Thought for the Day

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Originally Posted by blackchubby38

You know how when you leave a job you're given a termination checklist that you have to go through and turn in to HR when you're done. I think we need to do the same thing for Presidents and Vice Presidents before they leave office. Just to make sure they don't have any classified documents accidentally packed away with their coffee mugs, plants, and various other items they have accumulated over the years.

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You make a telling point -but surely if Presidents have people to manage their diary and their phone calls, there must be bod who is in charge of documents? Are they kept in a filing cabinet? Not sure I have seen one in the Oval Office. I guess when the time comes to move they stuff things in boxes, yet again, it is not as if they have to move overnight, so I do wonder what is going on here when I am sure the lawyers will tell Presidents and Vice-Presidents who owns the stuff they have, from documents to foreign gifts.

I guess this is not going to damage Trump as much as some hoped, given Biden and Pence are now in the frame, but then Trump has other issues to deal with, Georgia and New York being closest to his jawline.

As for that photo with an ex-Gambino man, didn't Trump admit he hired the Gambino-Castellano concrete firm to help build Trump Tower in Manhattan? Has there ever been a President so closely linked to organized crime? Amazing. Like winning a golf tournament when you ain't there.

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Originally Posted by Stavros

Like winning a golf tournament when you ain't there.

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Not just one- 21 times according to a guy who wrote a book on it.
https://thecomeback.com/politics/don...lf-report.html

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Originally Posted by blackchubby38

If I'm former Presidents Obama, George W, Clinton, and hell even Carter, I'm going through my various residences and offices and making sure I don't have any classified documents hanging around. I would hate for Merrick Garland to have to come and hold another press conference announcing he is appointing a special counsel to investigate another former president and how they handled classified information.

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See me and the National Archives are on the same wavelength:

National Archives Asks Ex-Presidents and Vice Presidents to Scour Their Files

http://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/26/us...-archives.html

"Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio on Sunday that there aren't "enough good people" seeking to become police officers due to the effects of the "defund the police" movement, which he blames for smearing law enforcement officials across the country."
GOP Rep. Jim Jordan says there aren't 'enough good people' seeking to become police officers due to the 'disparagement' of law enforcement (yahoo.com)

So, if you are stopped by a policeman who has the III Percent emblem embroidered on his uniform, are you being stopped by a law enforcement officer, or an armed terrorist?

Can Little Jimmy Jordan explain why so many American Terrorists are not just in Law Enforcement, but have the emblem of their anti-American, anti-Democratic group sewn onto their uniform -presumably with the full approval of the people in charge?

I saw a pedestrian get hit by a speeding car last night. When I say hit, I he mean went over the hood and smashed into the windshield. Even though the driver did stop and get out of his car, I swear it looked like it was intentional.

That is a horrible thing to see, I hope you are not too upset. It is the kind of thing that can stay with you for years.

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Originally Posted by Stavros

This is one of the best expositions of CRT applied to the law I have seen or read. The keywords are 'Preferential', 'Colour Blindness', 'Affirmative Action', 'Asymmetrical', with some fascinating insights into Plessy-v-Ferguson, Martin Luther King's 1963 speech at the climax of the March on Washington, and some brutal comments on the law....and it's not too long.

Kimberlé Crenshaw, "Race, Gender, Inequality and Intersectionality" - YouTube

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It seems there is no law that says a Congressional Representative in the House cannot talk verifiable rubbish, be ignorant, stupid and offensive, but hey, that's Marjorie Taylor Greene, who also thinks one school in Illinois got over $4 billion.....oh dear, America, can't you do better than this?

Acyn on Twitter: "Greene: Can you tell me how much money went to CRT? Dodaro: CRT? Greene: It’s a racist curriculum used to teach children that somehow their white skin not equal to black skin and other things https://t.co/ssFZE7Gxlz" / Twitter

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Originally Posted by Stavros

It seems there is no law that says a Congressional Representative in the House cannot talk verifiable rubbish, be ignorant, stupid and offensive, but hey, that's Marjorie Taylor Greene, who also thinks one school in Illinois got over $4 billion.....oh dear, America, can't you do better than this?

Acyn on Twitter: "Greene: Can you tell me how much money went to CRT? Dodaro: CRT? Greene: It’s a racist curriculum used to teach children that somehow their white skin not equal to black skin and other things https://t.co/ssFZE7Gxlz" / Twitter

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No unfortunately,because the MAGA Party consist of Bigots,Conspiracy theorists,Homophobes and Racists who use their positions of power to deflect,deny,distract and project and spread hateful rhetoric againist people who don't believe in their twisted political views. And launch fraudulent investigations and kick people off committees they don't like.

