Politics & Stuff

[KEVINAA 129]

I found this video while scrolling x/twitter on Android.

Christopher Hitchens on islam and freedom of speech. Video length - 4:35

 

 

Edited December 5, 2023 by KEVINAA

[lucio 5,418]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67630258
 

tories are subhuman scum 

[cosmicway 1,333]

7 hours ago, lucio said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67630258
 

tories are subhuman scum 

Ha'. In so much as I am in favour of positive vetting, I just don't like anyone to count my money.

[cosmicway 1,333]

The Tories are into their mischief making again but in Greece we have -officially now- the law of "presumptive taxation".
That means if you own a business and you earn zero maybe in one year, you have to pay a minimum of some 5000 euros.
The excuse ?
The excuse is that some people may be hiding treasures, in the mountains - in pirate caves - socks, who knows !
I 've been searching for the word describing this practice, its "presumptive taxation" - found it in Greek govt pdfs translated in English.

We did n't expect it of course. Before the election -June 2023- they promised "no new taxes - only reductions wherever it becomes possible".

I believe this practice against poor people is to be found nowhere in the EU or UK, but maybe something like it was Margaret Thatcher's poll tax.
My information is that it is not being done in the other EU countries.
But do some of you know anything more ?
 

[lucio 5,418]

2 hours ago, cosmicway said:

Ha'. In so much as I am in favour of positive vetting, I just don't like anyone to count my money.

For random migrants yes , the right of British people to live in Britain with their own family is non negotiable in my opinion 

[Fulham Broadway 17,337]

3 hours ago, cosmicway said:

The Tories are into their mischief making again but in Greece we have -officially now- the law of "presumptive taxation".
That means if you own a business and you earn zero maybe in one year, you have to pay a minimum of some 5000 euros.
The excuse ?
The excuse is that some people may be hiding treasures, in the mountains - in pirate caves - socks, who knows !
I 've been searching for the word describing this practice, its "presumptive taxation" - found it in Greek govt pdfs translated in English.

We did n't expect it of course. Before the election -June 2023- they promised "no new taxes - only reductions wherever it becomes possible".

I believe this practice against poor people is to be found nowhere in the EU or UK, but maybe something like it was Margaret Thatcher's poll tax.
My information is that it is not being done in the other EU countries.
But do some of you know anything more ?
 

One of my first jobs was with Schedule D Inland Revenue.

We used to look at peoples accounts for the previous years whether they made a profit or not and send a presumptive tax requisition. It was then up to the business or individual to provide evidence to the contrary. So the EU directive is nothing new.

[cosmicway 1,333]

41 minutes ago, Fulham Broadway said:

One of my first jobs was with Schedule D Inland Revenue.

We used to look at peoples accounts for the previous years whether they made a profit or not and send a presumptive tax requisition. It was then up to the business or individual to provide evidence to the contrary. So the EU directive is nothing new.

It's not EU directive a far as I know.
t's a GR thing.
First who tried it were the socialists in 1994, now the conservatives !
Now when you say "provide evidence" that the presumptive tax requisition is unfair, how to do that ?
Effectively you "accuse" me of under-reporting and me from existing-recorded data prove you wrong.
But what about pirate caves, secret crypts and the like ? I can't disprove so I 'm guilty.

In 1994 this happened.
Me and two friends were publishing sports books. I was responsible for the accompanying cds, they were doing the writing.
In 1991-92 some good sales but towards the end of 1993 the "boss" tells me "it does n't look good anymore and the taxman looms - go end declare the company absolved".
I says "no - I 'm not doing it - leave it - things will improve".
Then in comes the socialist government with the "objective criteria".
I did n't know but my personal profit for the year 1994 was now supposed to be 2,500,000 drachmas (~ 7500 euros) whether I liked it or not.
Therefore tax 500,000 drachmas (1500 euros).
Where to find them ?
Only way out was if I had declared exactly zero for 1994.
But somebody I did n't know bought something for 15,000 drachmas (40 euros) and that amount was declared by me.
So I paid in the end, hawked the family jewels.
The funny thing is that "somebody" was in fact the owner of a big restaurant by the seaside.
To this day he phones me from time to time and he has also made me many gifts !
So for not knowing him at the time he bought those books, I paid the price !

