JCauto

The most recent report said Hamas considers all hostages to be "Israeli" regardless of origin. Oh except the Russians it seems. They're very principled, doncha know.

That is Israel's fault too, correct? Just want to make sure I understand things from the enlightened perspectives of my friends on the Left.

Numerous posters have pointed out the errors in your assumptions, including how a supposed "long-time senior banker" would certainly understand how the law works and how these were fraudulent transactions which have tax implications and how the individual banks do not have the power or responsibility to bring charges against fraudsters, only the Department of Justice and its officers at the different administration levels do. You have steadfastly refused to address those fundamental flaws in your position; you just keep repeating your mantra and going immediately to whataboutisms that are fundamentally irrelevant to this case. You also keep attempting to paint the DOJ as being weaponized towards Trump when there were Republican-appointed Judges involved in these proceedings as well as Democrat-appointed ones. Both have the rights to do this in that system - all judges have to be approved by the elected legislatures, and you're not allowed to "shop" for favourable judges. Trump has managed to get one of those in one of his cases too, should that case be automatically dismissed as being politically biased? Your inability to frame logical arguments based on legal precedent and to provide believable anecdotes from your supposed experience as a Banker has led many of us to believe that you are hoarding something in great quantities, but it's not money.

Splendid rant, I do hope you take such good care of pronouns in your personal life. You must be a lot of fun. If you observe the last sentence, you will note that it says that "the first casualty of war is the truth and there is practically no way to ascertain with any clarity what exactly is going on". This is what we call the main point of my post. Oh there I go again, using the "we". Am I speaking for all posters there or is this a normal rhetorical device? While my point referred to Hamas propaganda, of course there is IDF propaganda as well. That was, you know, the point. If you don't think the terrorist atrocities specifically directed at civilians by Hamas were the event that kicked this latest round off, then I don't know what to tell you. If you can't tell the difference between Hamas and the Israeli Government and how they treat their civilians and manage their territory, then I also don't know what to tell you. If you believe this is a one-way conflict with no fault on one side then I don't believe you fully understand the situation. Neither for that matter do I, but I'm not willing to dive in and absolve one side of blame while entirely focusing on the other. Oh, and of course ignoring all the other ills in the world which blithely pass me by except for this one which for some reason is so much more important than all the others. Netanyahu and his awful government deserve much of the blame for this mess and will likely suffer the consequences at the ballot box, and hopefully individually suffer some international sanctions. I have zero sympathy for Settlers and their deliberate provoking of the Palestinian residents and abrogation of treaties and agreements - but those were not the people who were attacked in the neighbouring Kibbutzes. Hamas and their awful government will not allow elections and will continue to use their population as human shields, prevent them from fleeing areas of conflict, persecute any moderates, LGBTQ+ and other non-radicals and to keep them mired in misery so as to prolong their rule (from luxury residences in Qatar) and continue the conflict. Their end goal remains un-renounced; the death of all Israeli Jews (and Christians and other infidels by the way) and rule of the area from the river to the sea. There's not a lot to like on either side of this politically, however it has to be remembered that there is a significant part of both populations who only want peace and who have been trying to help move towards that despite the difficulties from their own sides in doing so. This includes some of the Israeli governments since the 60's who were actively trying to come to a peace agreement with the Palestinian people. There is no easy solution in this mess, especially because it is fueled by religious fantasy and fanaticism on both sides and is part of a major geo-political conflict that involves numerous outside powers and interests. The people who suffer the most from this are the innocent non-combatants on both sides. I would urge you and everyone to take any news from this horrible situation with several grains of salt and not engage in the knee-jerk anger and lashing out that benefits those who wish the conflict to continue unabated.

Perhaps the information being broadcast uncritically by the media included direct Hamas propaganda such as reports about thousands of dead children which have not been corroborated? Perhaps due to the uncritical acceptance of the IDF being responsible for the hospital bombing? We can say for certain that the first casualty of war is the truth and there is practically no way to ascertain with any clarity what exactly is going on. We certainly know what kicked this off.

A 23yo man who had a "previous criminal record for murder and drug offenses". Just what in the hell is a guy with a record for MURDER doing walking around as a free man aged 23 years old? How long was he convicted for, five years? Did he do an exceptional wai to the victims and have his sentence commuted? Just mind-boggling.

Well, perhaps if you give us more in the way of details we could corroborate your Thai village story. In my experience these things get reported, there are stringers for the Thai newspapers in every province in Thailand. When I lived in Surin I knew a few, they were pretty well-connected and they got paid based on finding things to print so doubt they'd suppress things. As to the "thwarted murders by legal carry in the USA", this was your claim, and as you were the one claiming to know this to be true, when a debater asks for your source it is up to you to provide it. Otherwise it can be safely dismissed as hearsay. But seeing as you're unlikely to attempt to do so given your confidence levels and previous inability to provide evidence, here's one that popped up immediately, it's a Harvard study: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/firearms-research/gun-threats-and-self-defense-gun-use-2/ You'll not be surprised to hear it completely debunks your claim.

This is so completely wrong it brings into question your validity as a supposed "senior bank executive". They have to understand the law, and know that there is no such thing as the "injured party" having to be the one bringing the fraud charges or that "valuations are irrelevant if the debt was repaid". You're quite full of something.

