As Palestinians pushes for statehood, Israel finds itself more isolated
POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Monday, May 25, 2026 02:10
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PAGE 6 of 33
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:This country already works well, but not for people who are financial ignoramuses. The article that explains what you need to learn so that your life works well is "I Saw Thousands of Bank Account Details as a Teller. It Taught Me 3 Lessons Millions Never Learn." In the title, the word Millions should be replaced with 200 Million to make the size of the problem clearer.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Agreed. But no more immigrants, legal or otherwise, no matter where they come from. I'm not saying never again, but at least until we finally start making this country work for the legal citizens again. We're broke and we're broken. We don't need anybody else in here taking the dwindling resources.
https://www.inc.com/kelly-main/i-saw-thousands-of-bank-account-details
-as-a-teller-it-taught-me-3-lessons-millions-never-learn.html
After all, it's not just about what you earn, it's also about what you keep. And from my time as a teller, those who employed these three principles were those who were the most well-off -- not just in terms of financial well-being, but also in terms of happiness and general well-being. Because when you don't have the burden of immense financial stress, you have something everyone wants and the overarching goal of having money: financial freedom.
Then there is "My in-laws are terrible with money. What should I do?"
https://www.vox.com/even-better/23912950/parents-money-personal-financ
e-advice-how-to
Start talking to your husband, right now, about what you’re going to say when your in-laws ask to live with you. Given the current housing market, it’s a much more likely scenario than the one in which they travel the world.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
Fuck you dude. Who do you think you're talking to?
The guy who hasn't worked for 4.5 years, that's who.
I'm in a much better position than most.
It doesn't change the fact that my money only buys 70% of what it did just 3 years ago. Democrats are responsible for this.
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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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And you really need to stop posting Pro-Palestinian propaganda.
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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.
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Quote:
Arnaud Bertrand - How Israel Stepped Into A Trap
by Arnaud Bertrand
(Republished with the author's permission)
One of the more interesting arguments I've been seeing A LOT on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is: "Hamas undoubtedly predicted Israel's massive retaliation, that makes them all the more guilty for sacrificing Palestinian lives".
What people don't realize is that the fact this reaction - the massive collective punishment - was indeed immensely predictable says just as much about Israel than it does about Hamas.
It says a lot about Israel for 3 reasons. 1) It says a lot about Israel's image that it was expected to react with massive collective punishment, violating international law. 2) It also says a lot about Israel's inability to think strategically that it would react in exactly the way its adversary predicted it to. Revenge is not a strategy, in fact it is the opposite of strategic. And, lastly 3) it says a lot that Israel doesn't seem to have learned a thing from the US's immense mistakes in its post 9-11 response.
Yes, of course, it also says a lot about Hamas, because they knew their actions would undoubtedly cause untold suffering on their own people (on top of the suffering they caused with the attacks). No question there.
This looks to be, unfortunately, a competition for whom can gain the most sympathy from the outside world for their suffering. And from where I am standing, Israel is losing big time by playing into the hand of its adversary. Even Europe - Europe! - is on the verge today of breaking ranks with a full-on revolt at the highest levels of the bureaucracy against Von Der Leyen for her unqualified support for Israel. This is on top of renewed support for the Palestinian cause by the Muslim world, and generally the entire global South (with the notable exception of India, who pretty much runs on Islamophobia today under Modi).
I'm going to go out on a limb here and hypothesize that this was Hamas, as an organization, committing suicide for the Palestinian cause. Hamas undoubtedly won't survive this, it's pretty clear. And sadly thousands of innocent lives will be lost. But they've focused the entire global conversation on their topic and Israel's reaction is making Palestinians win the sympathy war.
What should Israel have done instead? Well, they should have recognized which war Hamas was baiting them into. Not a war against them per se, but a war for hearts and minds. They missed the forest for the trees. Which is stunning because they started with the upper hand, by far. They could have used the initial attacks to rally immense support, declare a period of mourning, unify much of the world around the just cause of not killing innocent civilians. Instead, they started doing so in turn, on an even grander scale: so far they've killed 614 children and 370 women. It's an unfathomable and immensely consequential mistake.
