aleph @ aleph @lemm.ee

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2 yr. ago

... at a police association, of all places 🤦‍♂️

Absolutely. Add capping campaign spending, overturning Citizens United, and making it easier for alternative political parties to get on the ballot to that list, too.

Except Kamala crumpled under pressure and dropped her support of a fracking ban and M4A.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/08/14/kamala-harris-changes-policy-positions/

These days, no one knows what she stands for. Her campaign seems happy to be riding on pure vibes for the time being.

Same here, although I confess I wasn't blown away by this one. I often find that while Ghibli films always crush it on the imagination front, the writing can be hit and miss. I understood the autobiographical origin of the plot, but there were several parts that felt underdeveloped or poorly explained. Overall, was good but definitely not up there with Mononoke or Spirited Away, imo

Humans are perfectly capable of dividing themselves into factions and fostering hatred of the other without religion, don't you worry.

Shame you're being downvoted, but you're right. While Maduro's regime is certainly autocratic and corrupt, the US has been interfering in Venezuela for decades in order to gain access to its oil reserves (the largest in the world).

This article in The Intercept is a good overview of the history, which includes two failed coup attempts.

Any claims that this latest ploy is being carried out for the sake of "democracy" should be viewed with the utmost skepticism.

It's possible, but I personally don't buy that argument. He didn't have to sit down and write that letter, but he did. That, plus the interview where he said that "giving it his all" was "what it was all about", seemed obvious to me he was all for holding on tight despite everyone's concerns.

Less than two weeks before he dropped out, he wrote an open letter to congressional democrats in which he wrote:

I want you to know that despite all the speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.

I have heard the concerns that people have — their good faith fears and worries about what is at stake in this election. I am not blind to them.

I can respond to all this by saying clearly and unequivocally: I wouldn’t be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to beat Donald Trump in 2024.

The voters of the Democratic Party have voted. They have chosen me to be the nominee of the party. Do we now just say this process didn’t matter? That the voters don’t have a say?

I decline to do that... I have no doubt that I — and we — can and will beat Donald Trump.

Unless this was all part of an elaborate hoax, it's clear he had no intention of dropping out at that time.

I wouldn't go that far. Don't forget that the main reason Biden had to be pressured to step down in the first place was that he had effectively been foisted on lukewarm voters and that his cognitive decline had been purposefully hidden for quite some time before the infamous debate.

Yes, it's good that he finally agreed to bow out of the race, but he only did it after weeks of massive pressure from the media and from within his own party. Without that, he would most likely be the presumptive nominee today and the Democrats would still be getting creamed in the polls.

Not just in the 80s - US government actors and proxies have tried to overthrow the government in Venezuela twice since then - in 2002 and in 2020.

Then there's also the crippling effects that US economic sanctions have had on several countries in South and Central America, which has led to the deaths of thousands and many refugees fleeing those countries. The surge in the number of people trying to cross the US-Mexico border is in no small part driven by the US' own policies on Latin America.

Several genocide scholars seem to be convinced on the matter, though:

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/what-we-are-seeing-in-gaza-is-a-repeat-of-auschwitz-says-genocide-expert/3202869#

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-11-19/israel-hostages-gaza-bombing-civilians-genocide-holocaust-studies

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/29/1241576419/u-n-expert-says-israel-has-committed-acts-of-genocide-in-gaza

Designating something as a genocide is not a matter of opinion -- it's a legal definition.

But as I noted above, the average UK citizen is not in favor of strict immigration controls (legal or otherwise) and certainly not supportive of the recent riots.

Of those who are, the majority comes from lower-income areas that suffered the most under years of Tory austerity, which is understandable. But even then it's really a case of the socioeconomic elites pointing the finger at immigrants rather than themselves.

As for the Muslim community, again there is good evidence to suggest that a lot of the fears you mentioned are unfounded. Surveys have shown that most feel that they belong in Britain and have no objections to integrating with the culture.

Again, the problem you tend to find is that extremists like Anjem Choudary are amplified by the press, giving the impressions that the Muslim community is incompatible with British values, when in fact the vast majority disagree with that statement.

It's ironic you mention 'reality', since the hysteria surround immigration is largely based on misinformation and xenophobic propaganda being spouted by right-wing politicians and media for well over a decade. This has led to a highly distorted view of the scale and severity of the issue.

First off, the mass migration of peoples seeking refuge from war and other geopolitical disasters is a global issue rather than something that is unique to the UK, but even then the UK has taken in far fewer asylum seekers relative to other EU countries.

For instance:

• When measuring the number of asylum applications per 10,000 citizens, the UK only ranks 20th when compared to other EU countries.
• In terms of migrants arriving by boat, the UK is well behind other EU countries like Italy, Greece, and Spain.
• Despite the obsession with small boat crossings, they represent only a tiny fraction of overall arrivals. The vast majority of immigrants still come through official channels for work, study, etc.

Also, the UK population is actually pretty positive when it comes to immigration:

• In a global survey, 55% of UK citizens said immigration was a net positive, and only 30% were in favor of strict limits.

The paranoia about immigrants causing higher crime rates is also based on a myth:

• The overall rates of violent crime has been steadily falling for decades despite a steady rise in the number of foreign-born citizens.
• There is no evidence that an increase in the rate of foreign-born citizens even correlates with a rise in burglaries, thefts, and other property crimes.

All this is to say that a lot of the anger inflaming these racists riots come from a combination of political and media misinformation and many people's innate prejudice towards non-Europeans.

Same.

I've seen the photos of the aftermath of this airstrike -- the bodies of men, women, and children so obliterated that there is no hope of identifying them. The poor souls having to clear the area today have to sort the lumps of human remains into trash bags and hope all the parts belong to the same person.

There's no justification that anyone can give that would ever justify it, and yet it will just be brushed under the rug by the US State Department, just like the last time.

Just don't take it too seriously, I would say. Not every news piece from the same source is going to be of the same quality or bias.

Meanwhile...

With each passing week, there are more and more parallels to the aftermath of 9-11. Israel has now even had its own equivalent to the leaked photos of prisoners (held without trial) being degraded, tortured, and sexually assaulted at Abu Grahib.

It's depressing watching history repeat itself within your own lifetime, even despite the far greater visibility of Israel's war crimes thanks to the internet.

They've pinned their hopes on her, because who else can they turn to? If your priority is campaigning for an end to the genocide, then of course you'd say that.

Sadly, her national security advisor just tweeted this today, so I'd say those of us who predicted Harris would just take Biden's policy and give it a more sympathetic face are already looking to be proven correct:

Her national security advisor tweeted this today:

Translation: "We're going to continue Biden's ineffectual policy of begging Israel to please be nice as they're dropping the bombs we keep sending them."