Rights,Social Security And Medicare. While the MAGA Party elected Mike Johnson who is anti-abortion,election denier and a conspiracy theorist to be the speaker of the house of representatives.

What we are seeing is a form of existential politics that we have heard from people like Netanyahu in Israel, and Donald Trump in the US. It presents politics as an Either/Or, Binary dilemma: either you are with us, or you are against us. Either you support Israel or you are against it. Either you believe Trump is the saviour of America, or America is lost.

On one level, this is Leninism, the curse of radical politics: no debate, no critique, just obedience to the leadership at all times and on all levels. In the US this is how Bannon and other figures on 'the Right' have studied what Lenin achieved, but have also taken cues from the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci and his arguments about cultural 'direction' (Dirigere) or Hegemony, in which all political communication is shaped by singular concerns intended to produce an end, which is total power.

What this means is that, for example in Israel's case, Negotiation is Appeasement, Compromise is Surrender, and Peace Treaties a Betrayal. This is why Sharon and Netanyahu opposed the 1993 Treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, but in doing so established a devastating Either/Or, Existential structure which suggests, in theory or practice, that if 'The Arabs' are opposed to Israel, then Israel has no choice but to remove the threat, using violence/war if necessary.

In the Republican Party, the decision to move away from a co-operative to a combative relationship with the Democrats, in which the Democrats became the Enemy, with whom there could be no Negotiations, no Agreement, no Compromise, has created a Leninist dynamic in the Party which, as with the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks in the early 20th century, means that it is not enough to be a member of the Republican Party in Congress, one must demonstrate an absolute commitment to Donald Trump as the leader and the source of Authority, the hegemonic totem of the Party. No Trump = No Party. It means more time is taken up purifying the Party than dealing with day-to-day issues. Impeaching the President on bogus grounds is more important than tackling the homeless on the streets, to take one example.

And while the House may elect someone who campaigned against the Democratic outcome of the 2020 Election, in effect, campaigned then and now against the American voters, in the Senate, one single member, Tuberville, has prevented the appointment of the head of the US Navy even as US Naval warships are parked off the coast of Israel, while he and others have blocked the appointment of numerous US Ambassadors -why? Not because of some national security threat, but because Tuberville doesn't think the US military should have service policies regarding LGBTQ+ personnel, doesn't think women in the services should have abortions if pregnant, and so on. The tail is wagging the dog, and the dog is barking.

Dogma, doctrinal issues, and no regard for the wider interests of the constituents who elected them -an obsession with Trump and his bogus agenda. It doesn't concern Mr Johnson if the majority of American women want to make their own choices on their pregnancy, when he can do it for them, based on his dogmatic views; just as it doesn't matter what American parents want for their LGBTQ+ child, the Dogma will decide, and so on.

It is the rot at the root of democratic politics, and leads to the end of politics as a relationship shaped by open debate and decision making. It is not just happening in Israel and the US, and remains the greatest threat to world peace, because if 'we' cannot maintain our own democratic institutions and way of life, we go the way of Russia, China, North Korea, or the corrupt governments where narcotics and money are all that matter.

That said, there are elections in November, and next year too, so maybe the US will walk back from the brink, though it seems to me the Republican Party is a corpse with an orange wig, waiting to be interred in the graveyard of retarded political losers.

Election denier, climate skeptic, anti-abortion: seven beliefs of new US House speaker Mike Johnson (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/election-denier-climate-skeptic-anti-abortion-seven-beliefs-of-new-us-house-speaker-mike-johnson/ar-AA1iQpOs?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=85659a213bea40118a279e6b60bbe59b&ei=109)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

What we are seeing is a form of existential politics that we have heard from people like Netanyahu in Israel, and Donald Trump in the US. It presents politics as an Either/Or, Binary dilemma: either you are with us, or you are against us. Either you support Israel or you are against it. Either you believe Trump is the saviour of America, or America is lost.

On one level, this is Leninism, the curse of radical politics: no debate, no critique, just obedience to the leadership at all times and on all levels. In the US this is how Bannon and other figures on 'the Right' have studied what Lenin achieved, but have also taken cues from the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci and his arguments about cultural 'direction' (Dirigere) or Hegemony, in which all political communication is shaped by singular concerns intended to produce an end, which is total power.

What this means is that, for example in Israel's case, Negotiation is Appeasement, Compromise is Surrender, and Peace Treaties a Betrayal. This is why Sharon and Netanyahu opposed the 1993 Treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, but in doing so established a devastating Either/Or, Existential structure which suggests, in theory or practice, that if 'The Arabs' are opposed to Israel, then Israel has no choice but to remove the threat, using violence/war if necessary.

In the Republican Party, the decision to move away from a co-operative to a combative relationship with the Democrats, in which the Democrats became the Enemy, with whom there could be no Negotiations, no Agreement, no Compromise, has created a Leninist dynamic in the Party which, as with the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks in the early 20th century, means that it is not enough to be a member of the Republican Party in Congress, one must demonstrate an absolute commitment to Donald Trump as the leader and the source of Authority, the hegemonic totem of the Party. No Trump = No Party. It means more time is taken up purifying the Party than dealing with day-to-day issues. Impeaching the President on bogus grounds is more important than tackling the homeless on the streets, to take one example.

And while the House may elect someone who campaigned against the Democratic outcome of the 2020 Election, in effect, campaigned then and now against the American voters, in the Senate, one single member, Tuberville, has prevented the appointment of the head of the US Navy even as US Naval warships are parked off the coast of Israel, while he and others have blocked the appointment of numerous US Ambassadors -why? Not because of some national security threat, but because Tuberville doesn't think the US military should have service policies regarding LGBTQ+ personnel, doesn't think women in the services should have abortions if pregnant, and so on. The tail is wagging the dog, and the dog is barking.

Dogma, doctrinal issues, and no regard for the wider interests of the constituents who elected them -an obsession with Trump and his bogus agenda. It doesn't concern Mr Johnson if the majority of American women want to make their own choices on their pregnancy, when he can do it for them, based on his dogmatic views; just as it doesn't matter what American parents want for their LGBTQ+ child, the Dogma will decide, and so on.

It is the rot at the root of democratic politics, and leads to the end of politics as a relationship shaped by open debate and decision making. It is not just happening in Israel and the US, and remains the greatest threat to world peace, because if 'we' cannot maintain our own democratic institutions and way of life, we go the way of Russia, China, North Korea, or the corrupt governments where narcotics and money are all that matter.

That said, there are elections in November, and next year too, so maybe the US will walk back from the brink, though it seems to me the Republican Party is a corpse with an orange wig, waiting to be interred in the graveyard of retarded political losers.

Election denier, climate skeptic, anti-abortion: seven beliefs of new US House speaker Mike Johnson (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/election-denier-climate-skeptic-anti-abortion-seven-beliefs-of-new-us-house-speaker-mike-johnson/ar-AA1iQpOs?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=85659a213bea40118a279e6b60bbe59b&ei=109)Well said and completely agree Stavros. The new speaker of the House Of Representatives Mike Johnson has some really messed up and despicable beliefs.

[Stavros]

"Questioned about comments and actions deemed by many to be homophobic, the new Republican US House speaker, Mike Johnson (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/mike-johnson) of Louisiana, told Fox News his worldview was: “Go pick up a Bible.”"
‘Go pick up a Bible’: Speaker Mike Johnson defends anti-LGBTQ+ views | Mike Johnson | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/27/mike-johnson-christian-bible-lgbtq-abortion-rights)

I would rather pick up something else, mate, if it's all the same with you...

P p p penguin chocolate bar advert from 1979 with real penguins - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaJtnOn7cNY)

[Stavros]

Heather Cox Richardson on the election of Mr Johnson, "the least-experienced speaker in more than a century. "
October 25, 2023 - by Heather Cox Richardson (substack.com) (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-25-2023)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Don't be fooled by No Labels. A vote for a so-called Third Party Candidate is a vote for the MAGA King Donald-PLCPC-Trump to return to power. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On6wt1d9iok&lc=UgyyJeuO0kf4_OVRdgt4AaABAg.9wYc8JOP4lL9wYqtZNBv uN

[Stavros]

One of the curious facts of modern life, is how virile young men suffer memory loss when they appear in Court, as happened when Donald Trump Junior appeared in the civil trial in NYC.

He has a degree in Business, but doesn't know much about it, least of all accounting.

He signed all those documents, but seems never to have asked what it was that he was signing, thus
" accountants were responsible for ”[putting] together a document of this nature” and denied taking part in the preparation of a statement of financial condition from 2017."
Don Jr. Has a Conveniently Fuzzy Memory of Trump Org Finances: “I Leave It to My CPAs” | Vanity Fair (https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/11/don-jr-conveniently-fuzzy-memory-trump-org-finances)

And yet he signed it. Would he sign any document involving millions of dollars and not ask 'What am I signing here?' -and more to the point, what does a Chief or any Executive do when they go to the office?


Don't remember. Not me, guv. Anyone put a dollar on Eric and Ivana Marie taking the same position?

What a great job! Executive indeed: wake up, shower and shave, get dressed, maybe a 'power breakfast', chauffeur driven car to the office, and then what? Sit back while the accountants do all the work, then deny any involvement -other than those pesky signatures, which I believe in Law means confers responsibility on the same people who can't remember a damn thing, and it seems, don't much care either.

But they love screaming at the press, and spending all that luvly money.

[Stavros]

Where do all those Communists graduating from Harvard and Yale go, what jobs do they get?

Whatever, Trump is going to set up an American Academy, free of charge....and the academic credentials?

DJT- 'I have a degree in Business Administration from Trump's American Academy'
Judge-'How would you define book-keeping?'
DJT- 'Er, gimme a minute...shelves?'

Trump floats idea for ‘American Academy’ years after his Trump University scandal cost him $25m (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-floats-idea-american-academy-202322662.html)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

One of the curious facts of modern life, is how virile young men suffer memory loss when they appear in Court, as happened when Donald Trump Junior appeared in the civil trial in NYC.

He has a degree in Business, but doesn't know much about it, least of all accounting.

He signed all those documents, but seems never to have asked what it was that he was signing, thus
" accountants were responsible for ”[putting] together a document of this nature” and denied taking part in the preparation of a statement of financial condition from 2017."
Don Jr. Has a Conveniently Fuzzy Memory of Trump Org Finances: “I Leave It to My CPAs” | Vanity Fair (https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/11/don-jr-conveniently-fuzzy-memory-trump-org-finances)

And yet he signed it. Would he sign any document involving millions of dollars and not ask 'What am I signing here?' -and more to the point, what does a Chief or any Executive do when they go to the office?


Don't remember. Not me, guv. Anyone put a dollar on Eric and Ivana Marie taking the same position?

What a great job! Executive indeed: wake up, shower and shave, get dressed, maybe a 'power breakfast', chauffeur driven car to the office, and then what? Sit back while the accountants do all the work, then deny any involvement -other than those pesky signatures, which I believe in Law means confers responsibility on the same people who can't remember a damn thing, and it seems, don't much care either.

But they love screaming at the press, and spending all that luvly money.Not surprising at all Donald-Loudmouthed Jackass-Trump Jr pulled the old he can't remember defense in court,his defense isn't going to fly and will be blown to smithereens by New York State Attorney General Letitia James. Donald-LMJA-Trump Jr. knows he's screwed.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

He Is Dangerous: Over last eight years The MAGA King Donald Trump has shown who he is,by hijacking and corrupting the Republican Party and reshaping it into his own image,and being elected president with foreign help,and spent his entire term stoking fear and division and hateful rhetoric againist anybody who don't believe his despicable views,or anyone who dared to stand up to him,and embracing authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jung Un. And his enablers in Congress and Senate enabling his erratic behavior,and spread false claims about the 2020 Presidential Election,and incited an insurrection on Wednesday January 6th 2021 to stop the certification of the election,in an attempt to remain in power. And a second Trump Term would be a hell of alot worse than the first,because it will be the end of Democracy and the rise of Authoritarianism under a Trump presidency. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qSXl-EUsBc

[Stavros]

Surprise Surprise! Eric Trump can't remember stuff, and anyway he left the financial statements to the others. As for those emails and the signatures....maybe someone in his office wrote them. Did either of those sons of the almighty ever ask how much money was coming in and where it came from? They sure as hell like spending it. In the UK Executive Officers are responsible for the conduct of the Company, I assume this is also true in the US -isn't that one reason Executive Officers are paid millions a year? Or is the case that they have decided the trial is a waste of time and they can say anything they like as the guilty verdict is a foregone conclusion, and they will spend the next 5 years in appeals?

Eric Trump testifies he wasn’t aware of dad’s financial statements | AP News (https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-jr-fraud-trial-c2f546361ce3b5f0bdcf2360320c6060)

[MrFanti]

"Should the U.S. Stop Paying for the U.N.?"
https://www.newsweek.com/are-we-really-ready-live-world-without-un-opinion-1840836
https://www.newsweek.com/rep-luna-its-time-defund-un-heres-where-start-opinion-1840266

[Stavros]

"Should the U.S. Stop Paying for the U.N.?"
https://www.newsweek.com/are-we-really-ready-live-world-without-un-opinion-1840836
https://www.newsweek.com/rep-luna-its-time-defund-un-heres-where-start-opinion-1840266

Nothing new here. Trump wants it gone, Israel wants it gone, and those States strong enough to survive on their own probably don't care. But since States have been organizing themselves into international unions since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. if the UN were thrown out of the US by Trump, or the US left the Union, or any perm of these things, it would not take long for States to reconvene the UN under another name, as the UN succeeded the League of Nations, the League of Nations succeeded the Concert of Europe, and so on.

So some mentally lame American doesn't like the decisions the UN makes -and blames the UN not the members voting for or against. Israel will probably achieve its long standing objective to remove UNRWA from Gaza, while the fate of 4 million Palestinians hangs in the balance, subject to the incoherent 'strategy' of Likud and its mass murdering leader Netanyahu, whose alliance with Hamas brought to Israel yet another cycle of violence, a dire situation the UN could not prevent, but one expects the UN will station 'peace keeping' forces in Gaza, as they did in Southern Lebanon, and so on and so on, a bandage on a suppurating wound.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Surprise Surprise! Eric Trump can't remember stuff, and anyway he left the financial statements to the others. As for those emails and the signatures....maybe someone in his office wrote them. Did either of those sons of the almighty ever ask how much money was coming in and where it came from? They sure as hell like spending it. In the UK Executive Officers are responsible for the conduct of the Company, I assume this is also true in the US -isn't that one reason Executive Officers are paid millions a year? Or is the case that they have decided the trial is a waste of time and they can say anything they like as the guilty verdict is a foregone conclusion, and they will spend the next 5 years in appeals?

Eric Trump testifies he wasn’t aware of dad’s financial statements | AP News (https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-jr-fraud-trial-c2f546361ce3b5f0bdcf2360320c6060)That is the same defense his brother Donald-LMJA-Trump jr used when testified. Eric-Dopey Assclown-Trump defense will also get blown to smithereens.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

US Representative Rashida Tlaib accuses President Joe Biden of supporting genocide againist Palestinians,and repeated her calls for President Biden to back a ceasefire in the almost a month conflict. She also said The American People will not forget,Biden support ceasefire now or don't count us in 2024. Mr.President the american people are not with you on this one. We will remember in 2024. I wonder how President Joe Biden is going to respond to her remarks,and what is he going to do. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-representative-tlaib-accuses-biden-of-supporting-genocide-against-palestinians/ar-AA1jnWM0?ocid=NL_ENUS_A1_00010101_1_1

[Stavros]

It is a pity that people like Rashida Tlaib are allowing their emotional reaction to replace a more rational approach to a conflict that is now over 100 years old. It would have been better for her to make a case for what happens next rather than add to the litany of grief and anger that has erupted since the 7th of October. She might ask what on earth Hamas intended with its sickening violence, and may or may not be aware of division in the movement which I suspect will see it splinter and become a spent force in Gaza, though I don't doubt some militants will regroup and rebrand.

