All purpose news and politics thread part VII: News & Politics Total Landscaping

[Jack Dracula]

In court related matters, first in Manhattan:

Judge Warns Trump Attorney About Audible ‘Cursing’ As Stormy Daniels Testifies

“You need to speak to him," Judge Juan Merchan told the former president's attorney. "I won’t tolerate that.” Trump continues being an idiot and pushing his luck with Merchan.

********************

Meanwhile, down in Florida....

Donald Trump's Classified Documents Trial Is Postponed Indefinitely

The federal judge in Florida who decided on the postponement is a Trump nominee. Show of hands if you're surprised. Thought as much.

Wondering if his antics are intended to get him kicked out of court so he can get back to campaigning.
An added benefit with his absence would be a smaller spotlight on the trial itself.

[Kirby101]

I understand the importance of the current conflict in Gaza. And I understand the concern of many. But Gaza will be very far from the biggest issue in the election. If there is a stable cease fire by the end of summer, it will not be a factor.
I remember when people claimed the withdrawal from Afghanistan would end Biden's Presidency.

[Username taken]

I, and most people with eyeballs and ears, do not trust Netanyahu to honor any agreement with people he doesn’t consider human.

Hamas MUST surrender.

Netanyahu MUST be tried for war crimes.

Those TWO things are necessary for any hope of peace.

Exactly.

It bears repeating the current conflict didn't start October 7th.

Both Hamas and Netanyahu (and his cohorts) should face war crime charges and trials.

I know it will never happen but it would have been nice if something that happened after the Yugoslav Wars (where a lot of people that were involved in war crimes actually faced accountability) actually happened here.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I, and most people with eyeballs and ears, do not trust Netanyahu to honor any agreement with people he doesn’t consider human.

I agree with that assessment. Netenyahu is on record saying he'll never accept a Palestinian state, so, the longer the war drags on, the longer he stays in power to commit more atrocities. Sure, Hamas has to be brought to heel, no doubt about that, but the same goes for Netenyahu. BOTH need to go, and the sooner, the better.

[CaptainEurope]

R.F.K. Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain



You know....if part of your brain has been eaten by worms...why are you on anyone's ballot for President. That is all I will say

I knew it!

[Jack Dracula]

Here is Fact. The wealth disparity was reversed in favor of the lower 90% under Roosevelt and continued until the Reagan tax cuts and 40 years of GOP "trickle down" economics. One Party helps the working class, and one Party ONLY helps the rich.

It’s ridiculous that the Republicans have somehow convinced a large chunk of the working class they support them while doing absolutely nothing. In fact, they continue to remove consumer protections and abolish the Affordable Care Act.
They’ve totally bamboozled their base.

[hyped78]

I, and most people with eyeballs and ears, do not trust Netanyahu to honor any agreement with people he doesn’t consider human.

Hamas MUST surrender.

Netanyahu MUST be tried for war crimes.

Those TWO things are necessary for any hope of peace.

We are in agreement, then.

On the ceasefire proposal that Hamas agreed on vs. what Israel had previously reviewed/agreed on, the known changes are on the NY Times, btw: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/07/w...-proposal.html

Because the conflict didn't start October 7th.

People following the situation had for many years described the situation as powder keg waiting to explode and it ultimately did.

When it started is a never ending discussion. It started probably even before 1948... But it's important to acknowledge that the Hamas attack on Oct. 7th happened at a critical moment when the relationship between Israel and some of the biggest players in the Middle East, were becoming normalized. That's not a coincidence

[CaptainEurope]

We are in agreement, then



When it started is a never ending discussion. It started probably even before 1948...

I'm also not sure I'm buying the "powder keg" explanation anymore. Days after Israel started bombing the Gaza Strip as a reaction to October 7, Hamas propaganda was shared on social media about how beautiful and awesome Gaza City was before those air strikes. Other Arab powers had pumped a lot of money into Gaza, as had the UN, and those images looked pretty sweet.

If it's a powder keg, the powder is Antisemitism.

