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Forums - Politics Discussion - 2024 US Presidential Election

zorg1000 said:

See! You’re doing it again, someone asked for your opinion on 4 topics and you chose to single out one specific topic.

It always comes back to Gaza with you, is that the one and only issue you care about? Or does it just happen to be the only issue that “both sides are the same or marginally different” can be considered somewhat true?

respectfully, (i) Do you see the amount of detail I'm putting into each response? I can't be firing these out once every ten minutes. These take a while, please be patient. I actually just posted one discussing education, but gave up midway bc it's taking a little bit longer than I want it to. (ii) I'm sorry about my past behavior. Can you please forgive me, and move on from this quoting of all my comments?

Last edited by firebush03 - on 05 August 2024

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"Observe, however, that amidst all this relatively sympathetic speaking, Kamala is very clear in expressing her interest in ensuring that "Israel has the right to defend itself"

Is this meant to be a bad thing? I despise Netanyahu but yes Israel has the right to defend itself, it does not have the right to willy-nilly bomb whatever the fuck it wants to and go on a mass slaughter of Palestinians don't act like Hamas is innocent, they've done horrific terrorist actions as well, lets not forget Israel is surrounded by enemies too, Syria to the North and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran (and its proxies like the terrorist Houthi organisation) would love nothing more than to see Israel turned to rubble so yes, Israel has the right to defend itself.

Hamas, Houthis, Hezbollah are all extremist factions, Syria and Iran are led by extremists, Netanyahu is an extremist too. We should stop offensive support to Israel as they use it with little care of who they kill. Not all Palestinians are Hamas, not all Hamas are Palestinians, but I do not believe we should stop defensive support, I do believe Netanyahu needs to fuck off though and someone else needs to take control of Israel cause that dude escalates every chance he gets.

Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 05 August 2024

Torillian said:

It is true that broadly the political parties are identical if you ignore the differences. But that's basically tautological and pointless to state. 

yep, that's why I asked for the original person to give me their stances so that I could discuss the differences. They said "No, you explain why they're the same" and I did just that. This was an inevitable consequence. If you want me to discuss the differences, I don't know them, so you're gonna have to give them to me.

Last edited by firebush03 - on 05 August 2024

firebush03 said:
Torillian said:

It is true that broadly the political parties are identical if you ignore the differences. But that's basically tautological and pointless to state. 

yep, that's why I asked for the original person to give me their stances so that I could discuss the differences. They said "No, you explain why they're the same" and I did just that. This was an inevitable consequence. If you want me to discuss the differences, I don't know them, so you're gonna have to give them to me.

I'm talking more about ignoring the subjects where the two parties are not the same. Like Ukraine. 



...

Ryuu96 said:

"Observe, however, that amidst all this relatively sympathetic speaking, Kamala is very clear in expressing her interest in ensuring that "Israel has the right to defend itself"

Is this meant to be a bad thing? I despise Netanyahu but yes Israel has the right to defend itself, it does not have the right to willy-nilly bomb whatever the fuck it wants to and go on a mass slaughter of Palestinians don't act like Hamas is innocent, they've done horrific terrorist actions as well, lets not forget Israel is surrounded by enemies too, Syria to the North and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran (and its proxies like the terrorist Houthi organisation) would love nothing more than to see Israel turned to rubble so yes, Israel has the right to defend itself.

Hamas, Houthis, Hezbollah are all extremist factions, Syria and Iran are led by extremists, Netanyahu is an extremist too. We should stop offensive support to Israel as they use it with little care of who they kill, not all Palestinians are Hamas, not all Hamas are Palestinians, but I do not believe we should stop defensive support.

not gonna get into whether or not HAMAS is bad. All I can say is that it is ridiculous that Gaza has a death toll of more than 33x that of Israel in this "war", especially when Gaza has population a fraction of the size of that of Israel. In principle, yes, I agree that all countries have the right to defend themselves. But this is just absurd...this is not defending, this is massacring. Netanyahu literally refers to the *Palestinians* (not HAMAS) as "Amelak" (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/benjamin-netanyahu-amalek-israel-palestine-gaza-saul-samuel-old-testament/), and if you don't know what this means, look up the verse. It's very straight forward to see what he's saying here.



