I can sympathize with Jesse on this one. I'd like to live in a country where the Republicans would stop shooting up bowling alleys, grocery stores, schools, and movie theaters.
Don't you all see? The GQP is losing on the domestic front, so thy need a new talking point.......so why not dust off the tried and true scare tactic of a 'Muslim' invasion/world take-over? Complete with references to 9/11!!!!!! Where they beheaded babies!!!!! Torched Christians!!!!!! WE are under attack by these 'Godless' others, I tell ya.......
I love* it how the GOP can't make up its mind between choosing antisemitism for what the Israeli government is doing to Palestinian civilians, and choosing Islamaphobia for what Hamas is doing to Israeli civilians. It's like we're just a few weeks away from them admitting out loud that they just don't like brown people.
Not all the people of Israel are European. A fair number of them are Mizrachi or North African, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern. About 55% of Israeli Jews are Sephardi and they're brown. A lot of them are indistinguishable from the Arab populations.
But the republicans are Jew-haters, no doubt about that.
Well they've always liked Israel. Supporting Israel against the rest of the Middle East has been a big part of US politics since the country was founded.
I emailed the White House and my members of congress about needing a cease-fire and protecting Palestinians civilians and have so far only heard back from my delight of a Republican Congresscritter who thanked me for my concerns about Israeli citizens and his unwavering support for Israel against terrorists. Sadly, as I used to have Claudia Tenney he's technically an improvement
During the Vietnam War, an ugly joke made its rounds among troops, reporters, and other non-Vietnamese involved in the war. It goes:
How do you win the war in Vietnam? You put all the friendlies on boats, and then you carpet-bomb the country flat. Followed by sinking the boats. Nice, eh?
Another catch phrase of the time was “There are no innocent civilians.”
Some people haven’t evolved much. Others appear to be devolving.
Corrupt and vicious leaders who deliberately kill civilians are monsters no matter which side they're on. I support Israel's existence, but that doesn't mean I have to support what its vile leaders are doing any more than I had to support trump.
I'm fairly sure that one reason Netanyahu is pursuing his war crimes so vigorously is that he want to take over Gaza and the West Bank. According to one article, Israeli settlers are already intruding on the West Bank and fighting its current residents. That's only one article, but I was suspicious of this before I read it. It's ironic how much Netanyahu acts like Hitler.
I do a huge amount of reading and much of it is news. I have long thought that Netanyahu is corrupt and violent based on his historical actions. His current civilian-killing activities support that belief. His support of Israeli settlers taking over Palestinian territory is also well documented. That is one reason things have stayed so hot in the region. He has ordered Gaza's inhabitants to leave, leaving the region more open to settlement.
As for my being "weirdly hateful," I think the weird is coming from you (also the hateful). I support the country of Israel; I do not support its expansion. Neither do a lot of Jews. I condemn Hamas for its vicious attacks in exactly the same way and for the same reason I condemn the Netanyahu regime for theirs.
So, do you condemn Hamas, but support Netanyahu? Since they're both killing civilians, why would you do that? That's just weird.
"Netanyahu is corrupt and violent based on his historical actions. "
That is true. There were daily protests for a new election. His political future should be over. There are protests *today* against his leadership demanding an election.
"It's ironic how much Netanyahu acts like Hitler." is hateful. Not weirdly hateful just straight-up Jew-hating.
It is neoNazi "oh the Jews are the real villains" hate. Genocide is a word with a meaning. Gazan population has increased.
It is an ignorant and repulsive take, calling Israelis Nazis.
Seems like what you have been reading is Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
"He has ordered Gaza's inhabitants to leave"
You moron he ordered the Gazans to move to the South of Gaza. Israel had settlements in Gaza and left in 2005 in a land for peace deal.
Some people do act like Hitler. Those people want to expand their territory and don't care how they do it. They have no ethics. They usually pick one or more groups to scapegoat so they can stir up anger and pretend they are doing the right thing by attacking those people. Netanyahu is doing those things to the Palestinians. To pretend otherwise and spare him that description would be to treat him differently because he is Jewish. I didn't do that.
