Rain, rain, go away: Remember yesterday’s weather? And the day before that? And then the day before that one? Yeah, today will be sort of like that. From sunrise to sunset, you can expect varying degrees of rain showers and temperatures will hold steady in the mid-40s. Whenever I express even the smallest displeasure about rain, or if I fail to put on this goofy show of loving the rain that so many “real” Seattlites insist on performing, some of y’all get all “if you don’t like it then leave.” You sound like really fun people and we should definitely get coffee!
Take four: Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and cartoon character Vivek Ramaswamy faced off last night in the fourth Republican presidential debate. Just six weeks before the Iowa caucus kicks off the primary (if you can believe that), the narrowed field of candidates desperately tried to stand out, mostly by shooting off one-liners at each other. Voters love an entertainer!
This is the fourth debate @VivekGRamaswamy would be voted in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in America. pic.twitter.com/z7qwht4GNO
— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) December 7, 2023
Mr. Christie: Aside from making jabs at his opponents and that Ramaswamy guy who keeps wandering on stage, Christie set himself apart by actually going after the former president—“I’ve got these three guys who are all seeming to compete with Voldemort, ‘He who should not be named,’” he said of their hesitancy. But Christie does not seem to care if he burns a bridge with the presumptive nominee. “When you go and you say the truth about somebody who is a dictator, a bully, who has taken shots at everybody—whether they’ve given him great service or not over time—who dares to disagree with him, then I understand why these three are timid to say anything about it,” he said. “Maybe it’s because they have future aspirations; maybe those future aspirations are now or maybe they’re four years from now. But the fact of the matter is, the truth needs to be told.”
So what? Christie had his moment last night, but Politico campaign reporters disagreed on who won the night. DeSantis earned praise because of his offense on Haley and because he flexed his veteran status. Another reporter said that Haley won because she didn’t let her competition “arrest her momentum.” Still, it seems unlikely any of these candidates will overcome former president Donald Trump. I guess he’s the real winner!
Texas: Cops arrested a suspect in a string of shootings that killed six people and injured three others in Austin and near San Antonio, Texas. NBC News details the timeline here.
Speaking of: Yesterday a shooter killed three people on University of Nevada’s campus in Las Vegas. CNN reported that the shooter, who died in a shootout with cops, worked as a professor in Georgia and North Carolina. Gun control advocates pointed out that the shooting happened on the same day the Senate Republicans blocked legislation to ban assault weapons and mandate universal background checks. That bill came after the US already broke its record for mass shootings in a single year over the weekend.
Today I asked my colleagues to pass my universal firearms background checks legislation. It’s supported by 90% of Americans and would save thousands of lives.
Republicans blocked it.
Three hours later, another mass shooting in UNLV.
This carnage is a choice. pic.twitter.com/WYLUqrGtxb
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 6, 2023
Quitter: After enduring the brutal, public embarrassment of his colleagues ousting him as Speaker of the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy announced today that he will resign from his position at the end of the year. He will end his career about a year early, as he would have been up for re-election in November 2024, according to USA Today. Now, the governor of his home state California must call for a special election in the next two weeks to replace him. Then, under state law, his constituents must elect a new representative within 126 to 140 days. His retreat along with George Santos dramatic departure could mean trouble for the Republican’s already slight majority, but politicos say that a Republican will likely win the seat in that district. And maybe the voters will elect one that the rest of the House likes!
— gillian (@gxllian) December 6, 2023
$$$: Did you hear? Biden announced his administration will forgive another $4.8 billion in student loan debt, which means relief for 80,300 borrowers. According to CNBC, the Biden administration has so far forgiven $132 billion in student debt for more than 3.6 million people.
Panera lemonade strikes again:
https://t.co/ruEdQf3iyt pic.twitter.com/SlWlw1ii1T
— Dan Sheehan (@ItsDanSheehan) December 7, 2023
Blocked: Senate Republicans blocked a bill yesterday that would have sent $50 billion in aid to Ukraine and $14 billion to fund Israel’s genocide. But don’t get too excited. Republicans did not block the bill out of their moral duty to protect innocent lives. They blocked the bill to put the party in a better position to bargain for stricter controls on the US-Mexico border. If Senate Republicans cave, the House would still have to approve it, and Republicans in that chamber love to vote down aid to Ukraine.
