Asylum-seekers refuse to leave Tukwila hotel and return to “inhumane” conditions: Dozens of migrants living in tents outside a local church moved into to a Hilton hotel due to the extreme weather. Now, they’re threatening to stay until somebody provides them with dry and warm long-term shelter, according to Migrants Alliance USA, the advocacy group supporting their protest. The Seattle Times has the full story.
Israel censoring Palestinians: The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, 7amleh, claims the country has cracked down on Palestinians who’ve expressed their views online through mass content removal, shadowbans, surveillance, and even arrests.
Lefty Israeli parliamentarian to be indicted: Ofer Cassif will be indicted for allegedly assaulting a police officer in 2022. Cassif was protesting the removal of Palestinians from their homes when he slapped the officer upside the head. Earlier this month, Cassif signed a petition supporting South Africa’s case of genocide against his country.
Don’t let the door hit you: The three Tacoma police officers acquitted for the death of Manny Ellis agreed to leave the police department. Matthew Collins, Christopher Shane Burbank, and Timothy Rankine are taking home a collective $1.5 million settlement to leave, plus the accrued sick and vacation time from their more than three years on leave. An internal investigation found these guys did almost nothing wrong, except for Collins, who violated department policy on being “courteous” in telling Ellis to “shut the fuck up” while he died.
Rich Smith says pay attention: The final boss at The Stranger read a bunch of bills in Olympia to separate the bull from the shit, the wheat from the chaff, etc., that our lawmakers could pass during this super-short, 60-day sesh. We’ve got renters rights! We’ve got housing supply (well no, we don’t, but maybe these bills could help)! Rocks! Check out our 2024 bill tracker here.
Authorities charged the Club Q shooter with 50 hate crimes: The 22-year-old who shot and killed five people at the Colorado Springs gay club accepted a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table. The shooter agreed to the possibility of multiple life sentences plus 190 years. The shooter stormed Club Q hours after it posted about the all-ages Transgender Day of Remembrance drag brunch planned for that weekend.
Democracy is working well, I see! ABC canceled its Thursday New Hampshire primary debate after Republican Nikki Haley bravely declared she won’t debate unless Donald Trump or President Joe Biden participates. There’s another one planned on CNN in less than a week, so we’ll see what happens, but I really doubt Trump, a man with an authoritarian bent who hasn’t participated in a debate once this cycle and seems to be doing just fine, is going to change his attitude over Haley. DeSantis suggested she’s just too scared to debate, which is funny, but stupid.
Thawing out: Regional temperatures are gradually rising after this brutal cold snap, edging just above freezing in much of the region this morning. But I-90 is closed in both directions over icy roads and spinouts; unlike us, Spokane could get a foot of snow. If you’re going out, still watch your step for icy spots.
Some of the winter weather advisories for freezing rain have expired this morning as temperatures begin to warm & additional freezing rain is unlikely. However, please be prepared for lingering icy spots on side streets, driveways, sidewalks, etc if you have to be out this AM.
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) January 17, 2024
“I’m gonna’ bust!,” groaned the pipe: Here’s a reminder not to shut off your heat during cold temperatures. Several schools across Western Washington closed Tuesday after their pipes burst during the cold weather. As Ashley wrote yesterday, pipes burst all over Seattle, too, including icing over a hockey bar. More schools closed today over the weather, so check your district website for more information.
AI did good! A new artificial intelligence tool will help doctors diagnose children with rheumatic heart disease—a hidden and fatal heart condition—long before they could need surgery. There are currently 1,500 Ugandan children on the waiting list for the procedure. But with early detection, doctors could instead treat those kids with penicillin.
Suspect doggie: The Guinness Book of World Records said its title for oldest dog on record is on hold after new doubts emerged regarding the supposedly 31-year-old Bobi. Veterinarians have questioned whether the awesome and cute Portuguese dog who died last year could have possibly been 31 because that’s really fucking old for a dog and he looked better than he should’ve (what a lustrous coat, wow, said skeptical dog fur experts). Wired reported in December that his age was never independently verified.
My sources say Bobi was taking supplements to look even older https://t.co/TZCBmYV526
— Mr. Chau (@Srirachachau) January 16, 2024
More in NEWS
Local (and not-so-local) news from your favorite writers.
Motherfucker won’t debate even once before he secures the nomination. Why should he bother?