The fanciers of presumptive or objective taxation are basically the left. Marx says there must n't be any private businesses.
But also the rich cats.
There are two big carpet galleries in Athens. One is owned by the family of one of my old schoolmates.
I can imagine him fuming at the gypsies who sell rugs in the flea markets. Poor quality the gypsy rugs are, but fit for certain purposes. Obviously he wants all of them to go to jail.


 

[KEVINAA 129]

Benjamin Zephaniah was a Aston Villa supporter and had dyslexia and had died aged 65.

 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2023 by KEVINAA

[NikkiCFC 8,344]

Paris: German tourist killed and British man among two injured in 'terror attack' near Eiffel Tower

https://news.sky.com/story/paris-one-dead-and-one-injured-after-assailant-targets-passersby-in-french-capital-13021609

Allah now must loves him so much...

[lucio 5,418]

Macron will say a few meaninglessness words then keep importing more Middle Eastern and african men 

[Fernando 6,585]

Apparently Venezuela wants to get Guyana land because of the oil. 

Oh men another war incoming here. 

[Vesper 30,236]

this is terrifying  😓

 

 

The Democratic Coalition Is Falling Apart

Where is the popular front against Trumpism?

https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/the-democratic-coalition-is-falling

 

Let’s face it: the Democratic coalition is in poor shape. It’s springing leaks everywhere—young voters, Hispanic voters, black voters, women voters, working-class voters, moderate and independent voters. Of course, some Democrats dismiss the accumulating evidence as irrelevant because it’s too early, too biased, or not consistent with recent positive election results. It reminds me of the widely shared meme of the anthropomorphic dog calmly sipping his coffee in a burning room saying: “This is fine.”

And for sure, it is early. But these are very disturbing data that indicate the scale of the Democrats’ challenge in 2024. Two recent data releases document this ongoing decay of the Democratic coalition. First, looking at the national picture, Adam Carlson at the excellent Split Ticket data analytics site, has produced a compilation of cross-tabular data that allows us to compare average current Democratic performance with Democratic performance from 2020 to estimate shifts in preference since that election by key group. The second data source is a major survey of battleground states and districts by Democracy Corps/PSG/Greenberg Research (DCorps) that provides some rich demographic breakdowns of vote preference and opinion where the 2024 election will almost certainly be decided.

The Democratic “base” as a whole. This group isn’t in the Split Ticket data, but is displayed in the DCorps battleground data. In their definition the Democratic base is an amalgamation of Democratic-friendly demographic groups: “Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, LGBTQ+ community, Gen Z, millennials, unmarried and college women”. Overall, across this constellation of groups, Biden trails Trump in the presidential battleground by 4 points—no better for Biden than among all voters in the battleground.

These base voters also give Trump a higher approval rating than Biden; three-quarters think the country is off on the wrong track. Their most pressing issue by far for the country is inflation and the cost of living. Crime, homelessness and violence is second while, interestingly, abortion only ranks eighth.

Young voters. The Split Ticket data show Biden carrying 18-29 year olds (primarily Gen Z) by 16 points, a 7-point pro-Trump shift relative to 2020. (Note: where Catalist data are available, I use their data alone, rather than averaged with AP/Votecast and Pew validated voter data as Split Ticket does.) Among 30-44 year olds (primarily Millennials), Biden is ahead by only 8 points, a 6-point pro-Trump shift compared to 2020.

The DCorps battleground data suggest the situation may be particularly dire with white Gen Z and Millennial voters. Trump is 28 points ahead of Biden among white Gen Z voters in the presidential battleground and 25 points ahead among white Millennials. Their most pressing issue by a wide margin is inflation and cost of living. Among white Gen Z voters, Biden’s approval rating is 27 percent compared to 59 percent (!) for Trump; among white Millennials, Biden’s rating is 33 percent while Trump’s is 60 percent.

Hispanic voters. The measured pro-Trump shift here is particularly startling. Biden’s average lead among Hispanics is a mere 5 points, an 18-point decline from his lead in 2020. And in the DCorps presidential battleground data, Biden is actually behind among these voters by 3 points. Battleground Hispanics’ key issue is inflation and the cost of living, followed by crime. They give Trump and Biden exactly equal approval ratings.