Nor did I say that the "Jews are the real villains" nor did I call Israelis Nazis. Those are your words, not mine. You are trying to create a strawman.
I was careful to specify that it was Netanyahu I was speaking of. I do support Israel's right to exist. I am not a bigot. In college I had a roommate who was Jewish. It took me months to notice since I just don't look for that sort of stuff. Her last name was Greenberg. She was a lovely and intelligent person.
You talk as if it is nothing that he ordered the Gazans to move to the South. He ordered about one million people to get out of their homes. That is not nothing. In addition, some Jewish settlers are terrorizing Palestinians in the West Bank and taking their land. You suggested I read. You should read this.
What proves that I am not bigoted against Jews is that I hold Netanyahu to the same standards as I would any non-Jew who acted the same way. You are the one who apparently thinks that any criticism of any Jew for any bad actions must be neo-Nazi bigotry. You are wrong. And weird.
Since 2019, I've had numerous occasions where someone asked "what I do" and I've explained a little about my work history. That includes the 8 years plus I lived in the Middle East before retiring and returning to the US.
About half of the people react with genuine curiosity, and the other half scrunch up their face, and you can hear the gears grinding, and I imagine a lot of "conflicted thoughts".
I just ramble on uninvited. I tell them about all the good people, the decency, the tolerance for American white dudes. I get looks of surprise.
And the gears keep grinding away, because everything they "know" is wrong.
Walking down the street the one time I traveled there was horrific. Men just asked me for sex, stuck out their tongues, it was repellent. I was like 40. There is a significant population that thinks all white women are like bizarre dick-hounding sluts.
I guess I should qualify that my experience was principally in Oman and the UAE. That's only a small slice of the Middle East, and a pretty affluent one. I knew plenty of women who worked there, and they were usually treated well, but also occasionally experienced what you describe. It is not all about white women, either. I knew a bunch of women from Thailand, and they had similar experiences. I think these things only happened when the women were out and about without a male accompanying them.
That seems similar to what I would experience when I would tell people that I had just come back from working in Quebec. Some are curious, while others say, "Oh, they hate Americans up there, don't they?"
I tell them "No, they like Americans in Quebec. And they love American money. Who the Quebecois hate are English speaking Canadians. It's like the opposite of the rest of the world."
“There are very few innocent Palestinian civilians. I haven’t seen the videos of the innocent Palestinian civilians that were out there trying to protect the Israelis, that were out there trying to stop attacks.”
By that token everyone on board the planes that hit the World Trade Centre were also terrorists.
Perhaps, but they were human shields a long ways from the attacks.
Note: When discussing human shields, please note that it makes a big difference which side of the human shield you're on. If you're behind them, they shield you. If in front, you're the human shield.
Also, if Palestinian civilians are guilty of supporting terrorists because their "leadership" is Hamas, then by that token wouldn't that mean the Israeli civilians slaughtered on 10/7 were also "not innocent civilians" based on what the Israeli government does?
Keep in mind these are the same people who would laugh in your face if you suggested that because Biden is their president, they are culpable in everything Biden's administration does.
I think you may have reacted just a bit strongly here. The way I read the comment, I believe Brando was saying, "Let's make a comparison, so we can see that the original comment was really awful. And yes, there are in fact innocent Palestinians." I didn't read any bigotry into Brando's comment. It's my personal philosophy that those of us privileged enough not to be in the middle of a literal warzone should always try to take a breath and treat each other with grace, including occasionally giving the benefit of the doubt to likeminded folks. We should also probably not wish randos on the internet to die in a fire, but that could just be my pacifism talking.
I understand your exhaustion. I respect your rage. And yes, people who respond to grief with blatant evil like you describe deserve the vitriol. But Brando didn't say any of that. There are degrees of response, and I was only pointing out that maybe you turned up the thermostat a little too high. I hope we can all get some rest soon (I mean I hope there's some kind of conclusion to this war soon that minimizes innocent civilian deaths.) Good luck to us all, especially those in the danger zone.
