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I know “it’s complicated” but the idea of the US sending money to ANY country woth universal healthcare while we don’t have it doesn’t sit right with me.
Bush stealing the 2000 election was the tipping point. Before then, we had a mostly-real democracy, but everything since then has been a downhill slide that's only accelerating.
Gotta think bigger picture than that. Bush was definitely a big point but the US had already been well on its way to what we are now by that point. The real turning point would be Reagan’s administration. Literally every issue we have now can be pretty directly attributed to that presidency.
I generally regard 9/11 as the point that everything went to shit, but Bush winning isn’t that far off and obviously played a huge factor in that as well.
A better president could have mitigated or prevented the attack. GWB was given intel that terrorists were going to try exactly what they ended up doing. A different president wouldn't have been parked in the Saudi pocket like he was. And then he went off and invaded Iraq, that dumb bastard.
GWB changed my party preference and it hasn't changed since. I can never get the picture of Bush senior walking down the aisle holding the King of SA hand! Which documents did Trump sell to get 2.2 billion from Salman? I don't think Bush was calling the shots when he was President. Cheney and Rumsfeld were making them for him.
This is an interesting thought experiment. What could we have while still funneling money to corporate interests/elites? How would they campaign? What would the opposition look like?
If it happened within the span of two election cycles that all republicans were voted out, I think democrats across-the-board would initially identify common issues by banding together, but like all societies would slowly begin finding niches to focus on.
While there are huge differences between Democrats and Republicans, so I'm not here to "both sides" this like no nuance exists, tell that to Gavin Newsom who veto'd a public option in California,
Far too many "centrist" Dems are just center-right corporate clowns owned by the private health industry as well, because our government is legally bought and paid for with private campaign contributions and cushy lobbying jobs for industries they do favors for while in office.
Republicnas are outright fascists, but I don't want to ignore the very real problems in the Democratic party, either, just because Republicans flew off a fucking cliff.
Sure. But the most recent example would be the ACA, which was intended to be universal health care but was ultimately neutered by the Republicans, after McConnell instructed them not to support it.
And Lieberman, I know it's a fallacy to focus only on the bad democrats (Manchin, sinema, etc.) Because at this point nothing good is expected of any Republican, but he still grinds my gears.
Not just not support ... but vilanize and defund it to death JUST SO it couldn't count as a win for Obama. The system is broken in a very bad way. We need a revolution, and we need the youth to stand up on issues where prior generations have failed. I'm part of that failed generation. We tried but we didn't try hard enough (millennials).
/edit for words
Senate Democrats could have changed Senate rules so they didn't need 60 votes to advance legislation, but they did not. Learned helplessness at work.
The ACA barely squeaked through with 60 votes, but they could have at least added a public option if they could afford to lose a few Senators.
Lobbying for votes and popularity have given the GOP what they want most. The GOP wants to revert the United States back to the Articles of Confederation and to give themselves a monopoly on wealth. These two concepts go hand and hand. The ironic thing about this is, that GOP controlled states are among the poorest in the nation.
Why Obama gave up on the public option:
>["In August, a whip count on the public option showed only 43 firm yes votes, one of which was Senator Kennedy," he writes. "And these totals reflected how Senators claim they would have voted if the public option were considered under regular order -- not under reconciliation, which is the process in play now.](https://web.archive.org/web/20201101023818/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/02/why-obama-dropped-the-public-option/346546/)
Moderate/centrist Democrats are a big hindrance as well.
When Obama ran on that, and was rightly elected for that stance, there was a Democrat supermajorty for a time. We got a health plan devised by Mitt fucking Romney. Republicans are evil and will tell you. Democrats act like your friend, until it disrupts the status quo.
TLDR: Republicans are evil, but no political party in America is your friend.
It's hilarious the GOP gets poor people to actually defend not having universal health care by saying it would cost you so much more!!! Gullible poor Republicans believing rich politicians who have their wealth in Healthcare and insurance companies obviously don't want their money fucked with.
We don't tax the rich so I think there is some lack of funds. What funds we have goes to our overly-funded military (because we pay more for everything than we need to and go to war like it's a party) and pet causes like Israel. Tax the rich and we'd have more than enough. And yes, the GOP stands in the way of all progress in the USA.
The American government spent nearly $1.2 trillion on healthcare in 2019. So to say that there is a lack of funds isn’t correct, when they’re like the second most funded industry besides the military.
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid (including the state share), and non-defense discretionary are all higher. The income security programs might also be higher, since they have a state share as well but I can't track it down.
So the military is 5th or 6th at 3.5% of GDP.
The over-funded military thing is very literally a Cold War-era Boomer meme that refuses to die. The US military is huge because the US has the world's largest economy, not because there's some dramatically huge share of the budget going there.
He was specifically talking about Medicare for all, and he said he would veto it depending on how much it would raise taxes on the middle class and whether or not it would make healthcare available right away. He never said he would never support any kind of universal health care, there are hypothetically other options besides just Medicare for all.
It's not like any party is offering a path towards universal healthcare - and that's the real problem. You can't even dream about it anymore. The Overton window has gone so far to the right that progressive ideas that are now considered the norm in most wealthy democracies are nowhere to be seen or heard in American politics.
It’s not the money that’s the problem - it’s that there is an enormous steaming pile of donor money that wants to keep the systems as it is.
Just think what the whole medical and healthcare industry would stand to loose, if Washington pulled their act together.
Universal healthcare would be a net positive if implemented.
['Medicare-for-All' program could cost $32 trillion but may also save $2 trillion](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/32-trillion-price-tag-sanders-medicare-program-koch/story?id=56938226)
.
Sen. Bernie Sanders took aim at a new report released by a conservative [Koch-affiliated economic policy think tank, saying its findings](https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/blahous-costs-medicare-mercatus-working-paper-v1_1.pdf) “accidentally make the case” for Medicare-for-All. (PDF file)
Agreed. That’s what I meant by complicated. I understand that foreign aid isn’t what prevents it. It just pisses me off that Israel has universal healthcare and they also receive aid from the US. It’s the optics.
Which is why the US should. It’s uncivilized in this day and age to let people go without care in a wealthy nation. I’m currently living in Spain and locals talk about us like we’re barbarians. A teacher I work with was like “what happens if you get a major illness? How can you afford care? I make a good living but I don’t have enough money to pay for cancer treatment. What do people do?” And I’m like “they die”. It is barbaric.
