Hatfort

The problem of what Biden says is quite obvious, the other side of the coin. Palestine has the right to defend itself too. This mentality is harmful and we gotta start getting over it. We are, but Biden is old school, his position is not a surpisse. Now, I'm not gonna pretend the two sides are equally at fault, I don't believe that for a second. What the Netanyahu administration is doing is terrorism. Right now it seems that they've been escalating the conflict because it benefits them in the new government negotiations. Sad but true. People and children are dying for this shit. They just bombed a media building. That's peace and free speech, right? Yang fucked it up, that was funny. He is in a bad spot because he has had quite a progressive support history and they are not going to take that from him if he wants to lead them. Liberals won't trust him either though.

I think addressing this topic in extreme terms like saving the planet is quite disingenuous. If as humans we reduce meat consumption, it will be good for the environment, the less we eat, the better. Why? Because meat production requires a lot of resources and land. When you eat a steak, you are also consuming all that the cow ate during all its life, the water that growing that feed was needed, the land to grow that feed, the costs of processing and transporting that to the animals, the medicines that those animals were given preventively. It's not about the methane, at least not only. It's a lot that's behind the meat and we are close to 8 billion human beings now. The problem will catch up with us if these 8 billion start eating meat at the rate of the developed world citizens. That won't happen because the planet can't sustain it. Now, can we fuck things up? Wait and see. Maybe I was wrong and the terms were correct, but you gotta change the won't for will.

I watched the movie, sorry, guilty pleasure. I like dumb action movies. Presents a 17-year-old girl taught by her father using guns, who also intervenes at some point, as the saviors of a school kidnapping and shooting situation, in contrast to the school staff and police itself who are totally incompetent. If it was another action movie, fine by me, but I just cannot abstract from the real-world problem that exists, mostly in the USA. It's quite tactless, the very least. Just today we could see this loony congresswoman, Marjory Greene, following a real school shooting survivor, recording him, asking him questions, and telling him that she owns guns, what the fuck is wrong with her. Back to the movie, the kidnapers are four students, led by one, who broadcasts the entire thing because he basically wants to be famous, that's his motivation. Whatever. By the way, I don't think it's very common for school shooters to take hostages this way for long periods of time, normally they just go with their guns and munition, and do all the damage they can as fast as they can, then they are stopped or killed by the police, if they haven't killed themselves first. In that situation what you need is luck not to be in front of them when they start, run fast, and call the police, who have protocols and training to deal with this kind of shit. Well, if you had the chance to disarm a shooter somehow, then good for you, and it's not unwise, because he's gonna shoot you anyway, but it's not very realistic. If the message they want to send is that the solution is to have more people with access and training with guns, as the girl and her father, it's really dumb. Because what about the other side, the school shooters? In real life as well, they have easy access to firearms and that is why there is a problem in the first place. There needs to be more gun control, not only for school shootings but crime in general. In my defense, I like serious movies too, but I had to watch this shit myself. I wanted to dislike it more, but it was at least entertaining, sorry.

Sometimes antiracism goes too far, I can agree on that, but not most of the time. The trend of being more concerned about antiracism than about racism feels wrong to me.

Nancy Pelosi is willing to go forward with the impeachment if Pence doesn't make the move to remove Trump with the 25th amendment, which will probably be the case, as the president has only a few days left in office. Glad to hear she is all in with her intention to prosecute Trump. He went too far, his serious lies caused this and he encouraged the mob to act for him with the final intention to put him in office instead of Biden, the real winner of the election. As a side note, he said he would be there with them, but he totally abandoned them in the end. He sent them his love though, after perpetrating all those attacks on a democratic institution in which five people died, and they will have to face legal consequences for their actions now.

This is awesome, Schwarzenegger can reach conservatives, one of their own that they admire with a piece of patriotic music in the back. The message was good, as he didn't skip pointing Trump as what he is and what he did. And he keeps the Conan sword!! I admire him too!!

