The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it is sending a new package of more than $1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel, three congressional aides said Tuesday.
It’s the first arms shipment to Israel to be announced by the administration since it put another arms transfer — consisting of 3,500 bombs — on hold this month. The administration has said it paused that earlier transfer to keep Israel from using the bombs in its growing offensive in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah.
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Tell your politicians to support RCV legislation:
Fair Representation Act https://p2a.co/ZraNU5n
Voter Choice Act https://p2a.co/9OZd4JL
Please do not respond to multiple comments with the same post. That is essentially spamming, no matter how well-intentioned you are.
U got it
Why should we believe that a more equitable voting system would solve this issue? Or any similar issues?
To be sure, ranked choice voting would result in some improvements to the United States, and should be supported on that basis. But it would do nothing to modify the current structure wherein oligarchs rule the United States with impunity. It’s just that this would empower the neoliberal Democratic oligarchs rather than the fascist Republican oligarchs. Which is harm reduction and is therefore preferable, but is not a meaningful solution - especially to something as entrenched as Zionism
We would have to dismantle capitalism entirely and a huge cultural shift to fix that. Huge spending caps on campaigns would be a good start.
RCV allows people to vote for candidates of a third party without wasting a vote like they would now. The problem is that much of society is brainwashed with red vs. blue politics and it would take a long time for everybody to get on the same page about a third party candidate.
I agree.
And, again, RCV and campaign finance reform would certainly be an improvement.
But the root issue would remain untouched. And eventually, the ruling class would find ways to grossly manipulate that system to their own ends as well - or would gradually chip away at it through the judiciary that they control
These proposals should be adopted nevertheless. But we should be clear-eyed about what they will and will not accomplish
Because the electoral and voting systems in the US are, respectively, intentionally undemocratic and extremely inconsistent depending on the state.
RCV for national elections would materially address the former, and enforcing RCV as the system to use for all elections at all levels would materially address the latter.
I am not claiming RCV (or any other similar/related system) would be a panacea, but it would be a damn sight better than the intentionally flawed shitshow we have to use now.
STAR voting is so much better than RCV. RCV is only marginally better than first past the post.
is it just RCV with 5 rankings, or you rank every candidate?
You can rank every candidate, so you can give multiple people 5’s. If you can’t decide between them. In RCV, if 51% vote #1 for candidate A, 49% vote #1 for candidate B, but 100% vote #2 for candidate C, the winner is still candidate A even though everyone voted for C. Everyone would’ve been a little satisfied. In STAR, if everyone put 4’s for C, they would win.
Most people would still give A and B 5’s or 4’s, so C still loses even if they get all 4’s, no?
You total all of the points. So say 100 people with the 51/49 doing A/B at 5, and all 100 do C at 4. A would have 255 points, B would have 245 points, and C would have 400. C wins by a landslide.
Ah right assuming A and B are opposing candidates. Kind of a way to eliminate the most popular opposing candidates in a runoff assuming there is a middle of the road candidate that everybody likes.
In RCV this might be translated differently tho. Maybe 26% vote C #1, 49% A #1, 25% B #1 with C #2, then in runoff, C would win.
I don’t see everybody liking the same candidate for #2.
Nonsense! We will write that history so that we’re clearly the good guys!
Unless you’re saying it’s possible we’ve not always been the good guys but surely that’s not it.
Well, so far as the decision makers are concerned, the lesson is that we always win. It’s just unfortunate that what’s important doesn’t matter to them and they do not represent us.
Are these motherfuckers TRYING to lose the election and thus democracy to a fascist conman?! 🤦
Yes they are. They rather want Trump to win, than to end a genocide. And people are gaslighting themselves happily to suck up to the Dems instead of saying: “We will vote for you, but only, when you end this genocide and bring justice and peace to the people.”
And the Reps are having a blast over it, because they know that the DNCs are their buddies in exploiting the normal Americans and murdering people outside the US.
