Above all else I’m pro-civilian. When October 7th happened I was pro-civilian. When Israel began indiscriminately bombing Gaza killing 3-4 civilians for every Hamas in the best case scenario I was pro-civilian then, too.
Naturally if you have a paper-cut in one place and an arterial bleed elsewhere your time is best served focusing on the arterial bleed.
Does this change the fact that I think it’s silly to protest Biden and Harris directly and misses the bigger picture of this election relative to the risk of wedge-driving Democrats and letting the guy in who won’t even try to stop tie bleeding? No.
Anyone advocating for Palestinians is better served finding pro-Israeli voters and showing them the brutality of the IDF. When you then see a movement in the public polls, you’ll see a movement in police & platform.
Republicans should never be in power ever again, period. Biggest reason isn’t even what Trump would do if we had a terrorist attack.
It’s global warming.
The US has a service economy and produces a quarter of all global waste/emissions. We produce that much waste without actually producing anything. At least China can claim that they MAKE stuff. We don’t. We pollute for FUN.
Even if we completely reversed course and went 100% all in on renewables and climate change mitigation, we’re looking at millions, possibly hundreds of millions dead in the poorest parts of the world in the coming decades because of our actions. And that’s the best case scenario. The way we’re headed, we’re looking at the end of life as we know it.
The very least we can do is push the government towards addressing the problems we’ve caused, and to do that, at the bare minimum we need to make sure we never let a Republican step foot in the White House again.
Everything else pales in comparison to the kind of damage we cause every time we let a climate change denier control the direction of US policy on global warming.
I agree in principle with the idea that the ideology espoused by the current incarnation of the republican party needs to die forever.
But generally (not specifically) it’s critical not to have a single party system.
If I was Sherman I’d perhaps say that the democratic party should never have power again. But obviously times and platforms change.
The fight is against ideology. As badly as I want the republican party to fuck off and die it’s critical that they reincarnate as something else because in the long run a single party system isn’t the answer
We’ve had that exact scenario happen before, where one party died off entirely. Within a couple of years, they split off again into two different parties.
And that’s exactly what will happen again. Democrats aren’t some kind of monolith, they have everything from Corporate Dems like Pelosi that made millions with her inside trading, don’t-rock-the-boat neoliberals that would be considered conservatives anywhere else, to leftists that would love to eat the rich and get money out of politics using just about any means necessary.
They’re only grouped up now because the alternative is well… Republicans.
It’s obviously difficult to reconcile the specific to the general, but as long as we’re in agreement that the ideal number of political blocks is >1 then I think we’re in agreement.
Anyone advocating for Palestinians is better served finding pro-Israeli voters and showing them the brutality of the IDF.
I worry that showing the brutality of the IDF would actually encourage those voters to double down because they like what they see. Perhaps a better way is show the humanity of the Palestinian civilians.
I think PBS NewsHour has been doing a stellar job at this. They recently highlighted the father who lost his twins and his wife in a bombing. They then interviewed an American pediatrician who volunteered in Gaza. It certainly humanizes them.
I’d also remind them that IDF is so incompetent that they’ve killed more aid workers in this conflict than any conflict previously… Even when there is directly coordination with IDF command as instructed. They’ve even killed their own hostages who had their hands raised, unarmed, and with a white flag.
It’s astounding. I’d never really fallen for the “IDF MOST MORAL ARMY IN THE WORLD” shit ever since I became interested in politics as a teen, but I took it for granted that they were at least somewhat competent, if gruesome. Turns out, no, they’re both gruesomely immoral AND gruesomely incompetent.
Every time I see IDF officials talk I get big-time Kremlin rhetoric vibes. Now I’m not here defending Hamas in any capacity, but I just tire of IDF being elevated as “the good guys.” If they’re the good guys, then their standards should have been higher. Instead, just bomb a densely-populated building, killing scores of innocents and just say (without proof), “Oh well there was a high-value Hamas target so it’s all good.” They pulled the trigger and said that one target was more valuable than the dead children they knew they would kill.
They are absolutely NOT the good guys. Israel is having a smaller scale preview of what we’d see if we had the same scenario happen under a Trump presidency. We should try to curb their worst instincts, but you have to win the bloody election first to do it, and somehow account for the fact that the majority of Americans do not give a shit about Palestine.
The last poll I saw on the issue, is that ranking issues from most important to least, Palestine ranked around #9. Behind everything from Immigration, Economy, Women’s rights etc.
It’s not an accident that some of the most vocal Pro-Palestinian voices in congress were primaried.