Removing Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee is hateful bullshit. Without going into a postmortem about her previous comments, I just want to summarize my view which is that I don't think she is antisemitic. I'm not saying my view is the final word but I don't see it at all.

And while we don't have to live in a zero-sum world Republicans have shown complete tolerance for every kind of prejudice from Marjorie Taylor Greene and frankly many Republicans. Removing her is cherrypicked, xenophobic, Islamophobic demagoguery.

BTW, the antisemitism from Kanye West (he also made racist comments about slavery) was about as obvious and direct as it can get and numerous Republicans defended him because he's a MAGA supporter. It was only when he started saying Hitler is a great man that they realized he was a liability. Some might say he's only a musician, but he's extremely high profile and a ton of Republican pundits were actively supporting him while he was basically on an interview tour discussing the Jewish question. The hypocrisy couldn't be more stark. Also ask Marjorie Taylor Greene about her ties to Nazi Nick Fuentes.....

So that's how World War III is going to start. Over a "weather balloon".

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Originally Posted by broncofan

Removing Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee is hateful bullshit. Without going into a postmortem about her previous comments, I just want to summarize my view which is that I don't think she is antisemitic. I'm not saying my view is the final word but I don't see it at all.

And while we don't have to live in a zero-sum world Republicans have shown complete tolerance for every kind of prejudice from Marjorie Taylor Greene and frankly many Republicans. Removing her is cherrypicked, xenophobic, Islamophobic demagoguery.

BTW, the antisemitism from Kanye West (he also made racist comments about slavery) was about as obvious and direct as it can get and numerous Republicans defended him because he's a MAGA supporter. It was only when he started saying Hitler is a great man that they realized he was a liability. Some might say he's only a musician, but he's extremely high profile and a ton of Republican pundits were actively supporting him while he was basically on an interview tour discussing the Jewish question. The hypocrisy couldn't be more stark. Also ask Marjorie Taylor Greene about her ties to Nazi Nick Fuentes.....

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First of all, I don't know much about Ilhan Omar, and wonder if she is good at her job, that is, representing the people in her District. It seems to me that too many of the Congressional Representatives I read about are good at becoming media personalities, but I don't know how good they are as Representatives, and this goes for Marjorie Taylor Greene as well as Omar.

Second, when I was a student of American politics and history, a long time ago now, I did a short study of Black American Politics, and my tutor pointed out that historically, Foreign Policy had been a concern for the Senate not the House, but that the increase in Black representation in the House and the co-ordinated campaign against Apartheid in South Africa had introduced Foreign Policy issues in the House where before they had not been prominent. Andrew Young was identified as a key player in this. Should the House be more concerned with Domestic, than Foreign Policy?

Third, Congresswoman Omar is no more clever or stupid than most of the others I read about. She has condemned the response of Iran's govt to the protests there, though I am not sure if she has specifically referred to the Hijab- a version of which she wears- as an emblem of women's oppression. She has condemned the State of Israel but in the same sentence HAMAS, thus being another faded and jaded exponent of American appeasement, which in consequence trashes the rights of Palestinians for the sake of a strategic alliance, in much the same way the USA has supported Saudi Arabia in spite of its lamentable record on Human Rights, with the current regime under MbS chopping off more heads a week than ISIS managed. Whatever!

Fourth, as with the pathetic apology of Kim Johnson MP in the House of Commons, I think we need to take a stern look at the current Israeli Govt and indeed, ask if it is Fascist, because to me it has Fascist tendencies, and even more important, these reach back to the Mandate period when Jewish Nationalists fighting the British, Avraham Stern in particular, were trained in Fascist Italy and admired both Mussolini and his ideology, as discussed in the Haaretz article linked below.

No, Apartheid is the wrong term to use. In South Africa, it didn't must mean 'Separate Development', but factored in the 'Bantustans', the 'independent' or 'Autonomous' states where the Africans removed from the Cape and Transvaal were expected to live -the last thing on Netanyahu's mind is any kind of Palestinian state.

The law passed under the last Netanyahu Govt is to my mind a Fascist law, because it collapses all identity in Israel into one explicitly Jewish category that obliges internal devotion, that condemns any external involvement in Israel not based on that category, and recruits all the resources of the State to protect that Group Identity which, being Jewish, rejects all others, contrary to the last paragraph of the Declaration of the State of Israel 1948, the closest Israel has ever come to a Constitution. As was argued here-

"at the core of the new law is a deep, existential debate that Israelis have grappled with almost since the country’s founding: Can Israel be both a “Jewish state” that protects and celebrates Jewish identity, and a liberal democracy that protects the rights of all minorities, including non-Jews?"
Israel’s controversial new “Jewish nation-state” law, explained - Vox

As I have argued elsewhere, Israel is defended and supported by States and Politicians that would never allow the extremists found in the current Govt representation in their own country, while denying that Palestinians have any rights, and ignoring the simple fact that Netanyahu rejected the 1993 Peace Treaty from the outset, preferring war to peace, confrontation to negotiation, but completely incapable of telling anyone what Israel intends to do with 2 million people on the West Bank, and another 2 million in the Gaza District who are not Jewish and don't want to be ruled by Israel.

