themeatbridge

This is exactly what the minimum wage is supposed to prevent. The people that have taken that from us have made themselves rich at our expense.

Political corruption is one of the best reasons to eliminate the death penalty entirely.

He was dressed as a cop, driving a police car, wearing a blue uniform, and a bulletproof vest.

Paid for with Barlow’s lost treasure, probably. At least we figured out how to clean shoes.

The one that sticks out in my mind is the original BioShock. Spoilers if you haven’t played it.

Despite? Sounds like a selling point for those cowboys.

ChatGPT can’t make a rug as well as a 300 year old loom.

Seems like standard conservative foolishness, wait, what? Run that last one by me again?

That’s also a fair point. Oligarchs aren’t seeking out shady methods of funneling money to candidates to run progressive campaigns. In general, money always has motivation, which is one of the reasons Citizens United was so catastrophic.

Oh I agree with you. I’m just saying it’s far easier to find crazy people willing to spout nonsense than it is to find a reasonable, persuasive person who is willing and able to shout into the void.

I’m not defending the DNC at all, but it is a tough process. Running candidates that lose takes a toll. The candidate is putting themselves at risk, painting a target on their backs, and they have to be passionate and persuasive in their campaign knowing they are going to lose.

Conservatives are much better at it, primarily because Conservative losers aren’t afraid of being lynched, and they’re permitted to say whatever bat shit nonsense happens to rattle around in their skull. They aren’t required to be consistent or nuanced or honest, so finding sacrificial nazis in progressive regions isn’t that hard. Chances are, people in the community already know who they are and what they stand for because bigots aren’t usually quiet.

Progressives have to actually make an argument, one that resonates and establishes a foothold for reason. It’s like climbing a muddy slope. Conservatives don’t need to reach the summit, they just want to stop you from getting there.

I can empathize with having my stuff taken, but if you had $1.3 million in jewels, I’m going to bet you’re still better off than almost everyone I know even after the theft. This is a minor inconvenience, and that’s before we even begin to discuss the ethical implications of the jewelry trade.

Nobody got hurt. Money and jewelry can be replaced.

Do you even hear yourself?

Germany is a real country though. Israel is a settler colony established through land theft.

Can you remind me why those Jewish immigrants had to move to Israel after WWII? Why they couldn’t just go back to their homes in Europe?

By saying Israel has no right to exist I mean the racist genocidal ethnostate called Israel needs to be dismantled and become a one state with equal rights for all. That is not a call for genocide. That is a call for humanity.

I’ll take you at your word that this is what you meant, but my point still stands because it does not come across that way at all. You may not be aware that there is an alarming resurgence of anti-Semitism globally (fueled in large part by the Israeli government engaging in the genocide of Palestinians). “Israel has no right to exist” is a common refrain among anti-Semites, and most of them do mean “Jewish people should not exist.”

If you’re not calling for a genocide, then you need to be clear when you’re critical of Israel. Because sounding like a nazi gives credibility to the defenders of Israel who claim that all critics are nazis.

For the record no country has a right to exist. They either do exist or they don’t.

Yes, and Israel exists.

Anyone who calls those things “communism,” “woke,” or “wrong” is not someone who gives a shit about these children or their mother.

dismantling the power of a geopolitical state in order to stop it from committing a genocide (which is what most people mean when they say “Israel doesn’t have a right to exist”)

I don’t believe that is what most people mean when they say that.

As for the Nazi comparison, there were a lot of people who would have preferred we kill all the Nazis, but only a relatively small percentage were tried and convicted. Germany did not forfeit their right to exist, and the German people (including most of the Nazis) were allowed to continue on with their lives.

As for Hitler, I do think a trial would have been better for the world and the development of humanity. But like most narcissists, he was a coward and chose to shoot himself rather than face consequences.

If they didn’t, he probably wouldn’t need to say anything. We’d all just agree that it wasn’t necessary, because it is supported by medical science. He only seems like he’s on the wrong side of every issue because literally everything he says out loud is intended to be a distraction. If he said something uncontroversial, it would be a waste of his precious time. You don’t pay a shit stirrer to be reasonable.

The logical conclusion of opposing a genocide is not more genocide.

Let’s be honest with ourselves, the world is a mess right now. There are no “good guys” coming to the rescue. There’s no political or military power that will fix the discord or stop the violence. In an ideal world, Netanyahu and his leadership would be tried and convicted of crimes against humanity. Given the current climate, I’d settle for an armistice to end the murdering of civilians and to allow for humanitarian aid to reach the people who need it. The threat of another elected despot is not an argument against deposing the current one.

You’re citing those polling numbers as evidence that I’m wrong? That we don’t have a problem with messaging? If your plan is to convince me that we need to stop a genocide with a genocide, then I have sorry news for you. Even if it was 100% of Israelis polled, I would still be opposed to genocide. Existence is never a crime. We are defined by our choices, not by the circumstances of our birth. When people communicate, there is always an opportunity for people to grow and learn. Communication is the only path to peace, and the people who need to hear you will not hear you while you’re saying they are monsters who do not deserve to live.

Yep, I’m one of them. Are we saying that the United States doesn’t have a right to exist? Canada and Mexico have their own skeletons in their closets, too. Which countries have a right to exist? The Palestinians were “displaced” by the British, who took control from the Ottomans, who conquered the land from the Egyptians, the Mongols, the Crusades… how far back are we going to go?

Or maybe we accept that a nation is constructed of modern people who are not responsible for the sins of their forebears. Maybe we can criticize genocidal tyrants and war criminals without dehumanizing an entire citizenry and calling for their extermination. Because if both sides are calling for the eradication of the other, then the historical claim to the territory is irrelevant. If both sides justify violence with divine provenance, then neither side maintaims the moral high ground.

Israel is engaged in a genocide. They should be stopped, with violence if necessary. But condemning the people’s right to exist blunts the criticism of genocide. It makes it appear to be a holy war between two violent terrorists, when that is far from the reality.