Sean King

Mark Zuckerburg took down Sean King’s page today from Instagram because of what he has been sharing from contacts inside Gaza.

The same groups who oppose the war in Gaza today and are calling for a ceasefire are the EXACT SAME GROUPS which actively trafficked Jews out of Nazi Germany and were involved on the underground railroad. The American Friends Service Committee, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and Jewish Voices for Peace are those same organizations. While there have been some changes in organizational structure over the last 160 years there is a very clear line of descent from the organizations which were active on the Underground Railroad and were actively moving Jews out of Nazi Germany and the organizations calling for a ceasefire today.

The marches on the ground today in New York City calling for a ceasefire are being led by Synagogues who have members who I know, unlike Benjamin Netanyahu, had family in the Holocaust.

We are the same families. I have family records in my house right now tracing back that far. I have DNA which proves it beyond a doubt.

The people being silenced right now are the exact same people who are the loudest at decrying anti-Semitism, and if there was an attempted genocide of Jews, Sean King would be one of the very first people to decry it. The UUSC and AFSC were two of only a handful of organizations which actively worked to help Holocaust victims. I cannot stress enough how the people who are defending Palestine are the people who were literally trained by people who were the most vocal critics of Hitler.

The Venn diagram of organizations which truly support the rights of Palestinians to exist and organizations which oppose Nazism is a circle.

Zionism is not Judaism. While some Jews are Zionists, many are not. Modern-day Zionism is founded more from Evangelical Christianity in the early 19th century which then penetrated into some Jewish organizations. Many Jewish organizations today are still not Zionist. This is what I have learned not just from research but from a sermon given by the Rabbi from the Synagogue my Universalist congregation is in covenant with.

Netanyahu does not speak for the Jewish faith.

Listen to the Underground Railroad.

Listen to Holocaust victims.

Ceasefire now.

How the number of wars increased so rapidly

RealLifeLore released a video yesterday on Nebula describing the intricacies of Maduro threatening to annex most of Guyana’s territory.

I believe this is part of a general strategy to distract from Ukraine.

First, let’s start with the catalyst for the recent increase in armed conflicts around the world, the refusal of NATO to let Ukraine and Georgia in as members in 2008. Most Ukrainians opposed joining NATO then, and their application was blocked along with Georgia’s application. Regardless, it was a mistake and Russia invaded Georgia only a few months later.

In 2014 the Russian Invasion of Ukraine happened following the Euromaidan. With no security guarantees, Ukraine lost control of Crimea and parts of Luhansk and Donetsk.

After President Obama made it clear Russia could not invade further, the war softened to a stalemate for the next 8 years.

But in 2020 Trump signed a treaty with the Taliban to give them control over Afghanistan. Biden recognized this agreement, although it was not legally binding since it had never been ratified by Congress, and on 30 August 2021, the United States and our allies withdrew from Afghanistan. Biden then made a speech on how the United States would focus on our problems at home instead of problems abroad.

Putin heard this speech and further invaded Ukraine 6 months later. NATO has provided support to Ukraine, but not enough to allow them to fully repel the Russian invaders. Constantly fretting about letting the war escalate in order to not “provoke” Putin has become this generation’s “peace in our time” refrain.

Putin is a fascist on par with Mussolini. He has labor camps for North Koreans, murders all political dissidents, and invades neighbors as Hitler did with the Sudentenland. The players on the side of freedom are divided among those of us who believe we must defend our allies with as much force as Roosevelt did, those who support the fascist invader as Prescott Bush did, and those who want to compromise as Chamberlain did. I believe our response to the invasion of Ukraine needs to be as resolute as Roosevelt’s response to Pearl Harbor, but before we witness an attack on NATO territory.