On this basis, Ilhan Omar is a coward for not confronting the hypocrisy of the American political establishment, though one notes there are Americans who want a Fascist state of their own.

Also in the links below is a discussion of why Israel is so determined not to take sides in Russia's war against Ukraine -not because of the annexation problem, but because Israel is more concerned by the fate of Jews in Russia than freedom in the Ukraine.

Links
Haaretz article from 2019 on Israel's Fascist past
When Jews Praised Mussolini and Supported Nazis: Meet Israel's First Fascists - Israel News - Haaretz.com

Ilhan Omar and Iran
Ilhan Omar equates women protesting Islamic law in Iran with abortion fight in US | Fox News

Israel and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine
Here's why Israel, one of the toughest militaries, isn't arming Ukraine despite a global push to do so. It's got another fight in focus. (yahoo.com)

Kim Johnson's Apology in the House of Commons
Kim Johnson: Labour MP apologises for calling Israeli government 'fascist' - BBC News

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Originally Posted by Stavros

That is a horrible thing to see, I hope you are not too upset. It is the kind of thing that can stay with you for years.

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I'm okay, thanks for asking. Although it did remind me to keep my head on a swivel when crossing the street. Also, I find this eerie. This video was uploaded to YouTube three days after I made that post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl9p1wrak6Y

These guns are made for killin'
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days these guns
Are gonna kill each one of you...

The sick stunt of a sick party, or a warning of the future in store?

This is why some members of Congress have been seen wearing lapel pins resembling miniature AR-15 rifles (yahoo.com)

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Originally Posted by Stavros

These guns are made for killin'
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days these guns
Are gonna kill each one of you...

The sick stunt of a sick party, or a warning of the future in store?

This is why some members of Congress have been seen wearing lapel pins resembling miniature AR-15 rifles (yahoo.com)

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It is both,a despicable and disgusting stunt from a sick and atrocious party. And warning of a future in store.

"Former President Donald Trump escalated his attacks on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Tuesday, seizing on a story that his rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination partied with underage students when he worked as a teacher at a Georgia high school."
Trump amplifies posts claiming DeSantis was 'grooming high school girls' (yahoo.com)

Hmmm...is this the same Donald J. Trump who was best friends with Jeffrey Epstein? Can someone confirm that when Trump discovered Epstein's 'interest' in underage girls, he went straight to the cops to report on his buddy's illegal behaviour?

Just askin'.

President Abraham Lincoln said the following doing the American Civil War,that a house divided againist itself cannot stand. That quote perfect describes today's US Government,during last night's State Of The Union Address,all 213 Democratic House Members including Vice President Kamala Harris stood up and applaud President Joe Biden,while the 222 Republican House Members and the spineless coward Kevin McCarthy remained in their seats. And it showed the differences between both caucuses,the Democrats are working for their constituents and want to continue to protect democracy and support the President,while the Republicans use their political power to launch fraudulent investigations into Joe Biden,his family and administration,and colleagues across the aisle and kick people off committee assignments and continue to show loyalty to their leader the MAGA King Donald Trump. Which is going to comeback and cost them the control of the House Of Representatives next year.

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)

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?

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Originally Posted by Stavros

First of all, I don't know much about Ilhan Omar, and wonder if she is good at her job, that is, representing the people in her District. It seems to me that too many of the Congressional Representatives I read about are good at becoming media personalities, but I don't know how good they are as Representatives, and this goes for Marjorie Taylor Greene as well as Omar.