If someone would have stolen an election, I don't care which side, protests would have been in fact legit. The thing is, Biden won, there is no evidence of fraud and there is evidence that it has been a clean election. There is room for improvements, but votes were counted normally and the result was neat. No judge could accept any of his allegations or objections about the process as valid or significant to the results. If someone is trying to steal the election, that's Trump. He had nothing to back his position up, and there he is, claiming that he has won and that the election has been stolen from him. What he has done has been a threat to democracy, unprecedented in US history. His party members have not been up to the situation either, as many of the loud media propagandists, but this last was expected. The MAGA mob that attacked the Capitol should respond for their actions, protesting is one thing, entering by force an official democratic institution is another, and the clash caused victims. But the chain of responsibility clearly ends up at the very top, this wouldn't have happened if Trump had not insisted on a victory that never belonged to him. I never thought Trump had a chance to repeat as president, he didn't have the votes, no judge could accept his baseless claims, too much stretching for most media, and the military has not backed him either, which would have been a crazy last resort. He should be impeached or processed for this, the sooner, the better.

They will say: What the fuck they were thinking when they elected this clown in 2016? The man wearing horns has been arrested. He proudly published his name on Twitter, he sees himself as a real patriot fighting for the rightful president. Some Republicans were shamelessly blaming Antifa for this, without providing any real evidence, what a surprise, and this guy was pointed as one of them. Of course, this wasn't done by Antifa, those are MAGA people 100%, this guy must have felt insulted, so he had to come out. The right has a problem now when they point the left as the violents against liberty or whatever they say. The problem is called January 6, 2021. There was more evidence before, but this is like the cherry on the top of the cake. A huge cherry.

I expected Trump to be that irresponsible not to concede, but I didn't expect the overwhelming majority of Republican politicians to be so coward not to speak up and clearly say that his candidate lost and that there has not been any voter fraud in such a long time. What we've seen the other day is a consequence of that. A considerable part of Trump's followers truly believe that the election was stolen from them, they believe every word his leader tells them. In their head, they are saving democracy, although they really are doing the opposite, they are trying to put someone in office without winning an election. It's madness, it's a shame. Trump will be held responsible for this in history because he is. I don't know to what extent he could be legally held for this now.

@Mesopotamian Look, first I'm sorry you have to live in a clearly unfair situation, with no real freedom or opportunities even after the democracy has been established. As it's been said, sometimes it's not enough to overthrow a tyrant, development doesn't occur overnight, societies need time to evolve. I'm not sure what you mean when you say Irak is not a country. Unless you mean something different with that word, what we usually understand with it is a politically independent piece of land with its own laws and sovereignty, differentiated from others around. Well, man, Irak is a country right now by that definition. One piece of land that is not is, for example, Kurdistan. So about Kurdistan, the more democracy comes to Irak, the more difficult is going to be to hold this region unified. From what I'm seeing, it's not a minority of them wanting independence, it seems an overwhelming majority. In the non-binding referendum for independence celebrated in 2017, over 90% of them voted in favour and 70% of the population voted. That's sustainable only with force, I think the independence of Kurdistan is inevitable in a medium-term, at least the part from Irak. You say you are friends with some of them, but in general, you've spoken very negatively about them. I'm sure they are not perfect, but some of the problems you point about them may be precisely caused by the fact that they live under laws dictated by others and sometimes against them, which they may start fixing once they get a real degree of independence.

@Vrubel I'm open to reading what he has to say about the topic and I have the right to share what I think as well, I'm not lecturing him down, we just disagree. But one thing is sharing different points and disagreeing, and another is what he is constantly doing, putting words, ideas, or assumptions on me and what he calls people like me, because it makes the discussion more convenient for him and that are not true. He is manipulating and, not only I'm not going to take it, but I'm going to address it when it happens. So you get over that. The Irak war saved him from serving in the army, as he has stated. For thousands of others, it was death. After the war, there wasn't peace for many years either. He is also depicting the Kurds as mere tribes, but it seems not everyone agrees with that either.