Over the last year Ukraine has made some small advances against Russia, and Russia has not had any territorial gains in well over a year. The United States has been debating about increasing aid to Ukraine and Hamas made an attack against Israel in October in order to prevent that aid passage from going through. Doing this undermined those negotiations. Israel further undermined the possibility of the US sending much needed aid to Ukraine by attacking every civilian target in Gaza imaginable, which has delayed the shipment of much needed arms and ammunition to Ukraine.

I believe this is deliberate given how the Israeli government has been increasing ties to Russia and has been the only major “ally” of the US and NATO to not provide any assistance to Ukraine, despite the fact that Ukraine is the only other country in the world to have a Jewish President and Prime Minister. So much for Israel being a Jewish State. That has now been wholly debunked. If the purpose of Israel was to be a safe haven for Jews and strength of the Jewish people, they would be supporting Ukraine. Netanyahu has absolutely destroyed all credibility of his government.

Questions on whether the US is a reliable partner is now substantially increasing across the world given the events in Afghanistan and Ukraine. Republicans routinely either praise or hesitate to condemn Putin. The Republican noise machine now has convinced 44% of Republicans that we should reduce aid to Ukraine.

It is not a big leap of logic to see how the Israeli government creating a humanitarian crisis in Gaza while refusing to allow Palestinians to enter refugee camps outside of Gaza as they take out Hamas installations is counter productive to their nation’s security. It also is not hard to see how the timing of this offensive while we have a massive debate on whether to send more arms to Ukraine is particularly convenient for Netanyahu’s buddy Vladimir Putin. There is definitely collusion to undermine NATO. Undermining NATO is a direct attack on the United States.

Despite the delays in ammunition shipments Ukraine continues to beat Russia on the battlefield due to better training and more modern military equipment. If we provide the Free People of Ukraine with the aid they need so they can repel the Fascist Russian Horde from their territory, it will send a clear message that Democracies are protected, and future invasions of Free Nations will not be tolerated.

If we do not send aid to Ukraine it will show that America’s resolve is weak. Our institutions fail by giving too much power to the minority, just as our institutions failed Ukraine and Georgia back in 2008 when they applied for membership. It will bolster anti-NATO and anti-American attitudes. It will strenghten plutocrats. It will weaken American national security. The value of NATO will decline. Countries will see no point in joining and we will see more countries leave the European Union.

American national security is in ensuring we do not have more humanitarian crises like have happened in Afghanistan, Gaza, and Ukraine. It is paramount that we do everything we can to show state sponsors of terrorism like Saudi Arabia and Qatar that we will defend ourselves and our allies. We must show tyrants like Putin that if they invade democracies that we will help the defender. It is critical for the security of Taiwan and South Korea. As China watches the United States waffle on whether we will support Ukraine they are wondering how much resolve we will have in defending Taiwan. This is why China is building its military today. North Korea wonders if now is the time to attack South Korea.

If Ukraine goes, so will Guyana, Georgia, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Those five countries will only be the beginning. Russian hostilities with Sweden and other countries will increase if we see a decline in the perception of US power. Russian support of politicians like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, David Cameron, and Victor Orban will increase. If we are perceived as weak and Ukraine loses, we will likely end up with more conflicts than NATO can respond to in reasonable time. That is the worst case scenario.

We are seeing domino theory in real time right now with the situations in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Israel/Palestine, and threats against Guyana. Domino theory was not created by the US government, it was official Soviet policy, and it remains official Russian policy today. “We Will Bury You” was a promise. We are seeing a repeat of the Soviet takeovers of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Hungary today in response to our withdrawal from Afghanistan. The series of invasions and coups which occured in the 1940s is why NATO was created, to protect against future invasions by the Red Army. Putin sees our withdrawal from Afghanistan as a retreat, and he is happy to oblige and repeat history.

We must defend Ukraine and demonstrate that the free world will not be bullied by tyrants. That is the only way to ensure peace and freedom around the world given the situation we have today.

All of this could have been avoided if Biden had simply sent the document Trump wrote with the terrorists to congress where it would have failed to gain support. All of this could have been avoided if we had just given Ukraine and Georgia NATO membership in 2008. But we made the wrong decision in both of those cases, and now we have to deal with the consequences.