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Second, when I was a student of American politics and history, a long time ago now, I did a short study of Black American Politics, and my tutor pointed out that historically, Foreign Policy had been a concern for the Senate not the House, but that the increase in Black representation in the House and the co-ordinated campaign against Apartheid in South Africa had introduced Foreign Policy issues in the House where before they had not been prominent. Andrew Young was identified as a key player in this. Should the House be more concerned with Domestic, than Foreign Policy?
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Third, Congresswoman Omar is no more clever or stupid than most of the others I read about. She has condemned the response of Iran's govt to the protests there, though I am not sure if she has specifically referred to the Hijab- a version of which she wears- as an emblem of women's oppression. She has condemned the State of Israel but in the same sentence HAMAS, thus being another faded and jaded exponent of American appeasement, which in consequence trashes the rights of Palestinians for the sake of a strategic alliance, in much the same way the USA has supported Saudi Arabia in spite of its lamentable record on Human Rights, with the current regime under MbS chopping off more heads a week than ISIS managed. Whatever!
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On this basis, Ilhan Omar is a coward for not confronting the hypocrisy of the American political establishment, though one notes there are Americans who want a Fascist state of their own.

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Your post is a confusing jumble that I suspect only makes sense to you, but I wanted to comment on your superficial comments about Ilhan Omar, and the silly idea that the US House of Representatives focuses on domestic policy, and leaves foreign affairs to the Senate. A “tutor” told you this? Alrighty then. If that was “historically true” for example in the 18th century, I don’t see how that is relevant to a contemporary discussion.

Ilhan Omar is (from what I have read, as someone who is interested in her) considered to be excellent at providing services to her constituents. There is a population of Somalis in her district but they are not a majority. She is being reelected for a reason, she delivers for the people in her district. The comparison to Marjorie Taylor Greene is ridiculous, it doesn’t hold water in any context.

Secondly, the idea that HAMAS or the theocratic government of Iran is above criticism is laughable. And if there is anyone who has the standing to make a criticism of HAMAS or the Iranian regime, it is a Muslim member of Congress. I read your Fox News link, and it didn’t illuminate any of the points you seem to be trying to make. The leaders of Iran are theocrats. The people behind rolling back women’s reproductive rights in the US are also theocrats. The purpose of the Fox News article is to rile up the right wing base because they will be offended by any comparison between Iran and the US, even when the comparison fits, and I wonder why you would post that link and what kind of point you imagined it was making.

I have no idea what “Ilhan Omar is a coward for not confronting the hypocrisy of the American political establishment” means. That’s like a bunch of hyperbolic word salad.

When you admitted that you don’t know much about Omar, that should have been an indication that maybe you should not include her in your ramblings. Think about how over-qualified you would have to be, to come to the US as a refugee, a black Muslim woman (three huge strikes against her, in our country) and rise through the ranks to be elected to Congress.

Sorry if that was harsh but your post as a whole was incomprehensible.

I accept some of your critical remarks though I did suggest Ilhan Omar is good at her job -I just don't have any details. I think the main problem is that you see these issues from within the US and I see them as an external observer, albeit one with a background in the Middle East.

For this reason I find it difficult to comprehend why the US, having staked so much in the Middle East Peace Process and twice achieved historic peace treaties, in 1979 and 1993, appears to have abandoned the commitments it once made, giving Israel the freedom to both smash the peace treaty with the PLO to pieces, and to embark on policies, on the West Bank in particular that seem designed to provoke rather than lessen conflict. As I said, Netanyahu prefers war to peace, confrontation to negotiation, and with a weak Palestinian leadership has so far led Israel up a garden path, but not to any sane place or lasting solution.

Where are the Americans in the House or the Senate to condemn an Israel that has in effect, repudiated the Treaties the Americans helped negotiate and support? Is it really impossible to criticize a Fascist government because of its policies, without calling into question Israel's right to exist as a sovereign state? On that basis, Ilhan Omar is just as cowardly as the rest of her colleagues, she is terrified of taking sides, even though the US Govt since 1967 has done just that.

Russia is condemned for annexing Eastern Ukraine and attempting to annex the rest -where was the criticism in the US of Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights, or its de facto annexation of Palestinian territories? Are the two so different, setting aside the ludicrous rhetoric of Putin? One could also ask why it was that the US failed to take any action against Turkey when it invaded and occupied Northern Cyprus and why no serious effort has been made since then to evict them, and help negotiate a just solution to a divided country.

On the HAMAS question, when they won the election in Gaza in 2006 they offered talks with the Israeli Govt without any pre-conditions, which the Israeli Govt rejected, for the obvious reason that since Sharon and Netanyahu smashed it to pieces, the logic of the peace process was a trade off in land and mobility that neither of the two Nationalists could contemplate. But it means that Israel is where it was in 1967, occupying Palestinian territories that now contain 4 million people, with no idea how to develop this relationship. while endorsing the violent Settler Movement on the West Bank which further undermines peace in the area.

