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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Ok, some months ago I can understand the blind name recognition - but still now, after 'everyone' knows about the anti-vaxx crap etc.?

Yeah, still now. To quote the late, great George Carlin: “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”

The GOP renounced the two impeachment opportunities the Democrats gave them. The second immediately after Jan 6 was a golden opportunity to rid themselves of the MAGA element within their ranks and preserve the democratic process, but they still chose to profit politically from the situation and chose to take a pass. I think history won’t be kind to McConnell for that decision.

At this point in his life, I seriously doubt McConnell cares how history treats him. He chose to destroy democracy for the sake of power, nothing else, including his legacy matters.

[Gray Lensman]

Yeah, still now. To quote the late, great George Carlin: “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”



At this point in his life, I seriously doubt McConnell cares how history treats him. He chose to destroy democracy for the sake of power, nothing else, including his legacy matters.

On Carlin, I think the best quote along those lines is "Think of the stupidity of the average person....and then realize......HALF OF THEM ARE DUMBER THAN THAT!"

[Robotman]

Glad I could help, Dalek! My brain is a bit odd. I can barely remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, but I can remember a weird old sci-fi horror satire from almost ten years ago, clearly. Lol.

Meanwhile, thank goodness someone is finally speaking up for white people: Trump vows to fight 'anti-white feeling' in the United States. His allies have a plan

And we all know about the racism and plans for mass incarceration of political opponents and inconvenient people, the ground work for religious theocracy, and other horrors in the Republican-embraced Project 2025, but did you know about the sanctioned mass killings these reasonable, patriotic, law-and-order, common sense, family values, pro-life ‘christians’ have in store for the country?

There's A GOP Plan For An Execution Spree If Trump Wins The White House

“Who would Jesus execute, en masse?”

Catchy. We should make a bracelet…

Finally someone willing to fight for the oppressed white (males) of America. According to them, the most oppressed population in the country.

[4saken1]

Majority of Americans feel that the economy is in the crapper. Good thing Biden is keeping Amtrak running though.

If the US is doing better economically than most countries, would you say that this is an indicator that Biden is doing a good job, or a bad one?

[Dalak]

"No one can force you to answer, but it seems like when you demand something of others you should be willing to do the same yourself"
Everyone can reply to posts or not reply to posts. I don't demand anything, everyone is free to do as they wish as long as they are civil. I'm not demanding anything of others - if someone doesn't want to reply to my post(s) that's absolutely fine, no one is forced to do anything and I'm not demanding anything.

"When you jump to attack others so often" - funny that I have the same image of you, towards me and a few other posters. If I read a post that I dislike, I comment. Simple.

"Using One, Their, or They helps to avoid this sort of thing" - as I've mentioned several times, English is my 3rd language. I've hopefully now clarified that the 'bias' comment wasn't intended for you. Plus, if you were unsure, you could have asked for clarification instead of jumping to conclusions (I note that it's not the first time that you jump to wrong conclusions, I remember when I said "There's crazy people everywhere" and you literally took a giant - and wrong - interpretation leap that I was saying that "In all MMA gyms, there are police officers who brag about beating up protestors" - I think you remember this)

Yeah, I remember how you talked about not feeling uncomfortable enough around cops who bragged about beating protestors to stop talking with and training with them, as the commute was an issue. I also remember you shifting goalposts rather than answering the question you were asked and mocking me for reminding you about it. I remember laying this all out quite clearly for you to ignore the post. I asked for clarification, you didn't give it, I reminded you what I was asking for, and you started saying that you didn't care and that I was making 'Goalposts' and other things up.

So when you post something like you did today, it should make sense why I misunderstood you.

Regarding your post #5620, I don't think I saw it. I can reply now:

"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." - Hamas and its allies have also attacked Israel during ceasefire negotiations, both now and in previous rounds - this has happened multiple times now. It seems a bit strange to only request that standard from one side when it's obvious that it's a free for all from both sides. Plus these are long, drawn out, negotiations - if there was a ceasefire during ceasefire negotiations then, well, there's already a ceasefire.

"Considering the whole "Move to the corner and we won't kill you" option which I called out from the beginning as useless" - useless depends on your POV, Hamas' capabilities to inflict harm seem to have been severely deteriorated. Wasn't that the objective of the invasion?

"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." - this I agree with but what is the alternative?

"And how would you convince greedy bloodthirsty terrorists to surrender to the people they hate the most to be executed?" - you don't, that's exactly my point. Because they will NEVER surrender, then they must be eliminated (or "forced to surrender"), hence the predicament.