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Torillian said:
firebush03 said:

yep, that's why I asked for the original person to give me their stances so that I could discuss the differences. They said "No, you explain why they're the same" and I did just that. This was an inevitable consequence. If you want me to discuss the differences, I don't know them, so you're gonna have to give them to me.

I'm talking more about ignoring the subjects where the two parties are not the same. Like Ukraine. 

if you knew my history here, you would know why I'm avoid Ukraine for now. I can talk about it in a few days, but not now. I also can't respond to everything. (remember when I said that "I have a life" and then proceeded to be told that nobody cares how long it takes? Yeah, this is what I meant...y'all are saying "so you convieniently don't have time to respond to all these other points" like yeah, I don't.)

Y'all, I'm sorry for my past. Please, let's just move forward and have a discussion. It still very a little hostile in here. Some of you seem to be open, but others are not.

(I'll see you guys maybe later today or sometime tmr. Gotta get back to work. :) )

Last edited by firebush03 - on 05 August 2024

Ryuu96 said:

I don't think Beshear would be a terrible pick, I'd think that would have to be someone who would damage Harris campaign, like JD Vance, Lol. I do think Beshear is the "safe" pick though in the sense that I don't believe he'd hurt Harris but I don't believe he'd aid her campaign much either, he obviously won't flip Kentucky and I reckon would have a very minor effect outside of Kentucky. Beshear is essentially the "do no harm" idea when picking a VP, Beshear of all the candidates has the least baggage so he'll be fine, though I do also agree he's a pretty bland orator.

I'd want Kelly or Walz. But if you need Shapiro for Pennsylvania...Then it can't really be anyone else can it? PA is too important to the election. If you can't be sure you can win it without Shapiro then I don't see it being anyone else. If you don't need Shapiro to win PA then my brain says Kelly but my heart says Walz...I think Kelly still has the best national appeal but Walz is so damn charming, Lol.

That's fair.

I also fully agree with the rest.

It looks like it is going to be Shapiro or Walz. I fully believe Shapiro is the best choice between the two but Walz is so damn likeable. I won't be upset if he is chosen.



 

My Real Redneck friends


firebush03 said:
Ryuu96 said:

"Observe, however, that amidst all this relatively sympathetic speaking, Kamala is very clear in expressing her interest in ensuring that "Israel has the right to defend itself"

Is this meant to be a bad thing? I despise Netanyahu but yes Israel has the right to defend itself, it does not have the right to willy-nilly bomb whatever the fuck it wants to and go on a mass slaughter of Palestinians don't act like Hamas is innocent, they've done horrific terrorist actions as well, lets not forget Israel is surrounded by enemies too, Syria to the North and Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran (and its proxies like the terrorist Houthi organisation) would love nothing more than to see Israel turned to rubble so yes, Israel has the right to defend itself.

Hamas, Houthis, Hezbollah are all extremist factions, Syria and Iran are led by extremists, Netanyahu is an extremist too. We should stop offensive support to Israel as they use it with little care of who they kill, not all Palestinians are Hamas, not all Hamas are Palestinians, but I do not believe we should stop defensive support.

not gonna get into whether or not HAMAS is bad. All I can say is that it is ridiculous that Gaza has a death toll of more than 33x that of Israel in this "war", especially when Gaza has population a fraction of the size of that of Israel. In principle, yes, I agree that all countries have the right to defend themselves. But this is just absurd...this is not defending, this is massacring. Netanyahu literally refers to the *Palestinians* (not HAMAS) as "Amelak" (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/benjamin-netanyahu-amalek-israel-palestine-gaza-saul-samuel-old-testament/), and if you don't know what this means, look up the verse. It's very straight forward to see what he's saying here.

Okay, I may have misunderstood your point because I do agree this isn't "defence" and more a massacre of Palestinians and I've expressed anger multiple times that Ukraine has more rules and restrictions enforced on it by the West against a much larger and stronger enemy, than Israel has enforced on it by the West against a much smaller and weaker enemy (Hamas). But they need to be able to defend themselves too, I think we can say that and make the distinction that defence does not mean slaughter everyone in sight, they need to be able to defend themselves against attack because they are surrounded by countries that want them dead.