[Jack Dracula]

R.F.K. Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain



You know....if part of your brain has been eaten by worms...why are you on anyone's ballot for President. That is all I will say

It does explain a few things.

[Dalak]

R.F.K. Jr. Says Doctors Found a Dead Worm in His Brain

You know....if part of your brain has been eaten by worms...why are you on anyone's ballot for President. That is all I will say

Didn't they have a whole TV show about this where alien ants ate half the brains of people they became parasites of?

What ceasefire? The one they didn't agree to? The proposal that Hamas 'agreed' to wasn't the one that Israel had proposed/agreed to. "ignoring a cease-fire" is effectively fake news, a ceasefire needs to be agreed on by both parties.

Attacking while in the midst of cease-fire negotiations shows that one isn't serious about them and is ignoring it as any real option, it's as simple as that. Considering the whole "Move to the corner and we won't kill you" option which I called out from the beginning as useless, I don't think that refusing to send negotiators and then claiming that the US is the one to blame for everything is very convincing either. Nor would it be a good excuse to continue bombing the areas you specifically told the civilians to retreat to before you bombed the shit out of everything else, as they literally don't have anywhere else to go.

And how would you convince greedy bloodthirsty terrorists to surrender to the people they hate the most to be executed?
Killing the people they abuse and murder casually doesn't seem to be doing it, so why just keep bombing them? It makes others think that's the Goal of all this.
Which group of people killing them for years now should Palestinian Civilians trust to stop killing them?

The answers to these questions are important, as much as realizing that retribution/revenge is making everything worse on BOTH sides of this conflict. Killing enough Palestinians to ensure the last living member of Hamas in Gaza dies does nothing to kill the members outside of the strip, nor does it do anything but enflame the passions of everyone who wants to destroy Israel. It also would erode even more of Israel's support. 19 Wrongs don't make a Right.

I, and most people with eyeballs and ears, do not trust Netanyahu to honor any agreement with people he doesn’t consider human.

Hamas MUST surrender.

Netanyahu MUST be tried for war crimes.

Those TWO things are necessary for any hope of peace.

]Because the conflict didn't start October 7th.

People following the situation had for many years described the situation as powder keg waiting to explode and it ultimately did.[/B]

Exactly.

It bears repeating the current conflict didn't start October 7th.

Both Hamas and Netanyahu (and his cohorts) should face war crime charges and trials.

I know it will never happen but it would have been nice if something that happened after the Yugoslav Wars (where a lot of people that were involved in war crimes actually faced accountability) actually happened here.

I agree with that assessment. Netenyahu is on record saying he'll never accept a Palestinian state, so, the longer the war drags on, the longer he stays in power to commit more atrocities. Sure, Hamas has to be brought to heel, no doubt about that, but the same goes for Netenyahu. BOTH need to go, and the sooner, the better.

I don't think that there's any chance of getting Hamas to surrender as Netty and those in power will accept nothing less than execution and the PM said as much as mentioned in this thread, but I do see a Gaza without them in the seat of government. That is a workable goal that I believe can see more international support than what's currently ongoing.

I understand the importance of the current conflict in Gaza. And I understand the concern of many. But Gaza will be very far from the biggest issue in the election. If there is a stable cease fire by the end of summer, it will not be a factor.
I remember when people claimed the withdrawal from Afghanistan would end Biden's Presidency.

Whether or not it'll impact Biden's presidency I think matter more what happens right beforehand. If Netty comes out and blasts Biden & The US as the reason things haven't gotten settled (Like now) it might have an impact as tempers will flare without having time to subside.

It’s ridiculous that the Republicans have somehow convinced a large chunk of the working class they support them while doing absolutely nothing. In fact, they continue to remove consumer protections and abolish the Affordable Care Act.
They’ve totally bamboozled their base.

It's undeniable if you accept facts and reality, something which the GoP as a whole rejects more & more these days. Lip service to the contrary becomes obvious over time.

[Jack Dracula]

I agree with that assessment. Netenyahu is on record saying he'll never accept a Palestinian state, so, the longer the war drags on, the longer he stays in power to commit more atrocities. Sure, Hamas has to be brought to heel, no doubt about that, but the same goes for Netenyahu. BOTH need to go, and the sooner, the better.