Sad: I planned to go to Alaska’s show last night, but some of her crew got COVID, so they postponed the show. In her honor, listen to this:
You need USA Today to tell you that McCarthy was up for reelection in November 2024? Do you not know how Congressional elections work?
Also, no one refers to UNLV as “University of Nevada.” That campus is in Reno. Your headline is confusing.
I guess McCarthy sees there’s no point in delaying his K street pay-out at this point.
Man, that Alaska Thunderfuck video was….. something.
Good news @1 but those UN Hearings on Women are pretty shocking as to what Hamas recorded themselves doing and what they did.
The IDF is doing a really bad job at Genociding. 2 months of bombing 2.3 million people in a dense urban landscape and they have only managed to kill 0.6% of the population.
And a third of those killed are supposedly Hamas combatants.
So for all you pro-Israel hawks out there, I want to understand your view of the rules of engagement. From what I’ve ready here, the reasoning goes something like this:
* Hamas as an organization has committed war crimes, including rape and murder of innocent civilians
* Senior leaders at Hamas condoned these war crimes
* Any member of Hamas’ military wing is a legitimate target no matter where they are
* Israel is justified in making attacks near or in schools, hospitals, etc. if members of Hamas’ military wing are the target
* Civilian casualties from an attack described immediately above are the unfortunate cost of war
* Gazans as a whole bear some responsibility for the casualties because Hamas was elected by a plurality of the popular vote at some point in the past.
Is that a reasonable description of the rules of engagement as you see them?
@8: Of course Gazans are dying at a higher rate than in our Afghan or Iraq misadventures. There were clear military targets in both those theaters and the US targeted those. Al Qaeda was holed up in caves. Hamas is embedded in the civilian population.
Could Israel be more discriminate in its air campaign? Probably, but would that lead to more IDF troop deaths while battling Hamas on the ground? Probably.
So, is the conclusion that the IDF is TRYING to kill as many innocent Gazan women and children as possible in retaliation for 10/7 and/or to genocide the population (which is Krieg’s position)? That’s certainly possible, but that’s not what they’re telling Biden and Blinken and Sullivan.
Certainly the IDF could kill more innocent Gazans at a higher rate, if that was their strategy. They have the means.
@9: not really. assuming i’m a pro-Israel hawk?
i don’t think of myself that way. i see the IDF campaign as the overreaction that Hamas wanted when they committed the 10/7 atrocities. they wanted to provoke righteous fury in the Israelis, so they’d make strategic errors. which Israel is doing by losing the sympathy war all over the world.
Netahyahu and his RW ilk were incapable of imagining a smarter response.
@12 What you posted are all reasons, though I can see that I didn’t really separate the reasoning from the rules of engagement. The last 4 items are the rules of engagement. Do you agree with those?
@13 I was more aiming toward the Sir Tobys of the world who don’t think that Israel is making a strategic mistake. But I also set out a pair of shoes and anyone can put them on and see if they fit.
Yeah…no. Don’t hold out hope for a Democrat to win in California’s 20th Congressional. That’s cowboy country. Bakersfield. Barstow. Kern Country. Almost all the San Joaquin Valley. Might as well be Wyoming. The majority there has never seen a tax or public service they didn’t want to kill, nor a gun they don’t want to sleep with at night. Because, you see, most people are godlessly evil and they’re all out to get you. Republicans there win easily by more than 70% of the vote – usually around 75-80%. Merle Haggard was their spiritual leader. Wouldn’t be surprised to find that Mike Lindell is their new one.
So, when I hear people bitching about lefty old California, I say, “Let me take you for a ride, Hoss.”
Historically, civilizations collapse. I was always led to believe that the Great American Experiment was different from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome because we insisted on having no king or dictator or Caesar. And those democratic principles would keep our culture – what? – generally wholesome? But almost every day for the past ten years or so, I see signs of another civilization crumbling. Instead of honoring the ideals of the United States and treasuring our country’s purpose, so much of what I see and hear make me want to hop on a bulldozer and head for DC. That wouldn’t do any good, of course, but for someone my age, who was taught to have respect for the political process, it is getting hard to be a proud American.