I fail to see why Biden should debate that traitorous bloviating con man in the general, either. There’s nothing to be learned by listening to him free-associate.
@2 I saw one recent reason for Biden to debate Trump, so the public can compare their actual mental states. After one of Trump’s patented rambling diatribes with no clear subject or message, Biden could look straight at the camera and say, “And they say I’m losing my marbles. Get a load of this guy!”
It would take careful scripting and waiting for just the right moment. It’s still a high-enough risk maneuver that Biden probably won’t do it.
smokin’ Joe
oughtta
maybe
pull a
Will Smith
on mr Marmalade’s
ample ass — or maybe just
Tossle his Bouffant & show us the swasitka
put him on
his Heels
and then
Laff and
Point at
El trum-
pfster
pull a ju-jitsu
on him if he
makes any
Sudden
Moves
oh and
Operate*
the Jumper-
Cables. you’ll
be ELECTED on
the Spot. the carcass
will be sent where all In-
surrectionists’ bodies’re sent
*Practice makes
Perfect mr President!
@5a
At the Debate
b. “the carcass will
be sent where all Insur-
rectionists’ bodies’re sent”
only if he Dies.
Save him
Joe!
I don’t want to diminish the severity of conditions that some of the newly arrived are having to endure. I was watching the NYC news yesterday. NYC had had a light snowfall, but afterwards the temperatures plunged into the teens with wind. And oh brr, the wind. It will fillet you. One of the asylum-seekers only had flip-flops and socks on his feet waiting in never-ending lines outside. Absolutely terrible. Nobody with a heart could look at that and ignore it. But…there were some who were…unhappy, shall we say, with their accommodations? Their frozen meals were inedible, or they felt like they were being treated like cattle. Some even conveyed a sense of arrogance and entitlement. Gosh, if treatment is that bad, you think they’d accept a plane ticket home? Hmmm. I wonder what they expected. More, obviously, than what they are getting. And coming to a hostile Texas in fall or winter where dear, kind, empathetic Governor Abbott was bound to put their asses on buses headed to the frozen tundra?
I guess it’s hard to be grateful and appreciative when you are cold and hungry, but if I were to pack it in because of shitty living conditions in my native land and relocate to a wealthy Western democracy, I don’t think I could demand the right to a suite at the Hotel de Monaco with room service or anything a few notches down from that or be indignant when I don’t get it. It’s kind of infuriating that some of those immigrants sound as if they are. And now there’s 30,000-40,000 new children in a very strained NYC public school system who can’t speak a word of English. That sounds like a bit of a challenge, too.
It’s impossible to absorb this many people pain-free.
When you are poor to begin with and you pull up stakes to go somewhere new, it’s probably going to be a very hard ride. Somebody hasn’t read “The Grapes of Wrath.”
@7
You don’t have to look far to see that all over the world people are treated like political fodder.
No way Bobi was 30, or even 20.
And how does a person strangle someone else, and get a $500K settlement for disappearing? Just asking for a friend!
Hope all sloggers have a good week!
@1:
I’m guessing “final boss” is used here in the context of what the young ‘uns these days call “gaming”.
@3:
I agree. Even taking into consideration @5’s point, It’s still important for everyone to be able to view, compare and contrast the two of them in real-time. And as you say, Biden needs to deliver his punches for maximum impact, but he SHOULD punch – hard, fast and brutal. Let everyone watching see him reduce his opponent to the level of the mewling, whining man-baby he is. Biden is a scrapper, and if he makes good use of his time he can literally mop the floor with Humpty Drumpty’s cheap toupee.
@7:
I think we have to consider that many of these asylum seekers are so desperate to get out of whatever horrific situation they’re in in their home countries, that anything they encounter here is still better, and perhaps they’re just reacting to the shock of what the reality of things are here, versus what they’ve been led to believe. Because, let’s face it: for the past 80 or so years we’ve been selling ourselves as “the greatest country in the world!”, so why should be be surprised when people, many of whom probably have little or no access to accurate, timely information about the current state of our nation, actually believe the hype we’ve been spewing?
@10: Which is why we need international effort to throttle Hamas. Demand wealthy and powerful Qataris and Iranians suddenly find their passports invalid at the gates to their favorite Western playgrounds. Demand asset freezes and seizures of anyone caught supplying money or arms to Hamas.
