(October 21, 2024 at 6:02 am)Pat Mustard Wrote:

(October 18, 2024 at 12:23 pm)Angrboda Wrote: You are aware that two parties who Netanyahu's coalition requires have threatened to abandon the coalition if Bibi settles.  You are also, I assume, aware, that Bibi is under threat of prosecution for corruption, a threat which has largely been mooted by the conflict.

Bibi Nathan being the new Hitler doesn't improve your argument.

What are you talking about?

Quote:In York, Pennsylvania, a man accosted a group of people rallying for Vice President Kamala Harris’ White House campaign, punching a 74-year-old man in the head and calling another man a “n— supporter” as he fled.

In northern Michigan, an assailant enraged by his hatred of Donald Trump used an all-terrain vehicle to run over and injure an 81-year-old man who was putting up a yard sign for the former president’s reelection bid.

The recent attacks were among at least 300 cases of political violence identified by Reuters since Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, including at least 51 incidents this year. With just two weeks to go before the Nov. 5 presidential election, the cases are part of the biggest andmost sustained increase in U.S. political violence since the 1970s.

Some of the violence has been reported widely, most notably two assassination attempts on Trump, a Republican. Other high-profile incidents include three shootings in recent weeks at a Democratic campaign office for Harris in Arizona.

But Reuters documented scores of other cases on contentious political issues – from election disputes to LGBTQ+ rights and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Incidents ranged from small fights over political signs to more violent brawls and property destruction at rallies. Most of this year's violence wasn't fatal with the exception of two deaths: a spectator killed during July’s attempt on Trump’s life and the shooter.

The pace of cases has remained remarkably consistent since beginning to rise in 2016, around the time of Trump’s first presidential run. In 2021, which included the tumult that followed Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, there were 93 cases of political violence, followed by 79 in 2022, and 76 in 2023.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-cas...024-10-21/

Politics and religion. Very dangerous. I wish it was feasible to be as much a political atheist as it is a religious atheist.

(October 21, 2024 at 6:06 am)Pat Mustard Wrote:

(October 18, 2024 at 12:40 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: The us enacted an arms embargo on israel in 1948 when five arab nations attacked and occupied the palestinian mandate.  Then, in 67, the us told israel to leave sinai and gaza and rejected israeli requests for aid.  

In both cases they "tried at lightspeed to make a kind of peace deal".  What we have now, is what that looks like.

There's no Soviet Union to play the US off any more.  In 1947 Israel was a Soviet client state and still receiving arms from it in 1968.

-and in 2024, they don't need arms from the us, in addition to it being a fantasy to imagine they couldn't get them anywhere else.... to engage in a little light ethnic cleansing of a civilian populace.   Further, neither administration would cut israel off in a way satisfying to people concerned, and supposing one of them did in this fairy land we're coming up with, we only need to look at russia to see how a committed belligerent evades us sanctions.  

In sum, the idea that the fate of the palestinian people hangs on the outcome of a us election is absurd, robs israel of it's own agency in the matter, and can be nothing more than yet another throwaway excuse.  To wit, harris has called for an immediate end to the war and the creation of a palestinian state.  The entire point of all of this political theater around the issue is to remove harris suitability conditions by means of something harris has no control over.  Akin to nutballs claiming that they can't support climate policy until they stop getting hit by hurricanes.

Personally, I'm in favor of direct protection, expedited refugee status, and arming the palestinians. Unfortunately. Moral, military, and political realities are not always a single circle.

Quote:New York Times conservative columnist Bret Stephens said he will cast his vote for Vice President Harris, in the latest iteration of “The Conversation” published on Monday.

“Kicking and screaming, I’ll cast my ballot for Harris,” Stephens said in the Times column, which is formatted as a dialogue on politics between Stephens and liberal columnist Gail Collins.

“I really would rather have just sat out Election Day,” he continued. “But Jan. 6 and election denialism are unforgivable.”

Stephens, who has previously described himself as a “never-Trump” Republican, outlined his decision to vote for Harris, saying, “It’s a 99.999 percent vote against Trump and a 0.001 percent vote for Harris.”

He also said he would have opted to vote for Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Doug Burgum or “probably even” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), had any of them had led the GOP ticket, but he expressed concerns about Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), as well as for the future of the country.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/49...nt-harris/

Hecklers upset they got heckled for heckling.

(October 21, 2024 at 10:40 pm)Fake Messiah Wrote: Hecklers upset they got heckled for heckling.

Pobrecitas.

Russia hoax is still not a hoax

Quote:Russian Propaganda Unit Appears to Be Behind Spread of False Tim Walz Sexual Abuse Claims

A Russian-aligned propaganda network notorious for creating deepfake whistleblower videos appears to be behind a coordinated effort to promote wild and baseless claims that Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz sexually assaulted one of his former students, according to several specialists tracking the disinformation campaign.

Experts believe that the campaign is tied to a network called Storm-1516, which has been linked to, among other things, a previous effort that falsely claimed vice president Kamala Harris perpetrated a hit-and-run in San Francisco in 2011. Storm-1516 has a long history of posting fake whistleblower videos, and often deepfake videos, to push Kremlin talking points to the West.

The propaganda unit’s work has successfully reached the highest levels of the Republican party, with vice presidential candidate JD Vance repeating at least one of their narratives. NBC reported this week that the group has pushed at least 50 false narratives in this manner since last fall, which comes amid a broader Russian government effort to disrupt next month’s election with the aim of helping former president Donald Trump return to the White House.

Numerous figures in MAGA world boosted the Tim Walz assault claims, including Jack Posobiec, the Pizzagate promoter who is now a member of Trump’s campaign team, and Candace Owens, the popular right-wing podcaster.

https://www.wired.com/story/russian-prop...se-claims/

Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had’

The Republican nominee’s preoccupation with dictators, and his disdain for the American military, is deepening.

Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had’ - The Atlantic

Cher endorses Kamala