Marc in Calif

Don't you read the news? Egypt follows Israel's lead in controlling the Rafah Crossing. So Israeli actions control the border crossing into Gaza. That's simple enough for even YOU to understand! 🤣 I can keep this up forever. You know I'm right. Depite your own name, you don't own the truth! 💯

That's trivial. You know as well as I do that Israel can easily leverage its relationship with Egypt to close that border anytime it wants. And although Israel does not directly control the Rafah crossing, it monitors all activity in southern Gaza from Kerem Shalom military base and from other surveillance. If it sees anything it doesn't like, it will have Rafah closed again. Surely you know this: Closures often depend on the security and political situation on the ground. While Israel has no direct control over the crossing, Egypt’s closures often coincide with Israel’s own tightening of restrictions on Gaza. Israel occupies Gaza just as much as it occupies the West Bank -- and you know it. You're just too afraid to admit it to yourself. 😘

I know you HATE the word "megalomania" because Putin himself has been accused of it so many times! 🤣 Putin’s geopolitical megalomania and its roots in his imperial conception of Russian national identity

Here's another of my favorite political bloggers -- the Rude Pundit: ___________________________________________________ Democrats Win Just About Everything Everywhere All at Once In last night's absolute ass-reaming of Republicans, Democrats proved that the best strategy is just to be fucking Democrats. That means supporting abortion rights without any of the bullshit equivocating that gives credence to anti-choice arguments. That means calling out the culture war shit for the plain idiocy that it is. And it means that polls don't vote. A few takeaways on very, very good night, addressed directly to the GOP. Hey, dicks, 1. You have pissed off the women of the United States in ways you can't even imagine. The last year has been a sequel to the Dobbs decision sending abortion rights back to the states. Call it "The Revenge of Roe" because women are in warrior mode over protecting their bodily autonomy. And you withering cocks have painted yourself into a corner with the blood of women who have been hurt and killed by the Supreme Court's monstrous decision. Who celebrated the end of Roe? Whose likely presidential candidate proudly proclaims that that he appointed the justices who made it possible? You kept telling women that actions have consequences when it comes to sex. Now look who's finding out after fucking around. And this won't stop and won't slow down. Democratic women are coming for you. 2. Another way you pissed off women and all parents is telling them that they don't have the right to take care of their kids. See, your child getting taught at school that slavery was bad or that gay people exist isn't impinging on your "rights" as parents. You can teach them whatever lies you want at home. What does fuck with the relationship between parents and kids is when you fucking outlaw medical treatment that parents want for their kids, whether it's abortion or transgender care. You pass laws saying what kids can and can't talk about and force them to repress their identities and you are shitting all over parents. That's done. It failed. It failed big time. 3. And Gen Z is coming after you motherfuckers. I love that we finally have a generation that has no reason to believe the moronic myth of the "good" Republican. They grew up with racist attacks on Barack Obama and then watched Donald Trump turn the joint into a plague-ridden hate camp, and they saw Republicans at every level merrily go along with it. They are woke, and your mocking of their wokeness makes you into everything they fucking despise. They have queer friends, they have trans friends, they have friends of different faiths. They watched the George Floyd video and marched in Black Lives Matter protests and then watched as you lied and said they were violent rioters. And then you banned the fucking books they like and are continuing to destroy the climate, which dicks them over for their futures. Goddamn, you are fucked with this generation. You can change. Moderate on abortion. Give up the culture wars. Do shit that shows you understand that science is real. But you're motherfuckers, so you'll likely just try to figure out how to suppress the vote. Okay, I'm done talking to the conservabitches. Lemme end here with a few awesome races beyond abortion rights in Ohio and the Virginia legislature. 1. In Virginia, pre-election, on the long list of things that matter to voters, transgender issues placed dead last. That's not because they want trans people to not have rights. It's because no one fucking cares if people want to do something that harms no one. And then openly trans Danica Roem, already in the state assembly, became the first trans person to win a seat on the state Senate, beating a conservative ex-cop supported by giant loser Gov. Glenn Youngkin. That ex-cop campaigned on banning trans athletes from high school sports. And that wasn't enough to push voters away from Roem. 2. All over the country, school board candidates backed by the savage hatemongers Moms for Liberty lost bigly. The Moms want your kids ignorant, crazy Christian, pregnant with no choice, and hiding their true identities while not allowing them to read any books that have kissing in them. They are just the fucking worst and deserve all the scorn that can be heaped on them like piles of manure. But, man, they lost so bad everywhere. In Iowa, they supported 13 candidates. Only one won. In one district, they just had to get in the top four vote-getters to get a seat. There were 8 candidates, 4 supported by Moms for Liberty. They all fucking lost. So they can fuck off all the way back to whatever crusty old bible they crawled out from under. 3. And in New York, Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five who was imprisoned for a horrendous crime he did not commit, on whom Donald Trump once took out a full-page ad calling for his execution, who was exonerated 2002 after 13 years in confinement, won a seat on the New York City Council. Yeah, that's right. Soon, Salaam will be an elected official and Donald Trump might die behind bars. That's karma in a perfect form. It's okay to feel good today, Democrats. It's okay to ignore those shit polls for Joe Biden (which, c'mon, a year out, who the fuck cares?). It's okay to celebrate that we might just have a future.

