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  1. I thought this fit the bill:
  2. That's the one who wanted to have US troops invade Mexico?
  3. Well, at least the war has sobered up Netanyahu about the danger of appointing thugs to politically flammable portfolios. Oh wait a minute... Netanyahu appoints far-right MK as chairman of West Bank committee Religious Zionist Party MK Zvi Sukkot was appointed as chairman of the Foreign and Security Committee's Judea and Samaria Sub-Committee on Wednesday. Sukkot, who identifies with far-right politics, lives in a settlement and has been suspected in the past of involvement in Jewish terrorist attacks on Palestinians. His new appointment was immediately condemned and criticized by other politicians and activist groups who demanded he be removed from the position. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-771210 Good thing there are no other thugs in the Israeli government who want to pour gasoline on the fire: Oh..wait another minute... U.S. Officials Fear American Guns Ordered by Israel Could Fuel West Bank Violence Israel wants 24,000 assault rifles. Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right minister overseeing the police, has given rifles to civilians and is forming “security squads.” An Israeli government request for 24,000 assault rifles from the United States is drawing scrutiny from American lawmakers and some State Department officials who fear the weapons might end up in the hands of settlers and civilian militias trying to force Palestinians from land in the West Bank, where violence has been surging, U.S. officials say. The three proposed tranches of semiautomatic and automatic rifles are valued at $34 million and are being ordered directly from American gunmakers, but they require State Department approval and congressional notification. Israel says the rifles would be used by the national police force, but has also indicated that they could be given to civilians, people familiar with the weapons orders told The New York Times. https://archive.ph/hc7Ub https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/05/us/politics/israel-us-weapons-west-bank.html#:~:text=An Israeli government request for,Bank%2C where violence has been And this despite the Biden administration's admonition to crack down on the settlers. Youj'd think if Biden is putting Americans in harms way for the Israelis, the least the Israelis could do would be to honor his request and not to further enable settler violence in the West Bank.
  4. I think an excellent candidate would be Gretchen Whitmer, the popular governor of Michigan. And, even though it shouldn't make a difference, it doesn't hurt that she's easy on the eyes. Right now she's co-chair of Biden's reelection campaign. Which would make it awkward for her to rebel, but should Biden decide to step aside, would be a boost.
  5. Clearly, you didn't understand what I wrote so let me put it another way: get over yourself. Your degree of conviction or lack thereof has no objective value. It's not an intellectually respectable piece of evidence nor argument.
  6. I agree. Oneway to keep workers from asking for more is to keep this information confidential. There are many companies where discussing your income is a fireable offense. This is actually illegal but that doesn't stop employers: It has long been illegal for employers to ban their employees from discussing pay. Yet these workplace "gag rules" continue to thrive. About 50% of American workers report that their employers prohibit or discourage discussions of wages and salaries. Gag rules can open the door to wage suppression and pay inequity, which can have a particularly damaging effect on women and people of color. If employer policies requiring pay secrecy are unlawful, why are they still so common? One reason is that workers don't know their rights. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-my-employer-prohibit-me-from-discussing-my-pay-with-my-coworkers.html The article does go on to note that there are exceptions and they're pretty big ones. Governments, religious organizations, agricultural workers, organizations subject to the railway act such as airlines and well,interstate railroads. Which for the government is clearly self-serving and for the rest, clearly a gift to special interests.
  7. Well, if the degree of how impressed or not you were was an objective thing, I'd be seriously concerned. As it is, I'd say your level of self-regard is a tad ridiculous and more than a tad sad. Or maybe it's more than a tad ridiculous and just a tad sad. I'll check the calibration on my impressionmeter and get back to you.
  8. Actually, why stop there? Why not do as Sweden does, have a law which allows all citizens to view the tax returns of anyone paying income tax?
  9. What paths would anyone expect them to follow given Israeli exploitation and dispossession. You seem to be under the impression that governments can lead their people in a way that is anathema to them. Actually, you yourself explicitly acknowledged the issue of Palestinian oppression by the Israelis. And I've read a few articles? I've been following this since the mid 70's. Did I get it wrong when I said that that Israelis impose one set of laws on the Palestinians and another far more permissive set on the Palestinians? Did I get it wrong when I said that the Israelis routinely dispossess Palestinians of the homes? Did I get it wrong when I said that when Palestinian commits an act of terrorism his home gets blown up but when a settler does that, not so much? Did I get it wrong when I wrote the Israel allows Israeli farmers to drill wells deeper than it allows the Palestians? Did I get it wrong when I wrote that Israelis make economic development much more difficult for Palestinians than they do for Israelis? And why should there be a dissonance? As, I've pointed out, It was and is clearly up to the Israelis as being the ones continually oppressing the Palestinians, to put at least a pause to their exploitation to signal their good will. Ya think that's ever going to happen?