The US has taken sides with Israel since 1967, a fact Americans must deal with, but deal with through the democratic process. It cannot be right that such tensions threaten the security of Jews and Muslims in their own homes, when the focus right now must be on the negotiations required to release the surviving hostages. The future looks bleak right now, but if Rashida Tlaib and other members of the House and Senate were to take a more inclusive view, they might understand the predicament Biden and Blinken are in, and also if they want to, make political capital out of the fact that we are living, on the one hand, with a century of denial of Palestinian rights, and in just the last decade the disastrous Middle Eastern policy of Donald Trump whose uncritical view of Israeli policy, his endorsement of Israel's illegal annexation of Syrian territory -as blatant a crime as Russia's annexation of Eastern Ukraine, also supported by Trump- has fed into the nihilistic despair we saw on the 7th October.

Together, Netanyahu and Trump strutted around the region as if they owned it. It may be the case that they acknowledged power has shifted from Egypt, Syria and Iraq to the Gulf and Saudi Arabia, but Kushner's business deals, designed to protect his family's investments in Israel and the West Bank, were never going to create a new Middle East as long as they concluded the Palestinians are powerless and irrelevant.

Nobody can be indifferent to Palestinian rights now, but finding a way to achieve them will require sound minds to step back,stop the shouting, and start the talking.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

It is a pity that people like Rashida Tlaib are allowing their emotional reaction to replace a more rational approach to a conflict that is now over 100 years old. It would have been better for her to make a case for what happens next rather than add to the litany of grief and anger that has erupted since the 7th of October. She might ask what on earth Hamas intended with its sickening violence, and may or may not be aware of division in the movement which I suspect will see it splinter and become a spent force in Gaza, though I don't doubt some militants will regroup and rebrand.

The US has taken sides with Israel since 1967, a fact Americans must deal with, but deal with through the democratic process. It cannot be right that such tensions threaten the security of Jews and Muslims in their own homes, when the focus right now must be on the negotiations required to release the surviving hostages. The future looks bleak right now, but if Rashida Tlaib and other members of the House and Senate were to take a more inclusive view, they might understand the predicament Biden and Blinken are in, and also if they want to, make political capital out of the fact that we are living, on the one hand, with a century of denial of Palestinian rights, and in just the last decade the disastrous Middle Eastern policy of Donald Trump whose uncritical view of Israeli policy, his endorsement of Israel's illegal annexation of Syrian territory -as blatant a crime as Russia's annexation of Eastern Ukraine, also supported by Trump- has fed into the nihilistic despair we saw on the 7th October.

Together, Netanyahu and Trump strutted around the region as if they owned it. It may be the case that they acknowledged power has shifted from Egypt, Syria and Iraq to the Gulf and Saudi Arabia, but Kushner's business deals, designed to protect his family's investments in Israel and the West Bank, were never going to create a new Middle East as long as they concluded the Palestinians are powerless and irrelevant.

Nobody can be indifferent to Palestinian rights now, but finding a way to achieve them will require sound minds to step back,stop the shouting, and start the talking.Completely agree 100% with your post.

[Stavros]

The Guardian has a useful round up of last nights election results in the US, though I expect there are better reviews in the US media.

One notes the failure of a mother of one of the Uvalde, Texas victims to get elected in that city, is this a comment on Texas in general? Maybe she was not a persuasive candidate?

Yusef Salaam elected in Harlem -be interested to hear from Donald J, Trump who once took out a full page ad in the NYC press calling for the execution of the 'Central Park Five'. Guess that makes Trump the Central Perk Jerk.

And Abortion....is this the tide turning against the GOP in 2024?

Abortion rights and historic wins: key takeaways from the US’s off-year elections | US politics | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/08/us-elections-2023-abortion-rights-virginia-kentucky)

[Stavros]

Why do Republicans like Vivek Ramaswamy have a problem with Tik-Tok? Isn't it just 90 second videos of people showing off? Lipsyncing to some pop music and stuff like that?

[blackchubby38]

Why do Republicans like Vivek Ramaswamy have a problem with Tik-Tok? Isn't it just 90 second videos of people showing off? Lipsyncing to some pop music and stuff like that?

Its not only Republicans who have a problem with Tik-Tok, some Democrats have an issue with it as well. I think its one of the only few things that both parties can agree on. There have been Congressional hearings on the matter.

The two reasons both parties have a problem with the app.

1. Its a Chinese owned company and there is the fear of who has access to people's personal information.

2. The negative impact that apps like Tik-Tok, Instagram, Facebook, etc has had on teenagers.

[Stavros]

Its not only Republicans who have a problem with Tik-Tok, some Democrats have an issue with it as well. I think its one of the only few things that both parties can agree on. There have been Congressional hearings on the matter.

The two reasons both parties have a problem with the app.

1. Its a Chinese owned company and there is the fear of who has access to people's personal information.

2. The negative impact that apps like Tik-Tok, Instagram, Facebook, etc has had on teenagers.

Thanks, Blackchubby for the clarification. Unfortunately, it only increases the confusion.

1) The obsession with things Chinese seems to me to be part of a broader problem with global supply chains, as exposed by the Covid Pandemic. It appeared the world had become too dependent on China as a manufacturer given it is also beyond political control. I understand the anxieties with regard to China's claims on Taiwan, and its behaviour in the Pacific where it has taken control of disputed islands, and clashed with the Philippines, but see the sanctions on Huawei as showing concern more with China's global influence rather than being a technological issue.

This is because in terms of people snooping on your computer or your phone, Israel poses the greater threat through the Pegasus technology that has already been sold and used around the world, thus

"Pegasus is military-grade surveillance software created by NSO Group, a company headquartered in the district of Tel Aviv, and sold to foreign government agencies. Developed by former Israeli intelligence operatives, Pegasus gained a reputation as the “world’s most powerful cyberweapon (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/magazine/nso-group-israel-spyware.html)” for its ability to infiltrate a target’s smartphone without requiring the user to click a link to activate the malware. Once installed, Pegasus can collect all the device’s data undetected."
How Israel’s Pegasus Spyware Stoked the Surveillance Debate | Council on Foreign Relations (cfr.org) (https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/how-israels-pegasus-spyware-stoked-surveillance-debate)

Needless to say, Israel has not, and probably never will be sanctioned by the US or any other Govt for its 'useful' technology given that most Govts probably already have it and use it.

2) Is the hysteria over tik-tok any different from social media in general that is 'warping' the minds of 'our kids'? From computer games to online porn, online gambling, body fascism on Instagram etc I wonder if this is just flavour of the month stuff and cannot take it seriously.

I am not a user of tik-tok and admit the little I have seen is made up of short videos of people jumping around their bedroom pretending to be a global pop superstar, or in the case of 'Hungangels', walking up and down a street or a beach while looking sexy, and there is nothing wrong about that.

But this made me laugh this morning. I don't really know much about Taylor Swift. I know what she looks like but have never googled her or YouTubed here so I have never heard her music, which doesn't interest me. But I do note this hysterical response from a Republican who blames her for their election losses this week, even though all she did was encourage people to vote.

So I leave you with this, and wonder, can tik-tok really be a threat to the American Way of Life? To Family, God and Country?

"Far-right commentators are putting the blame for the GOP's major election losses (https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-democrats-trump-2024-election-problem-abortion-suburbs-israel-gop-2023-11?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=yahoo.com) during Tuesday's races on one celeb: Taylor Swift. (https://www.insider.com/taylor-swift-songs-most-popular-hits-streaming-spotify-2023-11?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=yahoo.com)On Tuesday, the pop superstar encouraged her fans to vote in their local elections, writing on Instagram: "Voters gonna vote!"
"It's Election Day! If you are registered to vote in Colorado, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas or Virginia, it's time to use your voice," Swift wrote, sharing a link to Vote.org.
Though Swift didn't explicitly endorse anyone in this election, right-wing hosts bemoaned the power of the Swifties.
Activist Jack Posobiec said (https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1722344896495747442) in a Wednesday post to his more than 2.3 million followers on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, that the billionaire global pop sensation (https://www.insider.com/taylor-swift-net-worth-spending-2018-8?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=yahoo.com) was "influencing an army of voters."
"Republicans still haven't internalized that the Left promotes abortion as a pro-feminism issue. They aren't voting to kill babies, they're voting bc of feminist movies like Barbie and pop stars like Taylor Swift influencing an army of voters," Posobiec wrote.
He fumed in another all-caps post (https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1722329021990486324) that "THE CHILDLESS, UNMARRIED ABORTION ARMY MOBILIZED BY BARBIE, TAYLOR SWIFT, AND TIKTOK" was "CRUSHING REPUBLICANS AT THE BALLOT BOX.""
Far-right hosts are blaming the GOP's big election losses on Taylor Swift (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/far-hosts-blaming-gops-big-192544213.html)

[MrFanti]

Its not only Republicans who have a problem with Tik-Tok, some Democrats have an issue with it as well. I think its one of the only few things that both parties can agree on. There have been Congressional hearings on the matter.

The two reasons both parties have a problem with the app.

1. Its a Chinese owned company and there is the fear of who has access to people's personal information.

2. The negative impact that apps like Tik-Tok, Instagram, Facebook, etc has had on teenagers.
Exactly!
Democrats come around on TikTok ban, reflecting willingness to challenge China
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiktok-ban-democrats-china-challenge/

[Stavros]

Exactly!
Democrats come around on TikTok ban, reflecting willingness to challenge China
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiktok-ban-democrats-china-challenge/

Can the US ban tik-tok? Surely the only way is to control the internet-?

[MrFanti]

Marvel's Israeli Superhero Poses Huge Headache for Disney
https://www.newsweek.com/marvel-israeli-superhero-disney-sabra-captain-america-shira-haas-1839083

[MrFanti]

Gay Palestinian Ahmad Abu Marhia beheaded in West Bank
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63174835

[MrFanti]

Hamas Executes Prominent Commander After Accusations of Gay Sex
https://www.newsweek.com/prominent-hamas-commander-was-executed-after-accusations-gay-sex-432343

[Stavros]

Marvel's Israeli Superhero Poses Huge Headache for Disney
https://www.newsweek.com/marvel-israeli-superhero-disney-sabra-captain-america-shira-haas-1839083

Mr Fanti, why have you used this thread when you could have used the thread on Israel for all three of your posts?

[Stavros]

Still waiting for Mr Fanti or anyone else to tell me what the US is going to do, what it can do if Democrats and Republicans are so offended by tik-tok.

[blackchubby38]

Still waiting for Mr Fanti or anyone else to tell me what the US is going to do, what it can do if Democrats and Republicans are so offended by tik-tok.

While I don't believe in a nationwide ban of Tik-Tok, I have no problems with the following steps that have been taken.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_TikTok_in_the_United_States

Regarding your earlier post about the "obsession with things Chinese". Coming out of the pandemic, I think it would be wise for the United States to start manufacturing some items either at home or closer to it to prevent future global supply chain issues. Adopt a "Made in the USA/The Americas" policy.

I have also never been a fan of the walking on eggshells when it comes to criticizing China because of how many corporations do business there. It’s embarrassing when someone does criticize them, then that person or persons must basically throw themselves on their sword and beg for forgiveness.

Now when it comes to the United States’ overall policy regarding China. Knowing the history of the relationship between the two countries, the latter has been the 800-pound gorilla in the room since the beginning of the Cold War. As I said in another post:

“If you look back through history, there has always been animosity between China and the United States. If anybody is interested, check out the Chinese foreign minister's speech to the United Nations in 1950 before China launched its offensive in the Korean War. A lot has changed since then, with each nation going through its own domestic and foreign issues, but also the fostering of relations with each other both politically and financially.

Having said that, underneath it all, it seems the tension was always still there. Especially with China's rise as a global superpower and some of their shenanigans”.

Now I’m not one of those people who run around all the time going, “Oh my god, China is coming”. But I’m also not naïve to think that China is just misunderstood, and everything is going to be fine between the China and the United States. In other words, while I believe China is "problem". I don’t think they have become a "Problem" yet.

Which brings me to my next point. If I must choose which country was more of a bad actor when it came to collecting people’s personal data and using it for nefarious reasons, it would be China.

As for your response to the concerns over Tik-Tok having a negative effect on teenagers. If other forms of social media are going to fall under scrutiny for causing problems in the world, Tik-Tok should be no different.

Why experts worry Tik-Tok could add to mental health crisis among US teens

http://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/tech/tiktok-teen-mental-health/index.html

[Stavros]

[QUOTE=blackchubby38;2079098]

While I don't believe in a nationwide ban of Tik-Tok, I have no problems with the following steps that have been taken.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_TikTok_in_the_United_States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_TikTok_in_the_United_States)

State and Federal authorities banning its use on their networks makes sense. The Covid Enquiry taking place in London has revealed the extensive use of WhatsApp and WhatsApp groups by Boris Johnson, his advisers, and members of the Cabinet. I don't know how secure WhatsApp is -it is one of the few social media apps I use, for a limited number of family and friends- and then the question with all this technology is -can it be hacked? I would have thought, having originated the internet the US Govt could create its own secure App -?

Regarding your earlier post about the "obsession with things Chinese". Coming out of the pandemic, I think it would be wise for the United States to start manufacturing some items either at home or closer to it to prevent future global supply chain issues. Adopt a "Made in the USA/The Americas" policy.

The exposure of the weaknesses in global supply chains suggests this is a reasonable alternative, if only to secure means of production and supply. Looked at from a Capitalist perspective, it makes no sense if it costs more, as the whole basis of the off-shoring of production was that American capital could reap fabulous rewards by moving production to Asia. There was also the famous 'China Dream', about which books have been written: access a market of 1 billion consumers, sit back and watch the dollars roll in. Trump seethed for years because he saw rivals making billions out of China which refused him a license to operate in the country-- until he became President, whereupon he was allowed to register hundreds of LLCs, just as his daughter for some time had her products made there (not sure if this still happens).
Following the money, everyone wanted a piece of that action, though China's economy is less attractive now.

Now when it comes to the United States’ overall policy regarding China. Knowing the history of the relationship between the two countries, the latter has been the 800-pound gorilla in the room since the beginning of the Cold War.

We have discussed China, and Xi's ambitions in other posts.

As for your response to the concerns over Tik-Tok having a negative effect on teenagers. If other forms of social media are going to fall under scrutiny for causing problems in the world, Tik-Tok should be no different.
Why experts worry Tik-Tok could add to mental health crisis among US teens
http://www.cnn.com/2023/01/11/tech/tiktok-teen-mental-health/index.html

I don't get this. People have become obsessed with websites before, staying up all night. Teenagers too, whether it was MySpace -what happened to the 'MySpace Generation'?- or Facebook, Instagram, etc etc. It might have a bad effect if people put too much importance into it, but other than that to me it is just a new version of 'threats to our kids' that have been around forever. At one time it was Jazz, then it became Rock 'n Roll, then parents were convinced if their children went to a rock concert or even worse, a club, they would come back high on and probably hooked on drugs.

Then consider Twitter, and X -has there ever been in recent years a more insidious threat to freedom than these channels of hate and misinformation? I have never used them, and that's the point -as many of these sites disappear behind paywalls, or people get bored with them, or some other site/app comes along, they recede into history -and children do grow up, and move on.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The Democrats have alot of work to do to convince the African-American,Asian,Latino,Muslim and other communities and younger voters to vote for their candidates in 2024,and give them the reasons on why they should vote.And cannot make the same mistake they did in 2016 by assuming that people were going to turnout and vote for Hillary Clinton,because she had more experience and was more qualified than her opponent Donald Trump,most voters decided to stay home and Donald Trump got elected. A second Donald Trump Term will be a hell of alot worst than his first term,because of all of the cruel,despicable,disgusting and heartless things he's promising to do if he wins the Presidential Election in 2024.

