"Biden’s unequivocal support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza gives the lie to the concept of a “rules-based order” that America allegedly upholds and protects."
Not really. I know i have said this before, but I will remind you that the "rules-based order" Biden keeps referring to is the U.S. made "rules-based order" which, simply stated is, "you follow my rules or I'll bomb the crap out of you."
For sure, "rules-based order" is double speak for the manipulation and disregard for international law. I'd like to know of even one country that meets or exceeds our scrapping of agreements and treaties and abuses more the notion of "respect of sovereignty."
For the US National Security State (NSS), this is how the global "rules-based order" works. The NSS sets the rules, applies them arbitrarily to promote its own interests, and defines the order to which all other peoples and nations must submit.
And for those peoples and nations that refuse to submit, they will be subject to any or all of the following: sanctions, CIA destabilization programs, economic sabotage, assassination of political leaders, aerial bombardment, clandestine coup d'etat/"color revolution," and outright invasion and occupation.
We owe Biden a great deal. That he can still have a crowd shouting down a few people calling for a ceasefire with their cries of "FOUR MORE YEARS;" Bliken's faux compassion, "What can we do?;" and the ever-lying spokesmen, Kirby, Austin, Sullivan, et.al., exposes for all the world to see the morale bankruptcy of these self-proclaimed defenders of democracy. That we have one war party in actual practice says WAY TOO MUCH about the pathetic state of our democracy and humanity.
In my limited experience, there appears to be a high correlation between abortion opponents and supporters of foreign wars and gun rights. I have often wondered if the opposition to abortion isn't due to the need to ensure an adequate supply of live targets in the future.
I really appreciate all your comments on the total disaster the US is now in. I wish and hope that it is having an effect on democrats who are struggling to decide who or what to vote for. The problem is there doesn't seem to be anyone. I'm leaning toward Dr. Stine but I don't know, I have no idea what she is for other than the environment, which is, of course, why I'm thinking of voting for her. RFKJr has not , as far as I can tell, retracted his pro comments about Israel. I simply cannot vote for a candidate who is for Netanyahu's agenda! I have written to Kennedy's group several times stating that. Dr. West's platform is unknown to me. I have seen no articles about it, so I don't know what he stands for. I'm depressed that my relatives, friends and my own sons who are in their 60's plan to vote for Biden despite the horrors he is funding. They seem to think that Trump would be worse so they can't "waste" their vote on a third party candidate. I'm not at all sure who would be worse. I know they both would be disasterous.! Do you have any suggestions as to who or what to vote for? Thanks for the Genocide Joe poster. I'll pass it on to my relatives and see how they react.
Suggestions? I'd suggest not voting for Biden or Trump in the primaries.
In the general election. I'd suggest voting for the candidate most attuned to your priorities and moral convictions. That may be Jill Stein, or RFK Jr., or Cornel West, etc.
It's never a waste to vote for someone you believe in.
What if there is NO candidate that You think is in tune with Your priorities and moral convictions; and thus NO candidate that You believe in or want to see elected to office, Bill? What should You do then? Not vote?
What about ~ in those states that permit write-in voting ~ writing in "None Of These Candidates"? Would that accomplish more than not voting at all?
Or would it be better to vote for the one You dislike the least, so as to, presumably and hopefully, at least do Your part in preventing the election of the one You dislike the Most? The old "lesser of two evils" paradigm?
Jeff, if there's no candidate on the ballot that I have confidence in, I will write in a name. I did that in 2020.
Obviously, my candidate won't win, but I don't care. I want to vote for a candidate that I have some confidence in. I refuse to vote "for the lesser of two evils."
Would writing in "None Of These Candidates" be a more effective way of not voting for either evil?
Especially if everybody who didn't want ~ in this case ~ EITHER Trump or Biden as the next President voted NOTC, as opposed to scattering those anti-Trump/anti-Biden votes among 3rd, 4th, and 5th Party or non-Party affiliated candidates?
In 1870 ~ 50 years before the 19th Amendment ~ how many Americans thought that working on the "fringe idea" of getting Women the Right to Vote was a waste of time, money, effort, energy, and Life Force, one of Your famous "dead horses"?