And people are gaslighting themselves happily to suck up to the Dems instead of saying: “We will vote for you, but only, when you end this genocide and bring justice and peace to the people.”
Not just that, but they’re twisting themselves into knots to try and convince people that unconditionally supporting Biden is the better option than continuing to pressure him to stop this and calling out his terrible stance here. Sure, everyone can vote as they please come election day, but we’re a touch under 6 months out and people are all over this site browbeating anyone who doesn’t toe the line and going “Don’t you dare criticize our savior, Biden! If you say he needs to stop enabling Israel’s genocide, you’re just a Russian disinformation agent trying to keep people from voting so that fascists take over and murder all the minorities in the US. They’ll probably double murder Palestinians, even!”
There’s a difference between criticizing, protesting, etc. but that’s not what people are advocating for here. It’s either “don’t vote” or “don’t vote for Biden in the General Election”.
You see the difference right? Once that general election comes, Trump winning would be absolutely catastrophic for the US, so unless you’re a Russian plant, or one of those “let it all burn down” people, there isn’t much choice.
Damn, you got me, I missed the part where I said not to vote for Biden under any circumstances.
Way to prove the point. Elections are not today, there is no reason not to continue to criticize Biden and pressure him to change his position in a meaningful way in order to make him more electable for those who won’t support him if he continues his current policy, and along you come with the same tired shtick to say “If you don’t bend over backwards to sing his praises, you’re a Russian plant!”
If Biden actually changed his stance in a meaningful way, there’s still plenty of time for him to win back those voters, but you folks come along running to shout out “But Trump!!!” once anyone suggests that maybe giving him unconditional support no matter how shitty his stances are isn’t the best way to convince him to not be just as awful while he still has time to do so.
Ok, so vote for the guy who will literally make all of this worse. You won’t have to worry about a genocide in another part of the world because there would be some starting up right at home.
Trump’s the best thing to happen to Biden. He has a blank check to do whatever he likes, knowing full well the only response is “Trump will be worse”
Biden’s the best thing to happen to Trump. Trump’s going to win.
Yeah, he’d never had become president in the first place if not for a horrible alternative.
Now that he’s been for a few years of him mostly being the same conservative he was as a senator, it’s even more obvious that there’s going to be many times more votes AGAINST Trump than FOR Biden.
I just hope he doesn’t alienate so many people with his steadfast support of, even participation in, the genocide bring peroetrated by a fascist apartheid regime that he actually loses the second most winnable presidential election in US history (the most easily winnable being 2020) to someone who’s objectively much worse for the country and thus the world…
They only want your loyalty.
And by that, you mean obedience.
Lol, go ahead and vote for Trump. If you think what’s going on now is “genocide”, just wait and see…
What part of correctly identifying him as a fascist conman did you think looked like an endorsement? 🤦
And yes, Israel is by the official definition committing genocide.
Read the room.
Genocide Joe is a fascist con-man. Anyone defending this is a hardcore tankie.
Correct, Joe Biden is the fascist here.
In a democracy, you can vote for whichever fascist party you like
fuck this goddam fucking system thats going to force me to vote for this old cunt
Also fuck this system that makes us pay for this with our taxes.
meanwhile in the US, the government can’t seem to find the money for continued funding of the ACP, a program providing internet and mobile services to the poorest people in the country, in a world where connectivity is pretty crucial to functioning in society
Austerity programs in the US have nothing to do with saving the government money. It’s literally the goal to make life worse for working Americans, this making them more subservient to employers.
Jesus tapdancing christ he just can’t fucking help scoring an own-goal. What the actual fuck.
I’ve been trying to be as magnanimous and politically pragmatic as I can, but this is straight up idiotic. Come the fuck on, Biden. You are going to throw the whole fucking election if you keep this up.
When you think he might finally be correcting course, he just immediately goes and undoes it.
