Voltaire2
Voltaire2's JournalOpen Carry Dude.
You know the stereotype. Male, late 20s early 30s, Glockish weapon on one hip, spare clips on the other, threatening slogan on shirt (Be Good or Be Gone).
OCD strutted into starbucks while I was waiting to indulge in a vastly overpriced but somehow delicious latte, and I immediately got tense. I mean WTF OCD, go someplace else, you are indistinguishable from the perpetrator of a mass murder event. I of course kept all this to myself and merely glared. Fuck this OCD and fuck all the cowboy larping OCDs. What are you, four?
I left right after OCD and as he got into the armored car vehicle that was obviously his workplace, I unglared my glares in apology. Its his damn job. He actually has a legitimate reason to carry a weapon. The shirt didn't help the situation. A company logo might have been a better idea.
J.D. Vance: The Math on Ukraine Doesn't Add Up
The fascist the center-right just can't love enough gets to fly the fascist flag on the NYT's opinion page.
President Biden wants the world to believe that the biggest obstacle facing Ukraine is Republicans and our lack of commitment to the global community. This is wrong.
Ukraine’s challenge is not the G.O.P.; it’s math. Ukraine needs more soldiers than it can field, even with draconian conscription policies. And it needs more matériel than the United States can provide. This reality must inform any future Ukraine policy, from further congressional aid to the diplomatic course set by the president.
The Biden administration has applied increasing pressure on Republicans to pass a supplemental aid package of more than $60 billion to Ukraine. I voted against this package in the Senate and remain opposed to virtually any proposal for the United States to continue funding this war. Mr. Biden has failed to articulate even basic facts about what Ukraine needs and how this aid will change the reality on the ground.
Link: fuckthisfascistclown
No sorry, wrong link, here is the paywalled bullshit https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/12/opinion/jd-vance-ukraine.html
Israel's Account of Attack on Aid Convoy Raises Wider Legal Questions, Experts Say
The events that led to the deaths of seven World Central Kitchen workers suggest that there could be problems with the protocols used by the Israeli military, according to legal experts and aid organizations. Israel’s account of its attack on a World Central Kitchen convoy raises significant legal questions even if the strike was the result of a series of mistakes, experts say.
...
But the description of events that has emerged raises broader questions about the military’s ability to identify civilians and its procedures for protecting them, legal experts told The New York Times — including new concerns about whether Israel has been complying with international law in its conduct of the war in Gaza more generally.
The law: When in doubt, presume civilian status, and give humanitarian aid heightened protection
The first, most basic principle of international humanitarian law is that civilians cannot be targets of a military attack. Militaries must have procedures in place to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets.
Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/08/world/europe/world-central-kitchen-strike-israel-law.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jE0.ExRt.CcloycIfqsyE&smid=url-share
Biden's Choice.
Stop a genocide in progress, or win an election.
Assume that it is a given that what is happening in Gaza is a genocide in progress.
Assume that the United States can effectively intervene to stop this genocide.
Assume also that by intervening Biden will almost certainly lose the election.
Assume finally that a Republican victory will result in the transformation of our republic into a christian nationalist authoritarian republic.
I’m not at all interested in arguing the merits of those assumptions.
The question is simply, given these assumptions what is the correct ethical choice? Stop the genocide or save the republic?
Perhaps we should have 'Trump Free Tuesdays'?
We complain about the obscene fascination in the media over TSF's utterances, but this forum itself is just a sea of the same shit.
Also not a serious suggestion, I'm just exhausted by 8 years of his shit.
I took my own advice and trashed trump as a keyword. The latest page is much nicer now. I'll see how long this lasts.
Texas will not enforce their stupid fascist migrant law.
Enforcement would bust the texas budget.
Texas has approximately 1.6 million undocumented migrants.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/11/16/what-we-know-about-unauthorized-immigrants-living-in-the-us/#:~:text=The%20six%20states%20with%20the,Florida%20(900%2C000
The estimated cost per inmate in Texas is $22,751
https://www.texascjc.org/2021-session-safely-adjust-parole-practices-reduce-massive-prison-budgets#:~:text=The%20yearly%20incarceration%20cost%20per%20person%20in%20Texas%20prisons%20is%20%2422%2C751.
I did the math: $36,401,600,000 to lock them up, per year.
2024 Texas budget: $144 billion
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/27/texas-legislature-budget/#:~:text=The%20General%20Appropriations%20Act%20for,grid%2C%20plus%20infrastructure%20for%20broadband
36 billion is approximately 25% of the Texas budget for this year.
Other than as a selective performance act, the state of Texas will not enforce their law. They will instead continue to bus 'em to own the libs.
Did Biden commit treason? Dissecting Elon Musk's public meltdown JUDD LEGUM AND TESNIM ZEKERIA MAR 6, 2024
On Tuesday, billionaire Elon Musk told his 175 million followers on X that President Biden had committed "treason" by "secretly" flying "320,000 illegal immigrants" from Latin America to US airports.
It is quite a dramatic claim. The only problem is that nearly everything Musk said is a lie.
Musk was responding to information from Collin Rugg, the co-owner of a right-wing news aggregation site called Trending Politics. Rugg's post references a report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) about a program expanding humanitarian parole for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans. CIS is an anti-immigrant think tank co-founded by eugenicist and racist John Tanton.
https://popular.info/p/did-biden-commit-treason-dissecting?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Tomorrows NYT: With Biden only getting 80-90% of the votes, what will Democrats do?
Somehow Democratic Disarray will be the theme.
Swiss vote to give themselves a bigger pension
Swiss voters have given themselves an extra month's pension each year - in a nationwide referendum focusing on living standards for the elderly.
The government had warned that the increased payments would be too expensive to afford.
But almost 60% of voters said 'yes' in Sunday's poll. Separately, 75% rejected raising the pension age from 65 to 66.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68463978
Imagine a society where we increase social benefits, where we decide everyone deserves financial security. It seems so far away, so improbable.
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Member since: Mon Mar 27, 2017, 07:57 AMNumber of posts: 12,977