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What does it mean for the US to act "decisively"? I don't think I've found anyone on the internet with deep knowledge of the situation there thinks that the Houthis can be bombed into submission. Is the US going to send ground forces there? That doesn't seem likely. A quagmire, more likely. And now that I've used that word, is it ever used any way but metaphorically?

You mean this John Walsh? Walsh was heard by Congress on February 2, 1983, where he gave an unsourced claim of 50,000 abducted and 1.5 million missing children annually. He testified that the U.S. is "littered with mutilated, decapitated, raped, strangled children,"[40] when in fact, a 1999 Department of Justice study found only 115 incidences of stereotypical kidnappings perpetrated by strangers, about 50 of which resulted in death or the child not being found.[41] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Walsh_(television_host) And what part of this didn't you understand? "Major cities, which some commentators have in recent years portrayed as overrun by crime, have seen significant declines in homicides, including double-digit declines in New York (11.42% as of Dec. 24), Los Angeles (15.45% as of Dec. 23) and Chicago (12.7% as of Dec. 27), per the AH Analytics murder dashboard, drawing from local law enforcement data across the country." https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesfarrell/2023/12/29/homicides-see-historic-decline-in-2023-despite-perceptions-that-crime-is-on-the-rise/?sh=ffa5d6dd76e7 This is what real data looks like. Not the right wing rants of some dubious person who profits from peddling alarmism.

And when was that poll taken? According to the article you linked to: Source: Bankrate survey: September 28, 2023 to October 6, 2023 In other words, old news. Since then, as polls cited previously show, there has been a turnaround in Americans' perception of the economy and their own financial situation.

That article you linked to is remarkably free of actual data. Homicides See Historic Decline In 2023 Despite Perceptions That Crime Is On The Rise Murders are down 12.8% over last year across more than 175 cities, according to criminal justice data analyzed by firm AH Analytics, with AH Analytics co-founder and data analyst Jeff Asher recently writing on Substack that the data suggests that U.S. murders are on pace to log “one of the fastest rates of decline ever recorded” this year. Major cities, which some commentators have in recent years portrayed as overrun by crime, have seen significant declines in homicides, including double-digit declines in New York (11.42% as of Dec. 24), Los Angeles (15.45% as of Dec. 23) and Chicago (12.7% as of Dec. 27), per the AH Analytics murder dashboard, drawing from local law enforcement data across the country. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesfarrell/2023/12/29/homicides-see-historic-decline-in-2023-despite-perceptions-that-crime-is-on-the-rise/?sh=ffa5d6dd76e7 And what about rural crime? Which are overwhelmingly conservative in their politics I noticed that the Heritage article didn't address that issue. Hmmm... Gun Violence Rates In Rural Areas Match or Outpace Cities As gun violence continues to fuel violent crime, some conservative politicians are not only refusing to support violence prevention measures but are also rolling back gun laws. Many of these same officials express the narrative that gun violence is only a problem in urban, Democrat-led cities, and media outlets focus on gun violence in cities like Chicago. The truth is that rural communities—particularly in red states—have increasingly faced levels of gun violence that match or outpace urban areas, says the Center for American Progress. https://www.ncja.org/crimeandjusticenews/gun-violence-rates-in-rural-areas-match-or-outpace-cities

Presidential favorability trends tend to follow voters' perception of the economy. That is starting to improve.

Speaking of cherry picking. That 33% you keep on citing for Biden is the lowest of all his unfavourability ratings.

2 currently unpopular candidates. And the elections are 8 months away.

Trump isn't doing much better: TRUMP https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/favorability/donald-trump/ BIDEN https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/

Thanks for sharing with us your nostalgia.

I've offered you 3 surveys.

What has that got to do with the public's attitude about the ecconomy. Surveys show it's on an upward trend. Let's see where Biden is 6 months from now. Lucky for him his most likely opponent is also very unpopular.

You repeat yourself but offer no rationale for what you claim. When I cited independent voters you claimed I was cherry picking. When I cited Republicans and Democrats as well, you claimed I was cherry picking. Leaves open the question as to what you mean by cherry picking.

What should also be pointed out is that deficits were on a downward trend until Trump took office. His tax cuts reversed that trend.

