US Politics

I was about to suggest @ willmelling’s suggestion, but they beat me to it.

I got back from Amsterdam on Sunday, people were apologising about how embarrassed they feel about the election result, we could only shrug and say we feel the same about Brexit.

...well it's a reality test for the Dutch. Apologies won't make the societal and political reality go away though. I still keep my fingers crossed Wilders is not able to form a coalition anyway. He'ld very much be the Dutch Trump with the blonde perm and all.

I left a long time ago to the greener/greyer pastures of Berlin. Now we got the modern brown shirts lining up here too FFS. And they gained much faster traction than in the Netherlands; a 15-20% of the vote right wing populist has been on the ballot since the early 2000s.

Aside from anything else, a significant chunk of the U.S. population believes Michelle Obama is trans. If she were brave/foolish enough to step forward, expect another, um, "birther" conspiracy. Donald "I'm only asking questions" Trump would be happy to stoke it while claiming not to stoke it.

they gained much faster traction than in the Netherlands

I read that the extreme no-questions support for Israel(i government) is backfiring and encouraging a rise in antisemitism in Germany. Do you have a feeling whether that's true? Or is just another excuse.
(Sorry, you are not spokesperson for Germany right now)

I live around the corner where the biggest German protests, and admittedly confrontations with authorities, against the Gaza invasion were. Mind you, they were verboten, hence also stronger police response. Framed masterfully as antisemitic, "Jew hating" by the right wing press. The old "any criticism of Israel is antisemitism" tactic.
It's all very ironic though. Have you read the news that Masha Gessen, a Jewish American Russian journalist was denied the ceremony for her Hannah Arendt Prize due to an article on the Gaza invasion in the New Yorker? Surreal stuff, here's Mehdi Hassan's interview with them (preferred pronoun stuff)
https://youtu.be/O2sCtPCRj-U?si=Q_6t3aIKbyXcJZhR

But this all a bit off topic, should go the Israel Palestine thread.

The fact btw that a majority of the influx of recent mid 2010 refugees is Muslim from the region with a history of beef with Israel, and one of the largest Palestinian diaspora outside of the region is in Berlin, gives them maybe some ground to be extra critical of recent events.
The largest Turkish community outside of Turkey is also in Berlin. And they too are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause..

A small example, my 30 y/o barber is a descendant of Nakba refugees to Syria, that fled Syria during the civil war to not be enlisted after the Syrian regular army retook his town and killed some family members in the process. Some intergenerational personal experience of war and conflict right there...

I went off topic again didn't I..

Not trying to excuse antisemitism btw, before somebody starts waving that stick at me.

Masha Gessen

Yeah read that in the Guardian, which is where my question came from I guess. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/18/hannah-arendt-prize-masha-gessen-israel-gaza-essay

Rudy Guliani declaring bankruptcy to try and avoid paying damages for that defamation case. No surprise, but what a toxic shit.

Rudy sees Alex Jones and Steve Bannon get away with it so why not?

They are all following the lead of individual diocese of the US catholic church.

You'd never expect this of that guy who used to drive around with the Confederate flag on the top his car:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/dukes-hazzard-actor-john-schneider-biden-execution

God made Trump
https://twitter.com/bmay/status/1743275244603810022?t=OOPQlN296kEusi1wTOIFGw&s=19

Fitter. Happier. More productive.

Jesus fixed that mistake

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Lights, camera … corruption!

The NY Post going to town on the Hunter doc.

https://nypost.com/2024/01/04/news/hunter-biden-sugar-brother-plots-gauzy-documentary-on-first-son

NY Times’ editorial board quietly publishing a desperate warning against trump. I’m guessing they see the way things are headed, and are leaving a historical record to indicate that at least they tried. (They didn’t try hard enough, early enough)

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/06/opinion/trump-2024-campaign-warning.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krVNdQOWYk4

Did that guy came direct from a livestock auction?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqFcTD-z39w

Jonathan Freedland on Trump and the ongoing problem that no-one wants to challenge him within the Republican Party:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/19/stop-donald-trump-republican-opponents-insurrection

I never normally wish harm on anyone, but I hope the fascist cunt dies before November.

Nostradamus called it, mate. No point stressing now, just enjoy the ride.

Lots of talk about a second trump term being on everyone’s mind at Davos. Resignation and nervousness seem to be the dominant emotions. Even the Lithuanian President or PM basically said it doesn’t bear thinking about, it’s too disastrous, and we wouldn’t want to help cause it by constantly talking about the fear of it.

Zero chance of peace for Ukraine while Putin is alive and trump is electable.

He is in pretty serious cognitive decline, just said three times that Nikki Haley was in charge of security on Jan 6th

Boris has done a column saying, you know, maybe another Trump term is what the world might need?

Not compromised by Russia at all of course.