But I do not believe Hamas nor Netanyahu give a fuck about how many innocents have to die in their zealot war, I believe they both need and want the war to continue as long as possible because they both hold on to power due to the war and the moment this war stops, neither have a purpose to exist anymore in their current political sphere, I don't think either side is interested in ending the war but Israel is the stronger side and they are going on a genocide of Palestinians so yeah, I hate Netanyahu but Hamas isn't innocent, Hamas is a terrorist organisation.

I'd stop all offensive aid because Israel is slaughtering whoever they feel like and trying their best to escalate things.

Last edited by Ryuu96 - on 05 August 2024

firebush03 said:
sundin13 said:

Hey, you're the one who made the claim. I am expecting you to make decisions on how to back it up. For the record, I think there are substantial policy differences in every single one of those things you listed: Ukraine, NATO, Gaza, Taiwan.

Okie doke. I guess can start. What are the policies of Trump and Harris when it comes to Gaza? (I will avoid Ukraine and NATO for obvious reasons.) Here's what I have percieved:

>>Kamala Harris -> Rheotorically, she is far more sympathetic toward the innocent Palestinians than Biden and (especially) Trump. To see this, here are some immediate examples: https://x.com/VP/status/1731404365695528980, https://x.com/VP/status/1719858212134891738, https://x.com/VP/status/1779349618813235542, https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/kamala-harris-says-israel-has-right-to-defend-itself-against-hezbollah-6227644). Observe, however, that admist all this relatively sympathetic speaking, Kamala is very clear in expressing her interest in ensuring that "Israel has the right to defend itself", as can be seen by almost every example I've pulled up (and if you believe i have cherry-picked, which is a fair critique, then I suggest you do your own research).

Looking past rheotic (or as far as we can look past this), consider the outcome of Harris' meeting with Netanyahu a few weeks prior. The following statement would be released by the White House concerning this meeting: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/07/25/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-following-meeting-with-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-of-israel/, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/07/25/readout-of-vice-president-harriss-meeting-with-prime-minister-netanyahu-of-israel/. You could argue, again, this is all for spectics (i.e., my favorite word: rhetoric); however, this is all we've really got when it comes to Harris' relationship with the Prime Minister of Israel. It's filled with the empty words of "I want a two-state solution" and "We have a solution! Now HAMAS needs to agree.", and continues to insist that Israel does in fact have the "right to defend itself" (...might I ask, defend itself against what? What are the Palestinians even doing? All I can recall is October 7th...but this is beside the point.)

In short, seeing that the DNC has pledged their full support in nominating Kamala as the Democratic Presidential Nominee, there should be no question as to what her true stance on Israel will be: To continue the Biden policy of not only remaining complicit in a genocide, not only neglecting the usage of America's leveraging power to stop Israel from its abuse of force against innocent Palestinians, but also sending over "secret" executive military packages worhts hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars (https://truthout.org/articles/report-us-has-secretly-sent-israel-over-100-weapons-shipments-in-last-150-days/) and "finishing the job".

>>Donald Trump -> This is pretty cut-and-dry, and I don't think anyone will disagree when I say this: Donald Trump does not care to play this game of rhetoric. He is not afraid to say the quiet part out loud: Finish Them. If you want additional sources, I'm happy to provide. Though knowing this forum, I think y'all probably know Trump = bad.

>>Net difference? Both sides seem to support Israel's right to defend itself, just one side is far less explicit about it. But besides rheorhic, what is the true difference? I'm no foreign polciy expert, I can't give you specifics. In any case, the damage has already been done with 2% of the total population of Palestinians having been killed in direct combat. And any difference between the two will *likely* be marginal, as Israel will finish the deed in either case. Maybe y'all could enlighten me on the specific policies of their differences? (Though i have no idea why I would expect a VG forum to have people informed on military strategy lol.)

First of all, Harris isn't President. She has no power over foreign policy over Israel at the moment, so it isn't really accurate to portray current policy as Kamala's policy. She has made it pretty clear that she is more critical of Israel than Biden and seems more willing to enforce consequences against Israel than Biden. You admit that there is a clear difference between the positions that Harris expresses and the positions Trump expresses. That should be the end of this conversation. The two are objectively not identical. 