@Vrubel Yes he is, instead of stating his points about the topic, he is constantly making personal remarks and false assumptions about me. I'm not pushing my worldview, I'm just sharing it the same way he is in a discussion forum, in a topic he started for that purpose, by the way.

@Mesopotamian Did you just say that I'm not ready to accept that people and politicians lie? lol, accept it is an understatement. Again, instead of making your points, you make up all kinds of false statements about me and you discuss with that depiction instead because it's easier. I'm not going to even go through that garbage you tell about delusion. What you are doing at this point is gaslighting, pure manipulation, but I wasn't born yesterday. I didn't like what happened in Irak, I've stated many reasons why. You don't agree, fine by me.

@Mesopotamian Well, I care how many people died, that's a difference between us, no doubt about it. I think it's very different international interventions in conflicts that are already happening than invading other countries with lies for hidden economical and geopolitical interests. Of course, Hussein's dictatorship was awful, but, as you say, your country continues being violent as hell, democracy didn't take that away. The violence very probably increased in the new scenario for years until it got balanced again. That's on Bush as well, Obama inherited that what his predecessor caused. It's probably very unstable yet. Man, make your points, I'm interested and some are valid, although others are garbage. But stop talking about me or what you call ones like me. You don't speak for me, I do. My whole identity doesn't hinge upon this, that's a crazy thing to say, as far as you know I'm just a guy commenting about a topic in a forum, the rest is your imagination. I'm not even American, but I have no shame saying that what happened to the natives was awful. The settlers and invaders were undeveloped and red, so it was unavoidable at that time of history, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I think there is a future where all different civilizations will live at relative peace, not that we will see it in our lifetimes, but we are getting there. At least if we don't screw our planet before that, but that's another topic, and can be addressed at another time.

@Mesopotamian Was it to the mandatory military service? That's still not that rare, countries like Russia and Israel have it, it ended in the late 90s in my country as well, we were also put into trucks or faced prison if not. In any case, you were lucky not to be called earlier and be killed by the US army with a bomb for being in a base serving like others were. They would be alive if the US hadn't decided to attack a foreign country and you could have easily been one of them. But you weren't, so who cares, right? They didn't do it to save you guys, they did it to serve the interests of their military industry, which makes huge profits with wars like this, the oil companies obviously, and many others as well. Your government, whoever wins the elections, is with all certainty lobbied by powerful economical entities now. Is that better than Saddam? I guess so, but the price was too high, and you never know how it would have turned out without attacking them either. Your country seems full of violence yet anyway. Offtopic note: Israel has mandatory service, but only for first-class jew citizens, the lower Palestinians are not allowed to touch guns, for obvious reasons. Just pointing out the apartheid there. Making friends here, for sure.

Capitalism has already rules, rules established by the politicians lobbied by the wealthiest companies. So we need other rules for it established by politicians lobbied by the people. Why? Because capitalism, as it is, is causing a lot of unnecessary suffering to so many people and is holding us back as societies towards development. Will we get perfection? No. but that doesn't mean we cannot aim for better horizons. People need to wake up and vote for more decent politicians, which is not that easy, as the media is owned by those same companies that will, directly and indirectly, send messages to prevent that. I'm not saying it is a conspiracy, they mostly believe their own bullshit.

@Mesopotamian Yeah, sure. Happy holiday, dude!

@Mesopotamian Look, man, stop projecting all that garbage into me or what you call people like me, which is false. I'm just stating my opinion on this, you can do the same. If your points are good, you don't need to make personal remarks of any kind about me. The more democracy and human rights, which should go hand in hand, the more Kurdish people are going to demand their rights. The best way to keep them under the foot was in fact a red dictatorship. Bush is not a hero, he is a genocide for starting a war with lies and thousands of deads in a foreign country. Thank god Trump is out of the picture because he was likely to do the same.