When our local, self-described opponents of genocide start demanding real actions against Hamas for the real genocide Hamas actually committed in Israel on 10/7, then I’ll start taking them seriously.
Good points @12.
@7, Immigrants (documented or not) are vital to the US economy and the economic return on investment is high even if some local schools and border states are impacted unfairly. The crime rate is lower that counterparts in the same demographic. Please go to University, study statistics, get a degree and perhaps consider living overseas for awhile to gain perspective. (Caveat, I worry about terrorism and the fentanyl epidemic, but that’s not these folks.)
@10 As mentioned in yesterday’s comments, you’ve just stated that Israel can never win in Gaza. If there is no way to root Hamas out of the tunnels, then Hamas will never be destroyed. Heck, the IDF can’t really advance far into Gaza because they never know when a previously-undiscovered tunnel entrance will be used to attack them from behind. And tensorna says I’m a defeatist!
As for diverting food away from the population, let’s consider that Hamas’ military wing is something like 20K people. The overall population of Gaza is ~2 million. Assume for a moment that Hamas steals every bit of the food intended for 2 million people to stash it below ground. That means they have enough food for 20K people for 100 days. Maybe the next day they steal another 100 days’ worth. At that point, they can’t steal more because they won’t have anywhere to put it. And the remaining population of Gaza gets fed. It’s not like that 20K military is going to be hungry anyway.
@5 I’m pretty sure that “finding out what motivates those voters” is underway. You know, by the campaigns and other interest groups. About the only arguments that stick against Biden (for swing state centrists) are that he’s old (read has dementia) and food prices are high.
Inflation is evening out and gas prices are down, so the second is on the right track. My proposed comment at the debate would help address the first.
I also am pretty sure (though not willing to stake the farm on it) that Biden’s poll numbers among Democrats will improve once it’s clear that he’ll be the nominee and not some hypothetical unicorn who meets all of their goals.
@11 I don’t think Biden should refuse to debate Trump but if you think Biden just needs to show up and mop the floor with Trump then you forgot how his debates with Hillary went. She has a much better stage presence than Biden and Trump more than held his own. The Biden people should have a real fear that Biden would come off looking frail and confused against Trump. You can’t deny some of his press conferences and appearances are troubling. Trump has a lot of bad qualities but we shouldn’t underestimate his ability to manipulate media for his purposes. He lives for it.
@14 Immigrants are vital to the economy but not all immigrants start at the same place. There is a huge difference in education, skill and outcomes for documented immigrants than there are for the undocumented immigrants coming through the southern border. Eventually these immigrants can contribute but not without a massive investment in public services to bring them up to standard. Barring that what you are doing is sentencing them to a lifetime of working low wage, service level jobs and relying on government subsidies to get by.
Expanding on @19, at some point in a debate with Trump, Biden would almost certainly stumble on his words. It’s silly to think a elderly man with a speech impediment is going to do otherwise.
Biden
needs to
take a tip from
El trumpfster and
ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK
get the Cheeto Bandido
backing up & flustered
and he’ll either stroke
out or Flee. either
way it’s a Win
fucking Win.
The most significant impact to ABC canceling the GOP debate is that it means Jeopardy will not be bumped! Which means we can all watch Seattle legend Martha Bath compete tomorrow at 7:30! Trump not participating is the greatest gift he has ever bestowed upon our fair city.
hbb dear, Joe Biden already debated with trump with no big repercussions. And as for him being an “elderly man”, what do you think trump is? Just because he dyes his hair that doesn’t mean he’s young.
Or let me put it this way: They were in high school at the same time. Why doesn’t anyone understand that?
Biden may have a stutter, but he can still think on his feet. He’d be up against trump who any with any sense can see has cognitive issues.
“what
a lustrous coat,
wow, said skeptical dog fur experts.”
nah.
those ‘skeptical
Experts’ wouldda called it a Pelt.
you’re thinking
of Buffalo Bill.
–@Cruella de Vil
“This
does not
give me confidence
that carnage of Gazan’s
will end any time soon. Ugh!”
–@Cap’n
no.
of Course not.
they — & their
Enablers — Know
that BiBi’s gotta Hang
in there till Nov. 5th when
El trumpfster declares both Victory
& Martial Law. then Bibi can just Nuke ’em.