And in 1915 ~ 50 years before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ~ how many Americans thought that working on the "fringe idea" of getting Blacks the Right to Vote in the segregated, Jim Crow American South was a similar waste, and another one of Your "dead horses" to be beaten?
Were those folks working for those 50 years to make Women and Black Voting a reality similarly wasting their ~ and everybody else's ~ time and money?
To compare important human rights issues like "Women the Right to Vote" and "Voting Rights" to NOTC is a non sequitur my friend. They were hardly "fringe ideas".
If NOTC is not enacted, who will be harmed? Nobody! GMAFB
BTW, the US 19th Amendment's adoption was certified on August 26, 1920. The New Zealand Electoral Bill granting women and Māori the right to vote passed in 1893. Women voted for the first time on 28 November 1893. Māori for the first time on 20 December 1893.
You may have heard it all before, Dennis, but apparently You either weren’t listening or didn’t actually hear it.
We were talking about things taking 50 years to happen. American Women got the vote in 1920. In 1870, the movement to get Women the vote was a “fringe idea” in fact, in deed, and indeed.
According to Wikipedia: "The FIRST NATIONAL SUFFRAGE ORGANIZATIONS WERE ESTABLISHED IN 1869 when two competing organizations were formed, one led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the other by Lucy Stone and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. After years of rivalry, they merged in 1890 as the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) with Anthony as its leading force. THE WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION (WCTU), WHICH WAS THE LARGEST WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION AT THAT TIME, WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1873 and also pursued women's suffrage, giving a huge boost to the movement." [
And 50 years before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was 1915. That was the year that THE GREAT MIGRATION started. When almost 6 million Blacks left the southern Jim Crow United States ~ formerly the Confederate States of America ~ and moved North to the East Coast and Midwest. And organizing for Civil Rights and Voting Rights was not even a “fringe idea.” The main idea at that time was to abandon The South and begin a New Existence in The North. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_(African_American) ]
And what does what happened in New Zealand regarding Women and the Maoris being able to vote have to do with when American Women and Blacks got their vote?
Typically, presidents have their greatest autonomy in foreign policy. Also, Biden's foreign policy--its ghoulishness--will likely suppress youth and progressive voters, i.e. "the base."
I agree that Joe's border policy is dicey--but Congress shares much of the blame here. His physical and mental decline is obvious, but the mainstream media pretty much ignores it or makes jokes about it.
Typically, average voters don't care as much about foreign policy matters as they do domestic matters. To the short list above, I would also add Biden's inflation, his plan to pay off student loans, the DEI that is everywhere in his administration, aid for black farmers but not for white farmers, and too many others to list here. But of all of them, inflation strikes me as the one thing voters will remember in November because it affects ALL of us. As to Biden's border policy, it's way more than "dicey." "Dicey" means risky or having an uncertain outcome which means also that it might be lauded as successful. It's much graver than just "dicey." Gov. Abbott has found the weak spot now: he's putting up concertina wire on private property, almost as if to dare Biden to do something about it. If his state goes the nullification route, we're about to see new and more serious consequences for this reckless open border idea. Abbott's letter makes an excellent case against it. Biden has been cornered. But more than that, I'd like to know how it is that American tax payers are expected to continue supporting these huge numbers of people who have been allowed into the country? NYC can't do it anymore; Boston's Logan Airport is full of them; California is bleeding residents and yet those who remain are expected to foot the bill for immigrants into their state. Immigration has always been important to the United States and has helped make us a great nation, but this current idiocy can ruin us. An awful lot of Americans will be voting this year for president on immigration. For me it will be inflation. Some probably will vote on the basis of Israel's genocide of the Palestinians, but since American soldiers are not there fighting alongside the Israelis, I'd bet that issue recedes in importance.
I agree: immigration and inflation are major issues for this election.
But Biden can plausibly blame Congress for blocking immigration reform, and no president can control prices. What Biden can control is weapons shipments to Israel and Ukraine, and he could certainly act today and unilaterally to stop genocide in Gaza.