You love war? Sure, tell me that when the next town with more guns kill you and all your kind to take what you have. Because that's war in essence. I think avoiding wars as much as possible is the right call, and as societies living together in the same world, we should aspire to that without a doubt. But too many are not there yet and the rest have to deal with this reality somehow. So don't get me wrong, If you hit me, I'll hit you back so you don't do it again at least. Are we clear? I think I triggered you somewhere there. I haven't pushed Kurds to anything, I acknowledge what they demand, which is a country on their own and I think it's totally fair to do it democratically, otherwise, they are enforced to live under the law of another majority, which will be always biased against them, or adopt whatever the other majority decides they have to adopt. Enforcing unity is usually what happens under a dictatorship, which may seem cool, unless you are the one fucked up by the dictator and his army, like the Kurds were. Where I say dictatorship, I can also say democracy, because the Turkish government does exactly the same against them. And I'm 100% against the genocide of the Yazidis, they don't happen because of people like me at all. You know, I could even consider international military interventions to prevent them. Those who do it have to be at least denounced. https://borgenproject.org/genocide-of-yazidis-by-isil/

I think Trump would totally go with it if he thought he had enough support. The military may be closer to him, but this is too much, it won't happen. It's so obvious Biden has won cleanly, Trump's claims of fraud are baseless and ridiculous. Biden is not that much a revolutionary figure either, if it was Sanders, we could be more worried.

Well, the world is complicated and every country has its own complications. Most countries have sub countries inside of them, others are ex-colonies and others don't have international recognition as countries and are even divided by ones that have, like Kurdistan, for example, but I can give you a hundred more in every continent, except Antarctica. There may be a democracy now, meaning the view of the majority from Irak will be reflected in the government, which is very possibly not that far from the views Saddam Hussein already had, you cannot force a society to evolve overnight. The war caused thousands of victims, a war that was decided from the outside and those people are not going to come back to life. It wasn't done for the good of the people there, that's extremely naive, it was done for economical and geopolitical reasons that would benefit those who decided to go with it.

This has been a huge win towards a more conscious politics, not only for the USA, but also globally for the position and influence this country has in the world scale. You've fired Donald Trump and sent him and his supporters a message, that's not how you rule in a country that aims to lead the world, at least in the XXI century. Congrats to women for the first female vice president elect, it must mean a lot. Considering Biden's age, Kamala Harris may have to present herself on 2024, wait for it. Biden is not going to implement a lot of the policies many of us would like, and yet his election was the right one, the alternative was Trump. We can learn a lot from the last four years, it was painful, but not in vain. Biden will have to deal with a bunch of crazy MAGAs and it may get ugly with the COVID situation. But remember that Trump has shown his true colors last five days, he's not willing to accept democracy, which makes him an aspiring dictator, although he wouldn't call it like that, he would just declare the mailing votes ilegal and say he won, if he could. Aspirations that won't happen, as he won't have the support to fulfil them. It was a pleasure, see you next time!

Tim Pool After Biden Won: "We always knew this was going to happen." That's a real quote, btw. I forgot where the clip was, though. I remember people telling on this forum that Trump was going to win for sure, that we couldn't see it because we lived in our own information bubble. Man, that's exactly where they were, and unconsciously projecting it into others. They will deny it of course, like this guy that always knew Biden was going to win. MAGAs melting down and their compilations all over social media, receiving a bit of four years later Karma. Trump is the loser now, the worst kind of one, he can't accept it. What a difference with John McCain or any other candidate that ever lost, including Hillary. He couldn't leave honorably, it's not a surprisse.

Anyone who voted for this should be proud.

It is, the images below are from the anniversary of the death of the Spanish fascist dictator Franco in 2016. Spaniard fascists simpathize with Trump, surprise, as it's quite obvious for their signs. The ultra right political party in Spain got 15% in the general elections last year, awful. Image taken from the documentary The silence of others (2019)