I struck a VERY raw nerve indeed! I'm so sorry that I made you so angry that you're now lashing out with venom and juvenile ad hominem attacks. Hopefully you'll be able to calm down soon. Is there anything I can do? 🙏

Very much indeed! And it was a VERY BAD night for Drumpf -- for 2023, for 2024, and forever into his ignomious future. 😆

I evidently struck a very raw nerve! Did I poke your Puti-philia bubble too hard? I'm so sorry. 🥰

Democrats, liberals, progressives -- all had great success in the elections on Tuesday, 8 November. 😃 The Biggest Loser was Drumpf himself, as the causes and candidates he supported went down to ignominious defeat. Before I start discussing all of the big wins, let me just post the following report from my favorite columnist. (For those of you who are non-native speakers of English or are simply confused, the following report is SATIRE.) OHIO (The Borowitz Report) Irate Republican officials in Ohio have been crying foul over Tuesday night’s election results, claiming that there were “widespread cases” of women voting across the state. Harland Dorrinson, a G.O.P. operative in Lake County, said that he had “eyewitness accounts” of “swarms of women” standing in long lines outside of polling places. “Many of our poll workers spotted women going into voting booths and literally casting votes,” he said. “These were not isolated incidents.” Dorrinson said the “nightmare scenario” that unfolded on Tuesday has dire implications for both Ohio and the nation. “There is every indication that women meddled in this election,” he said. “What’s to stop them from doing it again in 2024?”

FYI... Israel controls ALL access to Gaza, including its borders, airspace, and territorial waters. That means access by people and access to materials, food, medicine, and equipment. So yeah, Israel is still "occupying" Gaza. An occupation does NOT always require settlers, government offices and agencies, or businesses. If a region doesn't fully control its borders, airspace, and territorial waters, it's occupied. Your description is the same kind of "phony narrative" that Putin's lackeys and supporters repeat when they claim that "Putin is not a member of -- and doesn't control -- the United Russia party." We all know that even though Putin might not be an "official member," it's HIS party because it automatically does his bidding -- he heads its list of candidates and he runs as a United Russia candidate. So it's definitely PUTIN'S PARTY in the regular sense of possession and association. 😀😀😀

The Soviets actually sent billions of dollars of weapons to Nicaragua in the 1980s. In preparation for a stepped-up war with the U.S.-backed contras, the Nicaraguan government has received large shipments of military hardware in recent weeks, including several Soviet-made helicopter gunships, according to military and diplomatic sources. The sources, who asked not to be identified, said the shipments included six to eight new Soviet MI-24 assault helicopters, which would double the number of these gunships in the Sandinista fleet. The Sandinistas also have acquired new surface-to-air missiles that are more sophisticated than any they previously have had, one analyst said. But they were too afraid to install long-range missiles. They saw what happened in Cuba a couple of decades earlier! 😁 And Putin's Russia would be too scared to even try to attempt such an act today. 🥰

