hundreth

- Please apply this reasoning universally. It is at best inflammatory in nature. We've heard how the peace talks were doomed because Israel was still building settlements. One isn't directly connected to the other, but it is inflammatory and symbolic. When Ariel Sharon visited the temple mount, it triggered an intifadah. Symbolics matter. By naming your movement and slogans in inflammatory ways, they aren't inspiring peace. - Who is "they" that don't want peace? There are different administrations, leaders, groups, movements. We've seen Israel make strong gestures towards peace depending on circumstance. - I will look into this list and educate myself. - I never said Hamas wasn't violent as well. I don't know what the ceasefires have to do with what we're talking about. Israel directly funded Hamas before the PLO declared non violence in 1993. Not after. Since then, they've allowed funds to flow through Qatar during times of ceasefire.

- We know what right of return entails, a population war that ends Israel. If you're objective is peace with your neighbor, you don't have a movement with the destruction of your neighbor in it's name. That would be like Russia having a "Ukraine belongs to Russia" non violent movement. - Agree, Israel needs to work closer with moderate actors. Two things can be true at once. - Which peaceful figureheads did they assassinate? Sincere question, I'm not aware. The whole funding Hamas thing is another red herring. Israel funded Hamas when the PLO was a violent movement to undermine them. Now, Hamas is the violent movement. In some way it makes sense, but it is a bad strategy which backfired. That doesn't mean Israel would prefer violent movements.

You can stop quoting me btw, I don't respond to your nonsense.

Not to go back and forth about the march of return, as it becomes a bit of a rabbit hole... But I noticed some use the march of return as a blanket get out of jail card to say "look the Palestinians tried non violent and look what happened!" - therefore there is no other way. One thing about the march of return is that the destruction of Israel is implied in it's very name. Right of return = no Israel. It's also like this insistence to use "river to the sea" as some kind of "peace" call. It doesn't make sense, and doesn't inspire peace. There are many non violent movements the Palestinians can choose from. And even if you take this idea that Israel squashed a non violent movement at face value, that STILL doesn't mean you drop the entire idea and double down on violence.

You're both kind of talking past each other at this point, but I generally agree with @Raze that alternative candidates can and could have had a better chance in a general election. The part that is missing is that the DNC railroads their own candidates in favor of the establishment ones. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/us/politics/dnc-emails-sanders-clinton.html

It is not an overstretch at all. You can see how they did it, they live streamed it. Consider Israel's size and population and you can see how traumatic that is. Any nation would have a serious reaction to such an event.

I don't understand the logic. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/2020/national/ Biden had an 8-9 point lead heading into the 2020 election and he barely won. Hilary had a 4 point lead heading into the election and she lost. You need at least a 7-8 pt lead in polling to beat Trump. He always outperforms the polls. The elections are close because Trump outperforms. If Trump is already ahead, then you're looking at a blowout. Yes, Biden is going to be blown out.

Why do you believe this? In 2020, Biden won the debates and was way ahead in the polling. Trump vastly outperformed the polls. The election was very close and came down to the wire. Now, Biden was already behind. That's why they took this hail mary debate initiative. It backfired tremendously. Now, he's even way further behind. He has no chance.

https://www.insidetracker.com/a/articles/dr-william-evanswhy-muscle-mass-is-a-marker-of-longevity#:~:text=If you think about it,mass is not at all." There's a lot more... but if you're being absolutely scientifically honest you can't dispute the massive importance of resistance training for the well being of the body. This isn't about becoming a gym bro and looking jacked. Most of us in our 30s have to try very hard already to retain the drive, willpower and energy to achieve those body types anyways. You shouldn't be pushing your body to extremes no matter what you do, but a moderate level of resistance training and cardio is very healthy. Diet is very important too. Obesity is the greatest predictor of illness. Michael Pollan's quote sums it up well:

To those desperately clinging to Biden because you worry about unintended consequences. Don't be afraid to do what needs to be done. Like a relationship in your personal life that is doomed to failure, it always feels safer to stay with what is known and comfortable. Coupled with sunk cost fallacy, the tendency is to remain inside this sinking ship. We need to drop Biden, now.

It almost doesn't matter. You can take a shot blindfolded and still have a better chance than going with Biden. Biden has a 0, ZERO percent chance of winning. Even if there are issues with running someone new this late, you take the chance 10 times out of 10.

Let's look at what's absurd. Before the debates, Biden was behind in the polling. After the debates, he's way behind in the polling. Trump consistently does BETTER than polling indicates. Biden has one foot in the grave and will be destroyed in the election. It is absurd to continue with him.

In my opinion, it absolutely does. This is being president of the United States, not the manager at McDonalds. It is the most demanding job on the planet. You have to be mentally acute. We've seen him drastically degrade over the past 4 years. He can barely walk down a few stairs now. Just imagine how much more he will deteriorate over the next 4 years. It's dangerous. This is elderly abuse and everyone around him should be ashamed of themselves.

Sorry Barack, too little too late. Biden isn't "someone" anymore - he is a frail old man with dementia.