[Stavros]

The Democrats have alot of work to do to convince the African-American,Asian,Latino,Muslim and other communities and younger voters to vote for their candidates in 2024,and give them the reasons on why they should vote.And cannot make the same mistake they did in 2016 by assuming that people were going to turnout and vote for Hillary Clinton,because she had more experience and was more qualified than her opponent Donald Trump,most voters decided to stay home and Donald Trump got elected. A second Donald Trump Term will be a hell of alot worst than his first term,because of all of the cruel,despicable,disgusting and heartless things he's promising to do if he wins the Presidential Election in 2024.

Given that Clinton beat Trump by more than 3 million votes, surely in 2016 Clinton was elected, and Trump was selected? That is, by the Electoral College. He has never won an election in the US, and he never will, his solid voter base never expands, it is what it is. The 2024 election will be fought, not by voters, but by those Republican Party officials in the State who think they can, must and will try to deny any popular majority for the Democrat, assuming Trump is the candidate, which is by no means certain. Whether the changes made in States will be enough remains to be seen, but Democracy in America is fragile, and not to be messed around by someone who calls the American people 'scum' and 'vermin', calls its women 'skanks', as DJT has done.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Given that Clinton beat Trump by more than 3 million votes, surely in 2016 Clinton was elected, and Trump was selected? That is, by the Electoral College. He has never won an election in the US, and he never will, his solid voter base never expands, it is what it is. The 2024 election will be fought, not by voters, but by those Republican Party officials in the State who think they can, must and will try to deny any popular majority for the Democrat, assuming Trump is the candidate, which is by no means certain. Whether the changes made in States will be enough remains to be seen, but Democracy in America is fragile, and not to be messed around by someone who calls the American people 'scum' and 'vermin', calls its women 'skanks', as DJT has done.Completely agree,and Donald Trump despicable and disgusting comments shows how unhinged,unfit and dangerous he is,and should never be allowed to step foot in the White House again.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

If any regular citizen of the United States said cruel,despicable,disgusting comments and making threats against prosecutors,federal judges and their staffs,and intimidating witnesses from corporating like Donald Trump has said and done,they would have been arrested by the FBI and put in a federal prison. IMHO Federal Prosecutors,Judges and District Attorneys needs to send a very strong message that nobody is above the law,by putting him in prison during the trial.

[MrFanti]

The Democrats have alot of work to do to convince the African-American,Asian,Latino,Muslim and other communities and younger voters to vote for their candidates in 2024.
Agreed!
Plenty of reasons for Blacks, Hispanics, and Jewish Americans to go Independent or another party outside of the Republican and Democrat.
There's already a large constituent of Republican Hispanics (hence why Texas has been hard to flip) and now with a lot of anti-semitism brewing within the Democrat party, what incentive is there for Jewish Americans to continue to vote Democrat?

[Stavros]

what incentive is there for Jewish Americans to continue to vote Democrat?

It was the Democrat Party's President, LBJ who took sides with Israel against the Arabs in 1967, a strategic alliance that has not changed since then. It was a Democrat -Jimmy Carter- who presided over the Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979, and another, Clinton who brought Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat to the table to sign the 1993 Treaty. I don't know if the membership of the Party has gone rogue, but I doubt it, and anyway the behaviour of Netanyahu over the last few years has caused a lot of dissent among American Jews, many of who are Liberal where Netanyahu is a Nationalist or even a Fascist if you consider some of his policies, even if designed to win the lunatic fringes, but then there was a time when Likud was a party of terrorists and lunatics.

And where do American Jews stand on social policy ?--probably closer to the DP on issues like climate change and abortion, than the GOP.

The more pertinent question is, why would any Black American vote for a nauseating Racist like Donald Trump? And when he calls Americans 'Vermin', having previously described his 'Fellow Americans' as 'scum', and Hillary Clinton as a 'skank' -why would any American vote for this pathetic, whining loser?

[MrFanti]

Are Jews Facing the Prospect of Another Holocaust?

I Survived the Holocaust. It's Starting to Feel Like the 1930s Again | Opinion
https://www.newsweek.com/i-survived-holocaust-its-starting-feel-like-1930s-again-opinion-1843328

Despite Hamas' Best Efforts, the Holocaust Is Not Back | Opinion
https://www.newsweek.com/hamas-attacks-israel-were-not-continuation-holocaust-opinion-1840337

[Stavros]

Number of Israelis murdered by Hamas, 1,200.

Palestinians murdered by Christians protected by the IDF in Sabra and Chatila camps in Lebanon in 1982, 3,500.

If the word used for the first is 'Holocaust' what word describes the second?

[MrFanti]

Are the Pro-Palestine protests going to get worse - or have they peaked? 🤔💭

Top House Democrats evacuated from DNC headquarters as police clash with protesters calling for Gaza ceasefire
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/15/politics/dnc-headquarters-violent-protest-democrats-evacuated/index.html

[filghy2]

There's already a large constituent of Republican Hispanics (hence why Texas has been hard to flip) and now with a lot of anti-semitism brewing within the Democrat party, what incentive is there for Jewish Americans to continue to vote Democrat?

And your evidence for this is what? Or are you simply equating concern for the rights and lives of Palestinians with anti-Semitism?

[MrFanti]

Fascinating times!

Pro-Palestinian protests evacuated the DNC, stopped traffic on the Bay Bridge and are following Joe Biden around the country
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/16/politics/protests-palestine-israel-biden-what-matters/index.html

[Stavros]

This man is clearly nuts, but other than asking how he was invited to speak at a rally for Israel, the real question is how representative of American Christian is he? Not least because one reads in other places that church attendances are in decline, and more Americans are secular than before -perhaps people hear they are in the 'end times' and about to die, and think -yes I like the sound of eternal life, but maybe later?

These Evangelicals Are Cheering the Gaza War as the End of the World (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/evangelicals-cheering-gaza-war-end-141020989.html)

[MrFanti]

Ghana: towards the creation of a reparations fund for slavery
https://www.africanews.com/2023/11/17/ghana-towards-the-creation-of-a-reparations-fund-for-slavery/

[Stavros]

Ghana: towards the creation of a reparations fund for slavery
https://www.africanews.com/2023/11/17/ghana-towards-the-creation-of-a-reparations-fund-for-slavery/

Mr Fanti, do you agree with me that Capitalism is a form of slavery, which means that Slavery still exists, and that we are all Slaves?

And Mr Fanti, why should I give as much as a dime to the corrupt regimes in Africa and the Caribbean which treat their own citizens like dirt, in which same sex relations are illegal, and violence, often fatal, the most common reaction to a transgendered person?

I understand Reparations as an intellectual act that presents the history of slavery with the aim of concluding it was morally wrong then, and remains morally wrong today, but it is a movement of the Present, not the Past, because we cannot today be held responsible for what happened in the past if the aim is to find a mechanism that will right that wrong, be it financial or political.

After the First World War, the British occupied and through the League of Nations created the Mandated Territory of Palestine, denying its population the right to rule themselves and choose their own government, and we see how the consequences of those decisions have evolved since 1917- but can we use the facts of the Past to change the Present?

The Guardian explored Reparations as part of its examination of the links between Manchester and its Cotton Industry and Slavery, though the article on Reparations by Olivette Otele is a useful primer in why so much of the 'debate' on Reparations is insulting garbage, you can find it here-
Cotton Capital | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/cotton-capital)

Should the Black population descended from African slaves undo their history, and reclaim their heritage by returning to Africa? What do you say to your fellow Americans who think you should 'go back to Africa'?

The financial computation of slavery for its victims is beyond mathematics, what we have is a shameless exercise by corrupt individuals to transfer large sums of money from Europe and America so a few fat cats can build themselves more villas and hire more servants to do their laundry, buy more fancy goods, send their children to exclusive schools -in Europe and America of course- and park as much of their Reparations cash as they can in offshore bank accounts.

At this level, Reparations really are just a scam. What people want is an equality of opportunity and an equality of outcome, to share in the proceeds of their labour now, and that applies to the Govt of Jamaica and Angola as anywhere else. What can Reparations today possibly mean for the population of Haiti, where surviving from day to day is top of the agenda? The shocking history of Haiti is surely an object lesson in how not to treat human beings -by the owners of the Slaves and the Plantations, by Napoleon and the French, by the inheritors of the State. Reparations as finance cannot make Haiti a place worth living in.

List of 66 countries where homosexuality is illegal (76crimes.com) (https://76crimes.com/76-countries-where-homosexuality-is-illegal/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA3uGqBhDdARIsAFeJ5r06aKcDAf0LKfW37NQ PW0_3MY-5qJN_vsQ1t9gvUIVtbice3R-mujMaAoBAEALw_wcB)

Being LGBTI in Jamaica [Final].pdf (undp.org) (https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2023-09/Being%20LGBTI%20in%20Jamaica%20%5BFinal%5D.pdf)

2022 Corruption Perceptions Index: Explore the… - Transparency.org (https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2022)

[MrFanti]

ISRAEL IS A BEACON FOR GAY RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
https://israelforever.org/blog/israel_beacon_gay_rights_in_the_middle_east/

[Stavros]

ISRAEL IS A BEACON FOR GAY RIGHTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
https://israelforever.org/blog/israel_beacon_gay_rights_in_the_middle_east/

Be honest, Mr Fanti, did you read the article you have linked? While few would deny that half of Israel has no problem with same sex relationships, the other half think it is an abomination. But, aside from the title of the website you have linked, this statement in its opening paragraph stands as a mockery of all it says, suggesting you are either ignorant, or just a troll. And to what end?

"While no democracy is perfect, Israel is the embodiment of what all those who believe in basic human rights want the Middle East to be."

[Stavros]

Some Christian Nationalists headed down to Mar-a-Lago to see the atheist they so admire (Speaker Johnson was also there). One of them justified his belief the USA should be a Christian Theocracy, thus

"“We don’t just ‘preach Jesus.’ We preach what Jesus preached. He preached the Kingdom … What’s the King over? Everything. Everything. Including the governmental and political realm.”
Christian Nationalists Laugh About Their Influence at Mar-a-Lago (rollingstone.com) (https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/christian-nationalists-influence-mar-a-lago-1234889682/)

And yet, and yet....this is what Jesus has been quoted as saying, in response to questions posed to him by Pontius Pilate

My kingdom is not of this world (The Gospel According to John, 18:36). Oops!

Or, my Kingdom is not the United States of America.

[filghy2]

They also missed a few other things that Jesus preached:

"You shall love your neighbour as yourself"
"The meek shall inherit the earth"
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you"
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle that for a rich man to enter God's kingdom"

If Jesus returned would these people deride him as "woke"?

[Stavros]

They also missed a few other things that Jesus preached:

"You shall love your neighbour as yourself"
"The meek shall inherit the earth"
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you"
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of needle that for a rich man to enter God's kingdom"

If Jesus returned would these people deride him as "woke"?

I don't know about 'woke', but my guess is he would not last long before being assassinated, or bumped off by the Church, be it the Catholic, the Anglican or the myriad churches of America, all addicted to money and fancy clothes and fabulous homes -following a man who owned no property, seems to have disliked money and its impact on people, and dressed simply. What, I wonder would he make of 'his priests' parading around in silk hats, embroidered robes, velver slippers and no, he doesn't want private jet or a giant tv set.

They would never be able to tolerate his humility, his simplicity -as for loving your enemies....isn't that the hardest thing to do?

[Stavros]

It looks like Geert Wilders may be the next Prime Minister in the Netherlands, as his party has the largest share of seats in the Dutch Parliament. He has failed to win more than 30% of the vote, I believe his share is around 24%. Also, because he can only form a Govt as part of a Coalition, it is not clear on what he is going to compromise. He has toned down some of the anti-Islam rhetoric he has used in the past, and even if he succeeds in getting Parliament to agree to a referendum on the Netherlands membership of the EU it is unlikely to succeed. That said, as part of the Schengen Zone, if the Dutch are really that bothered by immigration, and other parties in the EU of a similar view dominate the Parliament after next June's elections, immigration may be the hottest topic.

How this translates into policy I don't know. The failure of the UK on leaving the EU to 'take back control' in the sense that immigration from India and other non-EU countries is three times what the Conservative Govt said it should be in 2019, suggests that there is actually a need for immigrant labour, and as Capitalism rules, so I don't see much real action across Europe to change it dramatically.

That said, yet again the Left in Europe is not attracting voters, which does rather beg the question why 'the Left' is being blamed for so many problems.

Geert Wilders’ win in Dutch election is a boon for Europe’s far right (ft.com) (https://www.ft.com/content/e7b7b93f-166f-4043-a1c4-a6943693f33e)

Dutch election: Anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders wins dramatic victory - BBC News (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67504272)

[MrFanti]

Cheap labor: Are tech giants exploiting Ugandans?
https://www.dw.com/en/cheap-labor-are-tech-giants-exploiting-ugandans/a-67529209

[Stavros]

Cheap labor: Are tech giants exploiting Ugandans?
https://www.dw.com/en/cheap-labor-are-tech-giants-exploiting-ugandans/a-67529209

Yes of course, because that is how Capitalism works. You can either take an amoral view as the means by which capital investment makes a profit by exploiting human labour, or you could take the view once posed in an exam question for a Politics degree: Marxism is a form of moral indignation. Discuss.

Then there is the other angle, why Americans have been so interested in Uganda -or more particularly, those so-called 'Evangelical Christians' of the kind that went into Eastern Nigeria when the Biafra Secession failed, and the 'new Russia' after the end of the USSR, always looking for more recruits for the End Times, exploiting people who have come close to it.

In Uganda, they have so influenced the Govt that same sex relations are now a capital offence, and at least one man has been arrested for the offence, though not yet executed, which would be an odd position for a Christian to take, but probably not the American/Ugandan kind.

Maybe have a word or two with your African brothers?

Uganda's anti-LGBT laws: Man faces death penalty for 'aggravated homosexuality' - BBC News (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-66645740)

Uganda’s Controversial “Anti-Homosexuality Act” Includes Possibility of Death Sentence | Death Penalty Information Center (https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/ugandas-controversial-anti-homosexuality-act-includes-possibility-of-death-sentence)

[Stavros]

Two contrasting aspects of the US Constitution that beg the question: what does the Constitution say, and what does it mean, and are the always the same? It appears to be the case that being 'open to interpretation' means contrary things, but surely you know what the intention was behind the text?

This one suggests there are American who think the rot started with the 14th Amendment, reached a low in the 1960s- but thinks it is being true to the Constitution
‘Archaic’: the Tennessee town that made homosexuality illegal | Tennessee | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/26/tennessee-homosexuality-lgbtq-book-bans-florida)

This one defends the 14th, for what did it intend to do?
‘It has to be done’: can Reconstruction-era laws hold Trump and allies accountable? | Law (US) | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/nov/26/us-election-trump-reconstructiopn-era-laws)

[filghy2]

Why do right-wing populist types have such a thing for weird hair styles?

1437892143789314378941437895

[Stavros]

So, Piers Morgan, the Champion of THE TRUTH, has named the Royals who are alleged to have made racist comments about 'Baby Archie', emphasising, of course, that he does not think the author(s) of this smear are telling THE TRUTH.

Could this be Piers Morgan elevating a certain Piers Morgan onto the pedestal of Righteous Indignation, that anyone dare smear the Royal Family of being Racist?

Could this dastardly, anti-British, anti-Royal campaign be led by an American who never understood the Monarchy, who did not get what she wanted, who refused to go on a date with, er, Pier Morgan?

Judge for yourself, as the Prince of Lightness shines a light on the forbidden names, having told you in advance they are innocent without the evidence.