A statement that starts with "The Jew who owned the museum... " is typical of anti-Semitic writing. It connects religion and business/money in a common trope that has been associated with Jewish people since the Middle Ages in Europe. No explanation or clarification can excuse this type of statement. But I'm eager to see the reactions and responses to my comment. We can only raise our eyebrows. 🙄

There are 4-5 or 6 members here who thrive on making comments that create controversy where controversy simply doesn't exist. ☺️

Democrats, liberals, progressives -- all had great success in the elections on Tuesday, 8 November. 😃 The Biggest Loser was Drumpf himself, as the causes and candidates he supported went down to ignominious defeat. Before I start discussing all of the big wins, let me just post the following report from my favorite columnist: OHIO (The Borowitz Report) Irate Republican officials in Ohio have been crying foul over Tuesday night’s election results, claiming that there were “widespread cases” of women voting across the state. Harland Dorrinson, a G.O.P. operative in Lake County, said that he had “eyewitness accounts” of “swarms of women” standing in long lines outside of polling places. “Many of our poll workers spotted women going into voting booths and literally casting votes,” he said. “These were not isolated incidents.” Dorrinson said the “nightmare scenario” that unfolded on Tuesday has dire implications for both Ohio and the nation. “There is every indication that women meddled in this election,” he said. “What’s to stop them from doing it again in 2024?”

Let me correct that for you. The only appropriate word to describe your "story" is simplistic.

Apparently the logic of correct verb forms isn't clear to you at all! 🤡

That implies that you didn't like or appreciate what he mentioned. As in: "You had to mention race, didn't you?" I'm enjoying watching you try to wriggle out of this. 😍

I'm so glad you're not in a position to make decisions that potentially kill innocent civilians -- including children. 🙈 The indiscrimate killing of civilians is a war crime, but we all know that Israel doesn't like following international law. Some people actually respect Israel for being an outlaw.

Your comment says something much more significant about YOU. Being racist isn't a good look for anyone, but maybe you really like that look for yourself. You definitely try hard enough. 😵‍💫

And now you've mastered the introductory module in the course Cross-Cultural Communication in Southeast Asia. 😁

You'll find that being a true flâneur is quite impossible in either Jakarta or Manila. Certain areas are easily walkable (and quite safe) for limited stretches and provide sights and sites to observe at an easy pace. But mostly those two megalopolises are collections of mini-cities, former villages, and large neighborhoods that aren't conducive to strolling. And getting to the various areas for authentic flânerie can often be a lengthy and daunting process.

Thank you for saying this! 👏 Some sad people will nevertheless proudly wear the Sex Tourist badge -- with all the notorious behavior that usually accompanies the term.

I was born in the same year that Israel was created. We're the same age. I completely ASSURE you that I'm not "uninformed." I've followed Israel and the Middle East since the State of Israel was 10 years old. I know ALL of the issues, wars, attacks, occupations, and UN resolutions. For Israel, the 1967 war had consequences and responsibilites based on international law and treaties. Israel chose not to abide by those consequences and responsibilities. The "uninformed" trope is what know-nothings like you bring out of their closet when they're challenged on one of their cherished topics. It's an excuse -- not a meaningful response. ☺️

Absolutely impossible -- every single Swede loves herring! 🎣

The UN helped to create the State of Israel because it supported both Jews and, specifically, Zionism. But the UN did not plan for or agree to Israel's occupation of -- and settlements in -- the designated Palestinian regions of the state. As you well know, UN resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 446 (1979), 452 (1979), 465 (1980), 476 (1980), 478 (1980), 1397 (2002), 1515 (2003), and 1850 (2008) have condemned: Acquisition of territory by force Permanent settlements in that territory Altering the demographic composition, character, and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, including, inter alia, the construction and expansion of settlements, transfer of Israeli settlers, confiscation of land, demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law and relevant resolutions This, I repeat, not anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias. It's opposition and condemnation of illegal acts taken by the State of Israel since 1967. I am Jewish. I support the State of Israel's right to exist. I contributed money to help establish the State of Israel. But I am NOT anti-Israel and anti-Jewish. I challenge you to prove that I am.

The opposite of "14 years old" is definitely not "muscled ageing hunks"! Stop already with the extreme black-or-white comparisons! 😃