This is what I don’t understand. He might lose Michigan this time without the support of the Arab-Americans. Last time he won by a narrow margin.
It’s still months away. He’s probably waiting.
Yeah, probably. But this is not like student loans. How many more lives will be lost in the next few months if he waits to order a ceasefire.
I don’t think he cares
I think he kinda does, but at the same time he’s too fucking old and set in his boomer ways. I’m beginning to suspect that he may be incapable of understanding why the youths can’t just sEe tHinGs hiS WaY.
he doesn’t care as long as progressives lose, he doesn’t care whether biden or trump wins
wtf are you talking about
Biden and his donors want to block someone like AOC or Bernie from getting in power. They’re fine with Trump getting in power.
So. do you think Netanyahu pinched his nose or something. you know. while biden was sucking his dick off? “withhold weapons, are you…?”
it’d be nice if one of the most powerful men in the world actually had a fucking spine.
I know that it’s beside the point, but just FYI: in most cases, pinching the nose of someone blowing you does nothing since the vast majority (all?) of humans can’t breathe in through their nose while their mouth is full and vigorously sucking.
All it does is expose you as an ignorant jerk 🤷
All it does is expose you as an ignorant jerk 🤷
If one does it, yes. I suspect Netanyahu is the type.
True. Didn’t mean to imply that YOU specifically do it, in case that’s how it came off btw, I intended it as the generalized you 😁
No worries!
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They said ‘vast majority’, not ‘all’.
They have the spine to laugh at all the peasants below them, i think it’s someone else lacking spine
Biden withhold and still withholding bombs. I am actually not sure if it is wise decision in terms of civilian casualties - I am not sure where more civilians will die - with precision bombing and ground attack or just ground attack (supported by tanks and artillery).
It’s the first arms shipment to Israel to be revealed since the administration put another arms transfer, consisting of 3,500 bombs of up to 2,000 pounds each, on hold this month.
With bombs that size, they want the casualties.
It is up to, not just 2000 pounds.
Yes because we really need to give them something…. It’s awfully unfair otherwise…
“precision bombing” You toss 2,000 pounds of explosive onto an area. That has a lethal radius of about 380m, or a lethal area of 0.45km². Rafah has 1.5 million people sheltered in an area of 64km² So 23,400 people / km²
So each of that bomb puts on average 10,500 people at risk of death or serious injury.
This is not to excuse sending other weapons. Anyone who still sends weapons or any form of military equipment or money to Israel now is willfully complicit in war crimes, massacres and genocide.
It is not 2000 pounds, it is “up to 2000”.
So we are only talking 5,000 people at risk with every bomb? Or maybe only 2,000? Well that is a steal!
I understand that lemmy behaves as if Israel is completely reckless and even has as his goal to kill as many civilians as possible. This is not the case if you look at the numbers. If you look here: https://civiliansinconflict.org/our-work/conflict-trends/urban-warfare/ then you see that typical ratio of civilians killed in urban conflicts is 90% or 1:9 (military:civilian).
If you go with 14000 Hamas fighters killed and 35,000 total killed, that means that 21, 000 civilians killed (this number, by the way includes natural deaths and death from Hamas rockets malfunctioning and falling inside Gaza). This is ratio 1:1.4. If you go with Israeli civilian casualties estimations, then the ratio will be close 1:1. But even with Hamas reported numbers, the ratio of civilian deaths is 6 times better than in typical urban warfare. Far from general perception that Israel being reckless.
It is quite possible that it is partly due to precision bombing and that removing this resource from Israel arsenal will have negative effect on civilian to military death ratio.
Israel declares anyone who is male and at least teenage as killed Hamas fighter. There is dozens of videos of clearly unarmed civilians being executed by the IDF. Their numbers of alleged Hamas fighters are highly unreliable.
I have not seen anyone with reputation claiming that. Hamas itself does not object against these claims. And at this point even if they are inflated by factor of two, it would be still good ratios.
