Middle Eastern Conflagration, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Iran

[commonWealth]

@Jman220

Let’s pretend for a minute that Biden could find the 50 votes necessary to abolish the filibuster (which necessarily included Manchin an Sinema) to codify Roe during that brief 2 year period when the dems had all three branches. Do you think the Supreme Court upholds that law?

First, I think if important to point out that they didn’t have 48 votes for it, it was probably closer to 40 which is a big part of these issues.

That said, I think SCOTUS has a tough time striking it down without torching their credibility far more than they currently have. Either way we’re in a better situation than we are now, ainec.

[commonWealth]

@LouisCyphre

@commonWealth

his foreign policy wrt Ukraine has been elite, A+, no notes, given the circumstances.

I have lots of notes, for example:
It took the Biden administration more than 2 years to allow Ukraine to use US weapons inside Russia and they are still restricted to whatever “near Kharkiv” means.
The delivery of F-16 was unnecessarily obstructed.
Ukraine has been on a starvation diet when it comes to artillery shells.
Lots of other weapons systems were only delivered in insufficient quantity and quality.

Those are fair criticisms of US foreign policy, but how much could Biden have done without Congress? He’s got an arm tied behind his back on this.

[L.Washington]

I mean they weren’t running these laws up to SCOTUS every time with the intention they would be struck down over and over again. The second they got Kennedy out of there they were going full tilt to get cases up there to overturn Roe and they got it on their second swing. They don’t care if it’s unpopular or not; they do all kinds of unpopular shit and they still win. I can buy the argument that voters didn’t think it would happen but I’m still dubious on that point.

[Jman220]

@goofy

Maybe; there’s real-world evidence (ex. maternity ward closures in northern Idaho) that abortion bans disrupt the interstate healthcare market so the government has jurisdiction to regulate it

Wait, so you’re arguing that Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Handmaids Tale, and Gorsuch would give a shit about this and would consistently apply commerce clause precedent?

[Jman220]

@commonWealth

without torching their credibility

Really?

[commonWealth]

@Jman220

@commonWealth

without torching their credibility

Really?

Yes, for normies.

[LouisCyphre]

Just look at the first two examples. Congress has nothing to do with that. Let me add to the list:

Didn’t fire Jake Sullivan

[MrWookie]

Yes. 100% yes. Smash that button without hesitation. Because I am a normal person who does not believe Joe Biden has the power to stop every injustice in the world that is happening, especially those outside of our borders. And I don’t believe Biden’s failure to stop an injustice for which he is ultimately not culpable is good reason to switch to a guy who wants to use his power to deliberately exacerbate that injustice.

[LouisCyphre]

@MrWookie

an injustice for which he is ultimately not culpable

Biden is still delivering weapons to Israel. Netanyahu is invited to speak before Congress.

[eyebooger]

@LouisCyphre

Biden is still delivering weapons to Israel. Netanyahu is invited to speak before Congress.

And I don’t like either of those things.

But I don’t get to pick which of Biden’s policies I get to vote for. I’m voting for Biden because of the two people who will have a chance to be president, Biden is the superior choice in many, many ways (including on Israel/Gaza).

[Surf]

@eyebooger

And I don’t like either of those things.

But I don’t get to pick which of Biden’s policies I get to vote for. I’m voting for Biden because of the two people who will have a chance to be president, Biden is the superior choice in many, many ways (including on Israel/Gaza)

Yeah it seems like it is straight up impossible to be president of the USA without doing some bad shit. Like literally impossible. So I don’t think that is a good reason to let someone way worse take the wheel

[goofy]

@Jman220

Wait, so you’re arguing that Alito, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Handmaids Tale, and Gorsuch would give a shit about this and would consistently apply commerce clause precedent?

Who knows? It’s questionable, but like, we all probably would have bet on Allen v. Milligan to be a loser for the libs and we would have been wrong. And more importantly, it doesn’t fucking matter. You still try anyway, even if you’re scared of SCOTUS, and also it takes a couple years for shit to go through and inshallah maybe Thomas eats it like Scalia or someone takes out Alito with the pointy end of a flagpole in that time.

[goofy]

Anyway dunno if this is the best time for more on-topic stuff, but here’s your weekly reminder that Israel is a lawless apartheid state (gift link)

In the West Bank, Guns and a Locked Gate Signal a Town’s New Residents

The case of the two people on either side of the gate is a particularly clear example of a dynamic playing out across the Israeli-occupied West Bank. As much of the world has focused on the war in Gaza, Jewish settlers miles away in the West Bank have hastened the rate at which they are seizing land previously used by Palestinians, rights groups say.
…
The gate is not much to look at — made of orange bars and similar to what one might find on a farm. But Hebrew graffiti on the concrete blocks that hold it up refer to Genesis 21:10, a verse about driving people away.

Since the gate’s installation in October, it has served as a firm divider between the Palestinian Arab inhabitants of Tuqu and the Israeli Jews in the newly expanded settlement of Tekoa.

Mr. Izraeli, 16, had come to the West Bank after dropping out of a religious school in central Israel, he said. He and his friends had lived in a tent camp nearby before moving to the hilltop a few months ago, after the army had barred Palestinians from the area.

He hoped the army would not let them return.

“With God’s help, they will do the right thing and keep them out,” he said.

In response to written questions, Mayor Yaron Rosenthal of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, which includes Tekoa, said the Arabs from Tuqu never had a legal claim to the land. The settlers, he said, had rectified that situation.

“These aren’t their lands,” he added.

[pvn]

@commonWealth

To be clear, I was being critical of the fact that most of the “wins” had a sunset date - in most cases they’ve already expired, or they were capped at a small amount (like 10 drugs negotiated per year).

sunsetting is the only way to avoid the filibuster (if something is budget neutral after 10 years it can be rammed through via reconciliation which is filibuster-exempt)

[pvn]

@CaffeineNeeded

This is actually applicable to leftists. They don’t have voter support for their policies, and they get all big mad when democrats don’t deliver their policies that don’t have popular support.

man this is a really bad post considering the thing they get dragged for the most in this forum is 1) not codifying roe and 2) not legalizing weed and both of those are massively popular

[pvn]

oh and of course ending the fucking genocide, which also has majority support

[CaffeineNeeded]

I’m sorry I’m not stupid enough to believe, for one second, that leftists wouldn’t be whining if codifying roe or fully legalizing pot would shut them up.

[CaffeineNeeded]

Cutting off Israel does not have wide spread support

[commonWealth]

@pvn

sunsetting is the only way to avoid the filibuster (if something is budget neutral after 10 years it can be rammed through via reconciliation which is filibuster-exempt)

Ok, but most of that stuff sunset in a year or less. The ACA subsidies were a big one, and three years.

[pvn]

@CaffeineNeeded

I’m sorry I’m not stupid enough to believe, for one second, that leftists wouldn’t be whining if codifying roe or fully legalizing pot would shut them up.

“we’re not going to kowtow to some fringe element”
“but these things are massively popular”
“well we’re not going to do that either”

ok buddy, this looks like a winning plan