This war also reveals something interesting, and I'll end with this. It reveals how much power and influence the wider West has lost in driving the global conversation. Remember post 9-11, when the US had much the same overaction as Israel today by invading Afghanistan? At the time we didn't hear any significant opposition. It was there for sure but it was inaudible. Today by contrast it is so overwhelming that even Europe - Europe! - feels compelled to dissent. Which of course they'd never do out of pure morality, they do so because they have their back against the wall, in their words they "don't want to lose the global South", which wasn't even remotely a factor back in 2001. Heck we just saw that the US asked China - China! - to "use its influence to push for calm in the Middle-East": this would have been absolutely unthinkable 22 years ago, what better proof that they themselves lost their influence? Influence ironically lost for the very reason that they overreacted 22 years ago: how ironical that they'd ask for China'NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
EXCEPT... rather than fight for world sympathy, Iran may turn to a military response...
Quote:
Israel-Hamas War Latest: Israeli Troops Amass At Border As Iran Warns It Will Intervene If Ground Offensive Launched
After giving the northern Gaza strip an evacuation ultimatum on Friday, Israel has so far withheld from launching a "significant" ground operation, with some speculating that requests from the US to evacuate all US citizens out of Palestine ahead of the invasion is what is holding Israel back. Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday said that if Israeli “war crimes & genocide” are not stopped, the war might expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle, and that would make Israel suffer “a huge earthquake.” Meanwhile, Axios reported that Tehran has sent Jerusalem a message through the UN that it will intervene if the campaign in Gaza continues, and particularly if it launches a ground offensive.
MORE AT https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-hamas-war-latest-israeli
-troops-amass-border-iran-warns-against-ground
ORIGINALLY REPORTED BY
Quote:
Scoop: Iran warns Israel through UN against ground offensive in Gaza
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/14/iran-warning-israel-hezbollah-hamas-w
ar-gaza
With a USA carrier group in the Med and another one on the way...
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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Quote:The last time something like this happened, inflation jumped 20.39% from Oct. 1973 to Oct. 1975.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
And you really need to stop posting Pro-Palestinian propaganda.
https://www.calculator.net/inflation-calculator.html
You are too young to remember on Oct. 19, 1973, following then-President Richard Nixon’s decision to provide Israel with $2.2 billion in emergency aid in support of the Yom Kippur War, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) approved an oil embargo on the U.S. This effectively shut off the exports of Arab crude oil to the U.S., followed by a series of steep production cuts in output.
Before the embargo, a barrel of oil traded for around $2.90, quadrupling to $11.65 per barrel by January 1974. This led to an increase in the price of regular gasoline in the U.S. from an average of 39 cents per gallon before the crisis to 53 cents in 1974, an increase of around 36% in less than a year.
https://www.investopedia.com/1973-energy-crisis-definition-5222090
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:I have never known angry poor white trash who understood inflation, except for you, assuming you know what you think you know.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Fuck you dude. Who do you think you're talking to?
The guy who hasn't worked for 4.5 years, that's who.
I'm in a much better position than most.
It doesn't change the fact that my money only buys 70% of what it did just 3 years ago. Democrats are responsible for this.
One way to calculate inflation is by postage stamp prices
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/us-domestic-letter-rates
April 10, 2016 All U.S., 1st oz. 47 cents
January 20, 2017 Trump Inaugurated
January 22, 2017 All U.S., 1st oz. 49 cents
January 21, 2018 All U.S., 1st oz. 50 cents
January 27, 2019 All U.S., 1st oz. 55 cents
January 20, 2021 Biden Inaugurated
August 29, 2021 All U.S., 1st oz. 58 cents
July 10, 2022 All U.S., 1st oz. 60 cents
January 22, 2023 All U.S., 1st oz. 63 cents
July 9, 2023 All U.S., 1st oz. 66 cents
55/47=1.17 or Trump Inflation 17%
66/55=1.20 or Biden Inflation 20%
Another way to calculate inflation is with the inflation calculator
The total inflation rate from Jan. 2017 to Jan. 2021 is 7.72%.