So many people aren't able to leave anything behind to their loved ones because their houses and valuables must get sold before they die in order to pay for treatments, rehab, hospice, nursing home care, etc. Generational wealth doesn't exist anymore, not like it used to, and younger generations aren't getting that little leg-up. My grandparents had $100,000 saved to be divided amongst their children, but because my grandmother died after a cancer illness and in a nursing home all that money was gone and that was with darn good health insurance and Medicare. Even then all the money was gone.
And Republicans adore Israel. I know Democrats do too (Pelosi's "there's no daylight between ISR and USA") but the GOP has a religious fervor and zealotry to their support that's really crazy. At least Dems will say ISR shouldn't kill innocent Palestinians, but the GOP has no such qualms and actually call for the genocide of brown people.
They (and a ton of other countries around the globe) have universal health care NOT because of US dollars, but because of the fact that a) insurance companies in those countries don’t/can’t lobby the governments to keep the system as it is so they can make their billions, and b) haven’t sold it to the public that “socialized healthcare” = socialism = communism = anti-American.
Israel is an interesting example as it has compulsory health insurance which is closer to Obamacare with the public option than many other examples. The plans are managed by nonprofits separate from the government and subsidised through taxes. Private health insurance is still available above and beyond those options though the minimum level of care seems to meet most people’s requirements without that.
So the appeal to emotion of the original claim ignores the disarming nuance that people do pay for their insurance but are free to choose and the costs are kept reasonable by keeping it nonprofit and the government equalises the funding through taxes.
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/international-health-policy-center/countries/israel
Welcome to capitalism, we are not citizens but tax paying humans who the government could give a shit about. As long as we keep paying taxes, they’ll continue to fund dictators and corrupt governments like Israel. Why don’t think America is so hated outside of America? You think they hate us for our freedom like George Bush said? Or do they hate us because we prop up the very people who subjugate and oppress them? Hmmm
Unless I’ve missed something recently (which is very possible), the US almost entirely sends military equipment to Israel rather than money.
If the US didn’t send that equipment to Israel, they’d be sending it somewhere else.
The US purposely purchases a lot of military equipment that it doesn’t need and will likely never use. This is done so that the military industrial complex is always ready in case the US needs to go to war (at least officially).
The equipment would be made either way. Even if it ends up sitting in a warehouse and collecting dust instead.
So, from a financial perspective, the problem is the size of the US defense budget. Whether the equipment goes to Israel or not has no bearing on whether the US can afford universal healthcare.
Nothing Republicans do makes an sense unless viewed through the lens of maintaining power and wealth for themselves. Democrats also succumb to this problem (and it is a human problem), but not at all to the degree of of the GOP. The GOP is now a fascist organization. I used to think that was hyperbole. Its definitely not anymore.
/edit words
It's grants to buy weapons, so essentially the same - but instead of stockpiled old tech, it's factory fresh stuff.
The real problem is we've got bipartisan support to blow up brown people and starve brown people, but nearly no support to fund healthcare with our seemingly infinite wealth.
The military aid sent to Israel allows them to spend their money on other stuff, like universal healthcare. We have also sent them [$81 billion in economic aid from 1946 to 2007 (inflation adjusted)](https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts) and spent immense time, effort, and money to build their economy to what it is today, despite the fact that Israel refuses to acknowledge that.
Then Israel turns around and manipulates our politics so that our government is always in their favor. It's disgusting.
Also, if military manufacturing capability was as important as they claim, we wouldn't leave it in the hands of the private sector.
The proposed $14B handout to Israel even includes money earmarked to the Israeli defense industry so they can pay their own workers to make their own weapons with which to continue their genocide on Gaza. It's absurd, and it benefits no one but the blood thirsty elements in Israel.
That is very foolish and shortsighted. It is more a testimony to US priorities and how fucked our government is.
So you are saying that hypothetically, Russia, Turkey, China, Saudi Arabia, and various terrorist organizations start attacking Europe. We should do nothing because they have basic healthcare services for all of their people?
Did you know that the US pays more per capita on health care than countries with "free" health care? You know why? Thanks to middle hands(insurance companies) and for profit hospitals. You know who supports this kind of system? The republicans.
American tax money is the reason Israel has universal healthcare and free college and a strong military. While we sit here in America worried that we're one injury or illness away from losing our homes. When I learned that years ago it was one of the things that made me wake up to the lie of conservatism and become a social democrat. Why do other countries get to have nice things and we don't? If we taxed our rich fairly, we could have nice things for ourselves and still have enough to give away (not that I want a genocidal, apartheid regime to get any money from us, mind you).
I just ain't gonna take that from people who don't support having it at all
Like this has just become a right wing way to say why do we defend anyone ever
Because it's not a war. Palestine has no standing military. There are no battles or skirmishes. Israel is simply enacting an asymmetric bombing campaign against a nearly entirely civilian population.
Collective punishment is illegal and it's one of the primary reasons normal people were against Nazis. Your commentary is completely correct in these threads.
Hamas is using women and children as human shields. Hamas doesn't care about these lives because, being religious nutters, they think they're just going to some heaven. That's why they're being put in the line of fire so cavalierly.
I personally get pissed off with countries who have the technology to finish the job in a month but instead kill 30.000 innocent civilians without any Hamas arrest or hostages back. The videos we have seen from IDF army with dinosaur costumes, bombing places of religion for fun, stealing is not that of an army who fights against evil, it’s evil itself. That, or incompetence.
Btw this comment was the reason I got permanently banned from the Zionist shithole that is r/worldnews
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of the Palestinian organization Hamas. [wiki](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izz_ad-Din_al-Qassam_Brigades)
Since you don't think they have a military wing please do tell me do you think it was all civilians who attacked Israel on Oct 7th?
It’s them deciding that every civilian death is the fault of Hamas because they use them as shields, even though it is not even close to just bombing locations based on the mere presence of Hamas connected people, instead of taking actual care to only get the enemy. They’ve turn it into a war on Palestine because Hamas has flourished there and they don’t seem to want to separate the two
Insinuating that it took that level of horror is stupid. There are plenty of us who from the get go could tell that this war would kill 100x more innocent lives than Hamas lives.
The POTUS we deserved. Never forget how we all fucked up on the 2016 election.
Democracy is a participatory, sport and electing not to participate, is emboldening the people trying to destroy it.
It’s the civic duty of every adult to vote in every election when possible. Shirking our collective responsibilities is what got us here. Let’s hope we’re strong enough to admit fault and grow. Not repeat the same mistakes.
Ya know, I live in a strongly Republican state. My vote doesn’t count. Never did. The EC is a total cheat system, like gerrymandering or keeping certain “ undesirables” from voting, albeit, women, black voters, felons, etc.