You must have been a remarkably incompetent or willfully obtuse bank executive. If I submit an appraisal to the bank that is deliberately inflated so as to make it easier and cheaper for me to get the loan, that is still a fraudulent act, but probably doesn't become a felony until the loan is actually approved, the funds transferred and the charges made. You say the bank's lending officer has to approve it (true obviously) and that this fraud/deceit is irrelevant if the debt is repaid since the bank is the injured party from the fraudulent actions. This is patently false. Just because I'm a clever fraudster and can control my appraisers and provide the appearance of credibility such that it can fool a bank officer doesn't mean I somehow "get away with it" - the intention to commit fraud and the action to sign the loan based on that fraud having knowingly been committed within the loan application make this a criminal act and a felony based on the amounts involved. While the Bank may decide it's in their interests to ignore the fraud/dubious client, the crime was committed and has impacts on others who are not within the bank so they are not the only injured party. Trump's real estate competitors were disadvantaged by his being able to obtain large amounts of financing at low interest rates based on fraudulent means. Trump's fictitious valuations also have tax implications and he clearly changed the valuations to gain favorable loans and switched them when reporting his taxes to reduce the taxes that would be owed. Deutsche Bank didn't press charges to start this investigation as they most likely realized that their dubious support for Trump would reflect even more poorly once the details started coming out so just wrote it off. But the Attorney-General did because it is their purview to ensure that businesses don't commit major fraud to disadvantage their competition or the public at large. You seem to be under the impression that crimes require the directly affected people to agree to the prosecution, so if the bank says "no big deal" it's then "no harm, no foul". This is not the case. But as you were a bank executive when the greatest single financial fraud perpetrated on the world by the US banking system occurred in 2008, we should hardly be surprised that you take a blasé attitude to financial fraud by wealthy people, nor that you're a big supporter of Trump.

"His wife added that she was relieved her husband was unharmed and, while they are unsure of the fire's cause, they are thankful for divine protection." Seems to me that the fire's cause is likely to be ascertained and the "divine protection" a complete figment of the imagination. Perhaps it's soothing to go through life without a clue about why stuff happens.

And you do not consider deliberate targeting and murder of unarmed civilians to be worse than unarmed civilians who died because of warfare taking place around them? I cannot imagine an equivalence, but perhaps you might better explain it to me?

Another "Constitutional Conservative" asking the real questions! This among other things is why the USA is in such a mess; the Right simply pretends things like "we'll fight to the death defending the Constitution!" but don't even understand the basics of what is written in it. Once informed, if they don't like the consequences, then they're in favour of burning the thing to the ground. This is the problem of not having any actual principles, very soon one finds oneself supporting diametrically opposite positions or following someone who shares none of your actual values. Never mind that those values are appalling and you'd be virulently opposed to them being applied to your own people.

Gym Jordan! Who failed to protect the young men he was coaching from a sexual predator! Who has failed to get a single bill into law in seventeen years of sitting on his butt whining in congress! Who supported the attempt to overthrow the government on 6 January! What a fine candidate to stand for the prestigious office of Speaker of the House.

I was thinking more of a Teddy Bear for you to cuddle, we're all very sowwy for hurting your feelings. Please stay and enlighten us poor misguided souls!

Or perhaps answer the question with evidence of you have any?

They should make a Pattaya version of "Twister".

You said "This could be correct as the media fail to report any crimes thwarted including attempted mass shooting by legal carry in America. Far more prevented by right to carry." and I challenged that statement. The idea that the "media" which as far as I know includes Fox and One America Network would NOT broadcast an instance where a heavily-armed American prevented a crime is a joke. Of course they would. I'm not sure what your discussion of Thai village life has to do with that, but I'm guessing that this is also incorrect. Perhaps you don't read Thai newspapers or follow Thai-language TV? Because I'm pretty sure they'd not just ignore three drive-by shootings in Trang or the rape and murder of a schoolgirl.

So, uh, when is it you're leaving us? Note how "you're" is spelled. I normally don't attack posters for their spelling and grammar, but when they're combined with idiotic assertions, then I do take the low-hanging fruit. I'm just lazy that way.

You didn't write in Olde English fortunately or none of us would understand a word.

Homogenous? I take it you're not acquainted with many Jewish people? It's your contention that the main factor in shootings in America are because of diversity? How...interesting! I would again ask for evidence of this rather unique pro-gun argument, at least you get marks for creativity! From what I can tell, most shootings are inter-familial and among the same ethnic groups although I am not a scholar on this nor have I researched it deeply. I would say we should put "cops" as a separate group in this analysis since they are more of an exclusive club and will happily shoot anyone who's not a cop regardless of color. Although of course they have a clear preference... By the way there are two main Jewish groups from an ethnic/genetic point of view, Ashkenazi and Sephardic. Politically it makes America seem a bit of a monolith.

I'd ask you for some evidence of that which might be considered credible but I think we both know that this is utter fantasy and nothing is forthcoming.

I would have to spend some time correcting your grammar and spelling. That's also a good indicator of educational achievement. What a loss it is that you're leaving us. What wisdom we will miss!

Is "hoe country" a typo or intended? ????

This is hardly the same situation or even universe. Or is every American conscripted and given guns and training similar to Israel? Do Canada and/or Mexico threaten to drive Americans into the sea and launch raids into their territory? What would be relevant in this case is the rate of school shootings and other ordinary carnage that occurs in Israel that is unconnected to terrorism. I think you'll find it much lower than in the USA, although to be fair I haven't checked. Perhaps that is the lesson - when people are properly trained and armed for legitimate purposes then you don't get the problems like in the USA where people buy guns for no good reasons and don't have to be trained, store them properly etc.

Well, I mean, one of those assumptions is that you're probably not so well educated, and evidence is that you completely misunderstood the statement. Americans are more shooty than stabby, as ably pointed out by another poster.