"Real ones." snicker

I'm curious how "TAXING THE RICH IS A CHOICE THAT THEY [Seattle City Council] CAN MAKE AT ANY TIME." All of the suggestions I've seen for new progressive taxes require state approval or vote of the electorate.

Fuck America. Fuck American for arming and funding Israel with hundreds of BILLIONS of American taxpayer dollars while pretending to give a shit about stopping war in the Middle East.

Fuck America for allowing the slaughter of children (and adults) by gun and making us all accept it as a thing that "just happens" and forcing us all to live with it. Why the fuck should we each be forced to be grateful at the end of each day we or someone we love or anyone for that fucking matter hasn't been shot and killed going wherever, doing whatever, and basically simply for existing (while Black, especially).

Fuck America for taking away the rights of so many people and pretending we are some great country when all we are is a rapist of resources and a destroyer of all life within and outside of America.

Fuck America for harming those in America who have the balls (and/or the power) to say FUCK AMERICA when America knows full well it is a fucking pyramid scheme of death and anyone willing to speak out against it speaks the truth and is the only kind of American that should exist (if America was what it has always claimed to be and never, ever once was).

Fuck America for murdering an innocent Black man in Missouri and calling it justice.

Imagine if Russia or any other country rained down the retribution America deserves and believes is just fucking fine as long as it's happening Palestine (or anywhere else). America would shit itself and cry like the baby it is.

FUCK AMERICA. AND FUCK EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN AMERICA WHO STANDS FOR AMERICA.

As long as Washington state does not allow an income tax they have no choice but to take money from the poor and middle class to keep the lights on because all of the revenue streams are regressive.

Global powers HAVE tried to take down "tensions", consistently, since 10/7. They've failed.

One of the main reasons they've failed is that Hezbollah, a Shiite religious militia armed and funded with Iranian oil money, keeps lobbing missiles into Israel. They launched a freaking BALLISTIC MISSILE at Tel Aviv yesterday. Just because they're bad at aiming doesn't mean it's not a legitimate threat to Israeli lives.

@3: I hope you find a way to deal with your seething anger.

3: Are you too angry to vote for Kamala Harris?

"Global powers HAVE tried to take down "tensions", consistently, since 10/7. They've failed"

That is what they SAID, meanwhile they keep providing weaponry to the side that has killed 10,000s of innocents, and keeps doing it. They are gaslighting us.

" Just because they're bad at aiming doesn't mean it's not a legitimate threat to Israeli lives. "

The IDF and its armament industry is also embedded among Israeli civilians, but I will not hold Israel responsible for its own civilians being indiscriminately targeted, contrarily to the clowns here who keep claiming that Palestinians armed group are responsible for Israel butchering and starving millions of people.

@7, 8: you should put all your rejoinders in one post.

it's possible that the US (who is not the only "global power") is both supplying long-time ally Israel with congressionally approved weapons packages AND sincerely trying to take down tensions between Hezbollah/Iran & Israel.

It's OK to say fuck America, but it will impact your corporate sponsors and affiliations and that may well be another reason to say fuck America. But if you're going to grovel to try and repair those profit based relationships, fuck you.

"Ceasefire now"

What army is going to force Israel to stop shooting at Hezbollah? What army is going to force Hezbollah to not shoot at Israel in the first place?

How many non-combatants will the outside army, supplied by an outside nation or coalition of nations, kill in the effort to forcibly stop the IDF and Hezbollah from killing non-combatants while they shoot at each other?

If you really want a ceasefire imposed, then someone is going to have to use force to make the parties do that which they don't want to do.

Geez Phoebe! Why do you get so intrigued by people with the "fuck America" opinion or expression? There have to be more effective areas of concern for you to engage your energy! Let the people vent! And please! Stop eating the children!

@9 It's possible but the opposite is much more likely

Example:

Israel Deliberately Blocked Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, Two Government Bodies Concluded. Antony Blinken Disagreed.

The U.S. government’s two foremost authorities on humanitarian assistance concluded this spring that Israel had deliberately blocked deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza.

The U.S. Agency for International Development delivered its assessment to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the State Department’s refugees bureau made its stance known to top diplomats in late April. Their conclusion was explosive because U.S. law requires the government to cut off weapons shipments to countries that prevent the delivery of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid. Israel has been largely dependent on American bombs and other weapons in Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

But Blinken and the administration of President Joe Biden did not accept either finding. Days later, on May 10, Blinken delivered a carefully worded statement to Congress that said, “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.”