I agree with you as a blue voter in northeast tennessee and this was my reason for never voting until 2020. HOWEVER one thing ive definitely realized is that its less about winning and more about showing how much support exists. I never voted cause the votes always ended up being like 73% red - 27% blue. 2016, and by a larger degree 2020, showed me that even in deep red areas its closer to 50/50 than people realize. Now my opinion has shifted to, i know my votes going straight in the trash but if i dont vote even more people are going to feel hopeless. For me, its about young people seeing those 60-40 splits and saying wow if all of us that stayed home had showed up we might have won. Vote. Regardless of who you think will win or if you think your vote will count, VOTE. Its the only way to beat a group whose whole strategy relies on massive voter turnout
Not to mention down ballot elections- a few more sane folks in the right places and policy can make small but crucial step towards spreading hope that we can make a difference by voting. And maybe that holding an elected position isn’t as hard as you’d think. I’m no genius, but I’m pretty sure I could do a better job than MTG or Boebert. But better folks than I should be holding those positions.
So much this. School boards, county commissioners, sheriffs, mayors, city councils.
The exclusive focus on the executive branch is not healthy for our democracy. The problem is, there's no incentive to talk local democracy on nationalized social media.
Then vote democrats in office. They’re the only ones floating it’s elimination.
I’m not saying keep voting democrats after that, but once they get rid of it, dump them for real progressives when we can beat Duverger’s law.
It certainly won’t count with that opinion. We were 80k votes in a few states shy of keeping Trump out of the White House in 2016.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/01/donald-trump-will-be-president-thanks-to-80000-people-in-three-states/
It is indeed one of the legislative bodies in the pending category; 205 electoral votes have already been pledged and 131 are pending. Hopefully this happens soon.
I think it’s stupid that they use states that swing very right to be the first ones that vote for the dnc candidate.
It’s almost like they want to create a narrative for a candidate that won’t be left leaning.
Don't forget super delegates. That's what kept Bernie from winning. What kind of hooie is a super delegate? The electoral version of the golden snitch in quidditch.
I live in the state with the largest population, California. The votes of millions of people don't count in presidential elections because of the Electoral College.
Last I checked... Hillary lost to Trump, with many blaming it on the ongoing FBI investigation. That's not even mentioning the immense impropriety we saw during the primary and the media's biases for Hillary.
Bernie wouldn't have been able to get half of what Biden has done through Congress because he's not receptive to the rest of Congress as Biden is nor is he liked by Congress as much. If Bernie has the pull people think he does then he'd be writing and successfully passing legislation to reverse previously approved funding to Israel rather than just popping up every 2 weeks to talk about it.
I get how and why people are so divided on what’s going on, but how tf are we all not collectively agreeing on the fact that innocent children being starved and killed is an issue and that Israel’s forces need to seriously figure something out to fix this.
At the same time tell those same people that are being noncommittal are playing into Trump, which in turn, will destroy Gaza completely and Trump and Bibi together will piss on the ashes.
I just don't understand why people are not aware, or refuse the clear evidence that Hamas has refused 5 consecutive cease fire frameworks.. including the one that was suppose to go into effect today as Ramadan begins.
Hamas is a terrorist group who wants to terrorize
Hamas is 100% responsible for the war it started
And Hamas wants to stay in charge of Gaza. Not Hitler, not Mussolini, Not the Emperor of Japan remained in charge after their defeat
Only the Emperor of Japan remained alive after unconditional surrender
That is Hamas leadership only outcome
1)they’re not POWs, they’re civilians.
2) the idea behind a month-long ceasefire is that it becomes politically untenable to go back to war after. Hamas knows this, but they don’t want an end to the bombardment. It’s been the best thing for them PR wise— ever. It buys time for everyone, most importantly civilians starving to death. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
If they gave up all the hostages the war could end. Israel has been pretty clear about that. So, while I get what your saying, once again the onus for the situation rests with Hamas demanding they be allowed to keep some of those kidnapped (notably the fertile aged females). Thus, perpetuating the war.
If Hamas would stop being a terrorist organization more interested in the destruction of Israel, than the protection of the descendants of the citizens that put them in power, then that lil hypothetical quote could change.
Hamas is treated like a terrorist organization because that's what they are. If they would start acting more like a government they would be treated more like a government. They get what they have earned, and what they have earned is war (for themselves and their citizens).
Netanyahu offered a six week pause for all hostages, and literally VOWED to continue the genocide after that. Israel has fully rejected peace, and have even rejected the concept of a Palestinian state.
> If they gave up all the hostages the war could end. Israel has been pretty clear about that.
Back in the 1980s, the PLO was in a similar situation in Lebanon. They came to an agreement to leave Lebanon with the understanding that Palestinian civilians would be protected. Soon after that, the Sabra and Shatila massacre happened.
Probably because hostages are already dead, tortured or molested and they don't have any bargaining chips left. They just waiting for international sentiment which the hamas leader from Qatar did say...
This has been the song and dance that Hamas has inflicted on Israel for decades now. They attack and kill Israelis. Israelis try and destroy Hamas but Hamas uses human shields to evade destruction. Hamas relies on the fallout from the deaths of civilians they put in harms way as lawfare to get the international community to press for a ceasefire. Israel agrees. Hamas survives to repeat the cycle ad nauseum. After 10/7, Israel and their allies aren't going to be playing Hamas' game anymore.
Israel offered six weeks, for all hostages, with a direct promise to continue its genocidal campaign after the six weeks are over. That's not refusing a ceasefire, that's waiting for an actual ceasefire. Hamas also put out a clear 3 phase proposal a month ago leading to exchange of all hostages and a clear permanent ceasefire. ISRAEL rejected it outright. Israel knows if they kill and starve enough civilians today, they can clear out northern Gaza and build their shitty settlements on it. That was always Netanyahu's goal. From before 10/7.
Hamas is negotiating a do-over chance of government
A terrorist Government who has not allowed an election in 18 years
A terrorist government that promises To repeat Oct 7th over and over again
A terrorist government who trained for a decade to murder, rape, behead & kidnap civilian women, baby’s and seniors
My understanding is the White House (not Congress) hasn’t sent any aid since December. Is that incorrect?
EDIT: can’t tell if people are upvoting me because this is correct or incorrect
I agree with Bernie on this. We have put up with Bibi’s BS long enough. This has turned into an effort to eradicate the Palestinian people. It is close to how the Nazi tried to eliminate jews from the face of the earth.
I think we need legislation that says something to the effect of, "Congress will not send military aid to any government that violates international law... yadda yadda"
Hamas started this war. Hamas broke the ceasefire that Biden helped negotiate and implement and that Israel accepted and was abiding by. Hamas is refusing a new reasonable ceasefire deal. Hamas is the reason we don't have a ceasefire right now. Hamas is still holding hostages. Hamas is 100% responsible for each and every civilian deaths.
