Hatfort

I understand Israel killed a Hamas political leader. But if the two sides were in a pre-dialog situation for a ceasefire, it is a dangerous escalation that can perpetuate the war more and more. Maybe that's what Israel wants, even if it doesn't say it clearly, because that way they keep killing more Palestinian population and worsening the conditions of the ones left to do what they please with them, their true objectives. The thing is, Hamas as a military force is resisting, causing enough casualties on the opponents to prevent them from taking full military control of Gaza, and some Israeli officials have said they can't defeat them. It's also dangerous that the attack on Ismail Hanuyeh was made in Iran, which could retaliate according to law. There's also the risk of a full war with Hezbollah, some analysts say they have a missile and ballistic power that Israel could not defend from, although the ongoing restrain is understandable because Israel is capable of destroying Lebanon too. The risk of a bigger war is growing, and I think Israel is the one adding the most gas to the fire with those international attacks.

An interesting interview of a former Zionist and his journey.

Trump in the interview with this association of black journalists was so funny, beautiful moments, the crowd was laughing. I think the best was when Trump said Kamala is not black, that she is Indian, but she has decided to be black now for the elections. He is trying to alienate Kamala from black voters, like she is not one of them, but I don't think that will work. She is ethnically mixed, that's not such a rare thing, and of course black people understand that, and she is definitely not white. Another pearl was when he said black jobs. That's a pretty racist way of framing the labor issues. Because with gender at least you can argue that there are some biological differences like average strength or similars. But with race, what are you arguing? If there is a disparity, you can then analyze the hows and whys of this, and maybe try to offer some kind of route as a public political servant, or you are just racist.

Maduro has won another election for the presidency in Venezuela. One of the fundaments of modern democracies is that people elect their governments by vote, so it doesn't have to be decided by other means, like for example war. But it's always the same story, the right likes this system when they win, but when they lose, the story changes. The left always accepts the results, Milei, and Bolsonaro, come to my mind. The right very often doesn't, they reject the results and attempt coups. When it's not a USA puppet that wins, there are always these money funnels to dissident groups to destabilize those nations, or like in the case of Venezuela, blockades and sanctions to negatively affect their economy. Last term the USA and some of its European followers recognized this Guaido, a man that has never won any election or anything at all, as the president of Venezuela, one of the most ridiculous coup attempts in a history full of them. Political, economic, and military interference by the USA in other countries has to stop. The USA never changed, they had their chance to be a positive lead for the world since the Soviet Union collapsed. They can't do it, they can't help themselves to behave like they do. Alternatives are rising, undoubtedly better, because they at least respect the sovereignty of other countries, and don't mess with them in such ways. You don't have to like what other countries elect, more so if it's democratically, you can criticize them as much as you want to, but there has to be respect, and no interference in such levels as economically or militarily. On a side note, not that it matters, but Elon Musk has removed whatever checkmark X gives to political leaders from Maduro. Ridiculous.

Let me add, it's not true the opposition is being denied the records. They had access to every one of them, just by asking, by law. If they claim they were denied to them in such a massive manner, can they please provide a single video record of this happening? Maybe they don't want to present the ones where they didn't win, casually. The opposition should present its original and complete records to the courts, as is its right, to verify whether or not they actually correspond with the results of the electoral power. This entire process has had prior audits, there were at least three, and they were not challenged by any opposition candidate, not even by González and Corina Machado, as well as a series of subsequent audits stipulated by law. By election day, all parties agreed that the system was reliable, secure, and encrypted.

Fair enough, let them be accounted for and the records checked, that's a fair request. This should be a peaceful process, there's no real sign of fraud right now. The elections have been oversight by international checkers, they always are in Venezuela, which is good, and they all agree the elections are clean, this time too. In regards to Venezuela, the US is right-wing, and will never back a Maduro government, let's be real. Obama initiated the sanctions, and Trump and Biden continued with them. Brazil is a more neutral subject. China, Iran, and Russia recognize the results for now, without any fraud evidence on the table, it's not an unreasonable position.

Of course, you should. They will advise you when you need to and if someday things get ugly with an employer, they will help you in your cause so things are done under the law, to avoid wage theft, or other abuses. Then you'll thank they have your back, and at the very least, it's also a common cause for other workers, and improve general conditions for the working class, yourself included.

A bunch of drag queens representing Jesus' last meal eating a blue man. Controversial? Yeah, quite. The end of the world? I don't think so.

WTF? He's teasing them the Christofaxism they want. I thought he would pretend otherwise during the campaign.

Kamala is getting support, there is a fight, but nothing is granted for anybody. A good VP choice from an identity politics point of view in this case would be a straight, white man, of which there are several good ones. It's a huge demographic and must be disputed to Trump and Vance both. Buttigieg is not bad, he is capable, but would be labeled as a minority too. Kamala made sense as a balance for a 78-year-old white man last time, now the tables are turned. This is an important fight, these choices have their weight, and can't be dismissed from the conversation. I had not heard about Andy Beshear before, but he seems the perfect rival for Vance, and would do great in a debate against him. He defends the working class of deep America, instead of sounding a bit condescendent to them like Vance does. I hope she chooses him. She also did well not attending Netanyahu's infamous speech in Congress. A good sign, no more, no less. I suggest she dances the Macarena dance in her rallies to gain Hispanics to her side too, or whatever is not outdated like that.

Okay, got you.