Won't Biden have a difficult time blaming Congress for blocking immigration reform especially when he had majorities in both houses for his first two years? Biden could have done something to seal the border, perhaps a deal of some kind with his fellow Dems who controlled Congress. But he didn't. Sadly, his fellow Democrats were on the same side of immigration reform as his administration is which is to say they favor open borders. Clearly we need to ask cui bono on the subject of unrestricted immigration. Of course no president can control prices, but he and Congress increased the money supply with its covid helicopter and got us into an inflationary period and some are predicting a second inflationary round this year. Yes, he could limit or end weapons shipments to Israel and Ukraine, but he won't. Neocons are powerful actors in the Democrats, just as they are in the Republican party. Clearly, there are powerful interests at play here who are setting foreign policy. The tiny community I live in has at least half a dozen companies whose success depends wholly on the war-making industry. I think it's fair to assume that the Democrats will be blown out of congress and the White House this year. They deserve to be. Neo-con Republicans will also be shown the exit and deservedly so. I, for one, cannot wait. American voters are not the enemy, but we sure have been treated as though we are. We're sick of war, open borders, inflation, DEI, and trans-gender butchery on our children. And oh yes, assaults on our civil liberties such as we saw during two covid administrations.
I've been a reliable lesser-of-two evils Dem voter since the 1980s, but I'm for anyone who will get rid of the neocons in the State Dept. If it's Trump again, so be it.
I don't think so. Most voters don't particularly care about foreign policy. Democrat legislators and the main stream media are solidly behind Biden's approach to Ukraine and Israel. Only a minority of Republican legislators are opposed to his Ukraine policy. Any costs involved can just be added to our $34 trillion national debt - no big deal, just add it to our tab. Voters are much more concerned about our domestic problems, of which we have plenty.
It echoes the phrase "Gott mit uns" (God is with us) used by Prussian/German troops. The idea being that God was on the side of German troops, even the Nazis, just as He allegedly now is on the side of U.S. troops, granting them His special blessing and protection.
Tell that to everybody who thinks and believes that THEIR God ~ and ONLY their God ~ definitely exists, Dennis. Depending on where You do it, it just might get You killed, or worse.
Whether one gets killed, or worse, Jeff depends on the presentation and the style of the telling. I have never had a problem with it in all my travels over this big world.
I have learnt that having ad hominem attacks as arrows in your quiver usually is not to one's advantage.
And while I am at it, I would respectfully ask that you cease and desist with your habit of attempting to discredit my argument's by personally attacking my character, preferences, personal traits and background ~ instead of discussing the argument itself.*
You have been pretty unfair, dare I say rude, to an old Kiwi in some of your comments in these threads my friend.
Take care
*EG's: "Of course, you were comfortably tied into the Federal Contractor-Industrial-Congressional Complex from the start."
And..... "when’s the last time you said something positive here on BV about America, or its People? Other than, of course, those who agree with You that Trump is America’s Savior."
I try not to get involved in disputes in my comments section. But perhaps the policy I posted at the BV Wordpress site may serve as a guide and reminder:
COMMENT POLICY: Brevity and civility; clarity and accuracy; passion and largeness of spirit: please aim for these. This site is against pet peeves, score-settling, insults, and other bad behavior that impedes true debate and sound learning.
"Biden’s unequivocal support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza gives the lie to the concept of a “rules-based order” that America allegedly upholds and protects."
Not really. I know i have said this before, but I will remind you that the "rules-based order" Biden keeps referring to is the U.S. made "rules-based order" which, simply stated is, "you follow my rules or I'll bomb the crap out of you."
For sure, "rules-based order" is double speak for the manipulation and disregard for international law. I'd like to know of even one country that meets or exceeds our scrapping of agreements and treaties and abuses more the notion of "respect of sovereignty."
For the US National Security State (NSS), this is how the global "rules-based order" works. The NSS sets the rules, applies them arbitrarily to promote its own interests, and defines the order to which all other peoples and nations must submit.
And for those peoples and nations that refuse to submit, they will be subject to any or all of the following: sanctions, CIA destabilization programs, economic sabotage, assassination of political leaders, aerial bombardment, clandestine coup d'etat/"color revolution," and outright invasion and occupation.