"Which group of people killing them for years now should Palestinian Civilians trust to stop killing them?" - there is distrust from both sides. Israeli civilians have also been killed by Palestinians in intifadas incl. suicide bombings over the years. That Israel is factually able to kill more speaks to its vast military superiority, but it's clear that if Hamas could wipe Israel off the map, they would've done it already. The same can be said about Hezbollah, the Islamic Jihad and others.
There's actually quite a few Palestinians who criticize Hamas but channels like Al-Jazeera choose not to air stuff like that.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/16/o...med/index.html

"The answers to these questions are important, as much as realizing that retribution/revenge is making everything worse on BOTH sides of this conflict." - I don't disagree. I don't have other solutions/suggestions besides the points I outlined earlier. How do you suggest the situation should be solved?

I don't see why every post I make regarding Israel has to repeat how much I disapprove of Hamas, and the post you are replying to makes my opinion of the greedy bloodthirsty terrorists quite clear but here goes: Hamas is wrong to attack Israel during cease fire negotiations and at all for that matter. As for why I bring up Israel's actions instead of said terrorists? They are headed by a democratically elected government that actually holds elections and is accountable to it's people, running a modern first-rate military with the ability to make & stop attacks and who will follow orders. Hamas is a gang of thuggish terrorists who I don't think are the kind with Top Secret labeled plans they carry around all the time, and will often do things at-odds with what is best for both Hamas-Leadership & Palestine.

I want there to be a cease-fire and unless someone stops the killing first no one will, and the Israeli Gov't is supposedly the rational adults in the room so I expect it to be them. That is the only path to a solution we have, and towards my stated goal of a Gaza without Hamas governing it. Given as I reminded you of what I brought up shortly after the initial october attacks in the post you replied to which is the one I replied to and reminded you of (Which you are replying to here) you should be aware of the alternative I suggested they could have initiated last year. I have a poor opinion of Sealioning.

BTW, I have no idea why you are bringing up the bolded. None of that excuses what Netty & the military are doing to the Palestinian civilians right now, and it doesn't get into why the Palestinian civilians should trust either Hamas or Israel to stop killing them when both actively are.

Glad I could help, Dalek! My brain is a bit odd. I can barely remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, but I can remember a weird old sci-fi horror satire from almost ten years ago, clearly. Lol.

Meanwhile, thank goodness someone is finally speaking up for white people: Trump vows to fight 'anti-white feeling' in the United States. His allies have a plan

And we all know about the racism and plans for mass incarceration of political opponents and inconvenient people, the ground work for religious theocracy, and other horrors in the Republican-embraced Project 2025, but did you know about the sanctioned mass killings these reasonable, patriotic, law-and-order, common sense, family values, pro-life ‘christians’ have in store for the country?

There's A GOP Plan For An Execution Spree If Trump Wins The White House

“Who would Jesus execute, en masse?”

Catchy. We should make a bracelet…

#MUGAL for life

The GOP renounced the two impeachment opportunities the Democrats gave them. The second immediately after Jan 6 was a golden opportunity to rid themselves of the MAGA element within their ranks and preserve the democratic process, but they still chose to profit politically from the situation and chose to take a pass. I think history won’t be kind to McConnell for that decision.

They're afraid of being primaried. If more states had open primaries, the threat would be diminished. I don't know how much. But enough for some members of Congress to turn on the MAGA crowd.

Open primaries open their own can of worms, no pun intended. I don't expect a GoP voter base primed with Election Trutherism will hesitate before abusing them.

Yeah, still now. To quote the late, great George Carlin: “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”

At this point in his life, I seriously doubt McConnell cares how history treats him. He chose to destroy democracy for the sake of power, nothing else, including his legacy matters.

On Carlin, I think the best quote along those lines is "Think of the stupidity of the average person....and then realize......HALF OF THEM ARE DUMBER THAN THAT!"

Carlin was wise and ahead of his time, but he's also used to justify things he'd have ranted against for hours now that he's dead.

Finally someone willing to fight for the oppressed white (males) of America. According to them, the most oppressed population in the country.

Yes, the poor White Male. Made to feel the Guilt of an entire classroom! More oppressed than <JOKE ENDED FOR PURPOSES OF GOOD TASTE>

[hyped78]

Yeah, I remember how you talked about not feeling uncomfortable enough around cops who bragged about beating protestors to stop talking with and training with them, as the commute was an issue. I also remember you shifting goalposts rather than answering the question you were asked and mocking me for reminding you about it. I remember laying this all out quite clearly for you to ignore the post. I asked for clarification, you didn't give it, I reminded you what I was asking for, and you started saying that you didn't care and that I was making 'Goalposts' and other things up.