Black voters. In the Split Ticket data, Biden is averaging a 52-point lead among black voters. That may sound good but it actually represents a precipitous 29-point drop from Biden’s 81-point lead in 2020. It seems hard to believe that Biden will ultimately drop that much support from black voters but even half that drop would be disastrous for him.

The DCorps presidential battleground data confirm this relatively weak black support for Biden. Interestingly, while inflation and the cost of living is these voters’ top issue, as it is for most other groups, crime is actually very close behind, much closer than among other groups. Consistent with this, black battleground voters are most likely to pick “crime and homelessness being out of control in cities and the violence killing small businesses and the police” as something that would upset them the most if Biden was re-elected.

Women voters. The Split Ticket data show Biden’s average lead among women voters at 6 points, down 7 points from his 2020 showing. This shift is actually slightly larger than the pro-Trump shift among men at this point.

The DCorps presidential battleground data indicate particular problems among white unmarried women (25-point Trump lead) and white working-class (noncollege) women under 50 (47-point Trump lead). These two groups of women are by far the most worried about inflation and the cost of living. Both groups of women give Trump higher approval ratings than Biden. The under 50 white working class women, in fact, give Biden an abysmal 16 percent approval rating compared to 57 percent for Trump.

Working-class voters. The Split Ticket data show Trump averaging solid leads among both high school or less (15 points) and some college (9 points) voters. These leads represent, respectively, a 5-point and a 7.5-point shift toward Trump relative to 2020.

In the DCorps data, Trump has an amazing 21-point lead among the working class as a whole in the battleground states and districts. And that’s 63 percent of the voters in these areas—the areas that, as noted, will decide the outcome in 2024.

Independent and moderate voters. The Split Ticket data show Trump leading Biden by 6 points among independents, a 15-point turnaround from Biden’s 9-point lead in 2020. Biden currently leads by 14 points among moderate voters, which sounds OK, but is actually a 12-point decline from his lead in 2020. And in the DCorps presidential battleground, Trump leads independents by a healthy 18 points.

---

It no doubt seems odd to Democrats that voters in the center—independents and moderates—aren’t flocking to their banners because surely they all know and believe that chaos agent Trump and his anti-democratic Republican Party represent everything that is immoderate and super-partisan in American politics.

But here’s the problem: these voters don’t necessarily see Trump and the Republicans as clearly being the worst in these areas. In the DCorps poll, battleground voters prefer Trump and the Republicans over Biden and the Democrats on “opposing extremism” (by 3 points), “getting beyond the chaos (by 6 points), “standing up to elites” (by 8 points), “protecting the U.S. Constitution” (by 8 points), and “putting country over party” (by 8 points). These voters see the parties as tied on “democracy being secure”and give Biden and the Democrats negligible leads of 2 points on “presidents not being able to act as autocrats”, and one point on “protecting democracy”. So while partisan Democrats may think these issues are not even close when comparing Biden and the Democrats to Trump and his “semi-fascist” Republican Party, there are clearly huge numbers of less partisan voters who disagree.

Similarly, in a recent Morning Consult poll, voters deemed the Democratic Party more ideologically extreme than the Republicans by 9 points. And in a poll conducted by The Liberal Patriot and YouGov, more voters thought the Democrats had moved too far left on cultural and social issues (61 percent) than thought the Republicans had moved too far right on these issues (58 percent).

Something’s clearly not working here for the Democrats. Despite turning it up to 11 on the threat posed by Trump to democracy throughout Biden’s presidency, and now perhaps to 12 as the probability of a Biden-Trump rematch looms ever larger, actually-existing voters don’t seem to be stampeding in their direction. The big lead that Democrats feel should be naturally theirs is not appearing.

To me, this raises the question: where is the popular front against Trumpism? If he is indeed as bad as most Democrats seem to believe—i.e., we’re one step away from fascism, it’s Weimar Germany 1932 all over again—shouldn’t Democrats be casting the net as wide as possible, compromising on anything and everything to make their party maximally accessible to persuadable voters? After all, we’ve got to stop fascism here!