Piers Morgan reveals the alleged 'royal racists' named in Dutch book - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaEu3dUIDlA)

[Stavros]

Republican George Santos expelled from Congress in bipartisan vote | George Santos | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/01/george-santos-expelled-congress-vote)

Maybe he will make the trip to Florida, kiss the ring of DJT (and he may have lots of experience kissing rings), and be named VP nominee when the time comes, though right now the only way Trump can run is an an independent, given Haley's Comet is blazing, as De Santis sinks into the Atlantic.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Republican George Santos expelled from Congress in bipartisan vote | George Santos | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/01/george-santos-expelled-congress-vote)

Maybe he will make the trip to Florida, kiss the ring of DJT (and he may have lots of experience kissing rings), and be named VP nominee when the time comes, though right now the only way Trump can run is an an independent, given Haley's Comet is blazing, as De Santis sinks into the Atlantic.Good riddance to that a fraud and imposter George Santos,that's exactly what he'll do and he is very good at it.

[Stavros]

Maybe Mr Johnson will propose re-naming the institution in Ohio 'Trump University' to honour his idol? I can see JD Vance jumping for joy at the news. Scary.

A university made a MAGA congressman its president. Is it a sign of things to come in higher ed? (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/a-university-made-a-maga-congressman-its-president-is-it-a-sign-of-things-to-come-in-higher-ed/ar-AA1kXESo?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=2dca585b88aa4aa7a5604dbbf988d613&ei=13)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Maybe Mr Johnson will propose re-naming the institution in Ohio 'Trump University' to honour his idol? I can see JD Vance jumping for joy at the news. Scary.

A university made a MAGA congressman its president. Is it a sign of things to come in higher ed? (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/a-university-made-a-maga-congressman-its-president-is-it-a-sign-of-things-to-come-in-higher-ed/ar-AA1kXESo?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=2dca585b88aa4aa7a5604dbbf988d613&ei=13)Indeed it is very scary.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The orange menace and sore loser Donald Trump was at it again,making false claims that Joe Biden destroys democracy,when in reality that is exactly what Donald Trump did when he and his enablers in congress and the senate tried to overturn the 2020 Election,and inciting an insurrection in attempt to stay in power all because he lost. When somebody shows you who they are believe them, because he's telling people what he is going to do if he wins a second term. And people shouldn't only be worried about what will happen if win the 2024 election,they should also be worried about what will happen if he loses again,and we saw how he reacted the last time.

[MrFanti]

EU dealt with 'immediate Swexit' threat as bloc warned not to push 'too far' with powers
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1839450/sweden-democrats-eu-exit-swexit

[MrFanti]

Number of executive orders signed by each U.S. president from 1789 to 2023
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1125024/us-presidents-executive-orders/

[Luke Warm]

The Washington Post had an article about how the Right is elevating “detransitioners” in an effort to fight against trans rights and legal acceptance.

Remember when Republicans said they were “the party of personal responsibility”? Now it’s apparently okay to blame society when you regret your life choices, at least when it comes to trans people.

File “personal responsibility” in the same dumpster as other core conservative principles that have been trashed in the Trump era, like “family values”, “no judicial activism” “free market economics” “law & order”, “deficit reduction” etc.

[Luke Warm]

Oops, the article is in the NYTimes:

“How a Few Stories of Regret Fuel the Push to Restrict Gender Transition Care”

In the campaign to ban gender therapies for minors, Republicans have amplified a group of activists who no longer identify as transgender, overriding objections from transgender people and medical experts


When Missouri lawmakers took up bills to ban transition care for minors, Chloe Cole, an activist from California, traveled to Jefferson City to offer her story as Exhibit A.

After living as a transgender boy for years and getting a mastectomy at 15, Ms. Cole says she felt stifled by a male identity and distraught by her body’s changes. She decided to detransition, returning to her female identity.

She also decided to speak out. She has told her story in Florida (https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/florida-house-panel-eyes-treatments-for-trans-kids/), and in Idaho (https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/politics/local-idaho-bill-to-ban-gender-affirming-care-for-minors-is-met-with-opposing-perspectives/277-217363de-44ba-4e9e-9fec-69c5c66a9936), Kansas (https://kansasreflector.com/2023/02/14/bill-blocking-gender-affirming-care-for-kansas-transgender-youth-panned-by-opponents/), New Hampshire (https://twitter.com/ChoooCole/status/1648680288682221571), Ohio (https://www.ohiochannel.org/video/ohio-house-families-aging-and-human-services-committee-5-26-2022?start=10185), South Dakota (https://listen.sdpb.org/politics/2023-02-17/republicans-quickly-pass-law-protecting-trans-kids-from-snap-healthcare-decisions), Tennessee (https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/31/tennessee-bill-to-ban-trans-treatments-for-minors-advances-in-committee/69858331007/) and Utah (https://www.ksl.com/article/50564705/utah-lawmakers-reject-hardline-ban-on-transgender-treatments-for-kids). Republican lawmakers typically listen attentively, sometimes in tears. In March, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida relayed Ms. Cole’s story in his State of the State address, while she received a standing ovation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/us/politics/transgender-care-detransitioners.html?searchResultPosition=1

[Stavros]

My guess is like Alex Jones he will string the case out with appeals and not pay a dime. The man has nothing but contempt for the truth and the law, in this he is a true Republican leaving dishonour and destruction wherever he goes, and really doesn’t care.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67723332

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/15/rudy-giuliani-pay-damages-election-workers-defamation-trial

[KnightHawk 2.0]

My guess is like Alex Jones he will string the case out with appeals and not pay a dime. The man has nothing but contempt for the truth and the law, in this he is a true Republican leaving dishonour and destruction wherever he goes, and really doesn’t care.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67723332

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/15/rudy-giuliani-pay-damages-election-workers-defamation-trial Completely Agree 100%,that is exactly what the right wing loving pile of shit Alex Jones will do.

[Stavros]

Find a woman- an American citizen- in distress, and make her suffer. When she needs compassion and professional help, be cruel, be merciless as you make her life more distressing and miserable. And then threaten those professionals with the violence of the law as it takes a baseball bat to crush medical opinion and the freedom of doctors to recommend the best treatment for their fellow American.

Ken-Paxton-Pain has no shame in being the standard bearer of American Cruelty, he can do no other when faced with a woman in distress, I guess it is the whole point of being Texas where pregnant women become the slaves of mass murdering Christians who hand out military grade guns and kiddie shredder bullets to any lunatic who wants to slaughter Americans.

Will the US ever become a country where being kind is a virtue, and the basis of health care? I doubt it.

https://time.com/6510970/abortion-texas-case/

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/black-ohio-woman-criminally-charged-130529225.html

[Mirgofino]

1440198

[Mirgofino]

But ... God is good, they say? 1440199
And so the Christian man skipped another part of a nonsensical book, and sometimes he tried to distract people who pointed it out by making funny faces, and mumbling something about some lord working in mysterious ways.

[Stavros]

“…quite obviously surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they're vials of heroin or cocaine".

So obvious but the man cannot produce a shred of evidence to prove he is right, because what is obvious is Giuliani’s contempt for the Constitution, contempt for the voters of Georgia, contempt for Georgia’s election workers, contempt for the rule of law, and contempt for the Truth.

Obviously a contemptuous liar.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/giuliani-defamation-lawsuit-georgia-election-b2466244.html

[MrFanti]

Interesting how the Left slams Christianity and the Right slams Islam...

But neither of them slams them both....

[Stavros]

Ah, ‘the left’, a convenient label for those who March on demonstrations and make a lot of noise, mostly emotional mostly devoid of rational argument or historical knowledge.

Marx dismissed religion as the ‘opium of the people’, while some of your Black brothers and sisters have embraced both Islam, and the weird concoction invented by ‘Wallace Fard’ and Elijah Mohammed and re-branded by Louis Farrakhan.

Religion in the US is a multi billion dollar industry, maybe that should prompt your questions and who knows, provide you with some answers.

[Stavros]

My guess is like Alex Jones he will string the case out with appeals and not pay a dime. The man has nothing but contempt for the truth and the law, in this he is a true Republican leaving dishonour and destruction wherever he goes, and really doesn’t care.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67723332

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/15/rudy-giuliani-pay-damages-election-workers-defamation-trial

No surprise we have reached the can’t pay, won’t pay situation.
But if he is bankrupt, how can he afford an appeal against any of his convictions?
And what about all those unpaid taxes?
Just another Chapter 11 rich boy sneering at the world.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/rudy-giuliani-debt-bankruptcy-file-details

[Stavros]

Is the Pope of Texas a Christian? A man who gives shelter to the homeless, who feeds and clothes the poor?

Do any of those multi-millionaire Pastors with names like White and Copeland declare to the Pope of Texas: send us your homeless and your poor, that we may house them, clothe them, and feed them?

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/texas-sending-asylum-seekers-major-114032812.html

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Another example of the MAGA Party whitewashing the Wednesday January 6th 2021 Attack on the US Capitol,calling Trump Supporters who storm the capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 Election Hostages. No the hell they're not hostages,they are insurrectionists,terrorists and traitors who broke the law,and are now paying for the consequences of their actions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HsWxo1Zc7c

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Desperate people do desperate things,the MAGA King Donald Trump is trying everything he can to get the cases againist him dismissed,from thinking that he deserves absolute immunity even though he's no longer president,and asking the US Supreme Court to hear his case on immunity. And we all the real reason he's running for president for a third time,is too stay out of prison and retribution and revenge. And the real suckers are the people who voted for him twice,and keep giving him their hard earned money and falling for his toxic bullshit.

[Stavros]

From Swift Boat to Swiftie, the Republicans are in hot pursuit of the enemy within; it is Holy War. But is this Jihad, or Jihaw- you know, the sound made by a Donkey?

And the $3 question: is this a vote winner for the GOP or a vote loser?

I don't know much about Taylor Swift but I am guessing she has more fans than Mr Trump.

"Trump’s allies in the conservative media ecosystem have begun attacking the pop superstar Taylor Swift, picking up on a bizarre conspiracy theory that her fame is a Democratic “psy-op” intended to brainwash the public into following her in supporting Joe Biden at this year’s election, even though Swift has yet to actually endorse the president for a second term.What’s more, they believe her much-publicised relationship with NFL tight-end Travis Kelce is being faked and that February’s Super Bowl will be rigged on behalf of his team, the Kansas City Chiefs, to ensure a fairy tale narrative.

As Rolling Stone quotes a MAGA insider threatening a “holy war” against the star, Fox New’s Sean Hannity accused her of “buying into” anti-Republican prejudice on his show on Tuesday night."

Trump braces for fraud trial verdict as allies pledge ‘holy war’ against Taylor Swift: Live updates | The Independent (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-news-2024-election-trial-today-b2487568.html)

[Stavros]

If someone, say Trump, creates a PAC to fund and organize a campaign on any issue or an election, is it legal for them to spend the money on the legal fees that are not related to the purpose of the PAC?

Can the donors ask for their money back?

Trump PACs spent $50m on legal fees in 2023 as he faces multi-million dollar verdicts (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-pacs-spent-50m-legal-163913263.html)

[filghy2]

From Swift Boat to Swiftie, the Republicans are in hot pursuit of the enemy within; it is Holy War. But is this Jihad, or Jihaw- you know, the sound made by a Donkey?

Republican symbol is the elephant; Democrat's is the donkey

[KnightHawk 2.0]

From Swift Boat to Swiftie, the Republicans are in hot pursuit of the enemy within; it is Holy War. But is this Jihad, or Jihaw- you know, the sound made by a Donkey?

And the $3 question: is this a vote winner for the GOP or a vote loser?

I don't know much about Taylor Swift but I am guessing she has more fans than Mr Trump.

"Trump’s allies in the conservative media ecosystem have begun attacking the pop superstar Taylor Swift, picking up on a bizarre conspiracy theory that her fame is a Democratic “psy-op” intended to brainwash the public into following her in supporting Joe Biden at this year’s election, even though Swift has yet to actually endorse the president for a second term.What’s more, they believe her much-publicised relationship with NFL tight-end Travis Kelce is being faked and that February’s Super Bowl will be rigged on behalf of his team, the Kansas City Chiefs, to ensure a fairy tale narrative.

As Rolling Stone quotes a MAGA insider threatening a “holy war” against the star, Fox New’s Sean Hannity accused her of “buying into” anti-Republican prejudice on his show on Tuesday night."

Trump braces for fraud trial verdict as allies pledge ‘holy war’ against Taylor Swift: Live updates | The Independent (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-news-2024-election-trial-today-b2487568.html)This latest batshit crazy conspiracy theory shows that the MAGA Party and their brainwashed supporters are thinskinned and insecure about themselves,and attacking Taylor Swift who is very popular and donates to worthy causes,and a very talented singer and musician is a very bad idea and makes them look foolish and stupid. This so-called holy war againist Taylor Swift isn't going to end well for them.

[Stavros]

And here is another one: Taylor Swift is the secret writer of the newly released film Argylle.

Given it has had such bad reviews, which is inevitable with any film that hires Henry Cavill, La Swift may want to start issuing denials- or just bask in the extra media attention she is getting and hope it translates into dollars?

"There is a persistent and wildly unfounded rumour (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/argylle-taylor-swift-matthew-vaughn-b2479689.html) – based on a handful of visual coincidences, such as the hairstyle of its main character – that Taylor Swift (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/taylor-swift) secretly wrote the new spy comedy Argylle (https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/argylle). The rumour will not be quashed, unfortunately, once fans actually see the film. Echoes of the pop star are all over it, from a pivotal action scene decked out in rainbow-coloured smoke bombs that detonate in perfect, heart-shaped patterns, to a Scottish fold cat (the breed favoured by Swift (https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/taylor-swift-nala-cat-net-worth-b2257089.html)) peering out, doe-eyed, from a designer backpack. In short, this is what would happen if you gave her Lover era (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/taylor-swift-review-lover-album-tracklist-stream-lyrics-joe-alwyn-london-boy-a9075376.html) a gun and a Kevlar vest."
Argylle review: Taylor Swift is all over this silly spy romp (which she may or may not have secretly written) | The Independent (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/argylle-review-taylor-swift-b2488156.html?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=Feed)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Translation: When somebody shows you who they are,believe them. The MAGA King Donald Trump is telling people how he is going to run the country if he gets a second term,should be very very afraid. And his enablers and supporters can claim all they want that it's fearmongling,but we all know it isn't because we saw what happened during his first term. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSCNSMDHb28

[Stavros]

If someone, say Trump, creates a PAC to fund and organize a campaign on any issue or an election, is it legal for them to spend the money on the legal fees that are not related to the purpose of the PAC?

Can the donors ask for their money back?

Trump PACs spent $50m on legal fees in 2023 as he faces multi-million dollar verdicts (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/trump-pacs-spent-50m-legal-163913263.html)

More on this here, with the intriguing argument that, aside from Trump's reputation for not paying his lawyers, an audit of the $50m and how it has been spent might be 'embarrassing' for the Big I Am.
Trump 'can’t easily sell' off his assets to pay the millions he owes: biographer (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/trump-can-t-easily-sell-off-his-assets-to-pay-the-millions-he-owes-biographer/ar-BB1hIygP?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=ACTS&cvid=99ee0e52bfaa40e49e5230d80e16d622&ei=7)

He seems to be allergic to spending his own money always doing his best to spend other people's. But why can't he sell some of his real estate -is he afraid it will go on sale at a price he doesn't think is fair? I assume he knows that because of his reputation, even before the NYC case on fraud that any potential buyers will want a massive reduction -rather like Putin having to sell Russian oil to India and China at massive discounts.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The so-called speaker of the House Of Representatives MAGA Mike Johnson is of shit with his response to a question from NBC's Kristen Welker,is Donald Trump calling the shots and he said of course not. We all know that is a bunch of bullshit,because he is calling the shots and pulling the strings and the MAGA Party will do whatever he tells them too,and when he says jump,they'll say how high and please sir can we have another.

[Stavros]

Presumably if this was 1980, Tucker Carlson would be interviewing Leonid Brezhnev to get 'his side of the story' on Afghanistan, and why should the US be funding a war thousands and thousands of miles away?

A measure of how far from Reagan the Trump metaverse has strayed.

As for Carlson's other remarks on Moscow being 'really pretty' with so many 19th century buildings...oh dear, the man just doesn't do travelling, least of all in a city with some of the most poorly maintained slums in Russia. Rather like Washington DC?