The Democrats deserve to lose. They've shown their incompetence. How can you interact with Biden on a regular basis and not see this coming from 100 miles away? This was predicted by many. They asked for this debate. Trump is dangerous and unhinged... the Democrats are incompetent and delusional. ... and then the third most popular candidate is RFK Jr. What does that say about this country? It is absurd and embarrassing. Our leaders are a joke, our people are dumb as rocks. A true idiocracy.

I'm happy to see a perspective which highlights some of the U.S. agenda... That said, it reeks of gaslighting. The urging of moving away from the U.S., demonizing their interests, and pushing his agenda - it's fairly transparent. The U.S. influences and pushes Israel to carry out their agenda sometimes, and sometimes it's the other way around. Sometimes the initiatives are good, and sometimes they aren't. There isn't some black and white nefarious plot. We've had American leaders push us towards peace, and that is the closest we've been. Like friends in your personal life, you have good times, bad times, no one is perfect. And then he goes on to push the one-state solution. To me, this shows a misunderstanding of the dynamics there. Actually try to think about how that would play out. This region with two peoples who don't share a vision, with large constituents becoming more religiously extreme. Neither side will accept not being the majority, and a population war would ensue. That, or an all out civil war. Of all the ideas for how to move forward, the one state solution is the worst - and I don't know why it's pushed. I can kind of see why, because it leads to the elimination of present day Israel, for those who hate it... but it certainly does not lead to peace. And if peace is your northern star, you should change course.

Of course, I like most of you and often wonder how I would think if I was an outsider who didn't grow up in the environment I did and see what I've seen. I would likely think closer to you. Who knows to what extent.

The irony is that this is the reason we support Israel.

That you find it irrational doesn't stop people from doing so. It's happening. @zazen's quote: "This enforced pampering of Israel makes natives question their leaders loyalties and interests." I have seen this sentiment in the U.S. for awhile. We can point out the specifics and dynamics of Israel's relationship with the U.S., how the vast majority of funds are used specifically to purchase American weaponry, how the Arab world at large receives more funding than Israel, how these are mutually beneficial relationships driven primarily by the United States and not the other way around, etc - but at the end of the day people will believe what they believe... And so when we're making decisions, we have to combine emotional intelligence with pure reason and figure whether the juice is worth the squeeze for a gesture like this which in actuality doesn't achieve much. It's analogous to vaccines, where it was logical to provide Covid vaccines for free and enforce inoculation for certain occupations. However, this caused a huge conspiratorial issue, and we may have had more adoption by charging money for it and treating it as any other product.

I would agree that this is likely a bad way to filter out applicants as they will simply do as you said. This is likely some kind of symbolic gesture, but driven by who I don't really know. I don't have issue with Germany having cultural fit requirements for applicants, but gestures like this lead to more resentment than anything else. When you try to enforce ideas or practices like this, it tends to breed conspiratorial thinking. This was evident with vaccine rollouts in the U.S. and abroad, where even if the data backed up their efficacy there was widespread skepticism.

You're missing one piece here, these aren't citizens - they are applicants. https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/new-german-citizens-must-declare-israels-right-exist?nid=373676&topic=Israel%27s%20war%20on%20Gaza&fid=520481 They've determined this is a useful heuristic for them as to whether the applicant will be a good fit for them. There are likely many such questions.

I argued that you have to balance saving lives now vs. later because of follow up Hamas attacks. I think I was very clear. By your logic no military operation is ever justifiable because you "don't value life." I was just quoted a few minutes ago for sharing that Israel made a big mistake by harming too many Palestinian civilians. I was called out for being too apologetic. I have this sentiment both for those Palestinians and the resulting harm it has done to Israel on the international stage which you spoke to.

I don't see anywhere at all where I said anything like this. I was pleased to see you were conversing in good faith, but I'm really not a fan of the reductionist straw-man bullshit. Have a good one.

I agree. As I said, Hamas will never be a negotiating partner. If you reward Hamas, they gain influence and we are further from peace. If you hit them back, they are stationed among civilians and create new Hamas. It is a lose-lose situation for everyone. The only difference is that when you retaliate, they have less capabilities to hurt you again in the short term. It's like negotiating with a literal cancer.

I'm not going to respond point by point just to avoid going in circles. The idea behind "mowing the grass" is to push back Hamas for short term peace in response to attacks. That's literally what is going on now, this is a giant mowing of the grass so to speak. What is Hamas' rationale? What does Oct 7 achieve? All of their actions are a lose-lose for everyone. But ok, let's entertain your idea of rewarding Oct 7 as an alternative. Let's put our weapons down and calmly speak with Hamas and say "Ok, you brutally murdered our people, live streamed it, celebrated, took hostages... we get it, you're upset. How many prisoners do you want back?"' What do you think happens next? Those same Hamas militants who brutally murdered in cold blood are going to think "Wow, look how great these Jews are... maybe let's stop with the attacks?" It's laughable. Unfortunately Hamas will never be a negotiating partner. The sooner Hamas is replaced, the sooner something meaningful can actually happen.