But that’s not what’s happening. Despite their dire assessment of the threat posed by Trump, moves to compromise on contentious issues that persuadable voters care about are few and far between. Look what’s happening with the immigration issue that has come to the fore in the negotiations over aid to the Ukraine and Israel. Instead of eagerly embracing a deal to move the aid forward that would include fairly modest reforms to the asylum system and other changes to tighten border security, Democrats are evincing the greatest reluctance to make such a deal. And this is despite the reality that voters, including most persuadable voters, view the Democrats as absolutely abysmal on the issue of border security.

It’s hard to understand. And the great irony here is that progressive Democrats, who are precisely the ones who are most hysterical about the threat posed by Trump and Trumpism, are also the ones most adamantly opposed to making any compromise on border security as part of this deal. Or really anything else for that matter.

This is not a recipe for success. I suppose that’s because they don’t really want a popular front against Trumpism but rather a popular front for all the stuff they feel comfortable supporting. But that’s not how a popular front works and it’s certainly not how Democrats are going to rebuild and expand their coalition for 2024. Instead, such a sectarian approach simply enhances the very real possibility that Donald Trump will (gulp) win next November.

[cosmicway 1,333]

5 hours ago, Vesper said:

this is terrifying  😓

 

 

The Democratic Coalition Is Falling Apart

Where is the popular front against Trumpism?

https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/the-democratic-coalition-is-falling

 

Let’s face it: the Democratic coalition is in poor shape. It’s springing leaks everywhere—young voters, Hispanic voters, black voters, women voters, working-class voters, moderate and independent voters. Of course, some Democrats dismiss the accumulating evidence as irrelevant because it’s too early, too biased, or not consistent with recent positive election results. It reminds me of the widely shared meme of the anthropomorphic dog calmly sipping his coffee in a burning room saying: “This is fine.”

And for sure, it is early. But these are very disturbing data that indicate the scale of the Democrats’ challenge in 2024. Two recent data releases document this ongoing decay of the Democratic coalition. First, looking at the national picture, Adam Carlson at the excellent Split Ticket data analytics site, has produced a compilation of cross-tabular data that allows us to compare average current Democratic performance with Democratic performance from 2020 to estimate shifts in preference since that election by key group. The second data source is a major survey of battleground states and districts by Democracy Corps/PSG/Greenberg Research (DCorps) that provides some rich demographic breakdowns of vote preference and opinion where the 2024 election will almost certainly be decided.

The Democratic “base” as a whole. This group isn’t in the Split Ticket data, but is displayed in the DCorps battleground data. In their definition the Democratic base is an amalgamation of Democratic-friendly demographic groups: “Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, LGBTQ+ community, Gen Z, millennials, unmarried and college women”. Overall, across this constellation of groups, Biden trails Trump in the presidential battleground by 4 points—no better for Biden than among all voters in the battleground.

These base voters also give Trump a higher approval rating than Biden; three-quarters think the country is off on the wrong track. Their most pressing issue by far for the country is inflation and the cost of living. Crime, homelessness and violence is second while, interestingly, abortion only ranks eighth.

Young voters. The Split Ticket data show Biden carrying 18-29 year olds (primarily Gen Z) by 16 points, a 7-point pro-Trump shift relative to 2020. (Note: where Catalist data are available, I use their data alone, rather than averaged with AP/Votecast and Pew validated voter data as Split Ticket does.) Among 30-44 year olds (primarily Millennials), Biden is ahead by only 8 points, a 6-point pro-Trump shift compared to 2020.

The DCorps battleground data suggest the situation may be particularly dire with white Gen Z and Millennial voters. Trump is 28 points ahead of Biden among white Gen Z voters in the presidential battleground and 25 points ahead among white Millennials. Their most pressing issue by a wide margin is inflation and cost of living. Among white Gen Z voters, Biden’s approval rating is 27 percent compared to 59 percent (!) for Trump; among white Millennials, Biden’s rating is 33 percent while Trump’s is 60 percent.