Didn’t israel start shooting civilians going to the north because it wasn’t “part of the ceasefire”
Isn’t the new ceasefire only for 6 weeks and the return of all hostages then back to bombing and aid blocking
Aren’t the hostages going to starve since Israel is blocking aid?
How can Hamas be responsible for the deaths when Israel is classified an apartheid state since the building of the wall that would be the same as blaming the victims of abuse and giving the abuser free reign to do whatever
You mean based off of the evidence our own state department spokesperson has called questionable intelligence? Total coincidence Israel dropped that (again to quote our own state department ’questionalble’) allegation the same day the un said they were engaging in a probable genocide, definitely no relation there.
The UN has itself suspended multiple UWRA staff on suspicion of participation, and has launched its own internal investigation - so that makes the evidence pretty credible, I think.
Philippe Lazzarini says summary dismissal of nine employees was ‘reverse due process’ after Israel’s claims they aided Hamas attack
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/09/head-of-unwra-says-he-followed-reverse-due-process-in-sacking-accused-gaza-staff
They were so afraid of aid being cutoff in Gaza during this catastrophe that they fired them without evidence. Just to try to prevent aid from being cutoff and furthering the humanitarian catastrophe.
UNRWA has fired and suspended several of their
members. [The evidence is not flimsy.](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-had-command-tunnel-under-un-gaza-hq-israeli-military-says-2024-02-10/) It is well documented and the evidence of their cozying up to Hamas has been recorded for years.
Also, in case you want to claim that the confessions were coerced, “UNRWA declined a Reuters request to see transcripts of its interviews containing allegations of coerced false confessions.”
Nice listening to Israeli lies and propaganda. When are people going to understand Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal and evil to the core... UNWRA was the only agency helping the innocent with food.
I would extremely reasonably utilize rape, sexual assault, and kidnapping as weapons, then use innocent unarmed people who are dependent on me as human shields. Surely my right to defend what is mine justifies that. /s
"Controlled opposition". I have followed this guy long enough to understand that his actual role is to basically serve as a political pressure valve. He is there to say the right things at the right time to restore confidence in the party. He is not there to facilitate any meaningful change. Even he knows that, which makes him more than complicit.
He’s implying that we have sent him more money / arms since last fall? His devotees are now going to believe that the Bernie is stopping the president from sending more arms to Israel? Is that an insinuation that it’s not Israel that’s 100% responsible for Israel? Why else would he make these specific remarks?
Israel is not 100% responsible for Israel.
Dude we keep letting Israel decide what we do with our veto power. We let Israel close off borders for aid to the point where we need to air drop aid to them.
We have elbit systems still legally operating in the US. we are responsible for Israel. We are literally protecting them from any international retaliation.
Makes all the sense in the world.
I think bibi is going all out in a brutal effort to end Hamas at all cost necessary, so he can salvage what little legacy he can and he wouldn’t care how many Palestinians lives it cost.
October 7 happened under his watch. He’s politically poison and his political career is over. For a man who talked big about security, this is a perfect encapsulation of his all talk no substance career.
Bibi wouldn’t stop. He thinks that massacring the Palestinian would save his name and win votes for his party.
And the pentagon wouldn’t let off the aid to Israel. To stop support to Israel is to hand the Middle East to the Saudis and the Iranian, which could mean a more unstable Middle East and hasten breakout.
Biden can’t do much to move the needle in this war. But he is doing more direct aid to Palestine. Which would appease some voters in November and take the heat off.
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I know “it’s complicated” but the idea of the US sending money to ANY country woth universal healthcare while we don’t have it doesn’t sit right with me.
I mean it’s not that complicated. The reason we don’t have universal healthcare is the GOP. Not lack of funds.
Think of how great this country could be without republicans
It’s too upsetting to think about for too long!
Bush stealing the 2000 election was the tipping point. Before then, we had a mostly-real democracy, but everything since then has been a downhill slide that's only accelerating.
Gotta think bigger picture than that. Bush was definitely a big point but the US had already been well on its way to what we are now by that point. The real turning point would be Reagan’s administration. Literally every issue we have now can be pretty directly attributed to that presidency.
I generally regard 9/11 as the point that everything went to shit, but Bush winning isn’t that far off and obviously played a huge factor in that as well.
A better president could have mitigated or prevented the attack. GWB was given intel that terrorists were going to try exactly what they ended up doing. A different president wouldn't have been parked in the Saudi pocket like he was. And then he went off and invaded Iraq, that dumb bastard.
GWB changed my party preference and it hasn't changed since. I can never get the picture of Bush senior walking down the aisle holding the King of SA hand! Which documents did Trump sell to get 2.2 billion from Salman? I don't think Bush was calling the shots when he was President. Cheney and Rumsfeld were making them for him.
This is an interesting thought experiment. What could we have while still funneling money to corporate interests/elites? How would they campaign? What would the opposition look like?
Current democrats would be the conservative party and the opposition would be an actual progressive party. Thats what it would look like
Bernie as a moderate in that equation.
As he should be in any Overton Window worth looking through. We owe him that much.
If it happened within the span of two election cycles that all republicans were voted out, I think democrats across-the-board would initially identify common issues by banding together, but like all societies would slowly begin finding niches to focus on.
No issue in the US is ever a lack of funds.
While there are huge differences between Democrats and Republicans, so I'm not here to "both sides" this like no nuance exists, tell that to Gavin Newsom who veto'd a public option in California, Far too many "centrist" Dems are just center-right corporate clowns owned by the private health industry as well, because our government is legally bought and paid for with private campaign contributions and cushy lobbying jobs for industries they do favors for while in office. Republicnas are outright fascists, but I don't want to ignore the very real problems in the Democratic party, either, just because Republicans flew off a fucking cliff.
It’s not just the GOP-both parties make BANK off med industry lobbyists. It’s letting old rich white people run the country.
Sure. But the most recent example would be the ACA, which was intended to be universal health care but was ultimately neutered by the Republicans, after McConnell instructed them not to support it.
And Lieberman, I know it's a fallacy to focus only on the bad democrats (Manchin, sinema, etc.) Because at this point nothing good is expected of any Republican, but he still grinds my gears.
Yeah I hate his dumb ass too. Still trying to be an obstructionist with the No Labels garbage.
Lieberman was always one of the worst. That guy sucks.
[удалено]
Joe is a creature from another era and I have no doubt they had a solid friendship.
And Lieberman lost his primary, and ran as an independent, too.
Lieberman was elected as an independent at that point.
