The Politics Thread

[janea4old]

oh Hillary's op-ed is good

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/23/opinion/kamala-harris-donald-trump.html  

https://archive.is/0hod7 

[janea4old]

Netanyahu to address Joint Session of Congress Wed. July 24, 2024.

The usual procedure for a Joint Session of Congress (the House and Senate all meeting together) ... would be:
the Vice President of USA is also president of the Senate, and the VP sits on the dais next to the Speaker of the House. 
The VP as president of the Senate, is the presiding officer.

Kamala Harris as VP and thus president of the Senate, would preside,
however she will *not* attend.  She had a prior commitment that was planned long before Biden dropped out of the election.  Kamala Harris will be in Indianapolis for the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Grand Boulé.
More about that here:
(Link from WPTA channel 21 news)
and here (Link from AP)
(Link to event site)
Organization's site https://zphib1920.org/

Harris could chose to skip that and be at Congress, but has declined to change her plans.

The next in line to preside would be Senator Patty Murray of the State of Washington, as she is President Pro Tempore of the Senate.   But Murray has declined to preside and released a statement: "Securing a lasting, mutual ceasefire is of the utmost importance right now, and I will continue to push for one to be reached as soon as possible. I hope Prime Minister Netanyahu will use the opportunity to address how he plans to secure a ceasefire – and lasting peace in the region."

As of the most recent update I read, the role of presider for this event will be Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, who is the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, so apparently he'll be seated on the dais?

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois is the Senate Majority Whip and he is boycotting the Netanyahu speech.  He said in a statement on Tuesday that Israel’s war in Gaza under Netanyahu’s direction "is a brutal strategy beyond any acceptable level of self-defense", adding: "I will stand by Israel, but I will not stand and cheer its current prime minister at tomorrow’s joint session."

Quotes from Murray and Durbin via The Guardian live blog on Wed. July 24. (Link)   More quotes from other politicians at that link as well.

From Doug Adams of NBC:
https://x.com/DougNBC/status/1816093108133658963
The #NBC Capitol Hill team says more than 30 House & Senate Democrats are planning to skip Netanyahu’s speech today to Congress.
Some will boycott it entirely.
Others will listen from their offices instead of the chamber.
And some have planned counter-programming events.

 

J.D. Vance is scheduled to skip Netanyahu's speech and and instead will be at a fundraising event in Fort Wayne, Indiana, hosted by the Indiana businessman Bill Bean.

Various reports say that Biden or Harris, or both?
will meet with Netanyahu at the White House on Thurs. July 25.
This has been updated a few times, so I'm not certain who/when.

Supposedly (?) Netanyahu will meet with Tr*mp at Mar-a-Lago on Friday July 26.

 

Edit: the Guardian live blog says Chuck Schumer will attend Netanyahu's speech to Congress,
but Nancy Pelosi will NOT attend.

Bernie Sanders gave a speech yesterday on the Senate floor in which he pointed out that Netanyahu is a war criminal and therefore should not be addressing Congress.

 

Edit again per the Guardian live blog.  Apparently Netanyahu brought with him some Israelis who are family members of those who were captured by Hamas on Oct. 7, (and/or there are Americans who are now in Washington DC who are relatives of the captives, and currently connecting with Netanyahu?)
*** Some of the politicians who are not attending the speech, will be instead meeting with those family/relatives of the captives.

Edited July 24, 2024 by janea4old

[Khan]

That, too.  Either way, many women and young girls who are in sex trafficking are not in it because they enjoy having sex; and our society's insistence on branding them as harlots and jezebels who deserve whatever retribution comes their way is just plain wrong.

If I were on Team Trump, I would be thinking very carefully about our options regarding JD Vance.  He's giving me Sarah Palin vibes, and we know how that went down, lol.

[janea4old]

From what I have observed from speaking with people in real life, as well as what I've seen online, it seems that there have been Democrats who are younger or youth who have been upset about Biden's stance on the Israel/Gaza situation.   It would seem that some of them who were despairing or apathetic are now energized to vote for Harris because her stance on Israel/Gaza seems to be more aware of the bigger picture.

I'm not sure what I think about all of that, but that's what I have observed.   This could affect the outcome of the election.

_________________________________________________
 

From The Guardian (Link)

In the two days after Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race, Vote.org recorded its highest number of new voter registrations over a 48-hour period that the organization has seen during the 2024 cycle, the organization told the Guardian.

The organization said in a statement that the site saw a roughly 700% increase in daily new voter registrations during that period, totaling over 38,500. Young voters, aged 18 to 34, made up the bulk (83%) of those registrations, the organization added.