Hispanic voters. The measured pro-Trump shift here is particularly startling. Biden’s average lead among Hispanics is a mere 5 points, an 18-point decline from his lead in 2020. And in the DCorps presidential battleground data, Biden is actually behind among these voters by 3 points. Battleground Hispanics’ key issue is inflation and the cost of living, followed by crime. They give Trump and Biden exactly equal approval ratings.

Black voters. In the Split Ticket data, Biden is averaging a 52-point lead among black voters. That may sound good but it actually represents a precipitous 29-point drop from Biden’s 81-point lead in 2020. It seems hard to believe that Biden will ultimately drop that much support from black voters but even half that drop would be disastrous for him.

The DCorps presidential battleground data confirm this relatively weak black support for Biden. Interestingly, while inflation and the cost of living is these voters’ top issue, as it is for most other groups, crime is actually very close behind, much closer than among other groups. Consistent with this, black battleground voters are most likely to pick “crime and homelessness being out of control in cities and the violence killing small businesses and the police” as something that would upset them the most if Biden was re-elected.

Women voters. The Split Ticket data show Biden’s average lead among women voters at 6 points, down 7 points from his 2020 showing. This shift is actually slightly larger than the pro-Trump shift among men at this point.

The DCorps presidential battleground data indicate particular problems among white unmarried women (25-point Trump lead) and white working-class (noncollege) women under 50 (47-point Trump lead). These two groups of women are by far the most worried about inflation and the cost of living. Both groups of women give Trump higher approval ratings than Biden. The under 50 white working class women, in fact, give Biden an abysmal 16 percent approval rating compared to 57 percent for Trump.

Working-class voters. The Split Ticket data show Trump averaging solid leads among both high school or less (15 points) and some college (9 points) voters. These leads represent, respectively, a 5-point and a 7.5-point shift toward Trump relative to 2020.

In the DCorps data, Trump has an amazing 21-point lead among the working class as a whole in the battleground states and districts. And that’s 63 percent of the voters in these areas—the areas that, as noted, will decide the outcome in 2024.

Independent and moderate voters. The Split Ticket data show Trump leading Biden by 6 points among independents, a 15-point turnaround from Biden’s 9-point lead in 2020. Biden currently leads by 14 points among moderate voters, which sounds OK, but is actually a 12-point decline from his lead in 2020. And in the DCorps presidential battleground, Trump leads independents by a healthy 18 points.

---

It no doubt seems odd to Democrats that voters in the center—independents and moderates—aren’t flocking to their banners because surely they all know and believe that chaos agent Trump and his anti-democratic Republican Party represent everything that is immoderate and super-partisan in American politics.

But here’s the problem: these voters don’t necessarily see Trump and the Republicans as clearly being the worst in these areas. In the DCorps poll, battleground voters prefer Trump and the Republicans over Biden and the Democrats on “opposing extremism” (by 3 points), “getting beyond the chaos (by 6 points), “standing up to elites” (by 8 points), “protecting the U.S. Constitution” (by 8 points), and “putting country over party” (by 8 points). These voters see the parties as tied on “democracy being secure”and give Biden and the Democrats negligible leads of 2 points on “presidents not being able to act as autocrats”, and one point on “protecting democracy”. So while partisan Democrats may think these issues are not even close when comparing Biden and the Democrats to Trump and his “semi-fascist” Republican Party, there are clearly huge numbers of less partisan voters who disagree.

Similarly, in a recent Morning Consult poll, voters deemed the Democratic Party more ideologically extreme than the Republicans by 9 points. And in a poll conducted by The Liberal Patriot and YouGov, more voters thought the Democrats had moved too far left on cultural and social issues (61 percent) than thought the Republicans had moved too far right on these issues (58 percent).

Something’s clearly not working here for the Democrats. Despite turning it up to 11 on the threat posed by Trump to democracy throughout Biden’s presidency, and now perhaps to 12 as the probability of a Biden-Trump rematch looms ever larger, actually-existing voters don’t seem to be stampeding in their direction. The big lead that Democrats feel should be naturally theirs is not appearing.

To me, this raises the question: where is the popular front against Trumpism? If he is indeed as bad as most Democrats seem to believe—i.e., we’re one step away from fascism, it’s Weimar Germany 1932 all over again—shouldn’t Democrats be casting the net as wide as possible, compromising on anything and everything to make their party maximally accessible to persuadable voters? After all, we’ve got to stop fascism here!