See what you want to see, hear what you want to hear.

Tucker Carlson: Putin takes charge as TV host gives free rein to Kremlin - BBC News (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68248740)

[MrFanti]

Pretty much ignored by Western media....

Over 50,000 Christians killed in Nigeria by Islamist extremists
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2023-04/over-50000-christians-killed-in-nigeria-by-islamist-extremists.html?fbclid=IwAR0uA__uzXwNrzE894hIBgF0T ZxpmT4K8A6sgwFrCi8l0rQSWGO_KZsjebY

[Stavros]

I understand the Party of Trump has bragged about the repeal of Roe v Wade. What they haven't used the magaphone to proclaim is their parallel opposition to Contraception, not just condoms, but the medical contraceptives -thus

"“Policymakers who want to go after contraception have found that an expedient way to do that is to link it to abortion by claiming that methods of contraception are actually methods of abortion.”".
Republicans are taking aim on contraception — and they’d rather you didn’t know (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/republicans-are-taking-aim-on-contraception-and-they-d-rather-you-didn-t-know/ar-BB1ib0rn?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=ACTS&cvid=5c45f348a1ee460eb24ab6a2baa6a717&ei=59)

But, if the claim is that life begins with fertilization, the logic of the Party of Trump must surely go further to make ejaculation illegal if it does not take place in sexual intercourse intended to create a life, for a man's semen is one of the key elements of fertilization. Obviously it would be absurd to ban masturbation, but it must surely be the case that ejaculation be made illegal, as in 'Relax, don't do it, when you want to come'.

And after the ban, the policing of the law....

[Stavros]

Nikki Haley on 'mental acuity tests'...ok, but what will the test consist of?

Basic geography, as in 'Does the US share a border with Russia?'. 'What is the capital city of Honduras?'.

'ID this in the photo -is it a Lime or a Lemon?'.

'Why is a red ball red?'

Then again, some might not know the meaning of the word acuity...or candidates be judged on their policies as well as their character.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Thomas Suozzi win the NY-03 District in the special election to replace the Disgraced Fraudster And Trump Asskisser George Santos. Good news for the Democrats,very bad news for the MAGA Party.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

A great day for justice. A very bad day for the Fraudster And Petulent Child Donald Trump. And it's only going to worse for him. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/ny-fraud-case-damages-pay-millions-judge-engoron-rcna135283

[Stavros]

A great day for justice. A very bad day for the Fraudster And Petulent Child Donald Trump. And it's only going to worse for him. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/ny-fraud-case-damages-pay-millions-judge-engoron-rcna135283

As the saying goes If you don't want the fine, don't do the crime...

[KnightHawk 2.0]

As the saying goes If you don't want the fine, don't do the crime...Completely Agree.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Not surprising at all the Speaker In Name Only MAGA Mike Johnson was at Mar A Largo to bend the knee and kiss the ring of his leader Donald Trump,instead of doing his job which is bringing the bipartisan bill for funding for Ukraine,Taiwan and Israel to the house floor for a vote and pass it,and sent it the White House so President Joe Biden can sign it. And The MAGA Caucus continue to keep kissing their leader's ass,it is going to end up costing them control of Congress in the General Election.

[Stavros]

Not surprising at all the Speaker In Name Only MAGA Mike Johnson was at Mar A Largo to bend the knee and kiss the ring of his leader Donald Trump,instead of doing his job which is bringing the bipartisan bill for funding for Ukraine,Taiwan and Israel to the house floor for a vote and pass it,and sent it the White House so President Joe Biden can sign it. And The MAGA Caucus continue to keep kissing their leader's ass,it is going to end up costing them control of Congress in the General Election.

They must be hoping for a political miracle. It may be true that Biden has some issues related to his age, but his team in the White House is made up of mature men and women. Trump and his supporters can only base their confidence on some manipulation of the votes when they are counted, for I don't see the man improving on his previous tally. We still don't know what the outcome of his legal cases will be, which I assume is one reason why Haley does not drop out.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

They must be hoping for a political miracle. It may be true that Biden has some issues related to his age, but his team in the White House is made up of mature men and women. Trump and his supporters can only base their confidence on some manipulation of the votes when they are counted, for I don't see the man improving on his previous tally. We still don't know what the outcome of his legal cases will be, which I assume is one reason why Haley does not drop out.Agree that is exactly what the MAGA Caucus is hoping for in the General Election,because they think it will help their leader Donald Trump get elected president and back into power. And also agree that President Joe Biden has some issues related to his age,but his cabinet in the White House is made up of mature men and women who are qualified and have experience. Donald Trump and his brainwashed supporters can only base their confidence on some manipulation of the votes when they are counted,which didn't turn out in their favor in the 2020 general election,and also don't see him improving on his previous tally. And we don't know the outcome of his legal cases will be,and is one of the reasons why Nikki Haley hasn't drop out.

[Stavros]

The annual CPAC offers some juicy headlines for those interested in what the lunatics are planning - Liz Truss, once upon a time the Prime Minister of the UK has attacked 'the deep State' for undermining her when she was in No 10, claiming among other things that the Civil Service these days is populated by Trans Activists, and the Quangos who evidently have more power than the Govt and who do all they can to maintain the status quo -one which to some people means the rich get richer and the poor get nothing. She was a member of successive Govts from 2012 but never managed to persuade any of her colleagues to get rid of all those Quangos, so I guess she really was a failure.

Prize for the best nugget must go to Steve Bannon, who like Truss wants the 'administrative state' to be smashed if Trump returns, only he is both promising it will happen and that when it does it will be bloody-

"“The administrative and deep state after President Trump wins, starting on the afternoon of the 20th of January, every day will be like Stalingrad. It will be a war to the knife.”"
Britain’s ‘deep state’ thwarted my plans, Liz Truss tells US far-right summit | CPAC | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/21/liz-truss-deep-state-cpac-far-right)

How about that for the Republican campaign slogan in the election:

Our Promise to America Stalingrad Every Day

or

Our Promise to America: A War of the Knife

A reminder of what happened

Battle Of Stalingrad Facts You Should Know | Imperial War Museums (iwm.org.uk) (https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-battle-of-stalingrad)

[Stavros]

"The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, a decision critics said could have sweeping implications for fertility treatment in the state."
"“Unborn children are ‘children’ ... without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics,” Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in Friday’s majority ruling by the all-Republican court."
Alabama frozen embryos ruling: What it means for fertility treatments | AP News (https://apnews.com/article/alabama-supreme-court-from-embryos-161390f0758b04a7638e2ddea20df7ca)

There are times when I wonder what some Americans use for brains, but I can't work it out.

Shock, anger, confusion grip Alabama after court ruling on embryos - The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/02/20/alabama-supreme-court-ivf-embryos/)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Trump.&.The End Of Democracy: Very scary and downright terrifying,and what could happen if Donald Trump wins a second term. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JSFzAvHC_4&list=LL&index=1&t=6s

[Stavros]

Tucker Carlson, American History, and why he can't be a traitor for cuddling Putin in his rhetorical arms-

""The idea that I've been flacking for Putin when my relatives fought in the Revolutionary War. I’m as American as you could be. [Atlantic staff writer] Anne Applebaum calls me a 'traitor.' It's just, like, so dumb.""

-You can read the other responses here-
'Benedict Arnold': Carlson slammed over claim he can’t be a 'traitor' since his family fought in Rev war (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/benedict-arnold-carlson-slammed-over-claim-he-can-t-be-a-traitor-since-his-family-fought-in-rev-war/ar-BB1j0O5r?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=ACTS&cvid=4b74dfc74eda43a4d85ca47cf36d1c27&ei=42)

Some years ago while walking from Marylebone Station to Oxford St in London, I passed a house on Gloucester Place where Benedict Arnold used to live, graced by a plaque. There are other places in London that celebrate the loyalty of Mr Benedict to His Noble, and Most Gracious Majesty, King George. And why not? After all, I don't know about Tucker Carlson or his relatives, but George Washington was a Traitor to the King. Deal with that, Amerique.

Start your tourist trail here-
Benedict Arnold-American Patriot in London? The View From Chelsea Title (https://theviewfromchelsea.com/2020/09/27/benedict-arnold-an-american-patriot-in-london/#:~:text=It%20bears%20the%20words%20%E2%80%9CMajor ,window%20at%20St%20Mary's%20Battersea.)

[Stavros]

Another African country legalizes hate, is anyone surprised? The continent will soon match much of the Caribbean as a 'No-go' destination for LGBTQ+ people -and their supporters and admirers.

Ghana’s parliament passes anti-homosexuality bill (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/ghana-parliament-passes-anti-homosexuality-181210418.html)

[Stavros]

George Galloway has won the by-election in Rochdale, hammering the Labour Party in the process. With a low turnout the result is not surprising, nor was it surprising to hear Galloway exploit the very real crisis in Gaza for his own political purposes. He has form when it comes to the Middle East, having supported Saddam Hussein and Bashar al-Asad in the past. His Parliamentary record is poor as when he was an MP before he often either was not in the House, or had nothing to say. His stance on Iraq, Syria (a conflict which led to the effective dissolution of a previous party over internal disputes), and Palestine has been shaped more by a love of opposition than any coherent solution to 100 years of conflict, while a previous charity he founded for Gaza allegedly never did anything there. He was also in favour of the EU Referendum and opposed to more EU integration. He is not so much an Ace in the Hole for those disillusioned by two-party politics, as an Ass in the Hole of a House of Commons that is on its last legs.

This Guardian article does a reasonable job of describing his classroom politics. Nothing to be worried about here, as it remains to be seen if Gaza is going to be a deal breaker for Labour, much as it may affect Biden in some parts of the US but be irrelevant in others.

George Galloway: constituency-hopping campaigner who is rarely far from controversy | George Galloway | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/mar/01/george-galloway-constituency-hopping-campaigner-who-is-rarely-far-from-controversy)

[Stavros]

More background on the temporary MP George Galloway

George Galloway stands accused of profiting from the pain of Gaza – and rightly so. But he is not the only one | Jonathan Freedland | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/01/george-galloway-profiting-pain-gaza-rochdale)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Looks like it's going to be a rematch of the 2020 Presidential Election between Joe Biden who wants to continue unite country,and move it forward and protect Civil,Voting,LGBTQ and Women's Reproductive Rights,Democracy and Freedom. While the challenger Donald Trump who is a twice impeached,four times indicted sore loser,fraudster and a racist petulent child who is running for the presidency so he avoid getting sent to prison for trying to overturn the 2020 election and to get retribution and revenge. Who is promising to be a dictator on day 1,by having mass deportations and sending migrants to concentration camps,and weaponize the justice department againist his political enemies. Joe Biden's vision for the United States shows compassion and unity for all citizens,while Donald Trump's vision is filled with division,hate and cruelty and is downright terrifying. And right on cue Mitch The Spineless Coward McConnell,MAGA Mike Johnson and other members of the MAGA Party,bent the knee and endorsed their leader Donald Trump for president.

[Stavros]

Here he comes, folks, the only true Republican left in New York City, riding in on a white horse to save America, as the song goes, 'All by myself'...

"“Tonight, I want to announce that I will be returning to the arena of politics and challenging Nick for the battle over #NY1 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/NY1?src=hashtag_click),” Mr Santos continued. “I look forward to debating him on the issues and on his weak record as a Republican. The fight for our majority is imperative for the survival of the country.”"

Expelled congressman George Santos announces he is re-running for Congress after turning up at SOTU (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/expelled-congressman-george-santos-announces-he-is-re-running-for-congress-after-turning-up-at-sotu/ar-BB1jwC6s?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ACTS&cvid=67a52a7db68846d4ac1b099fd1cc4dbe&ei=84)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Here he comes, folks, the only true Republican left in New York City, riding in on a white horse to save America, as the song goes, 'All by myself'...

"“Tonight, I want to announce that I will be returning to the arena of politics and challenging Nick for the battle over #NY1 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/NY1?src=hashtag_click),” Mr Santos continued. “I look forward to debating him on the issues and on his weak record as a Republican. The fight for our majority is imperative for the survival of the country.”"

Expelled congressman George Santos announces he is re-running for Congress after turning up at SOTU (msn.com) (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/expelled-congressman-george-santos-announces-he-is-re-running-for-congress-after-turning-up-at-sotu/ar-BB1jwC6s?ocid=msedgntp&pc=ACTS&cvid=67a52a7db68846d4ac1b099fd1cc4dbe&ei=84) George Santos is very delusional to think he can run for congress again,after being expelled for lying about his credentials and being exposed as a fraud.

[Stavros]

"The House of Representatives (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/house-of-representatives) passed a bill on Wednesday that would require the TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the United States.The vote was a landslide, with 352 Congress members voting in favor and only 65 against. The bill, which was fast-tracked to a vote after being unanimously approved (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/07/tiktok-users-protest-congress-potential-ban) by a committee last week, gives China-based ByteDance 165 days to divest from TikTok. If it did not, app stores including the Apple App store and Google Play would be legally barred from hosting TikTok or providing web hosting services to ByteDance-controlled applications."
US House passes bill cracking down on TikTok | TikTok | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/13/house-passes-tiktok-bill-ban)



Tick-Tock, Tik-Tok...but can a ban be enforced or will there be a new owner and call it Tok-Tik? I don't get it anyway, what's the problem? It is mostly teenagers jumping around to crap pop music, innit?

[KnightHawk 2.0]

In Your Face: This is the face of an Unhinged,Pathological Lying,Charlatan And
Fraudster who is on television every damn days spreading lies and conspiracy theories. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8WSGzLglI4

[MrFanti]

Interesting...

[Stavros]

Interesting...

I hope you also find this 'interesting' --

"Just how did Marilyn Lands end up ousting Republicans from a suburban state house seat in northern Alabama? The Associated Press reports (https://apnews.com/article/alabama-ivf-abortion-legislature-378c3fa32dcfc2d0401f3893828482af) that the licensed counselor’s pitch to voters included the following demands: “Our legislature must repeal Alabama’s no-exceptions abortion ban, fully restore access to IVF, and protect the right to contraception.”
Democrat wins state House seat in deep-red Alabama after campaigning for IVF and abortion rights – US politics live (theguardian.com) (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/mar/27/trump-biden-latest-republican-democrat-win-alabama-ronna-mcdaniel)

[Stavros]

I just don't get it, is the Republican Party now so isolated in its own ideological bubble that it can't see anything outside it?

Is this what the voters really want? Along with Abortion, IVF I think they are going to lose the votes they need.

in Missouri

"House Bill 2885 would make it illegal for schoolteachers or counselors to support or contribute to the social transitioning of a transgender minor. Offenders would be placed on the sexual offender registry. Put in a more humane way, teachers who refuse to shame and insult trans kids will be classified as sex offenders. The bill defines what it calls “social transitioning” as when an individual adopts a name, pronouns and gender expression — such as clothing or a haircut — that does not match their assigned sex at birth.
So if a student named Samantha begins to experience “gender dysphoria” (which is what health officials (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/symptoms-causes/syc-20475255) call it) and wants to be called Sam, and the teacher calls them Sam, suddenly the teacher is a sex offender?"
The Latest Salvo In The Anti-LGBTQ+ Range Wars: Criminalizing Teachers (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/latest-salvo-anti-lgbtq-range-094527969.html)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

I just don't get it, is the Republican Party now so isolated in its own ideological bubble that it can't see anything outside it?