[...]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-deliberately-blocked-humanitarian-aid-to-gaza-two-government-bodies-concluded-antony-blinken-disagreed/ar-AA1r6COM

Of course, apologists for the bloodbath will keep ignoring a) that we have unique leverage on Israel like the continual flow of arms and shielding them from consequences on the UN security council, and b) that Hezbollah has said multiple times that they would stop once Israel stopped flattening Gaza and killing its inhabitants?

Well, I guess it’s “fuck America” because, despite all its many faults and inconsistencies, it’s one of a relatively small number of countries that would allow diatribes as in @3 without tossing the author in jail.

@8: Hezbollah fired that missile at Tel Aviv with the intent of striking the HQ of Mossad. A government intelligence agency is a perfectly legitimate target in war. Had the missile struck the intended target (or near it), and had killed civilians, then those civilian deaths would have been acceptable
collateral damage under the laws of armed combat.

rain rain go away?? girl, this is literally the first rain of the fall. also wild fires can still happen in october. we need sky water. you anti-rain people might want to move to arizona

@14: "Hezbollah has said multiple times that they would stop once Israel stopped flattening Gaza and killing its inhabitants."

Hizbollah has said multiple times it is committed to the destruction of Israel. So long as they don't shoot rockets at Israel, Israel is content to let them be. But, very sadly and unwisely, Hizbollah decided to spend the last eleven months shooting rockets at Israel.

Now Israel is finally shooting back, and suddenly the averagebobs of the world are like, "Whoa! This is bad! There should be a ceasefire now that it's going in BOTH directions!"

"Had the missile struck the intended target (or near it), and had killed civilians, then those civilian deaths would have been acceptable
collateral damage under the laws of armed combat."

Blatantly false:

Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are:

(a) those which are not directed at a specific military objective;
(b) those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or
(c) those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol;

and consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.

[..]

Any violation of these prohibitions shall not release the Parties to the conflict from their legal obligations with respect to the civilian population and civilians, including the obligation to take the precautionary measures provided for in Article 57 .

https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/api-1977/article-51

"Now Israel is finally shooting back, and suddenly the averagebobs of the world are like, "Whoa! This is bad! There should be a ceasefire now that it's going in BOTH directions!"

How many lies can you pack in one sentence?

@20: Sorry your beloved "freedom fighters" are getting schwacked, but it serves them right.

@19: If the missile is accurate enough, then the attack, by definition, is not “indiscriminate,” and your objection does not apply. Likewise, if (as you irrelevantly stated @8) if Hezbollah fires a missile which hits an IDF armaments supplier, causing a massive secondary explosion within the supplier’s factory, any civilian killed near the factory by that explosion becomes acceptable collateral damage.

Between this, and your bizarre claims about highly targeted attacks via pager and walkie-talkie, it appears you’ve become so habituated to yelling “indiscriminate!” at every Israeli attack, you’ve lost sight of how that term should actually apply.

What the law obfuscates, justice clarifies.

@21 Do you drink Chianti while eating the heart of your "collateral damage"?

Thumpus your demagoguery makes you little more than a glorified jingoist troll.

@14 Hezbollah started shelling Israel on October 8, 2023, quite literally the day after the October 7th attack and weekend before Israel started their Gaza offensive in response. Hezbollah isn’t launching hundred of rockets into Israel because Israel is flattening Gaza, they said they were doing it in solidarity as part of Hamas’s attack on Israel. Hezbollah is not some innocent bystander, they involved themselves into the fray the day after 10/7. Hezbollah has launched over 8,000 rockets into Israel since 10/8/23, of course Israel has to respond, no country wouldn’t.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4893654-hezbollah-has-fired-more-than-8000-rockets-toward-israel-since-october-7-ambassador/

@22 If the missile hits "near it" (as you said @16), it is not accurate (as you are now claiming) and thus it is indiscriminate (rule b above). If the missile is so powerful that its effects cannot be limited to the military objective (and presumably its immediate surrounding like the adjacent sidewalk) , it is indiscriminate (rule c above). Your usual twisting of words won't do.

In the case of Gaza, the UN commission specifically says that IDF bombing of civilians is deliberate. Of course, it means nothing to a Gaza genocide denier like yourself.