We owe Biden a great deal. That he can still have a crowd shouting down a few people calling for a ceasefire with their cries of "FOUR MORE YEARS;" Bliken's faux compassion, "What can we do?;" and the ever-lying spokesmen, Kirby, Austin, Sullivan, et.al., exposes for all the world to see the morale bankruptcy of these self-proclaimed defenders of democracy. That we have one war party in actual practice says WAY TOO MUCH about the pathetic state of our democracy and humanity.
I find it interesting that Biden, being a good Catholic, morally opposes abortion but embraces genocide.
In my limited experience, there appears to be a high correlation between abortion opponents and supporters of foreign wars and gun rights. I have often wondered if the opposition to abortion isn't due to the need to ensure an adequate supply of live targets in the future.
I really appreciate all your comments on the total disaster the US is now in. I wish and hope that it is having an effect on democrats who are struggling to decide who or what to vote for. The problem is there doesn't seem to be anyone. I'm leaning toward Dr. Stine but I don't know, I have no idea what she is for other than the environment, which is, of course, why I'm thinking of voting for her. RFKJr has not , as far as I can tell, retracted his pro comments about Israel. I simply cannot vote for a candidate who is for Netanyahu's agenda! I have written to Kennedy's group several times stating that. Dr. West's platform is unknown to me. I have seen no articles about it, so I don't know what he stands for. I'm depressed that my relatives, friends and my own sons who are in their 60's plan to vote for Biden despite the horrors he is funding. They seem to think that Trump would be worse so they can't "waste" their vote on a third party candidate. I'm not at all sure who would be worse. I know they both would be disasterous.! Do you have any suggestions as to who or what to vote for? Thanks for the Genocide Joe poster. I'll pass it on to my relatives and see how they react.
Suggestions? I'd suggest not voting for Biden or Trump in the primaries.
In the general election. I'd suggest voting for the candidate most attuned to your priorities and moral convictions. That may be Jill Stein, or RFK Jr., or Cornel West, etc.
It's never a waste to vote for someone you believe in.
What if there is NO candidate that You think is in tune with Your priorities and moral convictions; and thus NO candidate that You believe in or want to see elected to office, Bill? What should You do then? Not vote?
What about ~ in those states that permit write-in voting ~ writing in "None Of These Candidates"? Would that accomplish more than not voting at all?
Or would it be better to vote for the one You dislike the least, so as to, presumably and hopefully, at least do Your part in preventing the election of the one You dislike the Most? The old "lesser of two evils" paradigm?
Jeff, if there's no candidate on the ballot that I have confidence in, I will write in a name. I did that in 2020.
Obviously, my candidate won't win, but I don't care. I want to vote for a candidate that I have some confidence in. I refuse to vote "for the lesser of two evils."
I have never understood that, Bill!
"....my candidate won't win, but I don't care"!..... Huh?
Why bother voting then, if you know your vote is meaningless?
Aren't you just wasting poor election worker's time!
Or are you virtue signaling? Or copping out? Fence sitting? I dunno?
Take care
TRUMP 2024
Dennis, you seem to think your vote matters only when you vote for the eventual winner.
So I dunno about you ...
Thats not what I think. But thanks for the insult, Bill!
I believe in supporting one of the Teams who is on the field, and in the game, that I think has the best chance of winning.
You on the other hand are supporting a Team who is not even in the game! And you know it! Wasting your time! Nonsensical.
TRUMP 2024
Would writing in "None Of These Candidates" be a more effective way of not voting for either evil?
Especially if everybody who didn't want ~ in this case ~ EITHER Trump or Biden as the next President voted NOTC, as opposed to scattering those anti-Trump/anti-Biden votes among 3rd, 4th, and 5th Party or non-Party affiliated candidates?
"None Of These Candidates"? Would accomplish nothing!
A fringe idea that has gained zero traction in nearly 50-years now.
Only wasting your time - and everybody else's time and money!