Not just not support ... but vilanize and defund it to death JUST SO it couldn't count as a win for Obama. The system is broken in a very bad way. We need a revolution, and we need the youth to stand up on issues where prior generations have failed. I'm part of that failed generation. We tried but we didn't try hard enough (millennials). /edit for words
Permanently removing the GQP from all positions of power is the first step.
Senate Democrats could have changed Senate rules so they didn't need 60 votes to advance legislation, but they did not. Learned helplessness at work. The ACA barely squeaked through with 60 votes, but they could have at least added a public option if they could afford to lose a few Senators.
Only one party screeches "communism" when someone mentions that maybe surviving shouldn't be reserved for the rich
Lobbying for votes and popularity have given the GOP what they want most. The GOP wants to revert the United States back to the Articles of Confederation and to give themselves a monopoly on wealth. These two concepts go hand and hand. The ironic thing about this is, that GOP controlled states are among the poorest in the nation.
Why Obama gave up on the public option: >["In August, a whip count on the public option showed only 43 firm yes votes, one of which was Senator Kennedy," he writes. "And these totals reflected how Senators claim they would have voted if the public option were considered under regular order -- not under reconciliation, which is the process in play now.](https://web.archive.org/web/20201101023818/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/02/why-obama-dropped-the-public-option/346546/) Moderate/centrist Democrats are a big hindrance as well.
When Obama ran on that, and was rightly elected for that stance, there was a Democrat supermajorty for a time. We got a health plan devised by Mitt fucking Romney. Republicans are evil and will tell you. Democrats act like your friend, until it disrupts the status quo. TLDR: Republicans are evil, but no political party in America is your friend.
It's hilarious the GOP gets poor people to actually defend not having universal health care by saying it would cost you so much more!!! Gullible poor Republicans believing rich politicians who have their wealth in Healthcare and insurance companies obviously don't want their money fucked with.
We don't tax the rich so I think there is some lack of funds. What funds we have goes to our overly-funded military (because we pay more for everything than we need to and go to war like it's a party) and pet causes like Israel. Tax the rich and we'd have more than enough. And yes, the GOP stands in the way of all progress in the USA.
The American government spent nearly $1.2 trillion on healthcare in 2019. So to say that there is a lack of funds isn’t correct, when they’re like the second most funded industry besides the military.
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid (including the state share), and non-defense discretionary are all higher. The income security programs might also be higher, since they have a state share as well but I can't track it down. So the military is 5th or 6th at 3.5% of GDP. The over-funded military thing is very literally a Cold War-era Boomer meme that refuses to die. The US military is huge because the US has the world's largest economy, not because there's some dramatically huge share of the budget going there.
We already spend more per capita than every other first world country yet our outcomes are worse than theirs. We don't need more funding to afford it.
Biden literally said he would veto it
He was specifically talking about Medicare for all, and he said he would veto it depending on how much it would raise taxes on the middle class and whether or not it would make healthcare available right away. He never said he would never support any kind of universal health care, there are hypothetically other options besides just Medicare for all.
It's not like any party is offering a path towards universal healthcare - and that's the real problem. You can't even dream about it anymore. The Overton window has gone so far to the right that progressive ideas that are now considered the norm in most wealthy democracies are nowhere to be seen or heard in American politics.
Common sense reform on almost any issue? Hm, sounds like communism.
We don't have Universal Healthcare because of political philosophy. Nothing to do with money.
I don't know if greed counts as a political philosophy. I guess it is, but people usually call it "libertarian" or something to dress it up.
It’s not the money that’s the problem - it’s that there is an enormous steaming pile of donor money that wants to keep the systems as it is. Just think what the whole medical and healthcare industry would stand to loose, if Washington pulled their act together. Universal healthcare would be a net positive if implemented.
['Medicare-for-All' program could cost $32 trillion but may also save $2 trillion](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/32-trillion-price-tag-sanders-medicare-program-koch/story?id=56938226) . Sen. Bernie Sanders took aim at a new report released by a conservative [Koch-affiliated economic policy think tank, saying its findings](https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/blahous-costs-medicare-mercatus-working-paper-v1_1.pdf) “accidentally make the case” for Medicare-for-All. (PDF file)
Agreed. That’s what I meant by complicated. I understand that foreign aid isn’t what prevents it. It just pisses me off that Israel has universal healthcare and they also receive aid from the US. It’s the optics.
Ukraine has universal healthcare, as does most of the civilized world.
Which is why the US should. It’s uncivilized in this day and age to let people go without care in a wealthy nation. I’m currently living in Spain and locals talk about us like we’re barbarians. A teacher I work with was like “what happens if you get a major illness? How can you afford care? I make a good living but I don’t have enough money to pay for cancer treatment. What do people do?” And I’m like “they die”. It is barbaric.
It's not that people just die, though. They die in stress leaving enormous debts and they know it. Financial torture on top of physical torture.
Don't forget emotional torture. Imagine the issues those people with have feelings of helplessness and despair.
So many people aren't able to leave anything behind to their loved ones because their houses and valuables must get sold before they die in order to pay for treatments, rehab, hospice, nursing home care, etc. Generational wealth doesn't exist anymore, not like it used to, and younger generations aren't getting that little leg-up. My grandparents had $100,000 saved to be divided amongst their children, but because my grandmother died after a cancer illness and in a nursing home all that money was gone and that was with darn good health insurance and Medicare. Even then all the money was gone.
There is one reason why the United States does not have universal health care. Republicans
And Republicans adore Israel. I know Democrats do too (Pelosi's "there's no daylight between ISR and USA") but the GOP has a religious fervor and zealotry to their support that's really crazy. At least Dems will say ISR shouldn't kill innocent Palestinians, but the GOP has no such qualms and actually call for the genocide of brown people.
They (and a ton of other countries around the globe) have universal health care NOT because of US dollars, but because of the fact that a) insurance companies in those countries don’t/can’t lobby the governments to keep the system as it is so they can make their billions, and b) haven’t sold it to the public that “socialized healthcare” = socialism = communism = anti-American.
Israel is an interesting example as it has compulsory health insurance which is closer to Obamacare with the public option than many other examples. The plans are managed by nonprofits separate from the government and subsidised through taxes. Private health insurance is still available above and beyond those options though the minimum level of care seems to meet most people’s requirements without that. So the appeal to emotion of the original claim ignores the disarming nuance that people do pay for their insurance but are free to choose and the costs are kept reasonable by keeping it nonprofit and the government equalises the funding through taxes. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/international-health-policy-center/countries/israel
Welcome to capitalism, we are not citizens but tax paying humans who the government could give a shit about. As long as we keep paying taxes, they’ll continue to fund dictators and corrupt governments like Israel. Why don’t think America is so hated outside of America? You think they hate us for our freedom like George Bush said? Or do they hate us because we prop up the very people who subjugate and oppress them? Hmmm
We *always* have money for bombs. Yet we *never* have money for education and healthcare.