So when you post something like you did today, it should make sense why I misunderstood you.



I don't see why every post I make regarding Israel has to repeat how much I disapprove of Hamas, and the post you are replying to makes my opinion of the greedy bloodthirsty terrorists quite clear but here goes: Hamas is wrong to attack Israel during cease fire negotiations and at all for that matter. As for why I bring up Israel's actions instead of said terrorists? They are headed by a democratically elected government that actually holds elections and is accountable to it's people, running a modern first-rate military with the ability to make & stop attacks and who will follow orders. Hamas is a gang of thuggish terrorists who I don't think are the kind with Top Secret labeled plans they carry around all the time, and will often do things at-odds with what is best for both Hamas-Leadership & Palestine.

I want there to be a cease-fire and unless someone stops the killing first no one will, and the Israeli Gov't is supposedly the rational adults in the room so I expect it to be them. That is the only path to a solution we have, and towards my stated goal of a Gaza without Hamas governing it. Given as I reminded you of what I brought up shortly after the initial october attacks in the post you replied to which is the one I replied to and reminded you of (Which you are replying to here) you should be aware of the alternative I suggested they could have initiated last year. I have a poor opinion of Sealioning.

BTW, I have no idea why you are bringing up the bolded. None of that excuses what Netty & the military are doing to the Palestinian civilians right now, and it doesn't get into why the Palestinian civilians should trust either Hamas or Israel to stop killing them when both actively are.

MMA:
See, tsc tsc! You mischaracterized the conversation then and you're doing the same now. I stopped replying to you at the time because 1) It became a pointless discussion with absolutely no sense, 2) You kept mischaracterizing what I said, even after multiple clarifications/ corrections, 3) It became wildly off-topic, as essentially we went from talking about police violence (I brought up an example I've seen/heard as a comment to someone else) to my personal life. And because I can choose to disengage from a conversation when it becomes pointless/ uninteresting/ off-topic (any poster can do the same, no one is forced to reply to anyone ad aeternum).

Plus at some point you made a comment that "people can train other fighting styles", which is equivalent to e.g. telling someone who trains basketball that they can train volleyball or handball instead, it's all sports played with a ball. So, I mean, why should I continue talking about MMA/fighting gyms with someone who says something of that level? That's probably where I stopped replying.




Israel/Palestine:
"I don't see why every post I make regarding Israel has to repeat how much I disapprove of Hamas..." - that's fine (I didn't ask for that, but it's fine)

"I want there to be a cease-fire and unless someone stops the killing first no one will" - are you convinced there will be a permanent (not temporary) ceasefire without the end of Hamas, one way or another?

"and the Israeli Gov't is supposedly the rational adults in the room so I expect it to be them." - and their objective is the destruction of Hamas and the protection of its citizens (the latter can't be said about Hamas, btw)

"That is the only path to a solution we have" - a ceasefire under what conditions? I mean, it's very easy to throw vague formulas at this situation, 'oh, a ceasefire and this is solved'. It doesn't work like that and events have shown it. There was a temporary ceasefire a while ago, where are we now?
And what is the 'solution' after a ceasefire?

"and towards my stated goal of a Gaza without Hamas governing it." - and that happens how exactly? Imagine there's a permanent ceasefire tomorrow - how does Hamas stop governing Gaza? You ask them pretty please?

"you should be aware of the alternative I suggested they could have initiated last year" - please remind me of what you suggested, I don't remember. I see a link to page 360, which starts with your post #5386. What am I looking for?
I mean - "what I brought up shortly after the initial october attacks in the post you replied to which is the one I replied to and reminded you of (Which you are replying to here)" - are you a software developer, because this looks like spaghetti code.
But if you have a great recommendation on how to sustainably solve all of this mess, you shouldn't be 'wasting' time explaining it to random strangers in a comic books forum, you should be talking to the US Administration about it!

"BTW, I have no idea why you are bringing up the bolded. None of that excuses what Netty & the military are doing to the Palestinian civilians right now, and it doesn't get into why the Palestinian civilians should trust either Hamas or Israel to stop killing them when both actively are." - it was just to state that Israeli civilians also don't trust the folks who are in charge of Gaza

[numberthirty]

If the US is doing better economically than most countries, would you say that this is an indicator that Biden is doing a good job, or a bad one?

We talking about the countries where citizens are not getting mugged on basic health care?

[numberthirty]

True. I remember 2016 vividly. I remember going to bed early, confident that there was no way he could get elected. And waking up to my roommate crying. I asked her what was wrong, and she told me, and we just stood in her kitchen, in shock. It was unreal.