@13: From a diplomatic standpoint, Biden/Blinken had little choice but to downplay/ignore to the USAID report. It is not helpful to relations with a RW Israeli govt that would rather Motherfucker be in office and give them carte blanche. And the IDF could do much more damage than it's doing right now.

@26 "Hezbollah isn’t launching hundred of rockets into Israel because Israel is flattening Gaza"

Nobody claimed the above. I said Hezbollah repeatedly said they would stop lobbing shells if Israel stopped flattening Gaza.

" Hezbollah is not some innocent bystander"

Nobody here made that claim either. Even Hezbollah says the opposite.

"United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon said Sunday that the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border was “volatile, but stable,” after an exchange of artillery and rocket fire by Hezbollah and Israel earlier in the day.

Early Sunday, Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant organization that fought a war with Israel in 2006, said it had attacked three Israeli posts with artillery shells and guided missiles in the Shebaa Farms area, land it considers to be occupied Lebanese territory.

The Israel Defense Forces responded with artillery fire and a drone strike that it said targeted what it called “Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure,” according to a statement.

Speaking at a demonstration in Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Hashem Safieddine, a senior official in the militant group, referred to Sunday’s attack as “a message.”

“Our history, our guns and our rockets are with you,” he said, addressing Palestinian militants from afar. “We are not neutral in this war.”
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/10/08/world/israel-gaza-attack-hamas-news#hezbollah-and-israel-exchange-artillery-and-rocket-fire

"Play stupid games, win stupid prizes" is the motto of the Islamic resistance. Appalling that anyone in Arab-majority communities would continue to vote for these jokers. Talk about voting against your own interests!

@28 Yours is an odd reading of the situation because Biden iand co are giving Netanyahu carte Blanche to do whatever he wants by refusing to back their words with the potent means at their disposal. If Israel isn't doing as much damage as they could it is due to the world watching, not Biden and Blinken who have systematically validated Israel's talking points, from cut off baby heads to who is defending what

I must say that I am trying to understand how one can be opposed to Netanyahu and the far right, yet approve of all their moves toward escalation.

The Shebaa Farms, also spelled Sheba'a Farms , also known as Mount Dov, is a strip of land on the Lebanese–Syrian border and currently occupied by Israel. Lebanon claims the Shebaa farms as its own territory, and Syria agrees with this position. However, Israel claims the territory belongs to Syria. This dispute plays a significant role in contemporary Israel–Lebanon relations.

[..]

The French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon administration failed to demarcate the border between Lebanon and Syria, nor was this done later by Lebanese and Syrian governments. Documents from the 1920s and 1930s indicate that inhabitants paid taxes to the Lebanese government. From the early 1950s to Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights in the Six-Day War, Syria was the de facto ruling power.[1] In 1978 Israel invaded and occupied Southern Lebanon. In 1981, the Golan Heights, including the Shebaa Farms, were annexed by Israel, a move only recognized by the United States.[2] Israel considers it part of the Golan Heights and continues to hold it, along with the Golan, under military occupation.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shebaa_Farms

just bang the gong and get the war with iran, russia, china, and their pals started so all these pukes can pick a side

@14, We can't stop the flow of arms to Israel now, anymore than we could in 1948.

So they will fight without our arms. More Gazans and Lebanese will die, because the weapons won't be as precise as what we supply, but they won't die with weapons we supplied. Feel better?

We supply a small percentage of the Israeli budget and its and even tinier percentage of the Israeli economy.

We don't have the leverage we think we do.

When Israel perceives and existential threat, they do what they have to do, like in 1948.

@27: You are so bad at this. If Hezbollah honestly believes their missile is good enough to hit the Mossad building without killing anyone outside that building, then they’re justified in firing it, even if they miss on the first try. Now, if they fire at the Mossad building multiple times, and miss every time, then that’s evidence their weapon is actually “… a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective;” and therefore they struck indiscriminately. Your demand for perfection on the first try is not realistic, and thus insufficient evidence to support a claim their weapon is actually “… a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective;”

“In the case of Gaza, the UN commission specifically says that IDF bombing of civilians is deliberate.”

So what? That’s their opinion. They’re not a court. They were totally wrong about the “indiscriminate” nature of the pager and walkie-talkie attacks, too, so your reliance upon their opinion just gets sillier every time you do it.