End of Story!
all the Glory going
to Nutnyhoo and all
the Land going to Israel
where BiBi’ll Rule in an all New
1,000-Year Reich. History: Rhyming!
Tyrants:
WINNING!!!
@26 “Another option is for Israel to give Gazans some assurance that Hamas won’t be allowed to return to terrorize them once the IDF leaves” What’s this “return” business? If Israel doesn’t clear Hamas out of the tunnels, they’ll never have left. And it will make clearing and holding Gaza impossible.
“The problem is Israel has less than zero credibility with Gazans.” As Dan Savage asks so often in Savage Love, How’d that happen?
It’s also bold of you to imagine that Israel is interested in a 2-state solution. The Israeli right wing has done everything they can to prevent that, including propping up Hamas. That was certainly effective.
I do not and I have never asked for only only one side to stop the war. I am asking Israel to exercise reasonable caution in preventing civilian casualties. You know, like snipers not shooting unarmed people carrying white flags and unarmed people in their own home compounds. Little things like that.
@29 I’m not asking the IDF to leave Hamas unmolested. You’re the one saying they can’t clear the tunnels.
As for what I would do? I would try to rebuild some sort of faith that Israel’s government is actually working toward a 2-state solution. That would involve:
* Immediate removal of any government minister that advocates for removal of Palestinian civilians from Gaza or the West Bank.
* Immediate release of food aid to Gaza, with appropriate inspection to ensure it does not contain military equipment.
* Immediate cessation of bombing and shelling in declared safe zones.
* Investigation and prosecution of obvious attacks on civilians (see, eg the convent), particularly if the attack was by snipers. Snipers are supposed to choose their targets. If they’re not, they deserve prosecution.
* Removal of any person who takes a home or land by force in Israel or occupied territories, with land/home returned to its rightful owner.
* Removal of illegal settlements in the West Bank
* Immediate negotiations on a 2-state solution with the PA in the West Bank. Removal of some settlements and the barrier wall would be on the table.
The last three would cause the fall of the Israeli government, but that’s where Israeli politics are right now.
Raindrop dear, trump is only “charismatic” to a psychotic fringe of the nation. Most Republicans, given their personal wishes, would like a different candidate, but the GOP establishment is too cowardly to stand up to that “base.”
@24 & @32 Catalina Vel-DuRay for the WIN!! I have nothing to add–you NAILED it.
FUCK YOU, Matthew Collins, Christopher Shane Burbank, and Timothy Rankine!
Half a million bucks for each to walk?! That’s only a wrist slap, and the taxpayers get to pay the bill.
There is no justice for Manny Ellis!
Thank you, Vivian McCall and Rich Smith, for encouraging news regarding WA’s latest legislative session.
Stay warm, safe & sane, everybody!
@34: You have got to stop chugging the MAGA Kool-Aid, raindrop dear.
The Orange Turd and Fox TeeVee are known to both cause brain cancer.
Which reminds me:
There once was a troll some call Dewey
Who on SLOG would act rather screwy.
He’d spew out such rants
That he’d crap his pants,
Then play victim upon crying out, “Who, me?”
those’re
Excellent
Suggestions
boatergeek! well done!
and THNX for
your Contributions!
we’re all learning
a little Something
@35: Wow—prepping for your next word salad novel, Cap’n Crunch?
@38
Cap’n’s
Prolific as Fuck.
I can’t tell if he
works for Pooty
or Wormmy. it’s
a bit of a Tossup
“Trump’s charisma made The Apprentice successful long before he graced the political stage.”
Nonsense. Production values and good writers gave that “reality” show its appeal. They took a failing old businessman, redecorated his apartment, gave him some better clothes and tarted up his Russian Agent “wife”.
trumps “charisma” is a total invention of Hollywood, just like Reagan, and there’s a certain amount of rubes out there who believe anything they see on the TV. Thanks to our stupid, Republican-enabling, slavery-inspired Electoral College, you just need enough of those rubes in the right states to thwart the will of the voters.
(That and the dumb old Republicans who vote Republican because either their parents did or, as Mother Vel-DuRay used to say, they think it makes them look rich)
Oh, and Raindrop – while I am flattered to be the Calliope for your poetic efforts, you need to work on your anapestic trimeter. But a blue participation star for sure!