Also, the ratio of civilians killed versus military fighters killed was good for Israel in the past. And nobody objected that either.
As for clearly civilians being killed - of course they are. But IDF is not Hamas - they do not target civilians on purpose, and as numbers show, they are quite accurate in killing fighters. Are there IDF fuck ups who actually want and kill some civilians? Most likely. In any large scale military such things exist, but they are exceptions which are investigated. IDF is no different than any other military in that respect, including US.
I understand that echo chamber exist here on fediverse, but the more I study the actual facts more I come to conclusion that the citiation is quite different as most here trying to paint. People react on videos that a) difficult to understand without context b) in terms of statistics are exceptions, not a rule. The overall situation is different and you can’t make conclusions by couple videos.
I am shocked Biden went back on his word so quickly…
/s
Unfortunately there’s still not enough proof of genocide, according to the military complex
There never will be, of course. Israel could nuke the entire Middle East including themselves and the politicians that rely on the MIC for bribes would do no more than wag a finger 😮💨
As long as someones left to buy the bombs they’re selling, they don’t mind who or how many die.
What a shocker. God, I wish I could afford to leave this country so that my tax dollars weren’t funneled directly to this genocide.
You still have to pay USA income tax abroad unless you renounce your citizenship.
Not necessarily. There is a foreign earned income exclusion, so if you pay income taxes on it in the country where you’re living you don’t pay taxes to the US.
Up to a max. So paying a little in the foreign country will not invalidate ALL taxes owed in the US. You might still owe some. Just FYI.
$126,500 per person, plus another $20,240 in housing expenses. Plus your $13,850 standard deduction (though if you’re making that much you’re probably itemizing for more). So $160,590 for an individual or $321,180 for married filing jointly. That’s assuming no kids and no other deductions or credits - which is pretty unlikely at that income level.
$160,590 is the 93rd percentile for US income distribution. So yeah, if you (AND your partner, if any) are both in the top 7% income bracket, bad at tax preparation, and don’t hire an accountant, you might still pay tax on the income over that amount. Of course, making that much while keeping the kind of ethics that let you care about anyone other than yourself is a nontrivial endeavor.
Don’t forget that your foreign employer won’t be reporting to the IRS. So if your protest extends to not voluntarily reporting that excess income …
They literally are not.
Weekly Biden gaslighting complete, quick ship some $700m in tank shells they ran out shooting at tent camps in Rafah!
The package disclosed Tuesday includes about $700 million for tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds, the congressional aides said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an arms transfer that has not yet been made public.
So that’s 1.36 Billion.
What’s an extra $360m between friends and war criminals?
We should start recognizing this genocide as an Israel and the USA one, not only Israel’s.
The people do, what makes it so much worse and really shows the monstrousness of the USA is that there was a palestinian teenager making music about his family amd life in an open air prison, occupied territory troubles and the like and he got picked up by a US music label and is there making music now. The US enabled his country to fall to shit only to then profit off his art he makes talking about how awful his life is amd how many cousins he has lost to Israeli aggresion.
Pure microcosm but it is heartbreaking what the US gets away with.
Ben-Gvir: It’s time for a true solution to Gaza.
Biden:
Fucking loser
Feed me Seymour
God damn it’d be great if we could stop supporting the fascist religious shitheads in charge of Israel.
Another step closer to getting an orange criminal as president from 2025 to 2029. What an absurd joke. Don’t make the majority feel like their voice isn’t being heard for too long, it’s never a good idea to do that.
More like 2025 to indefinitely. Say goodbye to the 2-term limit if the tangerine becomes president.
He will become president, but he’s too stupid to override the term limit.
Nah. There’s no way the orange man would get more than 4 years. If he tried, we would see a nation wide shut down, the riots would be beyond anything we’ve ever seen in this country. The people with money know they wouldn’t make more money trying that, so it won’t happen. Biden is already helping them enough.