But that’s not what’s happening. Despite their dire assessment of the threat posed by Trump, moves to compromise on contentious issues that persuadable voters care about are few and far between. Look what’s happening with the immigration issue that has come to the fore in the negotiations over aid to the Ukraine and Israel. Instead of eagerly embracing a deal to move the aid forward that would include fairly modest reforms to the asylum system and other changes to tighten border security, Democrats are evincing the greatest reluctance to make such a deal. And this is despite the reality that voters, including most persuadable voters, view the Democrats as absolutely abysmal on the issue of border security.

It’s hard to understand. And the great irony here is that progressive Democrats, who are precisely the ones who are most hysterical about the threat posed by Trump and Trumpism, are also the ones most adamantly opposed to making any compromise on border security as part of this deal. Or really anything else for that matter.

This is not a recipe for success. I suppose that’s because they don’t really want a popular front against Trumpism but rather a popular front for all the stuff they feel comfortable supporting. But that’s not how a popular front works and it’s certainly not how Democrats are going to rebuild and expand their coalition for 2024. Instead, such a sectarian approach simply enhances the very real possibility that Donald Trump will (gulp) win next November.

 

The nasties multiply like rabbits.
Trumpism-Brexitism-Putinism and now tax dictatorships too.

I 've heard of people getting bashed for being on the dole lots and lots of times.
Now it becomes compulsory to be on the dole !

Edited December 9, 2023 by cosmicway

[Vesper 30,236]

[Vesper 30,236]

wrong forum

Edited December 9, 2023 by Vesper

[Fulham Broadway 17,337]

Laughing about raping and burning teenage Palestinian girls

 

[Vesper 30,236]

we are quickly going to get to a point, if Israel continues to escalate and sprint down the path to massive ethnic cleansing/genocide, where Biden will come to a clear choice:

either stop single-handedly enabling the ultra RW Zionists

or

choose to allow his unfettered material support for them to become an open suicide pact for American democracy (as he will lose the election to Trump if a huge chunk of his base sits out the election or votes 3rd party due to his full-stop Israel support no matter what they do)

 

Biden Administration Bypasses Congress to Approve Sale of Tank Shells to Israel

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/12/09/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news

The State Department invoked an emergency provision in the Arms Export Control Act to send 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition to Israel, skipping the usual congressional review process.

The State Department is pushing through a government sale to Israel of 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition, bypassing a congressional review process that is generally required for arms sales to foreign nations, according to a State Department official and an online post by the Defense Department on Saturday.

The State Department notified congressional committees at 11 p.m. on Friday that it was moving ahead with the sale, valued at more than $106 million, even though Congress had not finished an informal review of a larger order from Israel for tank rounds.

The department invoked an emergency provision in the Arms Export Control Act, the State Department official as well as a congressional official told The New York Times. The arms shipment has been put on an expedited track, and Congress has no power to stop it.

The Defense Department posted a notification of the sale before noon on Saturday. It said Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken had informed Congress on Friday that “an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale.”

It is the first time that the State Department had invoked the emergency provision for an arms shipment to the Middle East since May 2019, when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a move that was widely criticized by lawmakers and by some career officials inside the State Department.

The State Department has used the emergency provision several times since 2022 to rush arms to Ukraine for its defense against Russia’s invasion. Those shipments were not considered contentious because at the time U.S. lawmakers and ordinary American citizens overwhelmingly supported sending military aid to Ukraine. Russia had launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

But in the case of the Israel-Gaza war, there has been growing condemnation in the United States and abroad of the way Israel is carrying out its offensive. The State Department’s decision to bypass Congress appears to reflect an awareness of some Democratic lawmakers’ criticism of the Biden administration for supplying arms to Israel.

Israeli airstrikes and ground operations have killed more than 15,000 Palestinians in Gaza, and about 40 percent of those fatalities have been children, according to the health ministry in Gaza. The war started on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched cross-border attacks in Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians.

The sale is certain to also infuriate Arab leaders, who have sharply criticized the Biden administration’s efforts to block international attempts, including in the United Nations, to pressure Israel for an immediate long-term cease-fire.

