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I'm closing the comments. I've had enough.

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Fuck Hamas, Fuck Bibi (on general principles. Isn't he on trial for corruption?)

Dear god, though, I hope the regular people with no hand in this don't get much more fucked than they've already been.

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McDaniel is a uniquely terrible kind of soulless ghoul. I bet her uncle is secretly glad she excised his family name from hers. Tim Scott is a coattail-riding dumbass who belongs nowhere near the levers of power. I actually expected worse from Vichy Pence so his response is just awful, rather than goddawful. Because of our acute partisan divide one of my first reactions to this catastrophic tragedy was, “shit, the Republicans are going to blame Biden for this in 3 ... 2 … 1.” As a member of the tribe, this horrific attack brings up all the generational trauma, of course, even though I have no personal ties to Israel. But ugly national and international politics inevitably steal the spotlight as well because the world is hopelessly fractured and this country even more so. I’m grateful we at least have a rational, empathetic actor at the helm right now. I suppose it would be too much to ask for Republicans to at least pretend to be human, and American, for a few fucking days ...

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''9/11 was about, in the words of the commission that reviewed it, a “failure of imagination” to understand what could happen in America, a nation that had not encountered foreign terror threats of any significant magnitude''

And part of that was Shrub intentionally NOT reading any of the daily briefings, in particular...

"Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US" was the title of the President's Daily Brief prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency and given to U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday, August 6, 2001.

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

Also, when all of US airspace was closed down on 9/11, Shrub arranged for members of the bin Laden family to be flown out of the country.

NO security failure here, just having war criminals as the president and vice president.

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This was a massive, maybe unprecedented security failure on the part of Israel. I'm sure it will be investigated fully in the aftermath. The major backer of Hamas is Iran. Iran and Russia are allies. Trump is Putin's little bitch. Trump is currently under indictment for mishandling highly classified documents, including the secrets of our allies.

And, every GOP accusation invariably turns out to be a confession.

I assume Jack Smith is on this and I know the Israelis will stop at nothing to determine who betrayed them.

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I confess I idly wondered for a few moments whether the absolute fucking sleazeballs that comprise the modern Republican party would spread disinformation about this event in an attempt to deceive their supporters, flog more hatred of those who oppose them. Whether some glimmer of conscience remained, and they might think, under the circumstances, that lying flagrantly about even something like this in an attempt to attack the branches of the government they do not (mercifully) control at present—whether it might occur to them doing such a thing might come off as, well...

... indefensibly tasteless even for them.

I wouldn’t call it naivete. Just wondered if, hey, you know, maybe there might actually be some limits somewhere, and this is how we might find them. Wasn’t exactly what you’d call hopeful...

Anyway, apparently no. There are no such limits.

Wouldn’t call myself surprised, either, I guess. Disgusting fucking garbage human beings are disgusting fucking garbage human beings.

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Stephen, so you got the short straw on this. Great write-up!!

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Um, not to be contentious, but how about wanton destruction and the deliberate murder of innocent civilians, including children just playing in the streets and families ripped from their homes to take over the land? Lots of sins on both sides there. Not to mention, wasn't it Jared's job to have fixed all that?

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not to be contentious? "how about" what Israel did means it was justified.

Stop it or I will stop it for you.

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This is the kind of discussion Trix absofuckinglutely wanted to avoid. We can't fix anything while the shooting is going on, and maybe someone will remember this after the shooting stops.

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Would it be incredibly irresponsible at this point to wonder if Bibi and IDF allowed these attacks to prop up government control and justify genocide of the Palestinians? Seems impossible for Mossad not to have seen a buildup that must have taken months, if not years. Just one of those thoughts that wake me up at 3AM.

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A thought that kept me too awake . . . too terrible to contemplate, but within the realms of possibility. A GREATER possibility, it turns out, is the "loose lips" blabbing of security info - including that of our friends, like Israel - by Donald Trump while President. And a "Trump Russia White House Connection" Google search reveals some hair-raising stuff.

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Not "incredibly" irresponsible, it could happen.

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I usually don’t ascribe to strategic malfeasance, when corrupt incompetence is a clear possibility.

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Does anyone really think Bibi is that smart?

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There is no upside to that. It'll just make Bibi look incompetent and like he was caught with his pants down, which he was

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Wagging the dog is not a unknown thing in politics. The idea is that the atrocities move people who otherwise might be more lenient firmly into the kill em all camp.

Especially handy for politicians in trouble.

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"Partisan hacks lash out at Biden and Democrats because they have nothing else."

They could always elect a speaker, pass a continuing resolution and an aid package, and staff up the leadership of the DOD.

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You funny!!!

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Ta, Stephen. I have nothing to contribute to this conversation, apart from hoping Werewolf and my former landlord are safe and sound, and get home safely.

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Holy shit. Egyptian intelligence warned Netanyahu about "something horrible", a large-scale attack coming from Gaza, ten days before the attack, and he blew them off.

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"you covered your ass" vibes

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So far this has been great news for defense stocks, so we've got that going for us

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Also, maybe Republicans should be focused on the fact that we currently have no Speaker of the House of Representatives, because they wanted rid of McCarthy for the lols. Maybe you should sort that shit out?

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Qev did a press conference this morning and many are saying he is using this whole mess to convince them to give him back his speakership.

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This was all Kevvie's evil plan???

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Thank you for saying what I've been saying but some don't want to hear. This was an escalation with no moral foundation. Going door to door raping women and taking hostages and killing civilians is a fucking big line to cross

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Imagine the outrage if Democrats had the same reaction and the president was a Republican. Every news headline would be about how unpatriotic and cynical the Democrats are. The double standard is galling.

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I'm sure someone will say something irresponsible before week's end and that will be ascribed to the entire party, Biden on down. If not an actual politician, some kind of celebrity or talking head. If not, some disingenuous person on the NYT editorial board will invent one.

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Definitely a NY Times article in there somewhere.

"Biden is being blamed for Hamas attacking Israel, but maybe he brought it on himself somehow by being a Commie?" By Glenn Greenwald.

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Why Biden's Firm Support of Israel Sent a Signal of Weakness to Hamas by Bretbug

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"Biden meets Netanyahu and Israel is attacked TWO WEEKS later. Coincidence? I think not" by Ross Douthat

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