The US could put pressure on Israel by withdrawing the staggering sums of money it gets every year, by using the same sanctions it uses for other states such as Iran. And is Israel a 'strategic ally' of the US when it supports one dictatorship -Saudi Arabia- in its confrontation with another -Iran? I accept there has always been this problem of alliances States make which beg moral questions, but there is also the political fact that the US enables the survival of dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and in doing so fails to use its power to support any meaningful change in the region, though I accept it cannot do such things on its own. There is a lack of criticism in Congress, and thus no sense of direction, while the kind of politics and politicians that used to be impossible in the US are running the show in the region, though these days some US politicians also seem now to be keen on replacing their democracy with dictatorship.

As for Congress, I studied the US in the mid-1980s when I do think it was at least considered a convention that the Senate rather than the House concerned itself with Foreign Affairs.

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Originally Posted by Luke Warm

And if there is anyone who has the standing to make a criticism of HAMAS or the Iranian regime, it is a Muslim member of Congress. I read your Fox News link, and it didn’t illuminate any of the points you seem to be trying to make. The leaders of Iran are theocrats.

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It's funny. I agree with many parts of your post and disagree with the same parts of Stavros' post you pulled out. I didn't find his post to be incomprehensible but probably unfair to Omar, who has in no way been a "both sides" type person because of her criticism of Hamas. She has been a steadfast critic of the occupation and of Israeli human rights violations. She has been unfairly castigated as antisemitic because she talks about the impact of lobbying (specifically AIPAC) on foreign policy and in my view has shown an independent mindset on a lot of foreign policy issues.

This is not a nitpick but she made a mistake in not voting to recognize the Armenian genocide. She made a statement implying that she recognizes it took place but that she believed the resolution was intended to serve as a "cudgel" against Turkey. In my view, the recognition of the Armenian genocide is important enough that questions of motives should not have influenced her decision and it was a bad call on her part. I'm not saying questions of politics don't play into these kinds of resolutions but it's important for humanity to recognize when more than a million people are murdered systematically in an attempt to eradicate that population.

I think one isolated point from my previous post is that some people are straining to find antisemitism from Omar, some on the right who are racist and don't actually care about antisemitism, when there is an explosion of antisemitism on the right in the form of all sorts of braindead conspiracy theories. From great replacement, to theories about Jews creating covid, pushing vaccines, to Jewish people "creating" transgender people (which is at least as transphobic as it is antisemitic), to full on acceptance by Republicans of people basically wanting to discuss the Jewish question.

Again, I don't think antisemitism is a unique prejudice on the right or more prevalent than other forms of prejudice (as a American Jew I don't want to give the impression I think for instance that it's anywhere near as bad as racism towards Black people or transphobia, which are frequently deadly and always despicable). For some time I would tend to see less of it in right wing circles or at least so coded it would be hard to detect. In the last year or so right wing pundits have really accelerated anti-lgbt animus and many are promoting antisemitism and trying to make it mainstream.

As a separate and worthwhile subject, the occupation of the West Bank and siege of Gaza causes enormous pain and degradation to Palestinians. That the occupation has been ongoing for more than 55 years is a disgrace. I think Omar has probably done as much as any congressperson, except maybe Betty Mccollum and Rashida Tlaib to speak openly about this, without concern for U.S. alliances and foreign policy entanglements.

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Originally Posted by Stavros

She has condemned the State of Israel but in the same sentence HAMAS, thus being another faded and jaded exponent of American appeasement, which in consequence trashes the rights of Palestinians for the sake of a strategic alliance,

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I've never felt it's useful to avoid criticizing parties in order to make your criticism of the more culpable party in a bilateral conflict stronger. Sure, if she had only condemned Hamas in order to make her condemnations of Israel ineffectual that would be wrong, but often multiple parties deserve blame, contingent on what they do and when they do it.

For instance, I don't think Russia could be any more to blame for their invasion of Ukraine and the current conflict there. But if I'm shown evidence of Ukrainian soldiers committing war crimes against surrendering Russian soldiers, I would condemn it (edit: I'm not stating an opinion on whether it has occurred or how often as I don't know).

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Originally Posted by broncofan

As a separate and worthwhile subject, the occupation of the West Bank and siege of Gaza causes enormous pain and degradation to Palestinians. That the occupation has been ongoing for more than 55 years is a disgrace. I think Omar has probably done as much as any congressperson, except maybe Betty Mccollum and Rashida Tlaib to speak openly about this, without concern for U.S. alliances and foreign policy entanglements.

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I accept your and Luke Warm's criticism of my post, I just don't know enough about Ilhan Omar to have made my point stick, for the most part.