Don’t know how many other senators actually heard what Senator Murphy was saying. My feeling is that they were probably at the bank cashing all those NRA checks. Murphy’s not even saying that we need to remove assault weapons which I think is fundamental to ending gun violence in the home, school, and at the mall. He’s saying let’s please do background checks. Republicans say nope. Would it even be possible to get rid of all the assault weapons people hold now? Pandora’s box.
@1 – I could use a little optimism today, Ahab. Let’s do lunch.
@15 Congratulations. You would have supported the Iraqis bombing the entrance to Seattle Children’s as a single member of the US military entered the building to visit a patient.
Committed war crimes against civilians, including rape? Check, see Abu Ghraib
Support for those war crimes by leadership? Check, Abu Ghraib was run by generals who didn’t see a problem until the bad PR started.
Military out of uniform? Check. US Special Forces routinely operate in civilian clothes/out of military uniform
Elected leadership? Check. The Bush administration was voted in with a plurality of votes
Any member of the US military (uniformed or not) is therefore a legitimate target wherever they are
Any civilian casualties are an unfortunate side effect. Too bad for the kids!
You’re also perilously close to supporting the Oklahoma City bombing as a response to civilian deaths at Waco and Ruby Ridge.
@16 You nailed it regarding California’s “cowboy country.” For those who think the state is nothing but a Marxist commune, you should know that non-coastal California is the eastern Oregon of eastern Washingtons.
Only a truly sick person would enjoy the dark rain filled Hell that is our winter.
Bakersfield might as well be Bartertown from Mad Max Thunderdome. Trump country all the way. Regarding Hamas, what did they think would happen when they killed 1400+ Israeli civilians? Kisses? If this were Mexico firing rockets into US border towns, we would have already occupied their capitol and killed thousands of civilians in the process, just like 1847. Don’t like war? Don’t start one.
Nothing wrong with Hannah that two years in the Army wouldn’t cure.
@9, @18: As Sir Toby implied @21, you seem to have a lot of trouble differentiating between when abuse of civilians is an aberration and punished as such (US soldiers at Abu Ghraib), and when intentional abuse of civilians is a well-documented and long-standing matter of policy (Hamas In Israel and Gaza, https://stratcomcoe.org/cuploads/pfiles/hamas_human_shields.pdf).
Assuming you had some purpose other than asking “gotcha” questions, your answers may be found at the url provided @19.
@18 Nope, because everyone has forgotten the point that Hamas willfully and intentionally hides behind civilians, which is a critical extension of @15, while continuing to attack from that position.
In effect, Hamas and their supporters on the left are de facto saying it’s okay to murder and slaughter as long as you hide behind women and children when you do it. They can continue and not be touched, as long as they hide behind women and children while they do it. And if anyone does try to stop them. that would be an evil act because it could hurt the women and children, so you need to accept that some of your people will be killed instead.
I’m not so sure that is a precedent of policy you would want to set. Some looney MAGA hats would love to go to town on that.
@18 I’ve been pro-Palestinian since roughly 1992 when a visit to Jerusalem opened my eyes to the game of Grand Theft Land that was being perpetrated by the Israeli government, even in relatively peaceful times. My father was a USAID officer working in the Palestinian territories in the early 2000’s. My mother ran IT for the last major chance we had at a 2-state solution, and received thanks for that from Madeline Albright. I’m pushing 50. While not anywhere close to an expert, I’m not a wide-eyed college kid.
FWIW, I don’t chant with the intifada, and I am deeply uncomfortable with the “From the river to the sea” slogan given its association with Hamas. I oppose war crimes wherever they are found, from Guantanamo to Gaza. I do wholeheartedly support a 2-state solution, though at this point, the best case may be a one state with universal suffrage. I am opposed to the goals of both Hamas and Likud, as both are diametrically opposed to a just peace in the region. I am ambivalent about Fatah, supporting their willingness to recognize the state of Israel but aware of a history of corruption. If that makes me a hawk, by all means I’m a hawk. A pro-peace hawk, I guess.
But really, all this debate on the present Israel/Palestine is stupid. Because it really all boils down to this, do you believe Israel as presently constituted within the 1967 borders has a right to exist?
The Stranger position logically flows from “no”. They believe it is a colonial occupation, and all the rest of the logic chain runs from there.