Also, if you think I’d let a bunch of Log Cabin Republicans into MY chalet, you’ve got another thing coming. Republican men are messy and tedious in the boudoir. And they cry after ejaculating (if they make it that far).
@39: Yeah, it must be tough, when your multiple fact-free conspiracy theories offer conflicting explanations. How then can you possibly decide?
Good luck with that.
@44
a bot
by any
other name
so you’re
Not dying.
congrats.
@35 All of my proposals have a specific purpose, particularly the last three. In order for Hamas to be destroyed, you will need Gazans to turn on Hamas. Part of that is to ensure that Israel and the PA look like a better option.
Yes food is a military support to Hamas and yes it is technically legitimate to deny it entry. But making people starve is a bad look and doesn’t win hearts and minds. It’s also not like Hamas will be starving anyway, so you may as well feed the other 2 million people there.
If you can’t stop shelling or bombing a safe zone, then don’t declare it. And let’s not forget that the safe zones cover only a relatively small portion of Gaza. Declare a safe zone, keep the IDF some distance back so they’re not subject to small arms fire from the safe zone, and that gives you space and time to clear tunnels in the rest of the territory. Civilians are also more likely to evacuate the war zones and go to the safe zones if there’s food and relative safety there. That gets them out of the way while the IDF is clearing Hamas out elsewhere.
There are plenty of obvious examples of civilians being shot by the IDF with no warning or apparent provocation. A few prosecutions would encourage better behavior.
The last three are actually the most important, specifically because they are irrelevant to Gaza. If Israel shows that they are going to treat Jews and Muslims equally, they will be seen as a better partner. If they negotiate a real peace with the PA, they will show that there’s a benefit to cooperation and renouncing violence and the destruction of Israel. And that’s how you defang Hamas. All the PA has gotten from renouncing violence is a shit sandwich. Sure, Hamas has gotten Gazans a shit-and-broken-glass sandwich, but you can’t expect someone to have good feelings for you when you give them a shit sandwich.
@46: “In order for Hamas to be destroyed, you will need Gazans to turn on Hamas.”
Not necessarily, and let’s recall that for any Gazan, to “turn on Hamas” could result in anything up to and including a death sentence. We on the outside could do the following:
Publicly demand the ANC to file genocide charges against Hamas for the genocidal acts Hamas committed in Israel on 10/7. (If the ANC continues to decide its long-term friendship with the PLO is more important than prosecuting genocide, then pressure the US, UK, or some other democracy to file.)
Publicly demand Western governments deny passport entries by wealthy, powerful, or well-connected Qataris and Iranians until those countries stop funding Hamas, start extraditing Hamas’ leaders to Israel or international tribunal, give information on current Hamas operatives and operations, and otherwise pursue all legal means to destroy Hamas.
Publicly demand international and national laws against funding and arming terrorists be enforced against all funders and arms suppliers of Hamas. Freeze and seize assets per these laws. Imprison financiers and gun-runners per laws.
That would be a good start. I’m looking forward to when the Stranger and Seattle’s activists to get going. Until then, it’s all just performative talk.
speaking of
nukular conflagrations
nyt:
Netanyahu
rebuffs U.S. calls
to start working to-
ward Palestinian statehood.
The Biden administration
and the Israeli government diverge sharply
over how Gaza will be governed when the fighting ends.
Speaking about the war,
Mr. Netanyahu vowed not to
compromise on Israel’s goal of
“total victory” over Hamas and urged
the public to prepare for long months of fighting.
And asked about Israel’s efforts to counter Iran,
he contested the premise that Israel was
battling only Iran’s proxies and not the
country itself: “Who told you we
weren’t attacking Iran?
We’re attacking!”
by Aaron Boxerman; Jan. 18, 2024
for moron your Utopian Armageddon:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/18/world/middleeast/netanyahu-palestinian-state-israel-gaza-war.html
till the Very Last Hamas!
or November 6th when
el trumfpster takes
Over whichever
comes first.
we’re in
No hurry.
Then the
Gloves’ll come Off.
Bazooka Joe
NEVER shouldda
given BiBi Carte Blanche
it shouldda
Always been
Comditional. any
Fool couldda seen that
and now
here we Are @
Armafucking Geddon?
no
Worries
BiBi! long as
it Ain’t “Genocide”!