I don’t THINK the brain bugs have spread far enough to give RFK the win. I think he might pull some anti-vaxx neo-pagan pseudo-hippie ‘crystal vibrations and essential oils cure autism’ leftists away from Biden, but mainly, I honestly see him pulling more from Trump, this time around. Cornell West will pull from Biden’s voter pool, though…is he still running…?

Two homes near me with sizable "Kennedy 2024..." banners outside of the house/on the fence.

No idea what that potentially amounts to once the ref starts asking if everyone involved knows to protect themselves at all times.

[numberthirty]

Past that...

We talking about the countries that had to float The United States baby formula?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...ease-shortages

UK baby milk maker to fly formula to US to help ease shortages

A Lake District-based maker of baby milk will be among the first European manufacturers to fly formula to the US to help ease a shortage that has left many parents struggling to feed their babies.

Kendamil, the only UK-made baby milk brand on the market, produced by the family-owned Kendal Nutricare, has stepped up after Abbott Laboratories, the largest producer in the US with a 40% market share, had a nationwide recall.

The Cumbria-based company – whose milk was used the royal family to wean Prince Louis of Cambridge – will send 2m cans of infant formula to the US over the next six months, after the US regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), temporarily eased importation requirements for the sector until mid-November.

The changes are part of Operation Fly Formula, launched by Joe Biden this month to tackle the shortage that has arisen since Abbott closed a factory in Michigan in February and recalled infant formula products.

[aja_christopher]

We talking about the countries where citizens are not getting mugged on basic health care?

You had the chance to support universal health care but instead insulted and didn't vote for the candidate who campaigned on it.



You reap what you sow -- stop blaming Democrats when they are putting far more effort into achieving your alleged goals than you are.

[skyvolt2000]

If the US is doing better economically than most countries, would you say that this is an indicator that Biden is doing a good job, or a bad one?

Biden doing a good job.

Folks have to understand there is only so much he can do in general.

So when stocks and stuff are doing well that is not trickling down to everyone seeing a better economy.

Folks want to blame him but are not looking at their local and state government.

You got a GOP WASTING tax payer's money in Fort Worth going after one woman over voter fraud from 8 years ago. Folks in his district of ALL races are demanding he leave the woman along and deal with real issues. The bad thing for him is Tarrant County has a LARGE Democratic voter body and this is motivating them to vote now.

[aja_christopher]

[aja_christopher]

[Jack Dracula]

True. Another thing to bear in mind is that I mentioned 'MAGA' but MAGA is just a name/brand. Before that there was the Tea Party and in the future it might be called something else.

I don't know how moderate Republicans (who are currently clearly a minority within their own ranks) can influence and seize control of the party - the only trigger I can see for that is continuous electoral failure (this is why I mentioned 'winning elections' to aja_christopher). Electoral failure triggers change and, if sustained over a long period, it can bring about seismic change.

On the short-term, the end of Donald Trump only happens if he loses the election, that's why I said that's the immediate priority and that that includes getting the vote out. Right now, there is a chance that Trump can win the election in November (I don't know if it's 50/50 or whatever but there's a clear chance) - as long as he/them are electorally successful, e.g. if they win POTUS, there is no incentive to change from within.

Even the Midterms, which weren't the Red Wave they were hoping for, gave them control of the House - electoral success like that just further emboldens who's at the helm and makes internal opposition less likely/viable.

Electoral failure may have a short-term effect, but it in that scenario the change needed would be for the Republican base to become disenchanted with their losing party and stay home. That isn’t likely with the internet and FOX news constantly ginning up outrage to keep them engaged. Sustained Democratic wins would also fuel the big lie, which wouldn’t be good for democracy in the long run and may lead to the rise of an even farther right-wing authoritarian third party.
No, the Republicans will have to re-adopt and internalize the democratic ideals they held prior to the adoption of the southern strategy or at least before Newt Gingrich injected poison into their party and they adopted a “win at any cost” philosophy. In a multiple party system democracy only prevails if everyone is at least in agreement as to its preservation above all else.

The end of Donald Trump only happens when he becomes unable to communicate with his base. Until then, he’ll push the big lie and continue to corrode the democratic process.

[numberthirty]

You had the chance to support universal health care but instead insulted and didn't vote for the candidate who campaigned on it.



You reap what you sow -- stop blaming Democrats when they are putting far more effort into achieving your alleged goals than you are.

The ACA is not universal healthcare.

I'm sure I could round up some clips where HRC was talking about sticking with the ACA instead of universal healthcare, but I get the feeling this is just the same old song and dance.