Chamberlain was wrong, and so are the people who are arguing we should not support Ukraine. Ukraine has never provided aid to terrorist groups like Israel did with Hamas in the 1980s. Ukraine does not negotiate with terrorists like Israel did with Hamas only two years ago. The two could not be more different.

Putin will stop at the same point where Hitler stopped because they think the same way. He will go as far as Stalin did if we let him. The only way to defeat a fascist is to completely overpower them.

We must defend our allies and hold them close to us diplomatically to show tyrants everywhere that our freedom is what makes us strong and fascism will always lose.

Slava Ukraine.

End Vetoes in NATO and the EU

The European Union and NATO accession require unanimity to expand these international alliances. In theory, these laws exist to ensure that no country’s sovereignty is violated, which is a valid goal. In practice, however, what tends to happen is the majority of countries support the accession of a country to these alliances even when the vast majority of governments and people agree that a country should join. Rogue members block the accession for unclear reasons and uphold critical decisions regarding our collective security.

No one is talking about the accession of a country like Russia or Syria to these alliances. Members are blocking Ukraine’s application to join both, and Sweden’s application to join NATO. Erdogan and Orban are trying to extract concessions from other member states to their benefit, actively harming not just the alliance but also their own countries.

We need a different path. What we have is not working when one demagogue can hold the entire alliance up because of some personal beef with an ally. Here is my proposal:

First of all, we need to lower the bar for accession to NATO and the European Union. Instead of unanimity, we have a few options:

  • 50% of member states representing 2/3 of the population
  • 2/3 of member states representing 50% of the population

I have no real preference between these two options. But we must end the filibuster of our organizations.

 

Now let’s say a country is really angry that they need to follow the rules which have been agreed to in parliament (which they are represented) or they are upset a country was allowed in and blackmail did not work and they choose to leave one of these alliances. They need to have this right to unilaterally withdraw. If a country withdraws, all obligations and privileges of its citizens are terminated immediately following their leaving. Visa-free travel, right of abode, and military defense will be lost along with every other right and privilege that came with membership. They will be a third party with the baseline level of treatment and WTO rules apply. If they choose to leave NATO in protest of the loss of veto privileges, then if they are invaded they will not be defended by NATO. Leaving NATO or the European Union must be allowed to protect sovereignty, but it will come at a horrible cost.

I believe citizens of the United Kingdom should have lost visa-free travel to the European Union when they left. After leaving they should have been forced to renegotiate everything after Brexit.

Also, if a country is consistently violating the rules of the EU or NATO we need to use our right to suspend their membership after they come back in line with the alliance. Suspension from both blocs will mean that if they are invaded no one will come to their aid.

This is of course not applicable to Ukraine and Georgia because their membership was blocked by Germany in 2008. Since they were never members NATO still has the right to send them military aid in response to the invasions of their territory by Russia.

But if Turkey were to leave and then be invaded by Russia we would simply let Istanbul burn. It is cruel, but it is the least bad outcome because it would show how important it is for member states to cooperate and disincentivize further dissolution of the alliance. It would show a clear message and seriously weaken Euroskeptic assholes not just in Europe but the United States. The foolish country would pay the price, but every other member would be strengthened, as I believe Brexit has shown with the UK leaving the European Union.

The reality of the world is that sometimes we don’t get everything we want. If a human rights violation being proposed, it is critical, reasonable, and proper to use the power of words and negotiations to reduce the power of arguments and the voting on bad decisions. Constitutional changes should take more than a simple majority, and laws which violate fundamental human rights should be able to be overturned by a court. This is the right way to do it. But with that being said, allowing demagogues to block the accession of new member states to these two international organizations for unclear and undefined reasons increases the risk of every citizen of NATO by weakening the alliance.