@32: lol, if you think 40,000 mujahideen are lining up to die for a farm, then I've got a bridge to sell you.

@12: How does that relate to my comment? Please, we discussed the F America thing yesterday. I'm actually fascinated by xina's venting and her politics. Add concern as well, as @5 said. She is dealing with a debilitating neuromuscular disease that she's described here and while politics can be fun to debate, the particular stress in this election is overwhelming.

"Maybe y’all should have tried to take down tensions months ago as Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians became clear."

Holy shit, they have been trying that from the very beginning. You should read the news.

@14 "we have unique leverage on Israel like the continual flow of arms and shielding them from consequences on the UN security council"

And we are using that leverage! Of course we are. I'm sure the state department mentions this all the fucking time. But it misses the point. Bibi don't care. Israelis have been protesting, marching and speaking out against the actions of their own government for quite some time. Roughly 75% of Israelis think Netanyahu should step down. Bibi don't care. Folks in the state department have been trying to work together a cease fire for quite some time. They have criticized, threatened retribution (mostly financial) worked publicly and behind the scenes and it is obvious: Bibi don't care. The only thing we haven't seriously discussed is invading Israel. Yeah, that would probably work, but otherwise what we are doing is about as good as we can do.

The folks that think that the US can somehow stop the carnage if they just put pressure on Israel are just as naive as the Dick Cheney's of the world who thought we would be greeted as liberators. America doesn't that much power. As Netanyahu made quite clear: Israel doesn't need America. Holy shit, he said so in a speech to Congress! We can cut off their weapons supply but they will just build their own weapons (which they already do) and supplement that supply via some other country. It is like a heroin addict being told they caught his dealer. He will get that shit elsewhere. Sanctions might work, but then again, they might backfire. Bibi could claim "it is us against the world", a particularly powerful line of thinking given the fact that historically the world didn't give a shit if Jews were murdered. Bibi might actually gain in the polls. It is also a card you can really only play once.

Israel has plenty of money, a well trained military, lots of weapons they have amassed over the years as well as weapons they make themselves. The idea that we aren't doing what we can to stop the actions of an Israeli government -- that people in their own country oppose -- is just bullshit. Simply put, we don't have that much power. What power we do have (diplomacy) is being used as much as is humanly possible.

Americans have a right to keep and bear arms – would be better if Biden simply acknowledged it and stopped trying to erode this right.

@31: i specialize in odd takes, so thanks for noticing.

@39: how do those 2 executive orders erode the RKBA?

how are those anything but empty gestures that won't stop the ceaseless carnage of those who chose to keep and bear arms?

I wish I was surprised by Mac’s backtracking but I’m not - and to gaslight us in saying his use of Fuck is disappointment not anger? What a crock. Oh well at least I can now say Fuck Hannah to show my disappointment in her reporting (remember everyone, when someone screams Fuck You they’re merely sharing their disappointment - the more you know).

@37 Phoebe in Wallingford: I certainly know I'M overwhelmed by election related discussions this year, and already dreading the outcome. That a candidate free to run for President of the United States is a convicted felon of 34 criminal charges appeals to ~75 million total idiots who have no ability to vote wisely is appalling and beyond my comprehension.

@43, "vote wisely". By what absolute standard is "wisely" determined? Whatever the majority decides? Then its not an absolute standard. "Wise" is whatever we decide it is. It could be totally different today than it was yesterday.

So if there is a standard that is absolute from without humanity, what is its source?

@42: Dude has been a poser since high school, according to friends of mine who knew him then. He wants to be rich and famous, doesn’t care what he has to say to get there. Fakes his bio, fakes his politics, fakes his apologies.

@44 NotMentallySound: Seriously dude--put down the bong and pull your head out of your ass. Trump and its MAGA loyalists--raindrop for one--- have you hopelessly brainwashed. Start questioning THEIR "absolute standards"---not mine---before it's too late.

@44: “By what absolute standard is ‘wisely’ determined? Whatever the majority decides? Then it’s not an absolute standard.”

Heh, look at that, you are literally incapable of recognizing wisdom.

35 "They’re not a court."

The chair of the commission of inquiry on Palestine is a judge of the International Court of Justice in the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide with decades of expertise in human right law. Keep talking smack about UN institutions; it just shows what an extremist you are.

