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Instead of spending money meant for weaponry and construction, the leadership lined their pockets with it instead.

If it turns out to be the case that the resistance from Hamas ends up being far less than expected, I wonder if that can be attributed, at least in part, to the same cause the bedeviled the Russian armed forces. Namely, corruption.

If your neighbor borrowed money from you by using his house as collateral and claiming that his house was 30,000 square feet when it was only 11,000 square feet or that it had valuable development rights when those rights didn't exist that would be fraud.

Here's an article about FDA approval for weight loss of an Eli Lilly pharmaceutical, terzepatide. Some insurance companies are dropping coverage of these weight loss drugs because of the high expense. Which makes perfect economic sense. Still, Eli Lilly expects to make billions from the drug. I'm not criticizing the company. That's how the free market works. The question is, is this wholesale application of the free market to health care sensible? As a thought experiment consider this: what if the company expects to realize a total profit of 50 billion over the lifetime of the drug? Now it would make no sense for another company to offer that sum or even close to it. But what if the Federal Government did and then offered it virtually for free? Would the purchase cost repay itself many times over with the savings from lower rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancers...etc? This pinpoints the problem with the free market approach vs the public health approach to health care. What makes no economic sense in a free market makes huge sense when viewed from a public health perspective.

One way to introduce a cheap shot in a way to avoid taking accountability for it is to introduce a proposition with these words: "some would even say". Who exactly are the "some"?

Given your previously demonstrated ability to see in texts what isn't there, you should have no problem visualizing quotation marks.

Actually, one of the paragraphs I quoted: "As unrest spills into the streets and fear spreads that Iran-backed militias in the region will enter more directly into the conflict, some Arab leaders are worrying for their own security, said Elham Fakhro, an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program."

Israel has them surrounded and is bent on destroying them. How could Hamas withdraw? What quiet word, apart from Abracadabra, could make that happen? This situation isn't like the PLO situation in Beirut. Israel is motivated not just by strategic reasons but also by the desire of Israelis for vengeance. For much the same considerations, the Arab leaders can't be seen by their inflamed populace to be siding in any way with Israel. As the article notes, these regimes are fearful for their survival. Anyway, Netanyahu has made release of the hostages a precondition for negotiations. Not much of an incentive. But who knows, maybe in a few weeks that will change.

I think the article makes it very clear why that's the case. You need it spelled out for you? And just for the sake of fantasy, if Hamas did agree to a plea from Arab states where to withdraw, given that according to Israel they're largely surrounded, where would they withdraw to? The center of the earth?

"Elise Stefanik, D-N. Y., who heads the messaging operation, said in a statement that Trump's indictment “is the epitome of the illegal and unprecedented weaponization of the federal government against Joe Biden's leading opponent, Donald J. Trump.” I got news for you. Elise Stefanik is a Republican.

Arab States Intensify Pleas for Gaza Cease-fire as Public Anger Mounts Facing growing anger from their own people, Arab countries are intensifying their appeals to the United States to pressure Israel to implement an immediate cease-fire in Gaza or risk sabotaging the security of the entire Middle East. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt have all implored American officials, including Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, to get Israel to halt its military assault... As unrest spills into the streets and fear spreads that Iran-backed militias in the region will enter more directly into the conflict, some Arab leaders are worrying for their own security, said Elham Fakhro, an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program. https://archive.ph/EKRhM https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/world/middleeast/gaza-ceasefire-egypt-saudi-arabia.html

Actually, when Obamacare was in the works an option for a Medicare like option for those under 65 was on offer. It fell short in the Senate by one vote. Not one Republican supported it. So please stop avoiding the obvious fact that it's the Republicans who stand in the way of a transition to single payer.

If you are uninsured and fall ill, you will have to wait until the open enrollment period to get insurance. And this wouldn't even be an issue of the US had, like most developed countries, universal health care

Putting aside the fact that it isn't the Israeli govt pushing for this to be enacted into law, but just 16 legislators, why would the Israelis need to hold anything over the French to enact an Israeli law? Confused much?

And more conspiratorial nonsense from you. Got any evidence to support this claim? I won't hold my breath.

Just pointing out your hypocrisy. A supporter of Donald Trump cabling for unity and peace. And, please, spare us the fake claim about your frequent condemnations of Trump now that you're being called out for your double standards, which was the point of my post.

Are you seriously claiming that Johnson isn't a right wing extremist? He is an admirer of the "historian" David Barton. One of Barton's books was so dishonest that not even his right-wing publisher could stomach it and had the book recalled. Basically what Christian Nationalists like Barton believe is that the Constitution is a Judaeo-Christian document that derives its authority from what they call Natural Law i.e. what the Bible prescribes. Or rather, their idea of what the Bible prescribes. And any interpretation of the Constitution that runs afoul of Natural Law, is incorrect. So, you don't think that makes him a Christian extremist?

What exactly did Trump do to clean the swamp? As for Biden, he expanded the childhood tax credit so that childhood poverty fell in half. He made Obamacare much more affordable by passing a tax on the wealthy. Pollution laws are being enforced. For example, no one in the EPA is claiming anymore that mercury is not a neurotoxin and that coal burning plants shouldn't be required to scrub it. As for inflation being out of control, please offer the evidence. In fact, it's come way down. How is that qualify as out of control? Immigration is a problem, But it's one that an environmental disaster of a wall won't fix. You think the Republicans are going to pass laws making it a felony to hire undocumented workers? Which foreign countries are laughing at US policies? I don't think China or Russia are. More like snarling or crying about them? As for other developed economies. if anything, they are looking with envy on the growth of the American economy. You really don't have any use for or acquaintance with facts, do you?

A truly bizarre post. You make the false claim that everyone under Obamacare is standing in the same line as illegal immigrants and then you accuse heybruce of deflecting. And then you compound it by bringing up the issue of the borders. Obsessed.much?

Yes, their ntolerance is shameful. Why can't they emulate the temperament, the geniality, the warmth, the kindness, and the inclusiveness of the leading Republican candidate? What did they see in the leading Democratic candidate who calls opponents human scum and regularly castigates all of those who criticize him in any way whatsoever? How could they even imagine that's such a creature deserves to be President?

A very lame attempt at deflection. You've got nothing.

Well, you gave reasons. That doesn't mean they're credible. And really, that was a rant? rant speak or shout at length in a wild, impassioned way. Clutching your pearls much?

This is laughabe you accusing me of not understanding data. You apparently haven't even mastered arithmetic: 27% + 7% = 34%, not 57%.

Sure. If Israel against all past practice decides that it's not a zero sum game and that instead of economically repressing the Palestinians, it works to to Israel's benefit to promote their advancement. And if the Israelis actually manage to uproot Hamas for long enough for a better system to take its place. But I doubt that just a show would persuade nations given what the inevitable consequence would be. I doubt that Arab nations would want to be complicit in that. What's in it for them but inevitable grief? Boots on the ground is not the same thing as feet at the negotiating table.

And you still don't understand what this means. When someone says that they have not a lot of faith in you, would you claim that's an endorsement? This is like saying that a glass that is 9/10 empty is 1/10 full.