@39 kristofarian: I believe they all Door Dash for raindrop’s little downstairs MAGA cult.
@42 and @43 Catalina Vel-DuRay for the WIN!!
@45 kristofarian: I really do think teenieweenie needs to check the lead content in his tap water.
I can just see him sticking to his refrigerator like a magnet, wondering why.
from: Notes From The Edge
Of The Narrative Matrix
Bibi Rejects Palestinian Statehood
Biden Says Bombing Yemen
Doesn’t Work But Will
Continue Anyway
Benjamin Netanyahu said he opposes Palestinian statehood and that Israel must control everything from the river to the sea on the same day Joe Biden said the repeated bombing of Yemen isn’t deterring Ansarallah but they’re going to keep bombing anyway.
“In any future arrangement … Israel needs security control over all territory west of the Jordan River,” Netanyahu told the press on Thursday, saying he has made this position clear to the White House.
Asked by the press on Thursday if the strikes against the Houthis are working, Biden replied “Well, when you say ‘working’ — are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they going to continue? Yes.”
An unusually honest day for empire managers.
Zionism does not work.
It was tried, and it
turns out it
doesn’t
work.
If the forced existence of your artificial ethnostate requires ceaseless war and the periodic massacring of large numbers of children, then your plan for your artificial ethnostate isn’t working out and a new plan is needed.
Talking about October 7 without talking about the mountains of Israeli abuses which gave rise to it is the same as lying.
[ouch!]
Normal person: It’s bad to massacre tens of thousands of civilians.
Crazy person: Oh so you’re saying you hate Jews then. You’re saying Jews shouldn’t defend themselves.
Israel apologists would have you believe there’s been a sudden worldwide emergence of “Hamas supporters” everywhere rather than a normal and entirely predictable worldwide opposition to genocide.
[there’s that
Word again]!
A lot of the footage of explosions in Gaza we’ve been seeing are not from airstrikes but detonations of explosives planted in the buildings. We’re watching the controlled demolition of an entire civilization.
–by Caitlin Johnstone; Jan 18, 2024
lots more
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/bibi-rejects-palestinian-statehood?
with words so Dangerous
Wormtongue’s Forced
to to show up & Bring
her Down to a much
more Imperial level
every single time
he Never
fails.
BiBi
& el trumpfster
two peas inna pod
the two-headed monster.
@52: So, your girlfriend has been unable to silence the rape victims of 10/7? That’s gotta be painful for her, the poor thing. Imagine constantly shouting orders, only to have them completely ignored by everyone who knows better. (Oh, wait — you don’t ever have to imagine that, do you?)
Guess what? We’ll continue to talk about Hamas’ rapes and mutilations of women on 10/7, how targeting women for rape and mutilation based on their ethnicity and religion is the very definition of genocide, and how the collateral damage Hamas ensures in Gaza is not. We’ll continue to talk about rape as if it never happens by accident, is not part of the fog of war, never has any legal justification, but happened by Hamas’ design during their genocide in Israel on 10/7.
Why must rape victims be so disobedient? Why must their demands for justice hurt your girlfriend’s ears so? Why do they subject her to such trauma? Why don’t they just accept silence as their fate?
It’s SO unfair!
(I’m sure you agree?)
Tensora, your ideas to choke off financial support for Hamas are a good idea. But make sure to include the money that Israel gave them, until recently, to weaken Fatah.
And in fairness, apply the same terms to the Israelis. Any isreali wanting to enter a western country has to prove he or she did not take part in war crimes in Gaza. The Israeli ministers prolonging this war and fanatic settlers provoking the next war need to be jailed or at least never allowed to leave the confines of 1967 Israel.
And nice try to de-link the government approved ethnic cleansing campaign by settlers in the West Bank. We know that is one of the root causes of this war. As long as you aren’t willing to face up to it, you will have a very unfriendly neighbor.
Telling how in your world one certain religious group is not culpable for war crimes, they always get excused.
In what other religious fanatical movement in the middle east have we seen similar logical contortions?
@54: Of course the fools in the Israeli government should be punished, both by prosecutors and voters, for funding terrorism. And IF any Israelis are found guilty of war crimes in Gaza, then persona-non-grata status may apply elsewhere. But you’re missing the point of such measures. They’re not about punishing foot soldiers for individual past crimes; rather, they put the squeeze on the top guys to stop current and future activities on a broad basis.