  10. Actually, what's sad, and not funny, is your lack of knowledge concerning the situation with the IRS. For years the Republicans have underfunded the IRS. It simply didn't have the resources to go after the wealthy protected as they are with teams of high powered lawyers. The GOP Gutted the IRS — and the Rich Made Out Like Bandits For much of the last decade, the Republican Party has branded itself as a champion of fiscal responsibility and the rule of law — while doing everything in its power to help rich people steal from the Treasury. Since taking Congress in 2011, the GOP has forced through a series of aggressive cuts to the Internal Revenue Service budget. Between 2010 and 2016, the number of individual tax returns filed in the U.S. increased by 7 percent, while IRS funding fell by 18 percent. That funding cut was exorbitantly expensive. Every $1 the government spends on enforcing tax compliance, it gets $6 back in recovered revenue, according to Treasury Department estimates. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/10/irs-the-gop-propublica-budget-cuts-enforcement-billions.html
  11. What comer has been saying is that there are no documents concerning the loan. What he isn't saying is that 6 weeks before James Biden sent his brother a check for $200,000, Joe Biden had sent him a check for $200,000. So even if cancelled checks don't count as documents, is Comer seriously contending that between family members formal documentation is necessary? Such a claim would be laughed out of court.
  12. I somehow skipped the part where you claimed that most Israelis were killed by the IDF? Your leap from maybe a few to most is repugnant. Amnesty International, a thorn in the side of the Israelis govt, has strongly condemned what Hamas has done.
  13. It's funny. You evaporated earlier on this issue when I pointed out that I was replying to a person who said he had little sympathy for the Palestinians in Gaza. I think that's a pretty nasty sentiment. Apparently, you think it's virtue signaling to point that out. That it was somehow grandstanding to comment. Or maybe you agree with him? Maybe you have little sympathy, too?
  14. But I have addressed them. They don't need to be answered in detail because they're all based on the belief that there is a shared responsibility to negotiate on the part of the Palestinians and Israelis. As I repeatedly have pointed out and to no avail, it should be up to the Israelis to make the first move. And since they have given no indication that they would back from of their settlement policies, the apartheidlike laws, and the economic discrimination, why would the Palestinians negotiate?
  15. So, you too have little sympathy for the Palestinian? The 40 something percent of Palestinians 14 and under?
  16. But this point goes to the heart of all your entire argument. You repeatedly claim that the blame should be shared. But clearly the onus is on the Israelis. Of course, given that the Israelis have created 600,000 more or less facts on the ground, there's precious little hope of that happening.
  17. Nice wisecrack. So what?
  18. Actually, the argument of mine that you never address is why woujld the Palestinians want to negotiate with a party that is actively dispossessing the? . That subjects you to an apartheid-like governance? The Palestinian Authority is already regarded widely as a collaborator with the Israelis. . As would any government be regarded which cooperates with its oppressors. Perhaps unfairly, but inevitably.
  19. I'm not aware that my argument has gone against itself. Rather, what is repeatedly evident, is your reflexive both-sidesism.
  20. What can I say. You clearly don't grasp the impossibility of reaching out to a government that is actively working to displace you. A government tat offers nothing to encourage any such efforts. And you can't help but make it personal by making allegations. Quite a sorry habit with you.
  21. Well, I forgot about Sharon. So you've disproved a minor point only to strengthen my argument. What exactly could the Palestinians have offered the Israelis as some kind of token while settlements were expanding and Palestinians were being dispossessed? Were the Israelis being victimized during this period? While you've acknowledged that the Palestinians are oppressed, you don't seem to grasp how their experience of this oppression plays out vis a vs the Israelis.
  22. Given that the Israelis continued to act in ways to antagonize the Palestinians, such as but not limited to its settlement policies, it's not surprising that Palestinians were not enthusiastic about pursuing peace. I suppose I could say that given that Netanyahu was PM most of 21st century, this is not exactly a surprise. Would you really expect Palistininas to be publicly pushing their leadership to do a deal with that repugnant party? Although to be fair to Netanyahu,, has Labor been substantially better? We'll never know how things would have turned out had Israel behaved decently during this epoch. Anyway, just to show that the poll I cited wasn't an outlier, here's a link to a study based on 100 polls. https://www.usip.org/publications/2006/01/willing-compromise-palestinian-public-opinion-and-peace-process
  23. Well, Hunter Biden and his lawyers apparently believe there was: Hunter Biden sues laptop repair shop owner for exposing his personal life in an 'egregious violation' of his privacy Hunter Biden has sued a Delaware computer repair shop owner who he claims violated his privacy rights by disseminating data from his laptop to the public, the latest action in a saga that first erupted in the final weeks of the 2020 election. In a counterclaim filed on Friday in federal district court in Delaware, Biden and his lawyers accuse John Paul Mac Isaac of six counts of invasion of privacy, including intruding on, wrongfully sharing, and conspiring to publish Biden's laptop data. "Mac Isaac knew or should have known that the data he possessed and shared contained private and confidential information and content, including sensitive and private photographs and video of Mr. Biden, and that Mr. Biden had a reasonable expectation of privacy in this data," the counterclaim alleges, "and that Mac Isaac's conduct would expose Mr. Biden's personal life in an egregious violation of Mr. Biden's right to privacy." https://www.businessinsider.com/hunter-biden-sues-laptop-repair-shop-owner-over-privacy-rights-2023-3
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