Edited July 24, 2024 by janea4old

[DramatistDreamer]

Netanyahu has been increasingly isolated and it shows. Even his government’s military is displeased with his decision making.

[Vee]

delete - older clip than I thought.

Kamala is edging forward (click to enlarge):

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Edited July 24, 2024 by Vee

[Khan]

Several of my FB friends believed Joe Biden was a "bad candidate" for that very reason.  (One in particular - who, by the way, is not at all sorry to see Biden go - also cited his administration's border policies, which my friend (and former classmate) called "cruel").

I, myself, reasoned that that was one area where Biden was perhaps too "old school" to understand the complexities of the situation.  What might have been true about Israel and Palestine in the '60's, '70's, '80's and even '90's isn't necessarily what's still true today.  Nevertheless, I didn't believe that was enough to keep the man from serving another term as our president.

Plus, for those younger voters, it's just a change from having to choose between two, old, white guys, which, I will admit, was always going to be tough to get them to do, especially if they're old enough to remember Barack Obama.

Now, it's Trump and Trump alone who is looked upon as the Old White Guy in the race; and that, coupled with J.D. Vance proving already to be a mistake as his running mate, means his campaign team's job just got a whole lot harder.  That's why I think it's crucial for Harris' VP pick to be a relatively safe choice: white, male, Christian (although, not necessarily evangelical) and heterosexual.

Edited July 24, 2024 by Khan

[Vee]

 

[Liberty City]

I shouldn't say it... I shouldn't say it... I shouldn't say it...

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[Khan]

At this point, is there anyone left who hasn't been offended by something that man has said or done?

[I Am A Swede]

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(Sorry for making everyone nauseous...)

[Juliajms2]

Yes, but not because they want to leave the hostages in Gaza and Hamas to regroup. 

Honestly, it makes me sick that I have to vote for the party that those disgusting protesters are a part of.  They make Democrats look like a bunch of terrorist supporting crackpots. They were literally cheering for Hamas and raising their flag.

I'm sure preventing Jewish students from going to their classes, boycotting Jewish business and shooting up Jewish day schools was all to free Gaza though. The open antisemitism is horrific, but not that surprising.

Not to mention all that death to America bullshit. No thank you. It doesn't even matter to me that this was funded by Iran. They found enough people to go along with them. Still, as disgusted as I am that some leaders in our party are rape denying shills of Iran, I will still vote D.

You don't even have to say. Even JD Vance knows what he is. That's what makes him even more despicable.

[DramatistDreamer]

Isn’t this what’s happening? They’ve left areas, declaring them free from Hamas, only to have to return. Sadly, it reminds me of the U.S. with Iraq and Al Qaeda (who still exist, but have fanned out and joined with other groups) and ISIS (also around).

[Juliajms2]

I really don't believe Israel can completely Hamas out without killing a lot more people (which they shouldn't). Gaza is much smaller than Iraq, so I think it's a little easier to destroy their military command centers. 

There's a reason diplomacy has failed over and over in this conflict. You have people who believe they are serving God by becoming martyrs versus the Jews who believe they need their own country and army to survive. What I've seen over the last eight months makes me think they are right. It's tragic.

[JaneAusten]

I don't think it's that black and white. First, there have been protests again in Israel by citizens against Netanyahu. They want him gone.  They see how little if anything he did to get hostages released.  There were reports not that long ago in Israeli papers how Netanyahu actually yelled at some of the families of the hostages, basically telling them to get over it. Not exactly that but that was the intent.

Second, people keep thinking Hamas is a group of people. That is the same mistake the US made about Al Qaeda.  It's not. You can't destroy an ideology. Biden early on tried to warn the Israeli Gvmt based on our own experiences after 9/11. They didn't listen and I believe Netanyahu in particular, had no intention of listening. I found his address to congress today nauseating. All he's done is prolong things to save his own skin. And this may be unpopular to say, but I think he intentionally allowed the attack which he was warned was in the works for over a year.  Heck for as much as he claims Hamas is a terrorist group, of course they are, what did he do to stop them. Nothing.  It's like he wanted it to happen. He authorized the release of money to Hamas 3 weeks before the attack and nothing has happened to the Hamas leadership in Qatar.  

Now they have killed how many thousands of innocent children trying to destroy an ideology.  Again, how did that work out for the US. Al Qaeda still exists and our involvement in Iraq helped to create ISIS.  And I have ZERO desire for the US to be pulled into a war with Iran that Bibi is itching for. This is not Iraq. Iran actually has serious military capabilities.