Revoking the travel privileges (note, not rights, but privileges) has been demonstrated to be a great way of pressuring the ruling elites in places like the Balkans, which is why we’re trying it in Russia, and should try it in the Middle East. Secretly or overtly supplying “freedom fighters” with guns and money makes for great fun when there are no consequences. Once the persons in power, their families and friends (and money-men!) start getting denied access to some of their favorite places, well then, it’s not really as much fun anymore, is it?
“And nice try to de-link the government approved ethnic cleansing campaign by settlers in the West Bank.”
You’re the one trying to link it. Israel removed settlers from Gaza in 2005, and voters in Gaza went for Hamas in 2006. So, if there was no link in Gaza from Gaza, why would there be one to the West Bank?
“We know that is one of the root causes of this war.”
You’ve demonstrated no such thing. I’m looking to stop terrorist activity in Gaza, and in Israel from Gaza. You need to show this link you claim.
“Telling how in your world one certain religious group is not culpable for war crimes, they always get excused.”
I have not excused anyone; in these comment threads, I have clearly and repeatedly stated all allegations of war crimes must be investigated, and if found true, the perpetrators must be punished. We have evidence of war crimes and even genocide committed by Hamas on 10/7, but I have yet to see anyone blocking ambulances on I-5 in Seattle, or blockading Sen. Murray’s office, to demand Hamas’ genocidal terrorists from 10/7 be extradited and tried. Who, exactly, here persists in ignoring war crimes and even genocide?
well You tentsey’re
doing Enough calling
for HAMAS to be prose-
cuted for the Whole of Schlog
& just ’cause we’re not calling
for that in Every Single Post
does Not mean WE don’t
want Hamas prosecuted
that’s just another
fidgment of your
Hyperactive Im-
agination.
BUT
and it’s
a Big Butt
but Hamas isn’t
STILL MURDERING
100 ISRAELIS EVERY
FUCKING DAY. perhaps
ending this “War” on Gazans
isn’t in Your best Interests? it’s
Definitely in Israel’s though with
BiBi still dragging Israel down Too.
END this fucking War on Palestinians
before Armageddon. if it’s even
now Possible. let’s Hope so.
continued “War” on
Gazans is Definitely NOT
in Israel’s Best Interests — only
BiBi’s and his far Far FAR “right” wing’s.
@56:
“but Hamas isn’t
STILL MURDERING
100 ISRAELIS EVERY
FUCKING DAY”
No, they’d be continuing to MURDER MORE THAN 1,000 ISRAELIS every day, with rape and mutilation of dozens or hundreds as well, but the IDF won’t let them. Do you not understand that is the reason for the current violence? That Hamas will return to killing and raping in Israel if the IDF relents? That the ceasefires proposed will enable that?
All of the Israelis who died on 10/7 died because they belonged to an ethnic and/or religious group Hamas wants to destroy. The civilians in Gaza are dying primarily because Hamas uses them for human shields; no one in the IDF is targeting them for anything. It would be nice if you guys could grasp that difference.
oh.
right.
Isreal didn’t
“see it coming”
and won’t Ever see
it coming Again? nonsense.
BiBi and his dangerously
far right compatriots took
their eye off the ball in their
Ongoing Theft of West Bank
Palestinian’s Homes Lives and
Property. they just didn’t Believe
it could Happen then because of Hubris
but perhaps
they’ve removed
the giant Mote from
their eyeballs by Now?
so: unless they
continue to Murder
ONE HUNDRED Palestinians
EVERY DAY Hamas is gonna Kill
another 1,200 Israelis Every Fucking Day?
wow.
time for a
New Leader.
@59:
‘Isreal didn’t
“see it coming”
and won’t Ever see
it coming Again? nonsense.‘
So you’re just flat-out victim-blaming now? The fire department is at fault for not stopping the arsonists? The U.S. was at fault for 9/11?
“…West Bank…”
Ok, twice in this thread now: Israel removed settlements (“ethnic cleansing”) from Gaza in 2005. In 2006, Hamas got a nice chunk of the Gazan vote. So, explain again how removing settlements leads to peace. (I have absolutely no problem with the Israeli government removing every last settler from the West Bank, at gunpoint if the settler so makes it necessary; I just see no evidence it would lead to peace.)