What I find frustrating is that the US from the 1970s until the 1990s spent a great deal of time and eyewatering sums of money -most of which went to Israel- promoting the 'peace process', and in return, and in spite of two Treaties both signed under Democrat Presidents, Sharon and Netanyahu in effect said 'Fuck You America' with the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and their combined intention to bury the peace process for good.
At this point the US in my opinion ought to have played 'hardball' and taken severe measures to punish Israel, petty though that might sound. And in the cases of Sharon and Netanyahu I doubt they would have cared anyway, they rely on a hard core of pro-Israeli Americans in the US -not all of the Jewish, in fact I think a lot of American Jews have become exasperated with the politics Netanyahu has pursued- but as is currently clear, they can also court the Russians as an alternative, as if daring the US to do something about that. The current make-up of the Netanyahu led coalition is already taking measures to promote settlement activity -knowing the US is going to complain but in practical terms do nothing- and attack Palestinians. The death toll on both sides is increasing and as long as there is no attempt by Israel to deal with the reality of living with 4 million Palestinians, this corrosion will continue.

I understand the dilemma -the US poured money into Pakistan when it was on the front line of the proxy war with the USSR in Afghanistan, and we know where that led, just as the US has been a robust supporter of Saudi Arabia regardless of 9/11 and the entirely negative -for the US- promotion of Wahabi ideology across the Middle East and in Asia. Given the twists and turns of the Khashoggi case, and the support the US (and the UK) has given to Saudi Arabia's unwinnable war in the Yemen, one has to ask how in fact the US has benefited from this. Iran is not changing, notwithstanding the popular protests that have erupted in recent months, and in part this is due to the confrontational position taken by Trump that reversed any gains the US had made under Obama, but which also means that the Yemen conflict shows no sign of ending, so that the US remains lumbered with the Saudi Arabian war unless Biden has some magic formula to bring both sides to the table.

Egypt's treaty with Israel began when Sadat made that lightning trip to Israel, just as the 1993 Treaty with the PLO began with secret talks in Oslo between Israelis and Palestinians -I see no evidence of the people on the ground seeking an end to the conflict, and with the most extreme govt in Israel's history in power -though we don't know for how long- it seems to me the US after nearly 60 years has become impotent, talk of a 'two-state' solution worn out and irrelevant, but with few voices in the US offering either an insight into this conflict or offer any proposals to end it.

Trump negotiated with the Taliban, and Biden made good on the US promise to leave -the result has not been good, though for what it's worth, there was always more support for the Taliban in the countryside, and the failures of successive corrupt Govts did not create the very kind of security regime the UK and other states funded via the UN from 2006. Analysts have been terrified for years of an implosion in Saudi Arabia because of its potential impact, and not just on oil production and prices, so I understand why the Americans keep hedging their bets.

But eventually one has to ask -where's the return on the investment?

The Smartmatic case against Fox News has prompted this quote from Murdoch's company-

""There is nothing more newsworthy than covering the president of the United States and his lawyers making allegations of voter fraud," a Fox News spokesperson told Insider. "We are confident we will prevail as freedom of the press is foundational to our democracy and must be protected, in addition to the damages claims being outrageous, unsupported, and not rooted in sound financial analysis, serving as nothing more than a flagrant attempt to deter our journalists from doing their jobs.""
Rudy Giuliani gets hit with 2 more counts in Smartmatic's defamation lawsuit (yahoo.com)

But does Freedom of Speed trump the Freedom of the Individual -as in, their right to vote, and have their vote respected?

"“What’s in America’s best interest? Is it to sit and wait for Abu Mazen [Abbas], a known terrorist who’s killed lots and lots of people, including Americans … to draw a line on a map? That’s what the state department would do,” he said.
“The previous secretary of state ran back and forth from Tel Aviv to Ramallah and tried to draw lines on a map. We said: ‘That’s not in America’s best interest. Let’s go create peace,’ and we did.”

Pompeo was part of the Trump administration team that negotiated the Abraham accords normalisation agreements between Israel and several formerly hostile countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan. At the time he said the accords were part of the administration’s efforts to ensure that “that this Jewish state remains”.

“I am confident that the Lord is at work here,” he said."
Pompeo says Israel has biblical claim to Palestine and is ‘not an occupying nation’ | Mike Pompeo | The Guardian

That's odd. I spoke to God this morning, and God assures me Pompeo is an idiot. As for the 'known terrorist' Yitzhak Shamir, didn't he become Prime Minister years after assassinating Lord Moyne?
Yitzhak Shamir: Why we killed Lord Moyne | The Times of Israel

I think this is a fair assessment of the AP African American History course controversy. Just don't ask the parents what they want, not in Florida, where Ron De Santis knows what is best for everyone, though he has yet to learn how to use the word 'woke' in English.