Is this what the voters really want? Along with Abortion, IVF I think they are going to lose the votes they need.

in Missouri

"House Bill 2885 would make it illegal for schoolteachers or counselors to support or contribute to the social transitioning of a transgender minor. Offenders would be placed on the sexual offender registry. Put in a more humane way, teachers who refuse to shame and insult trans kids will be classified as sex offenders. The bill defines what it calls “social transitioning” as when an individual adopts a name, pronouns and gender expression — such as clothing or a haircut — that does not match their assigned sex at birth.
So if a student named Samantha begins to experience “gender dysphoria” (which is what health officials (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/gender-dysphoria/symptoms-causes/syc-20475255) call it) and wants to be called Sam, and the teacher calls them Sam, suddenly the teacher is a sex offender?"
The Latest Salvo In The Anti-LGBTQ+ Range Wars: Criminalizing Teachers (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/latest-salvo-anti-lgbtq-range-094527969.html)Yes the MAGA Party is very isolated in their own ideological bubble that they can't see anything outside it,and what's going on in the Missouri State House is the latest example of that. No it is not what voters who believe in LGBTQ Rights wants.

[MrFanti]

Yes the MAGA Party is very isolated in their own ideological bubble that they can't see anything outside it,and what's going on in the Missouri State House is the latest example of that. No it is not what voters who believe in LGBTQ Rights wants.

I would debate that both major parties are isolated to a degree - otherwise, there wouldn't be 2 major sides with separate views.
I suspect that at some point, Hispanics, Jews, and Blacks will become more Independent.....due to the strong influences of the Black and Hispanic churches....alone with Jews becoming more isolated....

[Stavros]

I would debate that both major parties are isolated to a degree - otherwise, there wouldn't be 2 major sides with separate views.
I suspect that at some point, Hispanics, Jews, and Blacks will become more Independent.....due to the strong influences of the Black and Hispanic churches....alone with Jews becoming more isolated....

Maybe I could have said the Republicans have retreated into their own camp rather than isolated in a bubble? They have circled the wagons as they see their cherished vision of America under assault from Liberal Tribes.

That said, surely you agree the Democrats are a much more inclusive party? Indeed, in 1968 they were a mosaic of special interests who could not prioritize one over the other though they tried, with the result the 1968 Convention was chaotic and with Vietnam in full swing and LBJ walking off stage, they lost, and again in 1972.

It may be that the demographic changes since then have advantaged the Democrats but I think you will agree it is often the case that immigrants are economic and also often social conservatives, which makes a mockery of the silly claim Trump and others make that immigrants are encouraged by Democrats to cross the border as they then vote Democrat and replace 'indigenous' Americans because they have 10 children, and so on.

I believe immigrants want to prove they can make it in America without hand-outs, I think this/has been important for Korean and other Asian immigrants.

Also, while I think most Americans vote not on party lines but on the basis of their interests, there are still tribal affiliations, as with the 'Evangelical Christians', the White Racists, the 'Black Vote' which may not be as secure as once it was, but cannot be denied as a crucial vote for the Democrats in the South. After all there once were 'Reagan Democrats' and the multitudes who voted for Obama who were not normally Democrat voters. And so on.

The real puzzle in America, is that the Right to Vote might be enshrined in Law, but each State can interpret that law in its own way, so while it might claim not to deprive people of the Right to vote, the conditions attached in effect mean the vote being taken away -convicted felons who cannot vote, or not vote if released from prison but not having paid a fine, for example. Registration issues, voter ID issues, polling stations in majority Black areas closed on polling say for 'Health and Safety' reasons -sometimes in the US it is not party affiliation or class or religion that matters, but the simple fact that if the Republicans fear for their majority they will use 'State's Rights' to rig the election in their favour.

You might say, in such an election, the voters have been trumped. 2024 is going to be, shall we say, interesting...

[Stavros]

And, for example this is 'interesting'...

President Trump’s repeated claim: ‘The greatest economy in the history of our country’ - The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/07/president-trumps-repeated-claim-greatest-economy-history-our-country/)

[broncofan]

In my view Trump poses a fairly unique threat to the rule of law and there's no policy difference on the table right now more significant than that. He is someone who has tried to break down institutional safeguards for political reasons, who had spread malicious lies when he lost an election, and incited an insurrection that was not close to succeeding but showed a violent disregard for democracy, the truth, and human decency.

I could highlight a lot of the things he did during covid that encouraged people to threaten scientists and that exacerbated the public health problem, but I did that years ago.. Even if he himself is not an anti-vaxxer, his incessant lying helped bolster that movement, which is a frightening example of scientific illiteracy in this country and of people's resistance to facts they don't like.

During Biden's presidency we have not seen tweets threatening to destroy other nuclear powers. Or threatening to decimate Iran. I'm not sure what would cause a Democrat to be so disenchanted with Democrats that they would vote for a party that overturned Roe, threatens to overturn Obergefell, that is every bit as hawkish as Biden on all foreign policy matters, and that thinks school massacres in the US are not caused by differences between the US and countries that don't have them, but some other cause.

Yes, Biden is old and not a great speaker. Trump is also fairly old and an equally abyssmal speaker even if he confidently says things that don't make sense or uses neologisms in place of really common words because his vocabulary is shrinking. Biden is sane, does not have a character disorder, is not a threat to the existence of democracy in this country, and if one is a Democrat, he supports the entire domestic agenda of the party.

[filghy2]

In my view Trump poses a fairly unique threat to the rule of law and there's no policy difference on the table right now more significant than that. He is someone who has tried to break down institutional safeguards for political reasons, who had spread malicious lies when he lost an election, and incited an insurrection that was not close to succeeding but showed a violent disregard for democracy, the truth, and human decency.

The most ominous thing in my view is the plan to gut the Federal bureaucracy and fill it with MAGA loyalists whose only concern will be to do Trump's bidding. If they gain control of the Senate they will also be able to stack the judiciary with friendly judges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025

The saving grace in Trump's first term is that Trump generally had little idea what he wanted to do or how to get things done. It seems that more normal people in the Administration were able to ignore or block many of his more egregious whims. That's unlikely to be the case in a second Trump administration and Trump has a clear purpose now - retribution against 'enemies'.

Unfortunately, many Americans seem to be taking false comfort from the first term and assuming most of Trump's talk is just rhetoric that won't amount to much.

But whatever happens I'm sure we'll get nothing from Mr Fanti but vacuous bothsidesism.

[broncofan]

The most ominous thing in my view is the plan to gut the Federal bureaucracy and fill it with MAGA loyalists whose only concern will be to do Trump's bidding. If they gain control of the Senate they will also be able to stack the judiciary with friendly judges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025


But whatever happens I'm sure we'll get nothing from Mr Fanti but vacuous bothsidesism.
I hadn't seen that project 2025 link. That's terrifying to me. I read what tpusa commentators say on twitter. They are dangerously unhinged.

It's amazing anyone could take comfort from the first term. If someone suggested prior to it that Roe would be overturned I would have been very surprised. Not because I wasn't afraid of Trump's behavior but because I thought politically he was not a social conservative.

The other day the tpusa crowd was suggesting that Jon Stewart, the comedian, committed tax fraud because he sold a place for more than the tax assessment. That happens all the time because assessments are only done every so often and lag fair market value. Sometimes you have enormous differences because there's no way to market test high value properties. They think this is the same as offering falsified info to banks in order to induce them to provide loans, which is what Trump did. The problem is that property owners have no role in the assessment process in my experience and I doubt Stewart even made any material representations to the county assessors. Anyway, I know all of that is a digression, but it illustrates that these people operate in a fantasy bubble.

There's no both sides here. Trump threatens countries on social media. Makes false pronouncements about diseases. Makes threats against opponents. Lies about the political process knowing that the outcome might be vote suppression for the other side and violence from his side. And not only that, his entire agenda is about as aggressively opposed to the policy preferences of the Democratic party as any mainstream figure's. It's not like he's in any way a compromise like some people suggested before his last term. I avoided the main part of Mr. Fanti's bait (and plan to continue tbh) but it doesn't mean he even requires a segue to repeat himself.

[broncofan]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Clanton

This was one of tpusa's hires. They did fire her. Look at her racist statement. She claims she made it as a teenager, which would have to mean it occurred before her March birthday in 2015 or she'd have been 20. Charlie Kirk praised her in one of his books. Anyone who is curious, just take a look at comments of people who have worked for them or who are working for them on twitter. It is barely disguised neonazi stuff.

Yes, there are real policy issues to discuss, but the thing about Trump is he mainstreams hateful people.

[filghy2]

I haven't heard of that person or organization, but the most disconcerting aspect of the past 9 years is how readily views previously seen as fringe and extreme have been mainstreamed into right-wing politics, with little pushback from the great majority of Republicans. Either these people are spineless cowards or they never truly objected to those views in the first place.

[Stavros]

Project 2025, Turning Point USA and so on -what these show is that Trump might be the Prow on the Ship, but is just an ornament. John Bolton says Trump doesn't have the brains to be a Dictator, but neglects to say that other people do, and that they are the prominent threat to the USA as a Union of 50 States, the Rule of Law and Democracy.

It was, after all, Bolton who even before he joined the Trump administration called for the US to withdraw from the 'Iran Nuclear Deal', thereby weakening any impact the US might have had on Iranian decision making, individually or as part of a collective international response. It was Bolton who, during the 'mini-war' the US fought with Iran in Iraq who wanted the US to attack Iran directly but failed because Trump was, and is, too much of a coward to take decisions like that, though he may have been dissuaded not to by someone in the military, given that Trump cannot make up his own mind on 'difficult' issues and relies on others. Just as he wanted the US to withdraw from NATO in his first term but was persuaded it was not a good idea, and in reality he never then or since, has understood how NATO works, or why it exists in a post Cold War world.

The reality is that power devolved to States can cement issues to such an extent that it is hard to change policy -how will policy on Abortion be changed in States like Texas and Mississippi and Alabama if the Federal Govt cannot impose the policy and the Supreme Court decides it is a matter for States anyway?

How will policies on Transgender issues, particularly with regard to the treatment of teenagers be changed when the language and the policies in States like Florida may defy common sense and decency, but is the State's policy to make?

At some point it seems to me, Republicans even want to force an intervention from the Federal Govt, to take them on, and to thus argue against a 'tyrannical' form of politics, even though that is what they practice in their own State. The fact that the majority of Americans are opposed to many if not all of these policies further underlines the problem: the Republicans don't care about public opinion, they are committed to an ideological agenda that is shaped by their belief that their vision of America is being betrayed by people they don't even consider to be American, unlike the 'indigenous' Americans they claim to be.

So Trump is merely the symptom of a political illness that at the moment has no cure, for I don't see how two-thirds of the US can 'correct' the third which wants out of the Union.

Trump will be defeated in November, he cannot win, he doesn't have the votes. The winners will be people like JD Vance, the Greg Abbott's and the Ron DeSantis of their American world, unless there is an earthquake of the kind people are predicting for the Conservatives in the UK this October, the most likely month for a General Election here. For as we have seen before, even when Republicans lose the popular vote, they contrive to win power in the State legislature by other means.

I think the US is entering one of the darkest periods in its history -Bannon might be in prison by the time the next administration is formed in January 2025, but Mr Stalingrad may yet have the last laugh when it comes to bloodshed and much more, if Trump -and his supporters- yet again refuses to accept defeat.

[filghy2]

100-year Reich, anyone?
"New book details Steve Bannon’s ‘Maga movement’ plan to rule for 100 years"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/04/steve-bannon-book-maga

[Stavros]

A WARNING TO AMERICA, from Marge

"“God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent.
Earthquakes and eclipses and many more things to come.
I pray that our country listens.”"
Marjorie Taylor Greene's 'Repent' Earthquake Tweet Shakes Up Internet (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/marjorie-taylor-greenes-repent-earthquake-200205708.html)

The epicentre of the earthquake was in Bedminster, New Jersey, ponder that, O ye mortals.

And now for the other Marge, probing the women of America

Fargo (1996) | He Was Funny Lookin' | MGM Studios (youtube.com) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJPgVnyEByE)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Donald Trump comparing himself to Jesus and Nelson Mandela is disgusting,despicable and downright shameful. But not surprising at all,because this is what the fraudster and charlatan always does. And him lashing out at prosecutors,state and federal judges,attorney generals and witnesses shows that he knows the walls of justice is closing in on him,and will be found guilty and convicted and sent to prison.

[Stavros]

Abortion has an ability to confuse, anger and fold policy making into a knot of contradictions. Thus the current situation in Arizona exposes some of the ways in which people seeking to justify either side end up in a loop out of which they cannot seem to free themselves, while the real issue -the decision making of a woman, her partner/family/medical professionals seems to be almost an irrelevance to the politics.

Thus

"Laws from the 1860s in states and territories like Arizona, enacted decades before women in the US had won the right to vote, helped lead the 2022 Supreme Court to the “inescapable conclusion … that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions.”And so, with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that replaced Roe, justices turned away from the ’70s idea that women should have certain rights and returned to the 1860s idea that states should have them instead.
The patchwork of access created by the Dobbs decision has created abortion rights states and abortion ban states (https://www.cnn.com/us/abortion-access-restrictions-bans-us-dg/index.html?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo). The decision by Arizona’s state Supreme Court to return to the 1864 law is just the latest evidence of the tortured fallout."

But

"The 1864 law in Arizona would ban nearly all abortions, except to save the life of the mother, in the key political battleground and carries a prison sentence for abortion providers, although the state’s Democratic attorney general said in a statement that her office will not enforce it."
Civil War-era abortion ban rises again, which is exactly what some Roe opponents wanted (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/civil-war-era-abortion-ban-212932976.html)

This doesn't make sense -if the law states that it is illegal to abort a life, then surely the woman seeking an abortion, and the medical professionals who perform it must be charged with First Degree Murder -? What is more absurd, having a law that an Attorney General says will not be enforced, or the failure of the advocates to insist that the people responsible for 'murder' be put on trial?

Surely, until the logic of the 'Pro-Life' lobby is implemented as law and in full, citizens will not realize what in fact it means when a woman decides or a medical professional advises and they all end up in prison. It is why some add in get-out clauses, such as rape, incest, health of the mother etc, which by definition then means the 'right to life' is not the priority.

There is no solution to this mess, other than to respect the rights of the individual, and not insist that when a woman becomes pregnant in the USA, she must then hand over control of her body and her decision making rights to a middle aged man who has a bible tucked under his arm for reference, preferring it to the Constitution of the United States.

[Stavros]

Republicans have a Policy, which is that there is no Policy. Just make it up as you go -but wait a minute -does this mean the Supreme Court of Arizona is an irrelevance? That nobody, or rather, everybody in the State can just ignore their rulings, as if they were all optional?

"Nowhere encapsulates the GOP’s backpedal on abortion better than Arizona, whose state supreme court on Tuesday ruled to let an 1864 near-total abortion ban go into effect (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/09/arizona-supreme-court-abortion-decision). That ban, which outlaws abortion in all cases except to save the life of a woman, was passed before Arizona became a state, before the end of the civil war and before women gained the right to vote.Kari Lake, a Republican running to represent Arizona in the US Senate and a diehard ally of Donald Trump, once called that ban “a great law”. But on Tuesday, the inflammatory politician became one of several (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/10/arizona-republicans-against-state-abortion-ban) GOP officials to denounce the ruling, urging the state legislature to “come up with an immediate commonsense solution that Arizonans can support”. On Wednesday, Trump also indicated that he thought Arizona’s near-total ban – whose revival was enabled by a US supreme court ruling he has repeatedly taken credit for – had gone too far. “It’ll be straightened out and as you know, it’s all about states’ rights,” he said (https://apnews.com/article/trump-abortion-arizona-law-florida-ban-7cdd6d2e3c320a89ec7a7c037824e7cd)."
Arizona’s abortion ban is a political nightmare for Republicans in the 2024 election | Arizona | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/10/trump-arizona-abortion-ban)

Coming next -Republicans support a ban on the sale of battlefield weapons in gun shops, at gun fairs, and online....

Can someone turn up at the Republican Convention and seek to replace Trump in a Convention vote? After betraying the Pro-Life Movement, is it time for the Pro-Life Armada to call Time on Donald J. Trump?

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Someone should tell the fraudster and charlatan Donald Trump not too throw stones at glass houses,and for the second day in a row he doozed off in court. His new nickname is Drowsy Donald.