Both do need to go, but we should remember that Iran is believed to have financed and trained the Hamas group who perpetrated the Oct. 7 attacks. Netanyahu can talk about destroying Hamas but as long as Iran exists Israel is in danger. Killing every last Palestinian in Gaza won’t change that.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I understand the importance of the current conflict in Gaza. And I understand the concern of many. But Gaza will be very far from the biggest issue in the election. If there is a stable cease fire by the end of summer, it will not be a factor.
I remember when people claimed the withdrawal from Afghanistan would end Biden's Presidency.

If there is a stable peace in Gaza by summer, Qpublicans won't have much to complain about. The economy, perhaps the ultimate barometer of a president's success has been in good shape for months now, so much so that not even GQPers grouse about it, at least I haven't heard any grumbling; other than Madam Howler Monkey, no one's raised a stink about Ukraine funding, and even that's been on the back burner of late, thanks to the Israel-Hamas conflict. That leaves the favorite bogeyman of right wingers everywhere: the border crisis, and already, I've seen attack ads where Biden is accused of letting killers and psychopaths into the country from south of the border to rape and murder innocents. Going into the fall, that, and the ongoing abortion battle will have to be at the very top of Biden's to-do list.

It’s ridiculous that the Republicans have somehow convinced a large chunk of the working class they support them while doing absolutely nothing. In fact, they continue to remove consumer protections and abolish the Affordable Care Act.
They’ve totally bamboozled their base.

Not completely bamboozled them. Those voters are mostly motivated by hate, it won't bother them to suffer as long as minorities, immigrants and gays suffer right along with them.

[zinderel]

Both do need to go, but we should remember that Iran is believed to have financed and trained the Hamas group who perpetrated the Oct. 7 attacks. Netanyahu can talk about destroying Hamas but as long as Iran exists Israel is in danger. Killing every last Palestinian in Gaza won’t change that.

I don’t care who trained Hamas. I mean…news flash: Iran is a bad actor…

Not IRAN! Who could have seen Iran provoking things?!

I don’t care about the obvious shitheads in the room as much as I care about the guy whose monstrous actions against a civilian populace have only helped the cause of anti-Semitism in the world. The guy who has used the Israeli military to kill 32,000 civilians so far. The guy whose genocidal policies have driven the desperate survivors into a disease-riddled ghetto where they’re starving to death (because he keeps blowing up aid convoys…oops…). The guy who brags that he’s going to keep killing civilians, and anyone who complains or tries to stop him is ‘an anti-Semite who hates Israel’...

That’s the evil I’m most focused on.

I’m sick of authoritarians leaning into fascism (and I’m sick of wannabe dictators getting the kid glove treatment) and everyone just sort of shrugging because ‘muslims’.

[zinderel]

I understand the importance of the current conflict in Gaza. And I understand the concern of many. But Gaza will be very far from the biggest issue in the election. If there is a stable cease fire by the end of summer, it will not be a factor.
I remember when people claimed the withdrawal from Afghanistan would end Biden's Presidency.

At this point, I don’t see much affecting the election. Everyone in America knows who they’re voting for: the career politician or the career criminal. The party of slow progress, or the party of domestic terrorism.

All there is now is waiting and agonizing and stressing out as the nation stumbling over itself to avoid picking the only reasonable choice ‘because he’s old’ or because they hate people of color/women/queer folx/immigrants more than they care about their children’s futures.

All there is now is watching TFG get away with shit and hoping that he either miraculously gets convicted by a court system stacked in his favor, or that he has a rage induced aneurism at one of his hate rallies, shits his pants on camera, and dies horribly and embarrassingly as a final chef’s kiss on his awful existence.

[Kevinroc]

I think what gas prices look like in October will have more of an effect on how people vote than what is currently happening in Gaza. (That's not to say what is happening in Gaza doesn't matter. What's happening there is wrong, and I am unhappy with how Biden has handled the situation.)