Damn. You would think that somewhere between losing his legs in an IED explosion while serving in Afghanistan and having Mexican immigrant grandparents the guy would have at least a squeeze of compassion in him.
He’s had a few sane moment (he’s my congressman) but he seems to have gotten over any sanity he might have had. He once wrote an op Ed for I think it was the NYT about how no civilian needs an AR 15. He got a lot of shit from wingnuts and either backtracked or did enough shit to cancel it out.
I can sympathize with Jesse on this one. I'd like to live in a country where the Republicans would stop shooting up bowling alleys, grocery stores, schools, and movie theaters.
Don't you all see? The GQP is losing on the domestic front, so thy need a new talking point.......so why not dust off the tried and true scare tactic of a 'Muslim' invasion/world take-over? Complete with references to 9/11!!!!!! Where they beheaded babies!!!!! Torched Christians!!!!!! WE are under attack by these 'Godless' others, I tell ya.......
Fucking genital warts.........anal fissure pustules.......mouth breathing knuckle draggers......
Where are the moderate Muslims denouncing Hamas right now?
They're too busy being bombed, you fucking racist suppository.
Muslims in the US are being bombed, you ficking racist suppository.
No; he has a point...The people of Europe (&Japan, ) that supported the Nazis; were as guilty as the "leaders."
A brief Google uncovered this; from MARCH, even before they machine-gunned a music festival. But racists gonna racist https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2023/03/13/senior-muslim-clerics-issue-fatwa-against-hamas/
I love* it how the GOP can't make up its mind between choosing antisemitism for what the Israeli government is doing to Palestinian civilians, and choosing Islamaphobia for what Hamas is doing to Israeli civilians. It's like we're just a few weeks away from them admitting out loud that they just don't like brown people.
*no I don't
Not all the people of Israel are European. A fair number of them are Mizrachi or North African, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern. About 55% of Israeli Jews are Sephardi and they're brown. A lot of them are indistinguishable from the Arab populations.
But the republicans are Jew-haters, no doubt about that.
I was actually implying that a bunch of Israelis didn't have white skin. Ergo, the GOP just admits they don't like either group for stupid reasons.
I imagine that this is confusing Fox "News" viewers -- "wait, now we *like* the Jews?!?"
Well they've always liked Israel. Supporting Israel against the rest of the Middle East has been a big part of US politics since the country was founded.
I emailed the White House and my members of congress about needing a cease-fire and protecting Palestinians civilians and have so far only heard back from my delight of a Republican Congresscritter who thanked me for my concerns about Israeli citizens and his unwavering support for Israel against terrorists. Sadly, as I used to have Claudia Tenney he's technically an improvement
Anytime a Republican congresscritter says, "Palestinians," they mean, "Hamas."
Damned near anyone would be an improvement.
During the Vietnam War, an ugly joke made its rounds among troops, reporters, and other non-Vietnamese involved in the war. It goes:
How do you win the war in Vietnam? You put all the friendlies on boats, and then you carpet-bomb the country flat. Followed by sinking the boats. Nice, eh?
Another catch phrase of the time was “There are no innocent civilians.”
Some people haven’t evolved much. Others appear to be devolving.
Corrupt and vicious leaders who deliberately kill civilians are monsters no matter which side they're on. I support Israel's existence, but that doesn't mean I have to support what its vile leaders are doing any more than I had to support trump.
I'm fairly sure that one reason Netanyahu is pursuing his war crimes so vigorously is that he want to take over Gaza and the West Bank. According to one article, Israeli settlers are already intruding on the West Bank and fighting its current residents. That's only one article, but I was suspicious of this before I read it. It's ironic how much Netanyahu acts like Hitler.
"I'm fairly sure that one reason Netanyahu is pursuing his war crimes so vigorously is that he want to take over Gaza and the West Bank. "
You might consider doing some reading and not being weirdly hateful.