What cherry picking? You raised the issue of independents. My point was that most people evaluate what they know best - their own personal financial situation - as positive. That goes for Democrats, Independents, and Republicans.

Good thing none of that happened during the previous administration or you wouldn't have much of a point.

And 63% say their personal financial situation is getting better. In other words, the thing they have actual personal knowledge of is improving.

That report is from 11 years ago.

Well, first of all the same could be said of you. But in fact, there are other surveys and they all point to the same thing. https://www.axios.com/2024/01/19/us-consumer-sentiment-index-umich Here's another. You notice it shows that 69% of Republicans surveyed thought their situation is at least good, but that 76% of them think the situation for the country is either bad (32%) or terrible (44%) https://today.yougov.com/topics/economy/trackers/state-of-us-economy?crossBreak=republican

But when you ask voters what their personal economic prospects are like, you get a very different answer: Americans' outlooks for the future are also rosy. 66% think that 2024 will be better than 2023, and 85% of us feel we could change our personal financial situation for the better this year. That's in line with Wall Street estimates, which have penciled in continued growth in both GDP and real wages for the rest of the year. Stunning stat: 77% of Americans are happy with where they're living — including renters, who have seen their housing costs surge over the last few years and are far more likely than homeowners to describe their financial situation as poor. https://www.axios.com/2024/01/17/americans-are-actually-pretty-happy-with-their-finances You see the disconnect there? When asked about their personal prospects, which clearly they have a detailed knowledge of, they're optimistic. When asked their opinion about the economy as a whole, pessimistic. In other words most Americans think they're going to do better, but at the same time the economy is going to do worse. Me, I'll go with a diagnositc of with what they know best: their own personal financial situation.

I have no doubt that there is a huge amount of negative feeling towards Hamas. That certainly was the case before October 7, despite Israel's efforts to sustain its popularity. As for that "secure, humanitarian area" that the IDF is referring to, I'm guessing that it's is Al Mawasi. It may be secure, although possibly no longer true, (https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2024/01/31/israel-palestine-gaza-al-mawasi-ground-fighting-reaches-safe-zones) but humanitarian is not the way a reasonable observer would describe it.

I guess your position is one out of three ain't bad. That may be valid in baseball. When it comes to reporting of facts, not so much. And of course, I didn't just cite that incident. And whether I love to bring a subject up or not, is utterly irrelevant to the facts of the case. Trust you to try and make it personal.

And of course, now that you agree there was no such forgiveness, the basis of your criticism of me bringing it up again falls apart, doesn't it? And certainly doesn't justify the IDF's whitewashing of the soldiers who shot the hostages.

How does this support your falsehood that "The families of those mistakenly killed had different opinions and were very supportive of the IDF in the aftermath of that very sad incident." Do you understand the difference between "family" and "families"? Or does only Haim's family count? What's more, even if your false assertion were true, how would that justify a whitewash of an investigation?

Got a link to that so we all can know what that poll was conducted?

Even if you were correct about the opinions of the families, that would be irrelevant. But your error is useful in that it allows for a teachable moment. First the evidence: Slain hostage’s dad says IDF murdered him, calls for recognizing him as fallen soldier Father of Alon Shamriz, 26, says lawlessness led to soldiers mistakenly shooting him in Gaza, mourns what would have been a ‘day of celebration’ had troops saved him https://www.timesofisrael.com/slain-hostages-dad-says-idf-murdered-him-calls-for-recognizing-him-as-fallen-soldier/ Family mourns hostage Alon Shamriz killed by IDF in error, blames government for death After Friday tragedy in Gaza, brother Ido slams failures at funeral in Kibbutz Shefayim: ‘The one who abandoned you also murdered you’; sister: ‘It was supposed to end differently’ https://www.timesofisrael.com/family-mourns-hostage-alon-shamriz-killed-by-idf-in-error-blames-government-for-death/ Here's a video interview from nbc news in which the father of Alon Shamriz says to the Israeli govt "you murdered my son twice." And in that same interview the reporter overheard the mother of Al-Talaika, one of the other hostages killed by the IDF, say to an Israeli politician "I will never forgive anyone on this." But even if they all had forgiven the IDF, so what? Does that justify whitewashing the incident?