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by Vesper

[lucio 5,418]

4 minutes ago, Vesper said:

we are quickly going to get to a point, if Israel continues to escalate and sprint down the path to massive ethnic cleansing/genocide, where Biden will come to a clear choice:

either stop single-handedly enabling the ultra RW Zionists

or

choose to allow his unfettered material support for them to become an open suicide pact for American democracy (as he will lose the election to Trump if a huge chunk of his base sits out the election or votes 3rd party due to his full-stop Israel support no matter what they do)

 

Biden Administration Bypasses Congress to Approve Sale of Tank Shells to Israel

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/12/09/world/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news

The State Department invoked an emergency provision in the Arms Export Control Act to send 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition to Israel, skipping the usual congressional review process.

The State Department is pushing through a government sale to Israel of 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition, bypassing a congressional review process that is generally required for arms sales to foreign nations, according to a State Department official and an online post by the Defense Department on Saturday.

The State Department notified congressional committees at 11 p.m. on Friday that it was moving ahead with the sale, valued at more than $106 million, even though Congress had not finished an informal review of a larger order from Israel for tank rounds.

The department invoked an emergency provision in the Arms Export Control Act, the State Department official as well as a congressional official told The New York Times. The arms shipment has been put on an expedited track, and Congress has no power to stop it.

The Defense Department posted a notification of the sale before noon on Saturday. It said Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken had informed Congress on Friday that “an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale.”

It is the first time that the State Department had invoked the emergency provision for an arms shipment to the Middle East since May 2019, when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a move that was widely criticized by lawmakers and by some career officials inside the State Department.

The State Department has used the emergency provision several times since 2022 to rush arms to Ukraine for its defense against Russia’s invasion. Those shipments were not considered contentious because at the time U.S. lawmakers and ordinary American citizens overwhelmingly supported sending military aid to Ukraine. Russia had launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

But in the case of the Israel-Gaza war, there has been growing condemnation in the United States and abroad of the way Israel is carrying out its offensive. The State Department’s decision to bypass Congress appears to reflect an awareness of some Democratic lawmakers’ criticism of the Biden administration for supplying arms to Israel.

Israeli airstrikes and ground operations have killed more than 15,000 Palestinians in Gaza, and about 40 percent of those fatalities have been children, according to the health ministry in Gaza. The war started on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched cross-border attacks in Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians.

The sale is certain to also infuriate Arab leaders, who have sharply criticized the Biden administration’s efforts to block international attempts, including in the United Nations, to pressure Israel for an immediate long-term cease-fire.

 

Opposing Israel is suicide for any political career in US or U.K. , neither Biden or trump would do anything against them 

[Fernando 6,585]

16 hours ago, lucio said:

Opposing Israel is suicide for any political career in US or U.K. , neither Biden or trump would do anything against them 

I'm really surprised at this as well. Because ever since Obama came to power the relationship with Israel started to wane. And Biden looked like might follow that path but this has shown otherwise. Very crazy. 

Besides Israel the article that @Vesperbrought about the fraction of the democrats voters I can only speak for a few Latinos that I spoke to. And this is the feeling that I'm getting, they are mad at the Biden government for how the immigrants have come in and gotten all this help, while some of them are here many years and have gotten little help. So it's a frustration and on top of that budget cuts that need to start because of the massive resources that are being used to help the immigrants.

 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Fernando

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,920]

9 minutes ago, Fernando said:

I'm really surprised at this as well. Because ever since Obama came to power the relationship with Israel started to wane. And Biden looked like might follow that path but this has shown otherwise. Very crazy. 

Besides Israel the article that @Vesperbrought about the fraction of the democrats voters I can only speak for a few Latinos that I spoke to. And this is the feeling that I'm getting, they are mad at the Biden government for how the immigrants have come in and gotten all this help, while some of them are here many years and have gotten little help. So it's a frustration and on top of that budget cuts that need to start because of the massive resources that are being used to help the immigrants.

 

Its an unpopular opinion, but an investment on new immigrants will usually be a better investment than on ones who have been here for many years. To uproot yourself and move to a new place takes a drive in you that is simply lost when people get comfortable.