I do a huge amount of reading and much of it is news. I have long thought that Netanyahu is corrupt and violent based on his historical actions. His current civilian-killing activities support that belief. His support of Israeli settlers taking over Palestinian territory is also well documented. That is one reason things have stayed so hot in the region. He has ordered Gaza's inhabitants to leave, leaving the region more open to settlement.
As for my being "weirdly hateful," I think the weird is coming from you (also the hateful). I support the country of Israel; I do not support its expansion. Neither do a lot of Jews. I condemn Hamas for its vicious attacks in exactly the same way and for the same reason I condemn the Netanyahu regime for theirs.
So, do you condemn Hamas, but support Netanyahu? Since they're both killing civilians, why would you do that? That's just weird.
"Netanyahu is corrupt and violent based on his historical actions. "
That is true. There were daily protests for a new election. His political future should be over. There are protests *today* against his leadership demanding an election.
"It's ironic how much Netanyahu acts like Hitler." is hateful. Not weirdly hateful just straight-up Jew-hating.
It is neoNazi "oh the Jews are the real villains" hate. Genocide is a word with a meaning. Gazan population has increased.
It is an ignorant and repulsive take, calling Israelis Nazis.
Seems like what you have been reading is Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
"He has ordered Gaza's inhabitants to leave"
You moron he ordered the Gazans to move to the South of Gaza. Israel had settlements in Gaza and left in 2005 in a land for peace deal.
Yeah, nothing weird here. You are just a bigot.
Some people do act like Hitler. Those people want to expand their territory and don't care how they do it. They have no ethics. They usually pick one or more groups to scapegoat so they can stir up anger and pretend they are doing the right thing by attacking those people. Netanyahu is doing those things to the Palestinians. To pretend otherwise and spare him that description would be to treat him differently because he is Jewish. I didn't do that.
Nor did I say that the "Jews are the real villains" nor did I call Israelis Nazis. Those are your words, not mine. You are trying to create a strawman.
I was careful to specify that it was Netanyahu I was speaking of. I do support Israel's right to exist. I am not a bigot. In college I had a roommate who was Jewish. It took me months to notice since I just don't look for that sort of stuff. Her last name was Greenberg. She was a lovely and intelligent person.
You talk as if it is nothing that he ordered the Gazans to move to the South. He ordered about one million people to get out of their homes. That is not nothing. In addition, some Jewish settlers are terrorizing Palestinians in the West Bank and taking their land. You suggested I read. You should read this.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/11/israel-west-bank-palestinians-settlers-violence.html
What proves that I am not bigoted against Jews is that I hold Netanyahu to the same standards as I would any non-Jew who acted the same way. You are the one who apparently thinks that any criticism of any Jew for any bad actions must be neo-Nazi bigotry. You are wrong. And weird.
"I don’t think we would so lightly throw around the term ‘innocent Nazi civilians’ during World War II."
Oh Rep Dipshit, let me tell you about your political ancestors, the Sliver Shirts.
Dumber that dogshit & half as useful.
I dunno. If you set him on fire and left him on someone's doorstep, that would be pretty disgusting. Even without the fire and the doorstep.
Since 2019, I've had numerous occasions where someone asked "what I do" and I've explained a little about my work history. That includes the 8 years plus I lived in the Middle East before retiring and returning to the US.
About half of the people react with genuine curiosity, and the other half scrunch up their face, and you can hear the gears grinding, and I imagine a lot of "conflicted thoughts".
I just ramble on uninvited. I tell them about all the good people, the decency, the tolerance for American white dudes. I get looks of surprise.
And the gears keep grinding away, because everything they "know" is wrong.
So you are a guy. That makes is possible.
Walking down the street the one time I traveled there was horrific. Men just asked me for sex, stuck out their tongues, it was repellent. I was like 40. There is a significant population that thinks all white women are like bizarre dick-hounding sluts.