The boring normie position is “yes”, the 1948 borders were established by the international institutions at the time and therefore have legitimacy. The logic chain flows from there.
The rest is talking past each other.
Apologies, I should have said “pre-1967” or stuck with 1948 to avoid confusion on the point.
@19 Perhaps you forget that Israel’s justification for bombing a line of ambulances at one of the Gaza hospitals was that there was a Hamas soldier in one of the ambulances on his way into or out of the hospital. Hardly any distinction to the example I gave above. I’m pretty sure several of the pro-Israel hawks here were all in favor of that action since it killed a member of Hamas.
@21 I appreciate at least that you aren’t backpedaling. Congratulations on the courage of your convictions that bombing a hospital is an acceptable military action.
@25 The rules of engagement I posited allow for the attack on a member of the military no matter where they are, hospitals or not (see also the first paragraph here). As far as weapons storage, the average security and police night shift at Providence Everett has more weaponry than was found in the tunnels under the hospital in Gaza. Tunnels that Israel knew about because Israel built them. And the Seattle Children’s example I gave was about a member of the military at the entrance, not having gone in. The damage to the hospital is just incidental.
@26 Many people might say that the only reason the Abu Ghraib abusers got court martialed was because the public found out and made a stink. But I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. How about the abuse of innocent civilians at Guantanamo? Those folks received medals and had (and continue to have) the full-throated support of the US government, despite most of the detainees being innocent people who were caught up by US forces who couldn’t tell insurgents from civilians. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/most-guantanamo-detainees-are-innocent-ex-bush-official-1.804550
Despite what it may look like, I’m not here just asking gotcha questions. I’m asking the hawks to envision what their proposed policies would look like when applied to them. Turnabout being fair play and all.
Please remind us why we celebrate giving more money to over-privileged white children who charged up college debt and are too lazy to pay it off? Where are the stats on who gets this free money?
@ 32 – That’s a big leap in thinking to believe that people who get student loans are over-privileged white children. Usually, over-privileged denotes a carefree financial past and future. Why…I just saw a doc about this very issue a couple of weeks ago. It presented six case studies. Two of the cases involved African-American women and one involved an Hispanic gentleman. He got his loans erased because the school he attended proved to be a diploma mill that promised him a rose garden if he’d just sign on the dotted line. The two African-American ladies are middle-aged and had been paying back under the IBR plan for years but because of interest hadn’t made much of a dent in the principal. One, tired of struggling for years trying to raise two kids alone, grew weary of living hand-to-mouth and went to nursing school. The other studied IT but her job was phased-out due to a merger. Not privileged, Not white. Those two adjectives, by the way, are not synonymous to anyone who has seen and has had to survive in this world. Sounds like you’ve been poisoned. I know…you’re Betsy DeVos aren”t you.
Also, remember Pearl Harbor. Another infamous unprovoked attack.
@31: “Perhaps you forget that Israel’s justification for bombing a line of ambulances at one of the Gaza hospitals was that there was a Hamas soldier in one of the ambulances on his way into or out of the hospital. Hardly any distinction to the example I gave above.”
@31: “…I’m not here just asking gotcha questions.”
You miiiiiiiiiiiiight want to pick a lane and stay in it.
@35 I’m asking you to look in a mirror. If you don’t like what you see, that’s not the mirror’s fault.
How many of you who say “tough luck, war is hell” when a Gaza hospital gets hit by collateral damage would say the same thing if someone bombed near one of our hospitals over our war crimes? I’m guessing not very many besides Toby.
@37 qq, how many US military installations are hidden in and under US hospitals? I’ll save you the trouble, its zero. No one is denying that what is happening sucks for the people of Gaza but they are not war crimes and it’s certainly not genocide. As noted Israel could try and be more focused with their bombing but 90% of the blame for what is happening rests completely with Hamas. I have yet to see another proposal that rids Gaza of Hamas while limiting damage to residents there. When that solution is found the conversation can change.
@33 its a big leap to use 2 cute stories to justify your opinion. most people who get college loans are white. i want to see the data on who is getting the debt erasure before i cheer it. also would like to know what other debt they rack up irresponsibly after we wipe this clean.
and hardly DeVos – college prices have out priced inflation for many reasons, and this bandaid solution doesnt help the root causes.