@38 You've got it backwards: if Netanyahu is dead set against his public opinion and the will of Israel's strongest allies, only twisting his arm is going to work. Pretending to try sweet talking him into deescalating is bound to fail especially since he already said he wouldn't consider deescalation before the US elections. Biden and Harris can ill afford a major regional conflict before we vote.

Israel's economy is fast going down the drain so it's hardly an example of stability and independence:

As war widens and costs mount, Israel’s economy is in ‘serious danger’
Tens of thousands of Israeli businesses have closed over the last year and reservists are struggling to juggle careers with military service.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/09/26/israel-economy-business-reservists-war/

@48: Nothing you wrote contradicted my statement, so your opinion on my supposed extremism proves every bit as solidly founded as most of the other opinions you’ve expressed here.

@48: "Keep talking smack about UN institutions; it just shows what an extremist you are"

lol, there's nothing extreme about casting doubt on "UN institutions." Israel gets outvoted in the UN, nothing more.

Take a look at the recorded vote on A/HRC/RES/S-30/1, the vote establishing the commission of inquiry that has so captured your imagination. 24 votes in favor, 9 against, and 14 abstentions. On a 47-member Council, it takes 24 votes to guarantee you will get your way. The anti-Israel crowd had enough votes by one to ram this through, and that's the only reason it exists.

Countries opposing or abstaining include plenty of mainstream, normie countries, including Austria, Germany, the UK, France, Japan, India, Netherlands, South Korea, etc. These countries aren't extremists. They knew an anti-Israel commission of inquiry would be a joke, and they didn't want their names attached.

The commission of inquiry, the UN human rights experts, and all the other "UN institutions" that you think carry so much are nothing more than political appointees. They deliver the results their appointing body expects. The anti-Israel crowd has the votes to appoint anti-Israel panelists, who then deliver anti-Israel results.

@50 You can plug your ears like the child you are and pretend you don't understand all you want. I am obviously not trying to convince YOU of anything.

@51 This vote was about the terms for establishing the commission of inquiry, not its composition, so there is little way to know what some of them objected to despite your pretending you do.

"casting doubt"

Calling well recognized independent experts, politically partisan appointees, in order to de-credibilize their findings is not "casting doubt". It is saying "there is no merit to their findings because they are partisan liars." Quit pretending to be even handed about this.

"Countries opposing or abstaining"

That's hardly the same thing. To abstain is also to not object. The relevant vote is 24-9 and several on the no side would probably vote differently today like Ireland.
https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g21/114/96/pdf/g2111496.pdf

Most countries often vote against Israel at the UN simply because it is a rogue state in constant violation of international law. It has nothing to do with being anti-Israel.

UN General Assembly demands Israel end ‘unlawful presence’ in Occupied Palestinian Territory

With a recorded vote of 124 nations in favour, 14 against, and 43 abstentions, the resolution calls for Israel to comply with international law and withdraw its military forces, immediately cease all new settlement activity, evacuate all settlers from occupied land, and dismantle parts of the separation wall it constructed inside the occupied West Bank.

The General Assembly further demanded that Israel return land and other “immovable property”, as well as all assets seized since the occupation began in 1967, and all cultural property and assets taken from Palestinians and Palestinian institutions.

The resolution also demands Israel allow all Palestinians displaced during the occupation to return to their place of origin and make reparation for the damage caused by its occupation.

The resolution stems from the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July, in which the Court declared that Israel’s continued presence in the Territory “is unlawful”, and that “all States are under an obligation not to recognize” the decades-long occupation.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/09/1154496

@48, @52: If "a judge of the International Court of Justice in the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide," is a member of a country club, then that country club is still not a court -- even if it is a really nice country club.

What you've foolishly attempted here is called "Argument from Authority," and it's not exactly the crushingly incontrovertible argument you seem to believe it is. In fact, it's exactly the opposite: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority#:~:text=An%20argument%20from%20authority%20is,in%20this%20way%20is%20fallible.

what i don't understand is why all these "fuck america" types don't simply emigrate to one of the utopian countries they admire so much (perhaps Iran, Canada, Afganistan, etc.). Oh, that's right most of those countries won't take you (try looking up he requirments for Canadian citizenship for example). best of luck to you, don't let the door !hit you in the ass on your way out

@53 Why don't yo go to fucking joe blow on the internet to get your car fixed, moron.