• 78 Posts
  • 705 Comments
Joined 9 months ago
cake
Cake day: February 29th, 2024

help-circle



  • I disagree that “their humiliating defeat on November 5 was due largely to their undeniable role in the Israeli war and genocide in Gaza.” I definitely think it played a role and Dems would have won more voters with concrete promises to halt Israel’s genocide and enforce US laws like the Leahy Law. People are justifiably upset with Israel crossing lines without Biden enforcing consequences, and the huge amounts of money going to fund genocide as opposed to being used domestically.

    Was it really THE major issue affecting votes though? IMO the more significant issues were things like a feeling of “more of the same” when people are struggling and focusing on trying to win “moderate” Republicans instead of motivating a base they thought was guaranteed. Still, it’s an article with valid points.










  • I doubt Israel feels the need to wait out the months. Nothing was happening before, even when Israel crossed “red lines”. Here’s an impact snapshot for Nov. 5th. With Biden in power the situation right now is:

    • 345,000 people are at the UN’s highest level of starvation (Level 5 - catastrophic). 876,000 are at Level 4 - emergency.

    • 87% of housing units are completely destroyed or seriously damaged. Average space for people in shelters is 1.5sq meters (5sq feet), less than half the 3.5sq meters (11.5sq feet) considered the humane minimum.

    Remember the outrage when the rocket hit the parking lot outside Al-Ahli hospital a few days into the war, with both sides claiming they’d never attack a hospital? Now 19 of 36 hospitals hospitals are completely out of service, and the remaining 17 are only partially functional. 130 ambulances have been damaged or destroyed.

    The change Israel has announced post-election is plans to bring Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank, calling the Trump presidency “an opportunity”.




  • Christianity mate. I was raised evangelical, and it’s insane. People “speak in tongues” believing that the Holy Ghost is summoning unknown words of power through them. When someone was outed as a homosexual in a church I was raised in, every adult would take turns placing their hands on either side of their head and casting out the demon of homosexuality. The Flood covered the whole Earth, God designed each animal as they are, etc.

    The abortion/reproductive rights topic is religion made political.

    Logic, facts and compassion are very secondary and ignored completely if there’s a conflict with belief. The folks I grew up with would wholeheartedly say that behavior you and I would consider hateful was done out of love. When I left the church I discovered sayings like, “There’s no hate like Christian love”. That being said, there are good people and more people in each generation deprogram themselves and realize they’d rather be sane than saved (in the sense of evangelical salvation).





  • Yes if it comes to that, and kept bounded by rules of war. Accepting surrender, treatment of POWs, avoiding civilian casualties, rules of engagement and so on. The US isn’t there yet IMO, by which I mean a significant % of people willing to leave their lives behind to fight other Americans. There are serious legal and administrative attempts being made to block the worst of Trump’s policies. But if the US does in fact have a civil war, I am cheering for those opposing fascists. I don’t know how a 43-year-old Canadian could contribute, but I’d be willing to at minimum donate to things like humanitarian aid for sure.