TRUMP 2024
In 1870 ~ 50 years before the 19th Amendment ~ how many Americans thought that working on the "fringe idea" of getting Women the Right to Vote was a waste of time, money, effort, energy, and Life Force, one of Your famous "dead horses"?
And in 1915 ~ 50 years before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 ~ how many Americans thought that working on the "fringe idea" of getting Blacks the Right to Vote in the segregated, Jim Crow American South was a similar waste, and another one of Your "dead horses" to be beaten?
Were those folks working for those 50 years to make Women and Black Voting a reality similarly wasting their ~ and everybody else's ~ time and money?
#NOTC 2024
blah blah blah - we've heard it all before Jeff.
To compare important human rights issues like "Women the Right to Vote" and "Voting Rights" to NOTC is a non sequitur my friend. They were hardly "fringe ideas".
If NOTC is not enacted, who will be harmed? Nobody! GMAFB
BTW, the US 19th Amendment's adoption was certified on August 26, 1920. The New Zealand Electoral Bill granting women and Māori the right to vote passed in 1893. Women voted for the first time on 28 November 1893. Māori for the first time on 20 December 1893.
27-years before the Yanks.
You may have heard it all before, Dennis, but apparently You either weren’t listening or didn’t actually hear it.
We were talking about things taking 50 years to happen. American Women got the vote in 1920. In 1870, the movement to get Women the vote was a “fringe idea” in fact, in deed, and indeed.
According to Wikipedia: "The FIRST NATIONAL SUFFRAGE ORGANIZATIONS WERE ESTABLISHED IN 1869 when two competing organizations were formed, one led by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the other by Lucy Stone and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. After years of rivalry, they merged in 1890 as the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) with Anthony as its leading force. THE WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION (WCTU), WHICH WAS THE LARGEST WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION AT THAT TIME, WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1873 and also pursued women's suffrage, giving a huge boost to the movement." [
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_the_United_States#See_also ; EMPHASES added.]
And 50 years before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was 1915. That was the year that THE GREAT MIGRATION started. When almost 6 million Blacks left the southern Jim Crow United States ~ formerly the Confederate States of America ~ and moved North to the East Coast and Midwest. And organizing for Civil Rights and Voting Rights was not even a “fringe idea.” The main idea at that time was to abandon The South and begin a New Existence in The North. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_(African_American) ]
And what does what happened in New Zealand regarding Women and the Maoris being able to vote have to do with when American Women and Blacks got their vote?
I just love Taki's Magazine: https://www.takimag.com/article/dostoyevskys-demons/
Blame his foreign policy and NOT blame his border policy, his covid policy, or his dementia? Come on now.
Typically, presidents have their greatest autonomy in foreign policy. Also, Biden's foreign policy--its ghoulishness--will likely suppress youth and progressive voters, i.e. "the base."
I agree that Joe's border policy is dicey--but Congress shares much of the blame here. His physical and mental decline is obvious, but the mainstream media pretty much ignores it or makes jokes about it.
But how do you ignore or joke about genocide?
Typically, average voters don't care as much about foreign policy matters as they do domestic matters. To the short list above, I would also add Biden's inflation, his plan to pay off student loans, the DEI that is everywhere in his administration, aid for black farmers but not for white farmers, and too many others to list here. But of all of them, inflation strikes me as the one thing voters will remember in November because it affects ALL of us. As to Biden's border policy, it's way more than "dicey." "Dicey" means risky or having an uncertain outcome which means also that it might be lauded as successful. It's much graver than just "dicey." Gov. Abbott has found the weak spot now: he's putting up concertina wire on private property, almost as if to dare Biden to do something about it. If his state goes the nullification route, we're about to see new and more serious consequences for this reckless open border idea. Abbott's letter makes an excellent case against it. Biden has been cornered. But more than that, I'd like to know how it is that American tax payers are expected to continue supporting these huge numbers of people who have been allowed into the country? NYC can't do it anymore; Boston's Logan Airport is full of them; California is bleeding residents and yet those who remain are expected to foot the bill for immigrants into their state. Immigration has always been important to the United States and has helped make us a great nation, but this current idiocy can ruin us. An awful lot of Americans will be voting this year for president on immigration. For me it will be inflation. Some probably will vote on the basis of Israel's genocide of the Palestinians, but since American soldiers are not there fighting alongside the Israelis, I'd bet that issue recedes in importance.