@37: “I’m asking you to look in a mirror.”
No, you’re playing silly gotcha games and declaring yourself the winner, no matter how obviously wrong you are:
“…the average security and police night shift at Providence Everett has more weaponry than was found in the tunnels under the hospital in Gaza.”
Because security guards at Providence Everett carry grenades. Riiiiiiight.
I don’t know what’s better — your cherry-picking whataboutism with Abu Ghraib, or that you had to begrudgingly admit the US military tried and punished its own. As Toby suggested, we’ll be waiting a long time for Hamas to try any of its members for anything other than being gay.
And you’re still missing the main point. You can cherry-pick examples from other militaries, you can querulously dispute every one of the recently offered examples of hiding behind civilians (which Hamas has already long been documented doing anyway, so it’s not like they’re entitled to any presumption of innocence) but the key difference remains: Hamas violates the laws of war as a matter of institutional policy, and your other examples do not. Hamas rapes women as a matter of policy; the IDF does not. Hamas abducts children and holds them as hostages; the IDF does not.
As Toby commented in a previous thread, given who funds Hamas, what Hamas believes, what they do, and what they intend to do, it would be natural to assume every leftie in the world would be out in the streets, demanding destruction of Hamas by sanctions, prosecutions, and maybe even warfare. But no, Rep. Jaylapal instead humiliates herself on television by repeatedly not condemning Hamas’ rapes of women. Feel proud, Seattle!
Why does Ahab promote bombing Obama? Must hate blacks, Americans and Democracy.
@pro ethnic cleansing team, are the settlers ethnic cleansing the west bank an issue for you guys?
@43: What about whatabout whataboutism?
Seriously, WTFaboutit?
Got any solutions for Gaza?
@48: “Does intent mean nothing?”
Their lack of thought when talking about “war crimes,” is truly amazing, is it not? In reality, of course, intent is a factor in all crimes. Intent determines the entire difference between the professional assassin’s Murder One, and the would-be rape victim plunging a scissors into her assailant’s neck. (Although, given their dead silence on the topic of Hamas’ raping, this crowd actually might regard both as equally guilty.)
bloodlust
and revenge
meams you’re
never Wrong when
you kill 10,000 children
when the survivors
of those Atrocities
use your methods
against You will
you smile nod
& say well
War IS
Hell?
And, right on cue, our local terror-apologists dismiss the question of intent (@50) or blatantly assert the IDF’s intent is to kill children due to “bloodlust and revenge,” (@51) not to prevent more of Hamas’ rape, kidnapping, and murder attacks. The current conflict, they smugly tell us, would justify future terror attacks upon Israel and the United States.
Black Americans endured centuries of enslavement, extra-judicial executions, torture from state-sponsored terrorism, and physical assaults upon their communities — all justified by a blatantly racist ideology, which made a mockery of every stated American ideal. Their response? Non-violent civil disobedience, by which they finally obtained full legal rights.
There is no justification for terrorism. Ever.
@23 dvs99: I have been diagnosed with Seasonal Effective Disorder (SAD), and feel your pain.
The dark months are a challenge for me, especially with my beloved VW in fall & winter hibernation.
However cold it is outside when the sun is out–however briefly—helps.
Otherwise, when it’s rainy / windy / sleety / snowy & icy / etc., I try to do indoor activities, including writing and playing music. I have been utilizing light therapy, lately, and it helps.
when
Collateral
Damage exceeds
a kill ratio of 10-1 is
That an indicator of Intent?
don’t be
Silly!
get back to us
when it’s Fifty-to-one.
and we’ll talk
Honestly. till
then, then!
“There
is no justifi-
cation for terrorism. Ever.”
tensorna on December 8, 2023 at 8:44 AM
by Gawd
tentsey you
Finally got one
Correct! well done.
if Israel
is not Terrorizing
Palestinians then WHAT
THE F U C K DO YOU CALL IT?
justice?
my gawd
were the shoe
on the other foot
you’d be
Announcing
your Victimhood
from the fucking Rafters.
when you wrote
‘The Cruelty
is The POINT.’ 😉
we can now See
what you meant.
wow. the
Crickets’re
loud as Fuck
have you
been de-masted
tentsey? we’re Worried