In that political climate, the best you can do is to do harm mitigation and make sure Republicans aren’t in the driver’s seat come 2025.
Yeah, I despise Hamas and won’t mourn the passing of the shitheads, but Israel’s conduct in murdering Palestinian civilians has been nothing short of abominable.
This is what I don’t get. Even if we take them at their word that they’re finishing this for good, did they not learn a goddamned thing from 20 years of failed US military intervention attempting the same thing? Like… here I am just a Palestinian living in a slum exacerbated by blockades just trying to raise a family and unfortunately for me Hamas now controls the neighborhood I live in and I can’t do shit about it because they’re also being supported by outside nation-states no less. On the flip-side, it seems they’re the only marginal deterrent from IDF simply annexing and bulldozing my house… Then Hamas does something stupid; but then Israel claiming to be the good guys levels my apartment and kills my mother, wife, and kids…
Yeah, you bet I would radicalize after that.
So ultimately, the IDF is further destabilizing the region, not even addressing the root causes of extremism, and sowing further October 7ths down the road when all these orphans grow up.
Worst part is, US attempts at counter-insurgency were largely destroyed by outside factors (namely, the fact that we managed to piss off half the world, and the world was right in being pissed, in invading Iraq after having acquired near-infinite goodwill simply by suffering 9/11). We developed fairly effective COIN strategies - and what’s more, we offered experienced advisers in urban COIN specifically to Israel in the immediate aftermath of October 7th.
Our advisers left, frustrated, inside of a fucking week. Because the IDF had no interest in pursuing a counter-insurgency strategy. They were interested in pursuing their fucking old world blood feud.
The IDF didn’t kill aid workers on accident. I refuse to believe that all, or most, are accidental with the number of absolute noncombatants (journos, aid workers, etc) that have been illegally killed (killing press workers and aid workers deliberately is a war crime).
Like others have said, it’s a feature, not a bug. They’re not incompetent - they know who they’re killing AND DON’T REALLY CARE.
I’d also remind them that IDF is so incompetent that they’ve killed more aid workers in this conflict than any conflict previously… Even when there is directly coordination with IDF command as instructed. They’ve even killed their own hostages who had their hands raised, unarmed, and with a white flag.
The incompetence goes even further as of May of this year 278 IDF were killed by friendly fire. I can only imagine that friendly fire death list has increase since the May reporting. The IDF seems to be shooting anything that moves, friend or foe.
Above all else I’m pro-civilian. When October 7th happened I was pro-civilian. When Israel began indiscriminately bombing Gaza killing 3-4 civilians for every Hamas in the best case scenario I was pro-civilian then, too.
Naturally if you have a paper-cut in one place and an arterial bleed elsewhere your time is best served focusing on the arterial bleed.
Does this change the fact that I think it’s silly to protest Biden and Harris directly and misses the bigger picture of this election relative to the risk of wedge-driving Democrats and letting the guy in who won’t even try to stop tie bleeding? No.
Anyone advocating for Palestinians is better served finding pro-Israeli voters and showing them the brutality of the IDF. When you then see a movement in the public polls, you’ll see a movement in police & platform.
Republicans should never be in power ever again, period. Biggest reason isn’t even what Trump would do if we had a terrorist attack.
It’s global warming.
The US has a service economy and produces a quarter of all global waste/emissions. We produce that much waste without actually producing anything. At least China can claim that they MAKE stuff. We don’t. We pollute for FUN.
Even if we completely reversed course and went 100% all in on renewables and climate change mitigation, we’re looking at millions, possibly hundreds of millions dead in the poorest parts of the world in the coming decades because of our actions. And that’s the best case scenario. The way we’re headed, we’re looking at the end of life as we know it.
The very least we can do is push the government towards addressing the problems we’ve caused, and to do that, at the bare minimum we need to make sure we never let a Republican step foot in the White House again.
Everything else pales in comparison to the kind of damage we cause every time we let a climate change denier control the direction of US policy on global warming.
I agree in principle with the idea that the ideology espoused by the current incarnation of the republican party needs to die forever.
But generally (not specifically) it’s critical not to have a single party system.
If I was Sherman I’d perhaps say that the democratic party should never have power again. But obviously times and platforms change.
The fight is against ideology. As badly as I want the republican party to fuck off and die it’s critical that they reincarnate as something else because in the long run a single party system isn’t the answer
We’ve had that exact scenario happen before, where one party died off entirely. Within a couple of years, they split off again into two different parties. And that’s exactly what will happen again. Democrats aren’t some kind of monolith, they have everything from Corporate Dems like Pelosi that made millions with her inside trading, don’t-rock-the-boat neoliberals that would be considered conservatives anywhere else, to leftists that would love to eat the rich and get money out of politics using just about any means necessary.