The total inflation rate from Jan. 2021 to Sep. 2023 is 17.66%.
https://www.calculator.net/inflation-calculator.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:I have never known angry poor white trash who understood inflation, except for you, assuming you know what you think you know.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Fuck you dude. Who do you think you're talking to?
The guy who hasn't worked for 4.5 years, that's who.
I'm in a much better position than most.
It doesn't change the fact that my money only buys 70% of what it did just 3 years ago. Democrats are responsible for this.
I'm not poor, nor am I white trash.
I understand money a lot more than your stupid ass does.
Quote:
One way to calculate inflation is by postage stamp prices
No. This is not a valid indicator of inflation by any metric. Postage stamp increases are approved by the Governors of the USPS and are not tied to any automatic triggers.
A better (but not perfect) example that you could have used would be the COLA raises for Social Security by year.
TRUMP:
2017: 2.0%
2018: 2.8%
2019: 1.6%
2020: 1.3%
Non-Compounded TOTAL COLA during Trump's administration (4 YEARS): 7.7%
Non-Compounded AVERAGE COLA during Trump's administration: 1.925%
BIDEN*:
2021: 5.9%
2022: 8.7%
2023: 3.2%
Non-Compounded TOTAL COLA during Biden*'s administration (ONLY 3 YEARS): 17.8%
Non-Compounded AVERAGE COLA during Biden*'s administration: 5.93%
Quote:
April 10, 2016 All U.S., 1st oz. 47 cents
January 20, 2017 Trump Inaugurated
January 22, 2017 All U.S., 1st oz. 49 cents
January 21, 2018 All U.S., 1st oz. 50 cents
January 27, 2019 All U.S., 1st oz. 55 cents
January 20, 2021 Biden Inaugurated
August 29, 2021 All U.S., 1st oz. 58 cents
July 10, 2022 All U.S., 1st oz. 60 cents
January 22, 2023 All U.S., 1st oz. 63 cents
July 9, 2023 All U.S., 1st oz. 66 cents
55/47=1.17 or Trump Inflation 17%
66/55=1.20 or Biden Inflation 20%
MEANINGLESS
Quote:
Another way to calculate inflation is with the inflation calculator
The total inflation rate from Jan. 2017 to Jan. 2021 is 7.72%.
The total inflation rate from Jan. 2021 to Sep. 2023 is 17.66%.
https://www.calculator.net/inflation-calculator.html
Yeah. That's how they figure out COLA, why your numbers mirror my COLA example, and why your Post Office example is meaningless, dummy.
It doesn't paint the whole picture though. These are not compounded numbers. The higher prices compound every year. This is bad enough when you're averaging 2% inflation (the target FED rate, and slightly higher than Trump's 4 year average). It's terrible when you're bordering 6% average every year.
FED inflation calculations, as always, uses metrics that don't necessarily reflect the ACTUAL increase in the cost of living. Unlike the inflation that hit during the Obama years that was heavily lopsided on goods and services that most people could do without, during the entirety of the Biden* administration they've hit food and energy particularly hard. These are things that people cannot live without, and their impact is not calculated honestly when they calculate inflation. (This is not a new phenomena during the Biden* administration... This is ALWAYS the case).
Now that we've got all of that settled, let's look at compounded figures.
For illustrative purposes, let's just say that One American Dollar was worth One American Dollar on the day that Trump was inaugurated, and then they were reset again when Joe Biden* took office. In other words, 100 cents bought 100 cents worth of goods and services on January 20th, 2017, and then 100 cents bought 100 cents worth of goods and services once again on January 20th, 2021. Inflation will be calculated for each year when SSA redetermines COLA in October of every year).
TRUMP YEARS:
After year one (October 2017), with 2.0% inflation, it now took $1.02 to buy what $1.00 used to buy in January 2017.
YEAR ONE TOTAL INCREASE FROM JAN 2017: $0.02
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Trump supports Israel.
I'm more like ...
Quote:
Rand Paula On Israel-Palestine: "I'm Not Really For Funding Either Side"
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/rand-paul-israel-palestine-im-not-
really-funding-either-side
But since the biggest recipient of foreign aid is... wait for it ... ISRAEL! ...I guess Israel would take the biggest hit.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger
Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM
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Quote:Bigger than you think because Egypt receives foreign aid in exchange for NOT attacking Israel.