He was one of the most sounded possible contestants, and my personal favorite one, I will say. Seems Kamala is getting many names behind her already. This is an important endorsement for her nomination. Agreed.

Economy is not even a science, it pretends to be one by sometimes using what seem like mathematical language and equations, but it is not. They only look like that. The economy doesn't work like mathematics, the human factor, and others are intrinsic to it, so you can't make it work like an exact science, only dress it like it. I'm not saying it's not worth studying it, but the first work is to cut the bullshit, quite a hard one, because it's full of it.

They didn't stab him in the back, they supported him more than it was prudent due to his age, but when it was evident it wasn't only the age, but his condition, and what he was projecting to the citizens whose votes he needed, or his capability to win in other words, only then they took the reasonable position to ask him to step down. The race has to be won yet, but with Biden it was already lost, so no regrets.

@Nivsch likes to share the views of the beach of Jaffa. Who knows why...

I agree, the man has a valid beak. He handles it pretty well when confronted in hostile territories like Fox News or similars, gives good responses, and counterattacks where hurts them. He has also been a man in Biden's boat, so that implies continuity, but also renovation, which was needed.

As it was predictable, Kamala has offered herself as a candidate for the nomination. She is not my pick, but an open convention concerns me. The nomination shouldn't get too long and it shouldn't become a bloody fight either.

Finally, it was an open secret at this point. There could not be trust in his capabilities, that was the crude reality. Now the difficult part starts, we'll see what Democrats put out. An open convention would divide, and there's not enough time. Kamala is the vice-president, if she is willing, this could be it.

Saying he doesn't care is an awful approach, if you ask me. However, Western intervention has only made things worse for Ukraine, so if for real him and Trump pull out, that's the best that could happen. Sit down and sing for peace terms, what a crazy idea these days! The war was unnecessary, it could have been prevented with diplomacy, and good-faith negotiations. NATO pushed Ukraine to fight, with a president who was willing to do all they said. To some extent, if they believed that Russia would collapse with a blockade, wouldn't be able to sustain the war, and they thought Ukraine would win, I can understand the initial warmongering position. Behind that there was the military industry salivating, what better than a proxy war where people of another country do the dying part, instead of your own. But time has shown Russia is capable of winning the war as an invader, or rescuer depends how you look at it, and has already annexed four territories in the East, the ones with the most Russian-friendly citizens, although in the beginning, it was only two in dispute. The counteroffensive of Ukraine was a total failure, they won't be able to win anything back. Their men are being literally kidnapped by Azov to be sent to the front to an almost certain death. Slowly but steadily, Russia keeps gaining more and more land. Now it's insane NATO keeps pushing a war they can't win, and will only cause more unnecessary deaths on both sides and Ukraine to lose even more territories.

Cenk had a bad night.

That's fixed with a good campaign. There's still time. He would have two jobs, one acknowledging Biden's accomplishments you talk about, and two establishing a further continuation of those himself as a candidate. Sorry three, he has to keep pointing out how bad Trump is.

Yes he can, Newsom has been a man of the team. All he has been doing, and would have to continue if taken the torch, is praising Biden's term and his accomplishments, which there are. He in fact speaks in behalf of Biden better than Biden himself, I watched his debate with DeSantis. He is not perceived as a rival of Biden, because he really is not. Biden is too old, he has declined more than expected, that's the reality. I was with Bernie back when they had their primaries, but Biden won, so got in his boat against a greater evil. I was still going to support him now, I thought Cenk Uygur was wrong when he was asking for a replacement, I thought Biden could give the race. But that illusion fell in the debate, it was really a before-and-after moment, we've seen the king without clothes, or whatever that phrase is. Ideally, he would have retired with grace and let the primaries happen, but that train is gone. It's in moments of crisis when the Democratic party, or anyone, have to prove they can come up with solutions.

It's popular and truthful. Leaving the colonial times aside, the West has been directly involved in assassinating foreign leaders who wouldn't dance in their interest. Lumumba from Chad, or Allende from Chile, come to my mind. Of course, then horrible puppets were put in their place. They also intervened in many countries by putting weapons in the most mindless men they could find and giving them training. These practices have destroyed a lot of countries in Central America and Africa. The CIA hands in Honduras has been devastating, for example. It's impossible to develop as a country like that, they wouldn't be perfect, but they would be much better without those constant interventions. They aren't even allowed to achieve a blue stage, not because they can't on their own, but because external forces prevent it. I wanted to believe that those practices were part of the past, and that the USA and the West would be a positive leading force in the world, I don't believe that anymore. Maybe at a lower level, but this is what is happening in Ukraine too, cue included at some point, and training the most Nazi guys they could find too. The motives in this case would also be to cause a threat to Russia, apart from extracting from Ukraine itself. Zelensky is a puppet, in this case at least he was chosen by them, but he's still a foreign agent. Ukrainians were fooled, I don't blame them, it happens. The best that can happen to the world is that the USA and the West lose unequivocal hegemony, and a new balance is reached between different actors in the world. China without a doubt, and Russia quite too.

The two of us are humanitarian surgeons. Together, in our combined 57 years of volunteering, we’ve worked on more than 40 surgical missions in developing countries on four continents. We’re used to working in disaster and war zones, of being on intimate terms with death and carnage and despair. None of that prepared us for what we saw in Gaza this spring. Hard to read article, but very recommendable. International aid workers share what they have lived and seen in Gaza. Link below: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/07/19/gaza-hospitals-surgeons-00167697

I live in Spain, I was born here.