That said, even Biden is markedly different from Trump. He has been central in the push to get aid into Gaza. Even before this war, when Trump was President, Trump halted humanitarian aid into Gaza. One of the first things Biden did as President was restore that aid. As the war went on, repeatedly, funding was provided for humanitarian aid due to the pressure from Democrats which was resisted by Republicans. These millions of dollars of aid simply would not have come if Trump had his way. Gaza is already struggling under a food crisis. Allowing Trump to gain power would objectively make that worse. Biden also was central to efforts to get this aid into Gaza, taking actions such as Air Dropping aid and negotiating to allow aid to enter through Israel controlled border checkpoints. 

As far as actual military support of Israel, I personally would like Biden to go further in resisting Israel's killing of innocent civilians. That said, they have pushed back publicly against some of the actions of Israel and have withheld certain munitions and threatened to withhold additional munitions if a certain red line were to be crossed. 

We can also look further into Trump's presidency to see some of the more controversial actions he had taken, which likely wouldn't have happened under Democratic leadership. Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem, both very controversial actions which inflamed tensions. Further, Trump officially recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel. Golan Heights is disputed territory which is illegally being settled by Israel in violation of international law. One of these settlements was named "Trump Heights" in acknowledgement on Donald Trump.

EDIT: Quick side note in relation to one minor comment you've made: "The damage has already been done". While a lot of damage has been done, there are still a hell of a lot of people suffering in Gaza. This decision has the power to save some of their lives. The damage isn't just in the past, it is also in the future if we don't choose to act. Step one of that action is voting for Harris. Step two is getting out and pressuring her to do what is best for the people of Gaza. Another massive difference between the two is that Harris can be pressured by voices on the left advocating for peace. Trump will probably just send more bombs if the left tries to pressure him. 

Sources:
Palestinian aid emerges as sticking point in supplemental talks - Roll Call
Biden signs bill that includes funding for Israel, aid for Gaza - The Washington Post
U.S. restores assistance for Palestinians, to provide $235 million in aid | Reuters
El-Sisi and Biden agree to send aid to Gaza via Karem Abu Salem crossing | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera
Why Biden administration says Israel hasn't crossed a red line on Rafah | AP News
President Donald J. Trump Keeps His Promise To Open U.S. Embassy In Jerusalem, Israel – The White House (archives.gov)
Proclamation on Recognizing the Golan Heights as Part of the State of Israel – The White House (archives.gov)

Last edited by sundin13 - on 05 August 2024

firebush03 said:
Torillian said:

mk, so we'll just go quick and easy. 

Foreign policy: Ukraine and NATO

Domestic Policy: Education and LGBT issues

How are these either identical for foreign policy or marginally different for the domestic ones. 

Avoiding Ukraine and NATO for now, I can discuss Education and LGBTQ.

>>Kamala -> I won't discuss rhetoric, this is pretty obvious. As far as legislation is concerned, I point to a few resources:

...https://www.bestcolleges.com/news/kamala-harris-education-policy/#:~:text=Atlanta%20Journal%2DConstitution.-,She%20also%20has%20completed%20programs,offered%20by%20the%20D...&text=Vice%20President%20Kamala%20Harris%20has,investments%20in%20colleges%20and%20universities. As unreliable as "dot com" websites may be, they are not wrong in expressing how the Biden administration has *tried* to do a lot of things which (inevitably) get stalled in congress. The article specifically mentions how the "College For All Act" failed each time it was introduced. Additionally, the articles discusses how the Biden administration has forgiven a total of $168.7bil in student loans. This is certainly a step in the right direction!...but why not forgive it all? (This is my biggest complaint: When the ensuing recession takes full-force, then would be a perfect time to pump money into the economy via forgiving all remaining public student loans & making public education free for all. Only $2tril, which is like two years worth of military spending.) Regardless, they've got good optical excuse for why they haven't done more: Just look at what they've already done!

...tbf (Education is a very lengthy one to research. I'll get to this eventually...)

You skipped discussing LGBTQ+ issues.

You did a really poor job at explaining why they're the same in education here as well...Pointing out that Biden has tried to do things which have been stalled by a Republican House, that Biden has forgiven $168bn in loans but under Republicans that number would be $0.