[Stavros]

Here is a thought, or a question, following the remark made by National Enquirer's David Pecker in the Trump Hush Money Trial, in relation to the claim Trump fathered an illegitimate child- Pecker said

"“What was the reason that you were willing to pay for this story at this point?” Steinglass pressed. Pecker replied:
"I had a number of reasons one, I thought it was very important that [Sajudin] wouldn’t be shopping the story to other media outlets. Part two, if the story was true, and I published it, it would be probably the biggest sale of the National Enquirer since the death of Elvis Presley." "
David Pecker tells hush-money trial about paying Trump doorman $30,000 to take a story ‘off the market’ – as it happened | Donald Trump trials | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/apr/23/trump-hush-money-trial-new-york-updates)

So between August 1977 and 2016 there was no story bigger than the death of Elvis to report to send sales soaring? I guess 9/11 never made it...?

[Stavros]

Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised the student protests on the campuses of US universities -he is free to do so though his thoughts are irrelevant. Mike Johnson appeared in public to endorse free speech at the same time condemning it among the students.

I am not diminishing the actuality, but this is how demonstrations go -in the days when I went on demos, mostly in London, I heard things that were either illegal or offensive, or both. I didn't like it, and on one occasion my companion and I were so offended we left the demo and went home.

Here's the thought: I am old enough to remember anti-Vietnam demos in the US, Kent State, for example, and a friend of mine at the time was a student in the UoW in Madison, where demos were broken up by tear gas -I don't know how many students who were not killed were injured, imprisoned and so on -let's just say that apart from the content, the current wave of demonstrations doesn't look like much when compared to the 1970s, some perhaps many of which were organized by the SDS.

I am not sure they achieve anything these days except to annoy a lot of people -and I don't recall the 'anti-American' protests on college campuses in the 1970s leading for calls for the University heads to resign. As for January 6....

[Stavros]

Is Idaho challenging Texas to be the cruellest, most anti-Woman State in the Union? I read this and wonder what on earth it is that the policy makers believe they are doing.

The US supreme court heard one of the most sadistic, extreme anti-abortion cases yet | Moira Donegan | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/25/supreme-court-idaho-anti-abortion-case)

[broncofan]

Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised the student protests on the campuses of US universities -he is free to do so though his thoughts are irrelevant. Mike Johnson appeared in public to endorse free speech at the same time condemning it among the students.

I am not diminishing the actuality, but this is how demonstrations go -in the days when I went on demos, mostly in London, I heard things that were either illegal or offensive, or both. I didn't like it, and on one occasion my companion and I were so offended we left the demo and went home.

Here's the thought: I am old enough to remember anti-Vietnam demos in the US, Kent State, for example, and a friend of mine at the time was a student in the UoW in Madison, where demos were broken up by tear gas -I don't know how many students who were not killed were injured, imprisoned and so on -let's just say that apart from the content, the current wave of demonstrations doesn't look like much when compared to the 1970s, some perhaps many of which were organized by the SDS.

I am not sure they achieve anything these days except to annoy a lot of people -and I don't recall the 'anti-American' protests on college campuses in the 1970s leading for calls for the University heads to resign. As for January 6....
https://twitter.com/guypbenson/status/1783643422680592687

Someone who wants to murder every Jewish person who thinks Israel should continue to be a UN member state. His words are not illegal. The University could decide this violates their code of conduct or that it did when a student at Loyola university said "yall ugly ass Jews should get the hell out of here." In that case an entire room full of anti-racists laughed and not one person even said anything sounding like disapproval. You can look it up. Again, if they want to say stuff like "go back to Poland" to Jews or "we are Hamas" or just carry the flag for Hezbollah, that might be fine (I don't actually know with some of the Hamas stuff). It should also be fine to point out that some of this stuff is reprehensibly stupid, not at all motivated by justice, and makes a mockery of their claim that they stand against for human rights (I protested in favor of a ceasefire early on without doing any of this idiotic stuff; also without threatening city councils either which seems to be increasingly common).

Again, they have the right to do some of those things but I just hope when some Jewish students get good grades while people are yelling baby killer in their ear we don't have to hear any excuses about "ethnic networking" or whatever bullshit antisemites say. Maybe studying instead of going to the fake treyf seder is a better way to get good grades.

No interest in what Netanyahu has to say about the protests but why don't we hear from some left-wing politicians who have been on Presstv. What remarkable integrity that shows. Or am I doing some kind of washing here because the mention of any other despotic regime surely only has the purpose of diverting attention away from Israel, the omnicause for these empty heads.

[broncofan]

I said look it up. However, the Loyola Los Angeles video did not even make the mainstream news. Apparently at their Chicago campus (if they're affiliated) the Hillel was daubed with swastikas. I could post the video of the student saying yall ugly ass Jews get out of here if anyone is interested. The University issued a press release three days later. Doesn't matter.

I think National guard should not be sent in. However, some trespassers are going to be arrested if they're not students or have already been suspended for being gigantic clowns and then show back up.

[Stavros]

Broncofan, I think you are going to make yourself ill if you immerse yourself in the worthless rubbish that has emerged in the last 6 months on social media. It may even be part of the long term trend to intolerance and sectarian hatred that your country has slid into since the 1960s when one part of the US believed it was seeing its version of America being taken away from them. They want it back, and are prepared to use force to do so, in the meantime using inflammatory rhetoric and hateful language to poison debate -if there now is any.

My point was to compare demonstrations as events rather than the individuals demonstrating -on that basis we still have not seen the levels of violence that was evident in the late 1960s and 1970s in the US. Nor can one be surprised that Trump says the demonstrations in Charlottesville were 'peanuts' compared to what is happening on US Campuses- he either forgets the death and injury by his chums, or doesn't care.

I think Jews probably are at risk on campuses, and this is something different from before, unless you factor in whatever hostility the first generation of Black students received when they attended university in larger numbers in the 1950s and 1960s. It suggests the kind of ignorance that is common when it comes to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and how easy it is to take one position against another, based on a pre-existing prejudice, or an emotional response to media coverage. I would like to think university authorities can control their campus, but then one would also hope that whoever is organising the demonstrations may now re-think what they are doing if it causes harm.

The left, so-called, has been in disarray for decades, I would argue since the 1960s. The key contradiction is the way in which in the 1960s the left - but particularly the so-called 'Revolutionary' left, ie Marxists, Leninists Trotskyists (who are Leninists anyway) gave their support to Nationalist causes -first in Cuba, then Vietnam, and by the end of the decade, in Northern Ireland. That said, in the UK in the 1940s, the left was an early supporter of Israel, on the grounds that Ben-Gurion and the Labour Party were creating a Socialist Israel. They turned against Israel after 1967 when Palestinians became the 'Revolutionaries' and notably after Begin's victory in 1977 which marks the moment when Israeli Fascism arrived in the mainstream. But how any Socialist can support a Nationalist cause is beyond me; it doesn't even make sense as a 'revolutionary' tactic -the Socialist Workers Party in 1979 had the headline in their paper 'All The Way With The Ayatollahs' - on the basis in the chaos of revolution, the Iranian Leninists would prove superior in organization and rally the workers to Socialism. Yeah, right. By the end of the year most of them were either dead or in prison.

Now the left in Israel is in a sorry state, as it is in much, if not all of Europe, and I don't know the American left is in a better condition, thrashing around with multiple causes and not much coherence. In the permissive environment created by a lack of any organizing principle, 'anything goes' has enabled the worst of society to migrate from the fringes to the centre, aided by an uncontrollable social media. It may be better to have it all out in the open, the better to challenge it, and to hope that when 'the people' see and hear what is being done in their name they will reject it, and society can regain some of its dignity. But with Trump still ranting and raving, and even people who loathe him determined to support his candidacy merely because he is 'not Biden', you can see how far you Americans are from detaching yourselves from the existential misery that Netanyahu and HAMAS have inflicted on Israel and Palestine, with their poison dripping into the non-debate around the horrors of Gaza, with only more horrors promised to come, from both sides.

I guess at some point students will have to write essays and sit exams, but it looks like a rough ride. Will it subside if the violence in Gaza subsides? Maybe. Until then, stop reading posts on X, they are x-rated as a warning.

[broncofan]

Maybe. Until then, stop reading posts on X, they are x-rated as a warning.
I agree and I regret my post though it wasn't meant as a rebuke to you. I have genuinely felt quite awful about Israel's bombing campaign in Gaza. I can't imagine having a loved one be killed in the kinds of carpet bombings Israel has engaged in and this has taken place for six brutal months. I'm not oblivious to the fact that there is nothing a person can say that could compare to having a limb amputated without anesthetic or disfigurement and pain that will afflict thousands of Palestinians for the rest of their lives. That's all still in my mind when I see these protesters and yet I am still agitated by some of them because frankly, some say things that are meant to threaten and intimidate people who do not have any sort of control over Israel's brutal conduct and haven't condoned it either. But I've actually avoided it for the most part and oddly it's people I know who have never been online who are panicking and sending me videos. It has a distorting effect because people use it as a sample of public perception when it can represent outliers.

When Israel ends its bombardment of Gaza, there will be thousands of innocent people without homes and with life-altering injuries there, among the tens of thousands dead (about half children). That the bombardment ends and soon is my most fervent hope.

[filghy2]

No doubt this war has brought out more anti-semitism (and Islamophobia), but I'm not sure how much what is happening on campus is really a reflection of anti-semitism rather than the sort of black-and-white 'anti-Western' posturing that has always been a feature of leftist student politics. It's difficult to assess this dispassionately when most of those complaining the loudest about anti-semitism seem to be doing so in bad faith - using it as a device to discredit and suppress opposition to Israel's conduct.

[broncofan]

It's difficult to assess this dispassionately when most of those complaining the loudest about anti-semitism seem to be doing so in bad faith - using it as a device to discredit and suppress opposition to Israel's conduct.
The best way to assess who is using the protesters to discredit opposition to Israel's conduct is to observe who claims there is no merit to criticism of Israel because of the excesses of some protesters. There are people who do that and yes, it's dishonest and disingenuous. But it's not like there are not people acting in bad faith who have attached themselves to the protest movement. On October 7th, I was called a"genocidaire" for simply saying that it is wrong to assert the people killed at the Nova Music Festival were not settlers and had clear civilian status. Does speaking out against the killing of 1,200 civilians before there has been any response mean I support any response? Of course not. Does condemning Israel's response mean one is a Hamas supporter? Of course not. But posting pictures of paragliders does mean that.

It's not really just the student response though. Because I will hear people say that they just want to be able to criticize Israel or condemn atrocities and then I will see thousands of people saying that support for a two-state solution is genocidal, that Palestine can only be free when Israel is gone, and the "Europeans" living there are sent back to Europe. I will see people in the pro-Palestine movement post lists of Zionists that include many people who are Jewish but have not stated much if any view on the conflict at all. Sometimes their culpability is framed in terms of their not speaking out or them one time appearing with someone and so and so.

What I kind of resent is that perfectly reasonable views about International Law, even views that fit within the mainstream, are characterized as bloodthirsty. The guy who runs the Columbia encampment, for instance, said that Zionists should not live and that Zionism necessitates genocide. I don't have any reason to try to characterize his views as the consensus but they are not that rare. And if it's not antisemitic, it does very nearly justify violence against me or others simply for not saying on demand that Israel should cease to exist. I don't see how this is much different from saying any supporter of Palestinians loves Hamas or is a terrorist sympathizer. I would identify that as bigoted. That kind of Islamophobia is done frequently enough but I personally have not argued that that kind of stupidity should be sanctified.

I agree with you that there is black and white anti-western posturing that might not be antisemitic. But it does end up putting a lot of Jewish history into the bin of "European history" which certainly makes more sense than considering Palestinians European but is not exactly the most equitable and accurate way to describe Jewish history.

[broncofan]

It's difficult to assess this dispassionately when most of those complaining the loudest about anti-semitism seem to be doing so in bad faith - using it as a device to discredit and suppress opposition to Israel's conduct.
I don't disagree with you here which is why I have personally tried not to say anything about what is selectively put before me. I think I always have had a problem with people deciding that they will resist any limits to how they protest. Or those who view any calls for limits to the acceptable means of protest as hiding a secret desire to see their cause fail (in this case, I suppose it depends on the goals but I don't wish any harm to anyone). People frequently want to invoke something exceptional about their current circumstances to justify extreme actions, but in recent memory most protests that have spilled into violence or vandalism have had harmful consequences. Most. I'm not saying all and I know there are noteworthy counter-examples.

When Nick Danger tried to compare protests against police brutality to the insurrection, there were a ton of problems with the comparison. One is that police brutality is a real problem and the insurrectionists manufactured their claims. The second one is that while arson is very bad in my view, it is not an imminent threat to ordered liberty the way invading a capitol building to prevent certification of a lawful vote is. But I didn't go for defund the police, whatever its proponents claimed it meant and I've always thought that wantonly damaging property tended to be the actions of someone acting out of personal angst rather than for their cause. Do I think "From the river to the sea" means genocide as some pro-Israel people have claimed? No. I don't. I do think the paraglider stuff is closer to a red line for me. For me because I think it's sadistic.

I also recognize the enormous hypocrisy of free speech absolutists wanting to punish speech. It is many right-wing people and a decent percentage of vocal supporters of Israel who claimed this maximalist position and now want to censor speech in centers where expression and debate are most valued. You know, they are idiots. And I think there is too much I don't know about college political movements but I think I probably wouldn't like some of it even if I had 1000 percent alignment with the cause.

[filghy2]

I agree with most of what you say. Blaming all Jewish people for the actions of the Israeli government does constitute a form of anti-semitism. It is also inexcusable to deny or justify the atrocities of Hamas just because they oppose a government whose policies you object to.

This article mentions some more examples of poor behaviour by some protestors.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/26/jews-palestinians-peace-gaza-narcissist-allies
It's hard to say how representative this is of the protest movement, but the organisers should do more make clear they don't support this kind of thing. Apart from anything else, it undermines the cause that they say they are fighting for.

Unfortunately, all of this seems to be part of the human tendency to take sides and then ostracise anyone not seen as being on the right side, while excusing bad actions of those who are seen as fellow travellers.

[filghy2]

I agree with you that there is black and white anti-western posturing that might not be antisemitic. But it does end up putting a lot of Jewish history into the bin of "European history" which certainly makes more sense than considering Palestinians European but is not exactly the most equitable and accurate way to describe Jewish history.

Israel is seen this way because it is supported by the US and most of the settlers in recent history came from Europe and the US. As always, a lot of radical leftists want to view everything through a lens of opposition to Western capitalist 'imperialism'. This leads to a tendency to support (or at least excuse) anyone resisting the West. This leads to some odd contradictions because Hamas and other Islamic fundamentalist organisations actually have more in common with authoritarian Christian fundamentalists on the right.

[Stavros]

Israel is seen this way because it is supported by the US and most of the settlers in recent history came from Europe and the US. As always, a lot of radical leftists want to view everything through a lens of opposition to Western capitalist 'imperialism'. This leads to a tendency to support (or at least excuse) anyone resisting the West. This leads to some odd contradictions because Hamas and other Islamic fundamentalist organisations actually have more in common with authoritarian Christian fundamentalists on the right.

The question to ask might be why this conflict has generated so much public protest, but not the savage war taking place in Sudan? The war in the Yemen has not become a public issue, and for much of the time neither was the war in Syria.

It might be that because the protests over the intention to change the regime in Iraq gave voice to people who Blair and Bush then ignored, a lot of people think there is no longer any purpose to demonstrations : the people have become irrelevant, as some right wing thinker once said at a public meeting after 9/11. Al-Qaeda never cared what people think; HAMAS doesn't care, Israel doesn't care. And it remains to be seen if those 'young people' so angered by the US support for Israel will abandon Biden in November. If a week is a long time in politics, 7 months is close to eternity.

It means that apart from being a nuisance and in the worst cases, a genuine threat to Jews on campus, maybe elsewhere too, the demonstrations achieve nothing where it matters, in the Middle East.