They’re only grouped up now because the alternative is well… Republicans.
It’s obviously difficult to reconcile the specific to the general, but as long as we’re in agreement that the ideal number of political blocks is >1 then I think we’re in agreement.
I worry that showing the brutality of the IDF would actually encourage those voters to double down because they like what they see. Perhaps a better way is show the humanity of the Palestinian civilians.
I think PBS NewsHour has been doing a stellar job at this. They recently highlighted the father who lost his twins and his wife in a bombing. They then interviewed an American pediatrician who volunteered in Gaza. It certainly humanizes them.
I’d also remind them that IDF is so incompetent that they’ve killed more aid workers in this conflict than any conflict previously… Even when there is directly coordination with IDF command as instructed. They’ve even killed their own hostages who had their hands raised, unarmed, and with a white flag.
It’s astounding. I’d never really fallen for the “IDF MOST MORAL ARMY IN THE WORLD” shit ever since I became interested in politics as a teen, but I took it for granted that they were at least somewhat competent, if gruesome. Turns out, no, they’re both gruesomely immoral AND gruesomely incompetent.
Every time I see IDF officials talk I get big-time Kremlin rhetoric vibes. Now I’m not here defending Hamas in any capacity, but I just tire of IDF being elevated as “the good guys.” If they’re the good guys, then their standards should have been higher. Instead, just bomb a densely-populated building, killing scores of innocents and just say (without proof), “Oh well there was a high-value Hamas target so it’s all good.” They pulled the trigger and said that one target was more valuable than the dead children they knew they would kill.
They are absolutely NOT the good guys. Israel is having a smaller scale preview of what we’d see if we had the same scenario happen under a Trump presidency. We should try to curb their worst instincts, but you have to win the bloody election first to do it, and somehow account for the fact that the majority of Americans do not give a shit about Palestine.
The last poll I saw on the issue, is that ranking issues from most important to least, Palestine ranked around #9. Behind everything from Immigration, Economy, Women’s rights etc. It’s not an accident that some of the most vocal Pro-Palestinian voices in congress were primaried.
In that political climate, the best you can do is to do harm mitigation and make sure Republicans aren’t in the driver’s seat come 2025.
Yeah, I despise Hamas and won’t mourn the passing of the shitheads, but Israel’s conduct in murdering Palestinian civilians has been nothing short of abominable.
And unlikely to end Hamas, for that matter.
This is what I don’t get. Even if we take them at their word that they’re finishing this for good, did they not learn a goddamned thing from 20 years of failed US military intervention attempting the same thing? Like… here I am just a Palestinian living in a slum exacerbated by blockades just trying to raise a family and unfortunately for me Hamas now controls the neighborhood I live in and I can’t do shit about it because they’re also being supported by outside nation-states no less. On the flip-side, it seems they’re the only marginal deterrent from IDF simply annexing and bulldozing my house… Then Hamas does something stupid; but then Israel claiming to be the good guys levels my apartment and kills my mother, wife, and kids…
Yeah, you bet I would radicalize after that.
So ultimately, the IDF is further destabilizing the region, not even addressing the root causes of extremism, and sowing further October 7ths down the road when all these orphans grow up.
The hard-right government there wants there to always be chaos so they can remain in power indefinitely.
Worst part is, US attempts at counter-insurgency were largely destroyed by outside factors (namely, the fact that we managed to piss off half the world, and the world was right in being pissed, in invading Iraq after having acquired near-infinite goodwill simply by suffering 9/11). We developed fairly effective COIN strategies - and what’s more, we offered experienced advisers in urban COIN specifically to Israel in the immediate aftermath of October 7th.
Our advisers left, frustrated, inside of a fucking week. Because the IDF had no interest in pursuing a counter-insurgency strategy. They were interested in pursuing their fucking old world blood feud.
Biden even warned Israel immediately following October 7th to not overreact and make the same mistake as we Americans lol.
The IDF didn’t kill aid workers on accident. I refuse to believe that all, or most, are accidental with the number of absolute noncombatants (journos, aid workers, etc) that have been illegally killed (killing press workers and aid workers deliberately is a war crime).
Like others have said, it’s a feature, not a bug. They’re not incompetent - they know who they’re killing AND DON’T REALLY CARE.
The incompetence goes even further as of May of this year 278 IDF were killed by friendly fire. I can only imagine that friendly fire death list has increase since the May reporting. The IDF seems to be shooting anything that moves, friend or foe.