The new AP African American Studies course has been consumed by politics. But what's actually being taught? (yahoo.com)

These two stories concern the Republicans and what seems to me to be their cruelty with regard to women. I would have thought the Democrats could campaign successfully against Republicans who seem determined to inflict as much pain and humiliation on women as they can, as if they enjoy causing harm. In the abortion case, it is surely only a sick mockery for De Santis to use words like 'Pro-life' for a foetus that is not going to survive and indeed, because of the abnormality in its gestation is going to suffocate to death -more like Pro-Death. One wonders if De Santis and that cruel moron in Texas have ever seen a baby die.

As for the menstruation obsession, maybe the day is coming when Republicans will demand that women be confined to home during their menstrual cycle.

Shameful, from a party of sick people.

Florida couple unable to get abortion will see baby die after delivery | Abortion | The Guardian

Va. Republicans shelve bill to protect menstrual data from search warrants (nbcnews.com)

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Originally Posted by Stavros

These two stories concern the Republicans and what seems to me to be their cruelty with regard to women. I would have thought the Democrats could campaign successfully against Republicans who seem determined to inflict as much pain and humiliation on women as they can, as if they enjoy causing harm. In the abortion case, it is surely only a sick mockery for De Santis to use words like 'Pro-life' for a foetus that is not going to survive and indeed, because of the abnormality in its gestation is going to suffocate to death -more like Pro-Death. One wonders if De Santis and that cruel moron in Texas have ever seen a baby die.

As for the menstruation obsession, maybe the day is coming when Republicans will demand that women be confined to home during their menstrual cycle.

Shameful, from a party of sick people.

Florida couple unable to get abortion will see baby die after delivery | Abortion | The Guardian

Va. Republicans shelve bill to protect menstrual data from search warrants (nbcnews.com)

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Agree it is shameful from a party of sick people,who claim to be pro-life.

1960s -or the 1760s?

A New Hampshire GOP national committeewoman says 'there are people' in the party who 'want to put women back into the 1960s' (yahoo.com)

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Originally Posted by Stavros

1960s -or the 1760s?

A New Hampshire GOP national committeewoman says 'there are people' in the party who 'want to put women back into the 1960s' (yahoo.com)

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Not surprised at all,and this is the same party who fully embraced the MAGA King Donald Trump's despicable and disgusting political veiws,and enabled his unhinged behavior for over 6 years.

Lauren-Ultra MAGA Karen-Boebert gets torched on the House Floor by Jamie Raskin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7t_cO3XsJo

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Originally Posted by KnightHawk 2.0

Lauren-Ultra MAGA Karen-Boebert gets torched on the House Floor by Jamie Raskin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7t_cO3XsJo

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And Marjorie-Qanon Bimbo-Taylor Greene makes a fool of herself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxYobD5ECbE

It is easy enough to ridicule MTG, but of greater concern is the way in which her relentless attacks and their reporting normalize the narrative she is addicted to as is also the case with Kari Lake and DJ Trump himself.

The media has given them the permissive environment in which to undermine democracy, but as there is no longer any Fair Broadcasting regulations why do the media even show up at CPAC or Trump's rallies or Kari Lake's explosions of rage -given the way they are attacked even threatened? Why not stay away or, of Lake hurls insults at 'those bastard' -just turn the cameras off, pack up and leave. How soon after when nobody is reporting on them, will these enemies of democracy more or less beg the media to report on them?

We now have Republicans in Florida calling for the 'eradication' of Transgenderism, whatever that is; the legal right of the State to remove transgender children from their families. and even a proposed Bill that would, in effect, ban the Democrats as a legitimate political party. A lot of this is hot air and will not become policy, but things are now said in public that would have been inconceivable 20 years ago. Can anything be done about it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stavros

It is easy enough to ridicule MTG, but of greater concern is the way in which her relentless attacks and their reporting normalize the narrative she is addicted to as is also the case with Kari Lake and DJ Trump himself.

The media has given them the permissive environment in which to undermine democracy, but as there is no longer any Fair Broadcasting regulations why do the media even show up at CPAC or Trump's rallies or Kari Lake's explosions of rage -given the way they are attacked even threatened? Why not stay away or, of Lake hurls insults at 'those bastard' -just turn the cameras off, pack up and leave. How soon after when nobody is reporting on them, will these enemies of democracy more or less beg the media to report on them?

We now have Republicans in Florida calling for the 'eradication' of Transgenderism, whatever that is; the legal right of the State to remove transgender children from their families. and even a proposed Bill that would, in effect, ban the Democrats as a legitimate political party. A lot of this is hot air and will not become policy, but things are now said in public that would have been inconceivable 20 years ago. Can anything be done about it?