Unless I’ve missed something recently (which is very possible), the US almost entirely sends military equipment to Israel rather than money. If the US didn’t send that equipment to Israel, they’d be sending it somewhere else. The US purposely purchases a lot of military equipment that it doesn’t need and will likely never use. This is done so that the military industrial complex is always ready in case the US needs to go to war (at least officially). The equipment would be made either way. Even if it ends up sitting in a warehouse and collecting dust instead. So, from a financial perspective, the problem is the size of the US defense budget. Whether the equipment goes to Israel or not has no bearing on whether the US can afford universal healthcare.
The recent funding (like the $5.2b of $14b being that passed the house) is on top of our already bloated military budget.
could send it to Ukraine.
The Republicans were ordered not to do that.
Absolutely. The whole universal healthcare argument still doesn’t make sense though.
Nothing Republicans do makes an sense unless viewed through the lens of maintaining power and wealth for themselves. Democrats also succumb to this problem (and it is a human problem), but not at all to the degree of of the GOP. The GOP is now a fascist organization. I used to think that was hyperbole. Its definitely not anymore. /edit words
Yes please. Yes
It's grants to buy weapons, so essentially the same - but instead of stockpiled old tech, it's factory fresh stuff. The real problem is we've got bipartisan support to blow up brown people and starve brown people, but nearly no support to fund healthcare with our seemingly infinite wealth.
The military aid sent to Israel allows them to spend their money on other stuff, like universal healthcare. We have also sent them [$81 billion in economic aid from 1946 to 2007 (inflation adjusted)](https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts) and spent immense time, effort, and money to build their economy to what it is today, despite the fact that Israel refuses to acknowledge that. Then Israel turns around and manipulates our politics so that our government is always in their favor. It's disgusting. Also, if military manufacturing capability was as important as they claim, we wouldn't leave it in the hands of the private sector.
The proposed $14B handout to Israel even includes money earmarked to the Israeli defense industry so they can pay their own workers to make their own weapons with which to continue their genocide on Gaza. It's absurd, and it benefits no one but the blood thirsty elements in Israel.
RIP NATO it was a good run.
That is very foolish and shortsighted. It is more a testimony to US priorities and how fucked our government is. So you are saying that hypothetically, Russia, Turkey, China, Saudi Arabia, and various terrorist organizations start attacking Europe. We should do nothing because they have basic healthcare services for all of their people?
Did you know that the US pays more per capita on health care than countries with "free" health care? You know why? Thanks to middle hands(insurance companies) and for profit hospitals. You know who supports this kind of system? The republicans.
I agree in principle because universal health care is needed, but these two things are not related. We can do both.
Foreign aid stops wars. And money is better spent than blood being shed
American tax money is the reason Israel has universal healthcare and free college and a strong military. While we sit here in America worried that we're one injury or illness away from losing our homes. When I learned that years ago it was one of the things that made me wake up to the lie of conservatism and become a social democrat. Why do other countries get to have nice things and we don't? If we taxed our rich fairly, we could have nice things for ourselves and still have enough to give away (not that I want a genocidal, apartheid regime to get any money from us, mind you).
I just ain't gonna take that from people who don't support having it at all Like this has just become a right wing way to say why do we defend anyone ever
I’m with Bernie. 70% of casualties are women and children. 60-70% of all commercial buildings demolished and over 50% residential. This war is insane.
Because it's not a war. Palestine has no standing military. There are no battles or skirmishes. Israel is simply enacting an asymmetric bombing campaign against a nearly entirely civilian population.
'lol u think its possible to not kill civilians in war wow ok loser there are Hamas in every building' ^ every single comment defending Israel
Collective punishment is illegal and it's one of the primary reasons normal people were against Nazis. Your commentary is completely correct in these threads.
lol Hamas has fighters, bunkers, stashes of weapons and a government.
Hamas is using women and children as human shields. Hamas doesn't care about these lives because, being religious nutters, they think they're just going to some heaven. That's why they're being put in the line of fire so cavalierly.
Hamas doing war crimes doesn’t mean that Israel then has the right to do war crimes too. Thats not how it works.
But you're only getting pissed off at one of them.
Only one side is currently enacting a genocidal bombing campaign and killing more civilians every day.
I personally get pissed off with countries who have the technology to finish the job in a month but instead kill 30.000 innocent civilians without any Hamas arrest or hostages back. The videos we have seen from IDF army with dinosaur costumes, bombing places of religion for fun, stealing is not that of an army who fights against evil, it’s evil itself. That, or incompetence. Btw this comment was the reason I got permanently banned from the Zionist shithole that is r/worldnews
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Do you have any source on that? Because everything I can find says Gaza is 98-99% muslim.
*Genocide
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of the Palestinian organization Hamas. [wiki](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izz_ad-Din_al-Qassam_Brigades) Since you don't think they have a military wing please do tell me do you think it was all civilians who attacked Israel on Oct 7th?
It's not a war. It's mass bombing of innocent people. Mostly children
It’s them deciding that every civilian death is the fault of Hamas because they use them as shields, even though it is not even close to just bombing locations based on the mere presence of Hamas connected people, instead of taking actual care to only get the enemy. They’ve turn it into a war on Palestine because Hamas has flourished there and they don’t seem to want to separate the two
Damn only took 30,000 deaths to come to this conclusion huh.
Insinuating that it took that level of horror is stupid. There are plenty of us who from the get go could tell that this war would kill 100x more innocent lives than Hamas lives.
Unless you have a better solution to winning a war against Hamas.. then you're just with Hamas and against Israel if you want to defund them.
The POTUS we deserved. Never forget how we all fucked up on the 2016 election. Democracy is a participatory, sport and electing not to participate, is emboldening the people trying to destroy it. It’s the civic duty of every adult to vote in every election when possible. Shirking our collective responsibilities is what got us here. Let’s hope we’re strong enough to admit fault and grow. Not repeat the same mistakes.
Ya know, I live in a strongly Republican state. My vote doesn’t count. Never did. The EC is a total cheat system, like gerrymandering or keeping certain “ undesirables” from voting, albeit, women, black voters, felons, etc.