This why veto power needs to be abolished and we need a way to suspend an uncooperative member when they are putting the rest of us in danger.

Only two choices

Several major wars are going on right now in the world today which have seen over 10,000 deaths in the last year:

  • Israeli-Hamas war
  • Russian Invasion of Ukraine
  • Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
  • Myanmar Civil War
  • Al Qaeda Insurgency in the Maghreb
  • War in Sudan

There are other more minor wars in the world, but these are the major points of conflict.

I have written several articles about the Israeli-Hamas war. I believe the reasons behind the conflict are numerous and complicated. The only solution given Hamas’ financial resources outside of the territory is a ceasefire and the provision of services and food to the Palestinians.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ongoing conflict which is due to borders which were set by the Russians in the 20th century, and how the Azeri government is a dictatorship. There is only one side here that is not violating international law, and that is Armenia. This is complicated because Armenia is propped up by the Russians since Turkey is part of NATO. This is a rare but not unique example where a NATO member is on the wrong side of history. It also is more complex because the fighting is in Nagorno-Karabakh, an autonomous region of Azerbaijan that is not recognized by any state.

The Myanmar Civil War has been ongoing since independence from the United Kingdom. The 1962 coup d’etat replaced the democracy with a military dictatorship which lasted until 2011 when a democracy was reinstated. In 2021 there was another coup d’etat and the military is currently under control of the country. In this case, the only reasonable position is to oppose Tatmawdaw which deposed a democratically elected government.

The al Qaeda insurgency in the Maghreb is due to a constant flood of money supporting al Qaeda, and weak state institutions in the Maghreb. Until Mali, Niger, and Chad have an improvement in their quality of government they will always be at risk of civil war.

The War in Sudan can be explained by weak institutions and the fact that until 2019 it was a dictatorship under Omar al-Bashir. It has been only 4 years since Sudan started to democratize, and the economic issues facing the country are severe. On top of that, their current government is under military leadership. It is going to be a long time until Sudan can develop unless there is significant foreign aid. It is a true tragedy.

All of these conflicts are primarily internal conflicts. There is usually foreign aid involved to at least one side, but they are not from organized armies from states spilling across international borders.

Then there is the War in Ukraine. The War in Ukraine is the only truly international conflict between two states where fatalities are over 10k. It is the only true land grab invasion by a hostile foreign enemy power. It is not from a rebellious region of an authoritarian state like Azerbaijan. It is not a situation like Gaza, where despite being trained in political science I am not sure what word best describes Gaza. Bantustan might come the closest. It is not like Burma because it is not a military coup, and Ukraine has had free and fair elections for 20 years now. Ukraine has corruption issues, but not nearly as bad as the other countries on this list, and they have been making incredible strides toward democratization over the last decade.

The situations in the other 5 regions are sad and distressing, but there are a multitude of reasons for all of them, so there will be complicated solutions to each. Ukraine is different because of the blatant aggression by the Russian government against the Ukrainian people. It is not complicated. The most similar war I can think of to Ukraine was the invasion of Poland by Russia and Germany in 1939. Ukraine did nothing wrong. Ukraine was actively doing what it needed to do to move towards eventual NATO and EU accession.

There is no valid reason to defend the actions of Russia, even fewer than there were in 1939. The reason Germany invaded Poland in 1939 was to reclaim its territory which was transferred from Germany to Poland in the Treaty of Versailles. The invasion of Poland in 1939 is one of the closest examples I can think of to what is happening right now.