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The News Media needs to stop giving the MAGA Party attention,because the more attention they give,the more despicable and disgusting things they say. And if the News Media stops giving them airtime,the MAGA Party would become irrelevant. Yes it can be,and it start by voting them out of office when they're up for re-election.

The MAGA Party speeches on the house floor backfires again,and shows what they stand for,which is to whitewash about what really happened on Wednesday January 6th 2021,and continues to spread lies and misinformation,and refusal to denounce white nationalism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvHT...aSuKC0&index=1

Kevin-Spineless Coward-McCarthy plot to force all Capitol Visitors to watch FOX News aka MAGA Propaganda Channel is despicable and disgusting,shows how little he and his caucus respect their constituents intelligence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se1e...aSuKC0&index=7

The point about Newton Gingrich's politics is that once you obtain power, you must only use it for yourself and your party. it is the equivalent of being in a One Party State. Anything proposed by the 'other side' is to be classed as 'anti-American' or any other hysterical label designed to strike fear into the people -'Ultra Leftist', 'Marxist' and so on. Compromise is surrender. and defeat. McCarthy voted against the right of the American people to choose their President in a free and fair election, what else do you need to know?

Are the Democrats in power any different? The rhetoric might be.

"Republican lawmakers in several US states have introduced legislation proposing homicide and other criminal charges for those seeking abortion care.
...A bill in Alabama has also been announced, although not yet been introduced, by Republican representative Ernest Yarbrough, that would establish fetal personhood from conception andrepeal a section of Alabama’s abortion ban that expressly prevents homicide charges for abortion. The state’s current law makes abortion a class A felony, on the same level as homicide, but exempts women seeking abortions from being held criminally or civilly liable."
Republicans push wave of bills that would bring homicide charges for abortion | US news | The Guardian

So if a fetus fails to gestate normally, and is so lacking in the actuality of life that a surgical abortion would be permitted -but in the case of a fetus which grew without a head, as happened in Texas, where such an abortion was denied- who is to perform the abortion? Because whoever does it must by definition of the proposed Bill be murdering an American citizen -? Or should the State take ownership of the 'person' in the womb?

This is an attack on women, not the preservation of life. Will these Bills pass? Not sure, but what is odd is that it has already been seen as a vote loser, so are Republicans now just completely indifferent to public opinion? Or maybe if they lose elections on this issue they will waste hours of time and millions of dollars fighting a 'rigged election' in Courts?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stavros

"Republican lawmakers in several US states have introduced legislation proposing homicide and other criminal charges for those seeking abortion care.
...A bill in Alabama has also been announced, although not yet been introduced, by Republican representative Ernest Yarbrough, that would establish fetal personhood from conception andrepeal a section of Alabama’s abortion ban that expressly prevents homicide charges for abortion. The state’s current law makes abortion a class A felony, on the same level as homicide, but exempts women seeking abortions from being held criminally or civilly liable."
Republicans push wave of bills that would bring homicide charges for abortion | US news | The Guardian

So if a fetus fails to gestate normally, and is so lacking in the actuality of life that a surgical abortion would be permitted -but in the case of a fetus which grew without a head, as happened in Texas, where such an abortion was denied- who is to perform the abortion? Because whoever does it must by definition of the proposed Bill be murdering an American citizen -? Or should the State take ownership of the 'person' in the womb?

This is an attack on women, not the preservation of life. Will these Bills pass? Not sure, but what is odd is that it has already been seen as a vote loser, so are Republicans now just completely indifferent to public opinion? Or maybe if they lose elections on this issue they will waste hours of time and millions of dollars fighting a 'rigged election' in Courts?

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Agree 1000% that legislation Republicans are proposing is an attack on Women and their reproductive rights,and is despicable and cruel and it's not the preservation of life. Politicians shouldn't be telling women what to do with their bodies. The american people should a message to the Republicans by voting them out of office when they're up for re-election.

Children separated from their parents by law enforcement, the friends of women helping her obtain an abortion being sued for 'murder'- I can't believe the majority of Americans would support these actions, so how are the majority going to fight back to restore decency and sanity to the US? Because I don't see it happening.

Police stopped a Black couple in Tennessee – and took their children | Tennessee | The Guardian

Can you believe this is even law?
"“Under the law of Texas, a person who assists a pregnant woman in obtaining a self-managed abortion has committed the crime of murder and can be sued for wrongful death”".

Are Texas’s abortion laws being used for state-sponsored spousal harassment? | Arwa Mahdawi | The Guardian

Nearly 30 years after the infamous cult disaster in Waco, we have another wacko cult gathering in the same place.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/opini...fdec0a003&ei=9