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
But since the biggest recipient of foreign aid is... wait for it ... ISRAEL! ...I guess Israel would take the biggest hit.
Five countries have received over a quarter of all US foreign aid since World War II.
US foreign aid by top 5 recipient country, adjusted for inflation, 1946-2021
Israel $312.5 billion
Vietnam $184.5 billion
Egypt $183.7 billion (Egypt paid to NOT attack Israel)
Afghanistan $158.9 billion
South Korea $120.7 billion
Inflation adjusted to 2022 dollars.
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/which-countries-receive-the-most-f
oreign-aid-from-the-u-s/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Judaism Can’t Justify What Israel Is Doing
By Abraham Josephine Riesman and S.I. Rosenbaum | Oct 17, 2023 9:54 AM
A nuance in Jewish law and culture is being tragically misused and misunderstood.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/10/israel-gaza-war-hamas-juda
ism-pikuach-nefesh.html
When Solomon Perel died this past February in Jerusalem, he did not die alone. With him went the alter ego he’d created more than half a century before, when as a Jewish teenager he survived the Holocaust by hiding in plain sight as “Jupp,” a member of the Hitler Youth. In his many postwar decades living as a citizen of Israel, Perel would give interviews in which he swore, up and down, that Jupp was a fully formed personality that took over his body—and that never fully left him.
Perel’s story was immortalized in one of the great Jewish films, Polish director Agnieszka Holland’s overlooked Europa Europa, from 1990. At the film’s conclusion, young Perel is improbably reunited with his brother, who has been in one of the concentration camps. The two tearfully embrace, and Solomon starts to explain why he is dressed as a Nazi. His brother stops him.
“I don’t care how you survived,” the brother says. “I care that you survived.”
Perel’s story, in fiction and in fact, is an extreme example of a Jewish religious and cultural concept known in Hebrew as pikuach nefesh. Roughly translated, it means “to save a life.” The basic principle is simple: If complying with a Jewish law would endanger you, that law may be suspended. This principle is built on thousands of years of persecution and danger. Unlike other Abrahamic faiths, Judaism traditionally puts little value on martyrdom. If you have to betray your faith to survive, so be it. Survival—individually, and as a people—matters more than anything.
Many American Jews first learn about pikuach nefesh in the context of the Jewish calendar’s most solemn holiday, Yom Kippur, during which Jews traditionally go without food or water for 25 autumnal hours. Children who are nervous about such an undertaking are often told a story about someone being so ill that a fast would have killed them, and subsequently being granted a reprieve from a rabbi on the grounds of pikuach nefesh. It’s a comforting thought for a child: Obeying the Law sounds scary, but at least there’s an exception to keep me alive.
Pikuach nefesh has become deeply relevant in recent days. On Oct. 7, Hamas carried out the largest massacre of Jews since 1945. Today, Israel’s answer is well underway: We are witnessing what may become the greatest massacre perpetuated by Jews in history. In Gaza, all normal rules have been suspended. There is no medicine. There is no fuel. There are no escape routes. There are no civilians, in the eyes of the Israeli military, which is freely bombing hospitals and schools.
Meanwhile, in Israel proper, the hard-right communications minister is backing an emergency measure that would allow the government to imprison any Israeli citizen who “undermines the morale of Israel’s soldiers and residents in the face of the enemy” in social media posts. Long-running street protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have ceased as masses of Israelis are sent to battle; his bitter rivals have had no choice but to fall in line behind their PM on a war footing. Meanwhile, despite some public urging from Joe Biden over the weekend to distinguish Palestinian civilians from Hamas, the U.S. and EU have pledged virtually unconditional support for whatever the Israeli leadership feels it must do.
Hamas’ surprise attack has been called “Israel’s 9/11.” And indeed, it’s hard not to see the aftermath of 9/11 in Israel’s reaction: the rushed and brutal military retaliation, ethnicity-based security crackdowns, capitulation of world leadership. It didn’t go well back then either. Afraid for our lives in 2001, Americans agreed to suspend the legal and ethical norms of our society, such as they were. Doing so, President George W. Bush and others continually argued, was a matter of life and death.
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