I wonder -are these demonstrations being co-ordinated? Maybe the organizers should consider scaling back their events, though the issue of intimidations and threats may be harder to deal with.

Dare I say this will all pass? At some point for the students essays and exams will be more important than howling at the moon.

[blackchubby38]

No doubt this war has brought out more anti-semitism (and Islamophobia), but I'm not sure how much what is happening on campus is really a reflection of anti-semitism rather than the sort of black-and-white 'anti-Western' posturing that has always been a feature of leftist student politics. It's difficult to assess this dispassionately when most of those complaining the loudest about anti-semitism seem to be doing so in bad faith - using it as a device to discredit and suppress opposition to Israel's conduct.

There has always been faction of leftist politics that has been antisemitic. I also believe there has always been a fine line between being pro-Palestinian and antisemitic. Since the attacks of October 7th and the subsequent war, that line has been crossed on many occasions.

Being from NYC, which is a center of leftist politics and where there are protests taking place on few college campuses, I think what is happening is a combination of antisemitism, mixed with the good old fashioned anti-western beliefs. It’s not uncommon to see flyers on lampposts advertising an upcoming protest with some of those beliefs. Occasionally you will see the words anti-Zionism thrown in with the classics. You know, anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, revolution, and in recent years, defunding the police, abolish ICE, and prisons.

[Stavros]

There has always been faction of leftist politics that has been antisemitic. .

I think a lot might depend on now the left is defined, particularly in the US. This study, while flawed, documents the twists and turns of ideas and political activism in the US. I would like to suggest the experience in the UK and parts of Europe has been different, but that would be a very long and tedious post.

Antisemitism and the American Far Left | Reviews in History (https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/1582)

[filghy2]

I also believe there has always been a fine line between being pro-Palestinian and antisemitic. Since the attacks of October 7th and the subsequent war, that line has been crossed on many occasions.

It could equally be said that there is a fine line between being pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian, and that line has been crossed on many occasions.

As I said, it's unfortunate that some bad elements have got involved because this undermines the cause of protesting against Israel's excesses. The protest movement should do more to disown the extremists. But targeting the whole movement because of the actions of a minority isn't likely to achieve this; more likely it will have the opposite effect. In the past heavy-handed attempts to crack down on protestors seem to have led to more radicalisation.
https://www.vox.com/politics/24141636/campus-protest-columbia-israel-kent-state-history

We now tend to have a romanticised view of the Vietnam war protestors because subsequent developments have put them on the right side of history, but there was also plenty of bad behaviour back then. Most people now think the US involvement in Vietnam was wrong, but the protests don't seem to have been popular at the time, given they helped Nixon win two elections.

[Stavros]

It could equally be said that there is a fine line between being pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian, and that line has been crossed on many occasions.


I tend to think in terms of parallel lines characterising a lot of the conflict since the first Aliyah in 1880. The settlers were astounded to find Arabs living and working where they expected a half-empty undeveloped land. Zionist/Nationalist pamphlets continued to peddle this lie right up to the 1940s. The two communities thereafter failed to accommodate each other, much as in the late Ottoman era the existing Jewish communities had lived as far apart from the Arabs as possible. There have been examples of co-operation, friendship, inter-marriage, but the post-war settlement that evolved from 1917 to 1921 robbed both the Arab and Jewish residents of Palestine an independent voice: just as then they would have had to find a way to live together, so this remains true today.

The left has never spoken with a united voice, but I don't think any political movement has. We have seen in the UK how some radical Trans activists have alienated people they need for support with aggressive, intolerant views, I often just ignore it on the basis that most people most of the time are reasonable and respond well to coherent arguments stated plainly, rather than at ten decibels at one end of a megaphone -it is one of the reasons why Trump never won and can never win the popular vote in the US, and why it is counter-productive to denounce people with contrary views as 'Transphobic' or worse. There are other ways to peel an onion, one doesn't need an axe.

If the left has a problem, so too do those who support Israel, but can't or will not distinguish between Israelis in general, and the Fascists like Netanyahu, unwilling it seems to me, to accept the Fascist past that was part of the Israel project from the start, of people like Avraham Stern or Menachem Begin. It is thus possible to be a fierce critic of Netanyahu and the other minority parties in his coalition on the basis of their politics and political history without getting into an existential doom-loop about the life and death of Israel. Extremist politics might be a consequence of the extreme positions taken by both sides, with violence its most obvious form of expression, and right now the HAMAS attack of October '23 has badly damaged relations. That kind of violence forces people to take sides, and thus open a rift between them. It will take a long time for these wounds to heal.

Once upon a time they did try to put it behind themselves, and for all the flaws in the 1993 Treaty, it offered a framework for change. Itamar Rabinovich once wrote a book, via Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, about an earlier phase of 'peace talks' that went nowhere. The irony is that after the peace talks that did go somewhere, the choice not to take that road was made by the people who murdered Yitzhak Rabin, or people like Ariel Sharon, Netanyahu and Likud, and though Avi Shlaim does point out that the other major group to reject that Treaty was HAMAS, the main weight of his criticism is on Israel-

". The main conclusion is that the Oslo accord was not doomed to failure from the start: it failed because Israel, under the leadership of the Likud, reneged on its side of the deal."
The Rise and Fall of the Oslo Peace Process (ox.ac.uk) (https://users.ox.ac.uk/~ssfc0005/The%20Rise%20and%20Fall%20of%20the%20Oslo%20Peace% 20Process.html)

Netanyahu's days in politics may be numbered, but like the men he admires from Israel's past, he is going down fighting, and I don't think he cares how many he he takes with him. Why should any reasonable person support him and his Nationalist politics, given that it has failed so badly over so many decades and has left Gaza in ruins, and set back the cause of peace for another dismal decade?

[Stavros]

Kristi Kreme: one bite and it's not just your teeth that ache. How desperate are these people to kiss Trump's 'ring'..?

The Kristi Noem and Kim Jong Un Controversy, Explained | TIME (https://time.com/6974797/kristi-noem-kim-jong-un-book-controversy/)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Kristi Kreme: one bite and it's not just your teeth that ache. How desperate are these people to kiss Trump's 'ring'..?

The Kristi Noem and Kim Jong Un Controversy, Explained | TIME (https://time.com/6974797/kristi-noem-kim-jong-un-book-controversy/)They're very desperate,and South Dakota Governor Kristi-Pruneface-Noem is the latest example.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley says she will for the twice impeached,four times indicted fraudster and charlatan Donald Trump,the same person who called her birdbrain and relentlessly attacked her on his failed social media platform. And not surprised at all she flip flopped and bent the knee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ccd0naTCVI

[Stavros]

I may have missed something here, but what puzzles me is why the woman in question was not asked to swap her seat with someone willing to abide by the regulations when sitting next to an exit. I was once moved from an internal flight in China because I was seated next to an exit but couldn't read the instructions, and I did so willingly. After all, it's not as if changing seats would cost more.

Frontier Airlines passenger refuses to comply with exit row instructions causing plane to deboard | The Independent (https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/frontier-airlines-flight-passenger-arrested-exit-row-b2550008.html)

[Luke Warm]

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley says she will for the twice impeached,four times indicted fraudster and charlatan Donald Trump,the same person who called her birdbrain and relentlessly attacked her on his failed social media platform. And not surprised at all she flip flopped and bent the knee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ccd0naTCVI

She’s trying to cover her bases for a 2028 campaign. She doesn’t realize that her chances in 2028 will be just as bad as they are now. Republicans are not going to nominate someone non-white, a woman, who was raised in a Hindu family (she is Christian now but that’s not going to persuade Republicans on a national basis when there are plenty of white males they could nominate) and she is not authentically “MAGA” she is just pandering.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The MAGA King aka Mr. Bitch.&. Moan Donald Trump and his enablers falsely claims that the New York Trial,is unfair and rigged. Y'all want some cheese with that whine?, The New York Trial shows that nobody is above the law,including a twice impeached,four times indicted fraudster,charlatan and sore loser. The court should remove the cameras and microphones so he can't spine the narrative or whine,bitch and moan every day about how unfair he's being treated.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Today Justice Prevailed and showed that nobody is above the law. Donald Trump comments shows a lack of remorse ,and he can make all the false claims that he wants about him being innocent,but the jury says you're not..

[filghy2]

In the second most important election of this year, Indian voters have rejected Narendra Modi's invitation to turn their country into an effective dictatorship. Although his party still won with a reduced majority, it's a heartening sign that the world's largest democracy has resisted manipulation by appeals to religious nationalism.
https://www.vox.com/world-politics/353785/india-election-2024-modi-bjp

[Stavros]

Over the last few days I have watched some of the two hearings the House had with Dr Fauci and Attorney General Garland. What strikes me about them, is that Republicans in particular -Jordan, Gaetz and McClintock in the case of Garland, and MTG in the case of Fauci, were not asking questions to which they wanted to know the answers -they knew the answers, so in fact that they were making statements to go on the record. And yet, though there were complaints about the 'decorum' of MTG, it seemed to me the only reason Jordan and his chums asked Garland to appear was to insult him, and in the process insult the intelligence of the people watching. There was an almost deliberate lack of intelligence, given that 'lawmakers' know now the system works and know the range of Garland's responsibilities.

What is all this for? It is a pathetic side show, whose only result, intended or not, is to diminish public faith in Congress.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Over the last few days I have watched some of the two hearings the House had with Dr Fauci and Attorney General Garland. What strikes me about them, is that Republicans in particular -Jordan, Gaetz and McClintock in the case of Garland, and MTG in the case of Fauci, were not asking questions to which they wanted to know the answers -they knew the answers, so in fact that they were making statements to go on the record. And yet, though there were complaints about the 'decorum' of MTG, it seemed to me the only reason Jordan and his chums asked Garland to appear was to insult him, and in the process insult the intelligence of the people watching. There was an almost deliberate lack of intelligence, given that 'lawmakers' know now the system works and know the range of Garland's responsibilities.

What is all this for? It is a pathetic side show, whose only result, intended or not, is to diminish public faith in Congress.

They do that intentionally to create explosive sound bytes for Fox News and similar outlets.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

They do that intentionally to create explosive sound bytes for Fox News and similar outlets.Completely Agree 1000%. That is exactly what it is.

[KnightHawk 2.0]

Over the last few days I have watched some of the two hearings the House had with Dr Fauci and Attorney General Garland. What strikes me about them, is that Republicans in particular -Jordan, Gaetz and McClintock in the case of Garland, and MTG in the case of Fauci, were not asking questions to which they wanted to know the answers -they knew the answers, so in fact that they were making statements to go on the record. And yet, though there were complaints about the 'decorum' of MTG, it seemed to me the only reason Jordan and his chums asked Garland to appear was to insult him, and in the process insult the intelligence of the people watching. There was an almost deliberate lack of intelligence, given that 'lawmakers' know now the system works and know the range of Garland's responsibilities.

What is all this for? It is a pathetic side show, whose only result, intended or not, is to diminish public faith in Congress.To continue show loyalty to their twice impeached,four times indicted convicted felon and disgraced leader Donald Trump aka the whining bitch. Completely agree it is a pathetic clown show.

[Stavros]

Poor Hunter! Was he prosecuted because he lied when filling out a form, or because he is the President's son? Is he being condemned because at the time he had a drug problem? Should someone have intervened to stop him buying a gun before it happened?

As for the trial -this one is a vindication of the justice system, that other one proof the US is a 'banana republic', etc etc.

As for the Uvalde shooter....

CNN calls out Fox News’s very different reactions to Hunter Biden and Trump guilty verdicts (yahoo.com) (https://uk.yahoo.com/news/cnn-calls-fox-news-very-102829268.html)

Documents show red flags about the Uvalde shooter went unreported (cbsaustin.com) (https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/documents-show-red-flags-about-the-uvalde-shooter-went-unreported)

[KnightHawk 2.0]

The one term,twice impeached,four times indicted convicted felon,domestic terrorist leader,fraudster and grifter in chief Donald Trump claims he can't be a racist because he has many black friends,we all know that's bullshit. Here is what Donald Trump said about African Americans over the last 35 years: Took out an ad in the New York Times calling for the death penalty of the Central Park Five,and when the CP 5 were cleared of charges,he didn't even apologized and still thought they were guilty,made false claims that former president Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States,calling african american athletes sons of bitches and referred to predominately african countries as shitholes. And other despicable and disgusting comments he has made about African Americans. And Donald Trump can claim all he wants he's not a racist,but he comments says he is a orange racist pile of shit. And also members of MAGA Party welcomed him with open arms and fully embraced him,when he returned to Capitol Hill yesterday to meet with them.

[Stavros]

More arcane sophistry from the Supreme Court decision on Mifepristone-

"A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday swatted away the current challenge to mifepristone (https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-235_n7ip.pdf) access without reaching the merits of the case. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a member of the court’s conservative wing, wrote that the anti-abortion doctors and groups (https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/25/politics/doctors-mifepristone-abortion-supreme-court/index.html?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo) that sued over the drug didn’t have standing because they were not injured by its use"

But this is just as interesting, from the Circuit Judge-

"Earlier this month, Kacsmaryk blocked the Biden administration from enforcing in four states a federal rule that requires people who sell firearms online and at gun shows to conduct background checks (https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/12/politics/gun-show-loophole-injunction-texas-kacsmaryk/index.html?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo) on their potential customers."
Supreme Court’s abortion pill ruling puts new focus on conservative Trump judge in Texas (yahoo.com) (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-abortion-pill-ruling-080015789.html)

America, mad about guns, and basically, mad. Will it ever change? Don't think so.

[Stavros]

Trump's Permanent Revolution: always go backwards.

Abortion, IVF, Contraception, 'TransgenderISM'. Same-Sex Marriage, and now

Divorce...

"They’ve come after abortion. They’ve come after birth control (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/05/legal-right-contraception-senate-vote). They’ve come after IVF (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/13/right-to-ivf-act). Now it looks suspiciously like far-right Republicans might have a new target: no-fault divorce. If a certain subsection of Republicans get their way, obtaining a divorce in the US might soon become a lot more difficult."
Far-right Republicans’ latest target? No-fault divorce | Arwa Mahdawi | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jun/15/republicans-no-fault-divorce)

[Stavros]

So the 'Ten Commandments' might have originated as 'God's' rules for the Jewish people, but now they are part of the Foundation of the United States, and therefore must be displayed in schools in Louisiana. Not sure which version they are using, presumably the one that is translated as 'You Shall Not Murder', rather than 'Thou Shalt Not Kill', a get out clause for all those State and Federal bodies that despatch Death Row inmates to Kingdom Come. The historical argument is rubbish, but I guess if this is what the Republicans in swampy Louisiana believe, facts are not going to get in the way of their tyrannical imposition of religion on the State's children.

Louisiana's public classrooms now have to display the Ten Commandments | AP News (https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-ten-commandments-displayed-classrooms-571a2447906f7bbd5a166d53db005a62)

[Stavros]

"If you want to respect the rule of law, you've to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses" (see previous post).

I thought God was the lawgiver, Moses was merely showin' folks what God done writ on stone tablets. It also begs the question, if the Old Testament is to be the source of law in the USA, or Louisiana, does the rest of the Old Testament also become the source of law -on incest (permitted), on male masturbation (ejaculation forbidden), on adultery (stone 'em to death)-- ?

Something tells me the Guvnor ain't all there, mentally. Storms a coming. Focus on what matters.

[Stavros]

So what happens if someone BREAKS a Commandment? And should this Foundation of the United States not also inform the American system of Law, and PUNISH people who BREAK the Commandments?

For example, if a man commits ADULTERY, should he go to prison? Should he be stoned to death?

What if he FRAUDENTLY acquires another man's property, for example, by FALSIFYING business records?

The man who trumpets the TTC! loudly may be careful what he wishes for. Though from what we have seen so far, there might always be an exception to the rules, like, for the man sent by GOD to cleanse the country?