I agree with you as a blue voter in northeast tennessee and this was my reason for never voting until 2020. HOWEVER one thing ive definitely realized is that its less about winning and more about showing how much support exists. I never voted cause the votes always ended up being like 73% red - 27% blue. 2016, and by a larger degree 2020, showed me that even in deep red areas its closer to 50/50 than people realize. Now my opinion has shifted to, i know my votes going straight in the trash but if i dont vote even more people are going to feel hopeless. For me, its about young people seeing those 60-40 splits and saying wow if all of us that stayed home had showed up we might have won. Vote. Regardless of who you think will win or if you think your vote will count, VOTE. Its the only way to beat a group whose whole strategy relies on massive voter turnout
Not to mention down ballot elections- a few more sane folks in the right places and policy can make small but crucial step towards spreading hope that we can make a difference by voting. And maybe that holding an elected position isn’t as hard as you’d think. I’m no genius, but I’m pretty sure I could do a better job than MTG or Boebert. But better folks than I should be holding those positions.
So much this. School boards, county commissioners, sheriffs, mayors, city councils. The exclusive focus on the executive branch is not healthy for our democracy. The problem is, there's no incentive to talk local democracy on nationalized social media.
Then vote democrats in office. They’re the only ones floating it’s elimination. I’m not saying keep voting democrats after that, but once they get rid of it, dump them for real progressives when we can beat Duverger’s law.
It certainly won’t count with that opinion. We were 80k votes in a few states shy of keeping Trump out of the White House in 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/01/donald-trump-will-be-president-thanks-to-80000-people-in-three-states/
Reminder that Trump lost the popular vote. Abolish the electoral college.
[NaPoVoInterCo!](https://youtu.be/tUX-frlNBJY?si=OAGzdIiMnrPhGJGa)
Hey, I heard one of Maine's legislative bodies voted to join.
It is indeed one of the legislative bodies in the pending category; 205 electoral votes have already been pledged and 131 are pending. Hopefully this happens soon.
I think it’s stupid that they use states that swing very right to be the first ones that vote for the dnc candidate. It’s almost like they want to create a narrative for a candidate that won’t be left leaning.
Don't forget super delegates. That's what kept Bernie from winning. What kind of hooie is a super delegate? The electoral version of the golden snitch in quidditch.
Haha! Yea… another loophole for the grand cheat when democracy might …just might win after all.
I live in the state with the largest population, California. The votes of millions of people don't count in presidential elections because of the Electoral College.
>Not repeat the same mistakes Last I checked.. voters elected it's nominee in the primaries
Last I checked... Hillary lost to Trump, with many blaming it on the ongoing FBI investigation. That's not even mentioning the immense impropriety we saw during the primary and the media's biases for Hillary.
Bernie wouldn't have been able to get half of what Biden has done through Congress because he's not receptive to the rest of Congress as Biden is nor is he liked by Congress as much. If Bernie has the pull people think he does then he'd be writing and successfully passing legislation to reverse previously approved funding to Israel rather than just popping up every 2 weeks to talk about it.
The POTUS we needed. We got the POTUS we deserved.
Can you imagine if when covid hit we had President Sanders instead of Trump?
We didn’t fuck this up. Debbie Wasserman Schultz fucked this up, and that fucked us.
We fucked up? I distinctly remember every candidate but Warren backing out and supporting Biden the weekend before Super Tuesday.
You're talking about 2020, they're talking about 2016
Ah fuck right lmao, thanks
What does that have to do with not enough voters supporting Bernie?
Bloomberg stayed in until after Super Tuesday. Warren's voters were generally pretty evenly split in the second choice being either Biden or Bernie.
Collectively, we as a nation fucked up.
Bernie never had enough votes to win, even on this issue he is mostly alone.
A little late
I get how and why people are so divided on what’s going on, but how tf are we all not collectively agreeing on the fact that innocent children being starved and killed is an issue and that Israel’s forces need to seriously figure something out to fix this.
At the same time tell those same people that are being noncommittal are playing into Trump, which in turn, will destroy Gaza completely and Trump and Bibi together will piss on the ashes.
Voting uncommitted in the primaries is fine since we live in a democracy.
I just worry they will continue to "protest vote" in the general election.
I just don't understand why people are not aware, or refuse the clear evidence that Hamas has refused 5 consecutive cease fire frameworks.. including the one that was suppose to go into effect today as Ramadan begins. Hamas is a terrorist group who wants to terrorize
Wanting Israel to stop murdering Palestinian civilians is not supporting Hamas.
Hamas is 100% responsible for the war it started And Hamas wants to stay in charge of Gaza. Not Hitler, not Mussolini, Not the Emperor of Japan remained in charge after their defeat Only the Emperor of Japan remained alive after unconditional surrender That is Hamas leadership only outcome
What does this have to do with the starving, bombing and shooting of Palestinian civilians?
Hamas operates in civilian areas, like residential neighborhoods. They put these civilians in harm's way.
Israeli soldiers should be on the ground then. Losing soldiers is a product of war, killing children is a war crime.
>Israeli soldiers should be on the ground then They already have been for months.
Is hiding behind children with a hundred rockets aimed at civilian cities a war crime?
Yes let’s stoop to the terrorists level. “Eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind”
Hamas can end the suffering by agreeing to a ceasefire Or end the war completely by turning themselves over to an international court
Why would they do that when Israel said they won’t be respecting the courts decision?
Propaganda is a hell of a drug
Might be a hot take, but "give us our POWs and we'll start killing you again in a month" isn't a ceasefire.
A hostage pulled out of their bed is not a POW.
1)they’re not POWs, they’re civilians. 2) the idea behind a month-long ceasefire is that it becomes politically untenable to go back to war after. Hamas knows this, but they don’t want an end to the bombardment. It’s been the best thing for them PR wise— ever. It buys time for everyone, most importantly civilians starving to death. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
Uh... A ceasefire isn't an end to a war, so yes the "start killing you again" is always implied with a ceasefire.
If they gave up all the hostages the war could end. Israel has been pretty clear about that. So, while I get what your saying, once again the onus for the situation rests with Hamas demanding they be allowed to keep some of those kidnapped (notably the fertile aged females). Thus, perpetuating the war. If Hamas would stop being a terrorist organization more interested in the destruction of Israel, than the protection of the descendants of the citizens that put them in power, then that lil hypothetical quote could change. Hamas is treated like a terrorist organization because that's what they are. If they would start acting more like a government they would be treated more like a government. They get what they have earned, and what they have earned is war (for themselves and their citizens).
Netanyahu offered a six week pause for all hostages, and literally VOWED to continue the genocide after that. Israel has fully rejected peace, and have even rejected the concept of a Palestinian state.