I guess I should qualify that my experience was principally in Oman and the UAE. That's only a small slice of the Middle East, and a pretty affluent one. I knew plenty of women who worked there, and they were usually treated well, but also occasionally experienced what you describe. It is not all about white women, either. I knew a bunch of women from Thailand, and they had similar experiences. I think these things only happened when the women were out and about without a male accompanying them.
That seems similar to what I would experience when I would tell people that I had just come back from working in Quebec. Some are curious, while others say, "Oh, they hate Americans up there, don't they?"
I tell them "No, they like Americans in Quebec. And they love American money. Who the Quebecois hate are English speaking Canadians. It's like the opposite of the rest of the world."
We should all be force-fed Letterkenny.
I resemble that!
The up country part, not the degen part.
And the food.
“There are very few innocent Palestinian civilians. I haven’t seen the videos of the innocent Palestinian civilians that were out there trying to protect the Israelis, that were out there trying to stop attacks.”
By that token everyone on board the planes that hit the World Trade Centre were also terrorists.
Few of the innocent Palestinian civilians were anywhere near the Hamas attacks. That makes it hard to try to stop them.
Perhaps, but they were human shields a long ways from the attacks.
Note: When discussing human shields, please note that it makes a big difference which side of the human shield you're on. If you're behind them, they shield you. If in front, you're the human shield.
Also, if Palestinian civilians are guilty of supporting terrorists because their "leadership" is Hamas, then by that token wouldn't that mean the Israeli civilians slaughtered on 10/7 were also "not innocent civilians" based on what the Israeli government does?
Keep in mind these are the same people who would laugh in your face if you suggested that because Biden is their president, they are culpable in everything Biden's administration does.
I think you may have reacted just a bit strongly here. The way I read the comment, I believe Brando was saying, "Let's make a comparison, so we can see that the original comment was really awful. And yes, there are in fact innocent Palestinians." I didn't read any bigotry into Brando's comment. It's my personal philosophy that those of us privileged enough not to be in the middle of a literal warzone should always try to take a breath and treat each other with grace, including occasionally giving the benefit of the doubt to likeminded folks. We should also probably not wish randos on the internet to die in a fire, but that could just be my pacifism talking.
He is saying what many people are saying.
People are not even able to grieve in public without "Free Palestine" being spit in their faces. As if living under Hamas were anything like freedom.
Haha your grandchild deserved to be cooked in an oven while your DIL was raped to death listening to the child be cooked alive because FREE PALESTINE.
So yeah, I am exhausted.
It is exhausting.
I understand your exhaustion. I respect your rage. And yes, people who respond to grief with blatant evil like you describe deserve the vitriol. But Brando didn't say any of that. There are degrees of response, and I was only pointing out that maybe you turned up the thermostat a little too high. I hope we can all get some rest soon (I mean I hope there's some kind of conclusion to this war soon that minimizes innocent civilian deaths.) Good luck to us all, especially those in the danger zone.
Interestingly enough, Mast is treating Palestinians precisely as Nazis treated Jews. So there you go.
"Regardless of how exactly one feels about the Israel-Hamas war — nuance exists!"
Well, actually, it's a bit more complicated than that.
Yes, there's lots of nuance. Tons of it.
I bet he looks extra dreamy in his white hood and cape.
Ku Kuck Konehead
Only if the hood covers his face as well as the cape covers his body.
Damn. You would think that somewhere between losing his legs in an IED explosion while serving in Afghanistan and having Mexican immigrant grandparents the guy would have at least a squeeze of compassion in him.
He’s had a few sane moment (he’s my congressman) but he seems to have gotten over any sanity he might have had. He once wrote an op Ed for I think it was the NYT about how no civilian needs an AR 15. He got a lot of shit from wingnuts and either backtracked or did enough shit to cancel it out.
look. Republicans don't treat other people as human beings over a damn policy disagreement.
this can't be surprising to anyone who has been paying even a modicum of attention since 9/11
I really thought the title of this post was going to be a hyperbole. It is not.