I agree: immigration and inflation are major issues for this election.
But Biden can plausibly blame Congress for blocking immigration reform, and no president can control prices. What Biden can control is weapons shipments to Israel and Ukraine, and he could certainly act today and unilaterally to stop genocide in Gaza.
Won't Biden have a difficult time blaming Congress for blocking immigration reform especially when he had majorities in both houses for his first two years? Biden could have done something to seal the border, perhaps a deal of some kind with his fellow Dems who controlled Congress. But he didn't. Sadly, his fellow Democrats were on the same side of immigration reform as his administration is which is to say they favor open borders. Clearly we need to ask cui bono on the subject of unrestricted immigration. Of course no president can control prices, but he and Congress increased the money supply with its covid helicopter and got us into an inflationary period and some are predicting a second inflationary round this year. Yes, he could limit or end weapons shipments to Israel and Ukraine, but he won't. Neocons are powerful actors in the Democrats, just as they are in the Republican party. Clearly, there are powerful interests at play here who are setting foreign policy. The tiny community I live in has at least half a dozen companies whose success depends wholly on the war-making industry. I think it's fair to assume that the Democrats will be blown out of congress and the White House this year. They deserve to be. Neo-con Republicans will also be shown the exit and deservedly so. I, for one, cannot wait. American voters are not the enemy, but we sure have been treated as though we are. We're sick of war, open borders, inflation, DEI, and trans-gender butchery on our children. And oh yes, assaults on our civil liberties such as we saw during two covid administrations.
Joke: Two artillerymen walk in to a bar after a heavy day of bombing hospitals. One says to the other, "Hey, have you noticed ...."
I've been a reliable lesser-of-two evils Dem voter since the 1980s, but I'm for anyone who will get rid of the neocons in the State Dept. If it's Trump again, so be it.
simply and poignantly asseverated, dennis! your profundity prevails in all its naked simplicity.
Speaking of jokes about Gaza, here's one: https://babylonbee.com/news/oakland-in-n-out-relocating-to-safer-location-in-gaza
I don't think so. Most voters don't particularly care about foreign policy. Democrat legislators and the main stream media are solidly behind Biden's approach to Ukraine and Israel. Only a minority of Republican legislators are opposed to his Ukraine policy. Any costs involved can just be added to our $34 trillion national debt - no big deal, just add it to our tab. Voters are much more concerned about our domestic problems, of which we have plenty.
Sad to say
It echoes the phrase "Gott mit uns" (God is with us) used by Prussian/German troops. The idea being that God was on the side of German troops, even the Nazis, just as He allegedly now is on the side of U.S. troops, granting them His special blessing and protection.
God does not exist!
Tell that to everybody who thinks and believes that THEIR God ~ and ONLY their God ~ definitely exists, Dennis. Depending on where You do it, it just might get You killed, or worse.
Whether one gets killed, or worse, Jeff depends on the presentation and the style of the telling. I have never had a problem with it in all my travels over this big world.
I have learnt that having ad hominem attacks as arrows in your quiver usually is not to one's advantage.
And while I am at it, I would respectfully ask that you cease and desist with your habit of attempting to discredit my argument's by personally attacking my character, preferences, personal traits and background ~ instead of discussing the argument itself.*
You have been pretty unfair, dare I say rude, to an old Kiwi in some of your comments in these threads my friend.
Take care
*EG's: "Of course, you were comfortably tied into the Federal Contractor-Industrial-Congressional Complex from the start."
And..... "when’s the last time you said something positive here on BV about America, or its People? Other than, of course, those who agree with You that Trump is America’s Savior."
I try not to get involved in disputes in my comments section. But perhaps the policy I posted at the BV Wordpress site may serve as a guide and reminder:
COMMENT POLICY: Brevity and civility; clarity and accuracy; passion and largeness of spirit: please aim for these. This site is against pet peeves, score-settling, insults, and other bad behavior that impedes true debate and sound learning.