“…unless they
continue to Murder
ONE HUNDRED Palestinians
EVERY DAY Hamas is gonna Kill
another 1,200 Israelis Every Fucking Day?”
Do you doubt Hamas’ sincerity, when they express their desire to murder Israelis? After 10/7, do you doubt their ability?
(And could you please learn what “human shields” means already, and that Hamas has used them for a long time? Because you keep failing to give Hamas any credit at all for the deaths of civilians in Gaza. Murder is, quite literally, Hamas’ core competency, and yet you never seem to make the obvious connection here.)
O!
pls.
pass,
wormmy.
@61 kristofarian: Yep. Teenieweenie definitely has lead poisoning in his tap water.
This, along with an allergic reaction to his breakfast cereal.
Didja notice that, for someone who claims to be SO-O-O-O glad to have left Seattle and Washington State entirely for his native state he’s still egging people on, as usual? Methinks if teenieweenie doesn’t die of sheer boredom the high fructose corn syrup, artificial additives, and preservatives will get him first.
Perhaps this will make him go away:
There once was a troll some call teenie
Who argued with others quite obscenely.
When questioned on his acts
He’d dodge the true facts
And fly off the edge like a Queen Bee.
men
at Werk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SECVGN4Bsgg
@61: Backed yourself into a corner with your casualty figures, eh? Just imagine what Hamas would be doing in Israel right now, if it had the unmatched firepower the IDF has in Gaza. The actual genocide would have been finished awhile ago, and they’d be hunting stragglers now.
That’s why you and your girlfriend hate Hamas’ rape victims so much, why you ordered them silenced, and why you explode with rage whenever they are nonetheless mentioned anyway. There’s no campaign of rape and mutilation by the IDF in Gaza, and so your false moral equivalency breaks down so hard, even you can’t deny it.
“That’s why you and your girlfriend hate Hamas’ rape victims so much, why you ordered them silenced, and why you explode with rage whenever they are nonetheless mentioned anyway.” –@Wormtongue
laying it on Thick
& making it up
as he Goes.
Fuck off
asshole.
@65: From @52, you eagerly quoting your girlfriend, in your ongoing attempts to stifle dialog about rape and mutilation:
“Talking about October 7 without talking about the mountains of Israeli abuses which gave rise to it is the same as lying.”
(“Ouch,” indeed: justifying terrorism always hurts — the persons who attempt it.)
Unquenchable hatred, plus sadistic desires to hurt and kill other humans, are the only things which ever “gave rise to” terrorism and genocide. Black Americans survived hundreds of years of economic privation, social ostracism, denigration, extrajudicial executions, widespread physical attacks upon their communities, and actual slavery, all without resorting to terrorism. In fact, under the enlightened leadership of the great Martin Luther King, they went completely in the opposite direction, using nonviolent civil disobedience to eliminate legal discrimination. If they never resorted to terrorism, what excuse has anyone else?
We who oppose genocide and terrorism will keep talking about Hamas’ terrorism, including their genocidal rapes and mutilations of Israeli women and girls, and we really, really don’t care how inconvenient those facts are to your beliefs.
“We
who oppose
genocide and terrorism* … “
ah.
so you’ve
Cornered the Mkt.
do tell.
or don’t
Bother. doubt
I’ll even Read your
invective-infused vile
projections. the little quote
atop’s as Far as I got : vomitas.
moving On:
In a Strategic Bind,
Israel Weighs Freeing Host-
ages Against Destroying Hamas
Some Israeli commanders said the
two goals were incompatible.
Eradicating Hamas would
mean a lengthy war that
would most likely cost
the hostages’ lives.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/20/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-hostages-strategy.html
one nyt reader’s comment:
I am a combat experienced US Marine
and also a combat veteran of the IDF.
In my experience-based opinion
the IDF cannot eliminate Hamas.
In fact the opposite.
They are creating an environment,
an atmosphere of greatly increased,
wider acceptance of Hamas among not just
the Palestinians, but across the entire Middle East region.
more, Instructively:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/20/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-hostages-strategy.html#commentsContainer
NO One
Couldda
Seen this
One comin’.
no
one.
Armageddon,
Everyone?
& kudos! to all
nutnyahoo’s
Enablers.
*’There is NO
justification
for Terror-
ism.
ever.’
Could Not Agree
with you any More.