The US WANTS to be in those bases because it gives them a lot of soft power in foreign relationships
I’d say that military bases within European countries is the definition of projecting hard power. If 40 000 soldiers in a military base are called ‘soft power’, what’s hard power then? Nuking the city?
I think you misunderstand the method of imposing the hardship. The police will be better paid and there to impose the planned hardship on the ordinary people, including many of the people who always vote for him.
It’s honestly rather strange and depressing watching the US from the outside. I have rarely seen the most downtrodden segment of the population being so gung ho about the worst parts of the system that’s been oppressing them their whole lives. It’s amazing to me to see so many super patriotic black people for example. How? For what? Why would you blindly defend the same structures that’ve been oppressing you for centuries? It’d be less depressing and more funny if it wasn’t for the massive destructive power these people get access to when they win, power that they subsequently unleash on the rest of the world.
That’s a problem for the Israeli state to solve, not me. There have been many ways in my view, but that’s not relevant to the question of commiting genocide. I don’t need to be an expert in order to categorically oppose genocide. There’s not a thing you can say that the Palestinians have done, real or imaginary, which would make a genocide defendable to a human being in touch with their humanity.
There’s no reason at all to discuss anything other than stopping the genocide in the current context. You don’t discuss possible long term solutions while a genocide is ongoing. After Israel stops commiting genocide, there’ll perhaps be room to discuss what to do going forward, but while it’s ongoing, there’s only one thing worth discussing: How to stop Israel commiting genocide.
If a people are being genocided and you still have difficulties seeing the black and white clearly, that’s on you. It couldn’t be more black or white than this, the side doing the genocide is always black until it stops doing the genocide. I’m a simple man, doing genocide=black in any context, always.
And you complain about pro Israel accounts getting banned. Literally justifying the murder of children should be banable no matter what county you’re supporting. Despicable behavior that everyone now sadly expects from rabid genocide supporters.
It’s definitely not a good precedent for governments to shut down communication platforms. But free speech is for all, and Twitter censors speech it doesn’t like, mainly left wing opinions. So I’m not going to act like free speech is the main issue here, even if I dislike governments shutting down or blocking platforms.
You know that Twitter isn’t banned in Turkiye and India because they complied with their requests for censure, since you know, those are right wing governments run by strong men that the Apartheid beby likes? Funny how free speech becomes the issue just when the requests come from governments whose ideology don’t align with this particular clown’s. GTFO with the free speech posturing, if you’re defending the free speech of a platform where it’s fine to harass trans people but you’re banned if you correctly call someone cis gendered. Free speech my ass, Twitter is a right wing cess pool, not a beacon of free discourse.
There’s evidence of apple cultivation in the middle east from around 5000 years ago as far as I know.
He ran in 88 and 2008, ran as a vice president 2008 and 2012, skipped 2016 and ran again 2020 and 2024. I’d say it lines up, Biden always wanted to be president, and his only regret seems to be that he was persuaded not to run in 2016.
Meanwhile here in Sweden, everyone’s criminal record is public, and even available to search online. Unless the crime is something minor punished with a fine. It’s really ridiculous, everything is publicly available online, like addresses, phone numbers, the cars or pets people own. Unless you have a protected identity, it’s all available to everyone online. I tried to apply for a protected identity on account of being a public servant that is involved in making decisions many people very much dislike. But I couldn’t provide a concrete threat so it was denied. It’s like the system is still geared towards pre-internet times. The system itself in fact doxxes every resident in the country.
Jfc, a media outlet asks a presidential campaign a question, and the answer from the official spokesperson is “your phone must be fucked up.” It’s amazing how fast standards seem to be unraveling within the US political system. Even random student groups have better judgement in their communication with the media, this is like a spokesperson for a shitty frat house talking to Mother Jones.
Spent a year in the south/south east of Africa, and different variations of fermented maize beer were the most common alcoholic drink among locals.
Thobwa is the Malawian/Zambian version, while umqombothi is the South African one.
“Goddamn it! I don’t know how to express myself unless through anger and personal attacks!”
Alright. I was thinking about bank holidays here in Sweden. They’re generally off days for all workers here. You can choose to work, it’s not like everything is closed. But that’s a voluntary thing that your employer can’t force you to do, and which is handsomely compensated on account of it being a bank holiday. So people in the hospitality sector for example generally seem to like these shifts and there’s no shortage of volunteers to cover them. This is yet another area where the US system is raping US workers it seems.
As I wrote, I’m not arguing about the content of what he says, he’s imo one of the most awful human beings around. What I’m saying is he doesn’t seem to have lost a whole lot of his cognitive abilities as opposed to Biden. He spewed word salads loudly and forcefully the first time around, and he was elected based on that. The fact that the content of what he says is awful is a value judgement you and I make, to his supporters, him being awful is a feature they like, and him being able to be loud and forceful proves to them that he’s able to implement his awful agenda if elected. Joe on the other hand would be a repeat of the second Reagan term when he was just a demented old man being puppeteered by those around him. Now, one might even like what those around him want to do, but in an election you’re supposed to pretend that you’re choosing an executive, not a puppet to be controlled by an unelected cabinet. Trump on the other hand gives off a forceful air like you said, which is exactly what his supporters want to see.
I don’t even really get the criticism. The complaints are not on whether he’s a liar or not, or whether his or Trump’s policies are what you’d prefer. The complaints are about him not being able to express any of that in a comprehensible way on the day he was most prepared to do so on the national stage, on account of him being a fossil. Trump is a liar with a horrendous ideology, but he’s very much still able to sell those lies and ideas to a very receptive crowd, because he’s obviously cognitively much sharper than Biden is. He’s still able to sell the tough guy persona while Biden is unable to sell anything to anyone at the moment. And it’ll just get worse if he remains in the race.
That’s just an appalling situation for workers in the US. I work in the public sector and get 37 days off a year in vacation time. Admittedly, I work in the public sector and have a generous vacation deal, but it’s absolutely insane that workers in the US have a worse deal than many third world nations. My 37 days are working days, meaning I get almost 8 whole weeks of vacation time, on top of all the other regular bank holidays everyone else gets. The people there often seem to cherish your second amendment, but fuck, what tyranny are you guys waiting for. How about using them weapons for something else than suicides and accidental shootings?
You assumed she was muslim because she’s Iranian, I assumed she wasn’t because she was being bigoted against muslim women., which was the point of the article What you did is the equivalent of assuming Ayaan Hirsi Ali is Muslim because she’s Somali, ignoring that she’s made it her brand to vilify Islam.
Regarding the ridiculous comparison to gender: gender isn’t connected to nationality, which is the point we were discussing. Furthermore, I think most people would consider it reasonable to assume a person attacking trans people for being trans isn’t trans themselves. That you have trouble making this connection is the issue I have been criticizing all along.
Regarding what I comment on other people’s comments or don’t, you’re just reaching and it’s getting sad. It’s none of your business at all what I comment on, and no amount of nagging on your end has an impact on that decision. Either respond and defend your position or don’t. Beyond that is none of your business.
I did not change my tone in any of the comments I wrote, and it’s obvious to the people reading the exchange. It’s funny that you call it “returning to civility”, but whatever helps you cope I guess.
The IDF just announced that they’ve discovered a Hamas command and control center under Jimmy Wales’ khouse. It’ll be dealt with accordingly.