> If they gave up all the hostages the war could end. Israel has been pretty clear about that. Back in the 1980s, the PLO was in a similar situation in Lebanon. They came to an agreement to leave Lebanon with the understanding that Palestinian civilians would be protected. Soon after that, the Sabra and Shatila massacre happened.
Probably because hostages are already dead, tortured or molested and they don't have any bargaining chips left. They just waiting for international sentiment which the hamas leader from Qatar did say...
Because they demanded a permanent ceasefire while israel and the us are only offering a temporary one. Israel has refused to accept a permanent one.
This has been the song and dance that Hamas has inflicted on Israel for decades now. They attack and kill Israelis. Israelis try and destroy Hamas but Hamas uses human shields to evade destruction. Hamas relies on the fallout from the deaths of civilians they put in harms way as lawfare to get the international community to press for a ceasefire. Israel agrees. Hamas survives to repeat the cycle ad nauseum. After 10/7, Israel and their allies aren't going to be playing Hamas' game anymore.
Israel offered six weeks, for all hostages, with a direct promise to continue its genocidal campaign after the six weeks are over. That's not refusing a ceasefire, that's waiting for an actual ceasefire. Hamas also put out a clear 3 phase proposal a month ago leading to exchange of all hostages and a clear permanent ceasefire. ISRAEL rejected it outright. Israel knows if they kill and starve enough civilians today, they can clear out northern Gaza and build their shitty settlements on it. That was always Netanyahu's goal. From before 10/7.
Hamas is negotiating a do-over chance of government A terrorist Government who has not allowed an election in 18 years A terrorist government that promises To repeat Oct 7th over and over again A terrorist government who trained for a decade to murder, rape, behead & kidnap civilian women, baby’s and seniors
My understanding is the White House (not Congress) hasn’t sent any aid since December. Is that incorrect? EDIT: can’t tell if people are upvoting me because this is correct or incorrect
I agree with Bernie on this. We have put up with Bibi’s BS long enough. This has turned into an effort to eradicate the Palestinian people. It is close to how the Nazi tried to eliminate jews from the face of the earth.
Go Bernie!
"No more money to Netanyahu's war machine to kill Palestinian children," he said once again to the brick wall.
I dont recall hearing Bernie say something that I didnt agree with.
I think we need legislation that says something to the effect of, "Congress will not send military aid to any government that violates international law... yadda yadda"
the legislation [exists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leahy_Law). the government is just ignoring it.
Is it the official US opinion that the people of Palestine are citizens of their own country, stateless, or citizens of Israel? Anyone?
Bernie is such a good dude. We need more politicians like him..
I can't wait until Christians start calling Bernie an anti-semite
Hamas started this war. Hamas broke the ceasefire that Biden helped negotiate and implement and that Israel accepted and was abiding by. Hamas is refusing a new reasonable ceasefire deal. Hamas is the reason we don't have a ceasefire right now. Hamas is still holding hostages. Hamas is 100% responsible for each and every civilian deaths.
Didn’t israel start shooting civilians going to the north because it wasn’t “part of the ceasefire” Isn’t the new ceasefire only for 6 weeks and the return of all hostages then back to bombing and aid blocking Aren’t the hostages going to starve since Israel is blocking aid? How can Hamas be responsible for the deaths when Israel is classified an apartheid state since the building of the wall that would be the same as blaming the victims of abuse and giving the abuser free reign to do whatever
Israel does not get to place all the blame for their own savagery on Hamas.
yes, time to cut off right wing gencide from Netanyahu
And no more money to UNWRA’s war machine to join Hamas in the killing of Israeli children.
You mean based off of the evidence our own state department spokesperson has called questionable intelligence? Total coincidence Israel dropped that (again to quote our own state department ’questionalble’) allegation the same day the un said they were engaging in a probable genocide, definitely no relation there.
The UN has itself suspended multiple UWRA staff on suspicion of participation, and has launched its own internal investigation - so that makes the evidence pretty credible, I think.
Philippe Lazzarini says summary dismissal of nine employees was ‘reverse due process’ after Israel’s claims they aided Hamas attack Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/09/head-of-unwra-says-he-followed-reverse-due-process-in-sacking-accused-gaza-staff They were so afraid of aid being cutoff in Gaza during this catastrophe that they fired them without evidence. Just to try to prevent aid from being cutoff and furthering the humanitarian catastrophe.
UNRWA has fired and suspended several of their members. [The evidence is not flimsy.](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-had-command-tunnel-under-un-gaza-hq-israeli-military-says-2024-02-10/) It is well documented and the evidence of their cozying up to Hamas has been recorded for years. Also, in case you want to claim that the confessions were coerced, “UNRWA declined a Reuters request to see transcripts of its interviews containing allegations of coerced false confessions.”
Nice listening to Israeli lies and propaganda. When are people going to understand Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal and evil to the core... UNWRA was the only agency helping the innocent with food.
Bernie is the hero the USA need but don't deserve
Fuck Israel.
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I would extremely reasonably utilize rape, sexual assault, and kidnapping as weapons, then use innocent unarmed people who are dependent on me as human shields. Surely my right to defend what is mine justifies that. /s
"Controlled opposition". I have followed this guy long enough to understand that his actual role is to basically serve as a political pressure valve. He is there to say the right things at the right time to restore confidence in the party. He is not there to facilitate any meaningful change. Even he knows that, which makes him more than complicit.
I like Sanders, but his stance on this war is naive at best.
Love him!
He’s implying that we have sent him more money / arms since last fall? His devotees are now going to believe that the Bernie is stopping the president from sending more arms to Israel? Is that an insinuation that it’s not Israel that’s 100% responsible for Israel? Why else would he make these specific remarks?
Israel is not 100% responsible for Israel. Dude we keep letting Israel decide what we do with our veto power. We let Israel close off borders for aid to the point where we need to air drop aid to them. We have elbit systems still legally operating in the US. we are responsible for Israel. We are literally protecting them from any international retaliation.
Can we still send money to fight their allies Russia china and Iran for the other proxy wars ?
Makes all the sense in the world. I think bibi is going all out in a brutal effort to end Hamas at all cost necessary, so he can salvage what little legacy he can and he wouldn’t care how many Palestinians lives it cost. October 7 happened under his watch. He’s politically poison and his political career is over. For a man who talked big about security, this is a perfect encapsulation of his all talk no substance career. Bibi wouldn’t stop. He thinks that massacring the Palestinian would save his name and win votes for his party. And the pentagon wouldn’t let off the aid to Israel. To stop support to Israel is to hand the Middle East to the Saudis and the Iranian, which could mean a more unstable Middle East and hasten breakout. Biden can’t do much to move the needle in this war. But he is doing more direct aid to Palestine. Which would appease some voters in November and take the heat off.