But even the argument of reclaiming territory doesn’t work in terms of Ukraine. Ukrainians and Russians are different people. There was no forced movement of people on the scale of the post-World War I when the Soviet Union broke up. The people of Ukraine chose independence from an authoritarian state in 1991. Ukraine and Russia speak different languages. They have different value systems, and this can be easily seen in their systems of government and how they rank on every freedom index in the world. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is so patently absurd, that it is less absurd than if the United States were to invade Canada, which I do not support. Unlike Ukraine and Russia, the United States and Canada share values. We are both democracies, we are members of NATO, and we are former British colonies. While Ukraine and Russia have a shared history, Russia has veered deeper into authoritarianism, and Ukraine has been becoming more democratic since independence. Even if their similarity score on objective lists may be similar, their trajectories are quite opposite. Most importantly, Ukrainians have clearly shown they do not want to be Russian. End of story.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia is one of the most patently absurd and pointless invasions we have seen in a very long time. The other invasion by Russia, the invasion by Georgia is tied to it in how absurd it was. Even if Ukraine were to be annexed by Russia it would be a rebellious province until they regain independence. But the issue is that given the behavior of the Russians and the speeches made by Russian officials, it is clear they intend to commit genocide against Ukrainians, and many experts already believe this is the case.

The invasion of Ukraine is an attempt to grab some of the most fertile land in the world and commit genocide against the people. It is a patent land grab of fascism, reminiscent of the actions of Hitler and Stalin.

It is a common motif in American politics to talk about what people would do if they were alive when Hitler was marching his army across Europe and committing genocide against people. This has been for most points in my life a mostly hypothetical question, and the invasion of democracies is very rare in the modern world.

But it was not hypothetical in 2008 when Russia invaded Georgia, and it was not hypothetical in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea. This stage of the invasion however in how long it is taking, the absolute brutality of the Russians against the Ukrainian people, and their refusal to distinguish between military and civilian targets, all to prevent a free people from taking their rightful place as a member state of NATO and the European Union, makes it impossible to be neutral. This invasion is more serious than the invasions of 2008 and 2014. The question has been whether politicians would have sided with Hitler through armistice or financial support, or would have opposed him outright. You cannot be neutral on a moving train, and there is no neutral position on this issue. You are either pro-Ukrainian, or you believe Ukraine should be annexed by Russia.

Today we can see clearly where politicians stand. The only morally righteous answer today is the same answer which was the only morally righteous answer when Nazi armies plundered France and the Vichy terrorized the people. We must oppose fascism and provide support to the free peoples of the world. Fascists will never respect autonomy, they will never respect the right of self-determination of free peoples. They will always continue to expand their reach until they are met with force.

Always be suspicious of any politician who attempts to excuse the actions of people like Hitler, Stalin, and Putin. Their motives are never righteous.

The invasion of Ukraine is the most black-and-white good vs. evil war I have seen in my life. It is unique among modern conflicts in how Ukraine is restrained against military targets, they have no desire to commit atrocities against the Russian people, (unlike the Bosnian War where there were war crimes on all sides) and their people have shown a clear and consistent desire to reform their country to improve their lives and join the European Union and NATO. Ukrainians don’t want to hurt Russians because Russian civilians don’t deserve to be treated the way Ukrainians are being treated, and it would prevent their accession to NATO. The Geneva Conventions are what separates us from countries like Russia.

When politicians today state that we should stop supporting Ukraine, this is morally the same as a politician standing up in 1943 and advocating to end support for de Gaulle and Free France.

We must continue military assistance of Ukraine so they can repel the Russian horde off of their land and reclaim their territory, and the minute the last Russian brute leaves Ukrainian territory, we must grant them immediate membership in NATO.

Send Ukraine arms.

Long Live NATO.

Slava Ukraine.

Refugee camps are necessary

If Hamas survives, there will be more attacks on Jews in Israel.

Anything short of supporting the complete eradication of Hamas for this reason is anti-Semitic.

I believe the only way Hamas can be eliminated is to ensure there is safe passage for refugees into safe refugee camps in Israeli territory outside of Gaza. Every death of civilians angers people around the world and increases pressure to end the war in Gaza, and every civilian death is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. An effective elimination of Hamas will allow the IDF to track down and arrest or kill every Hamas soldier. This requires safe passage of non-combatants to refugee camps where they will have food, water, beds, and sanitation services.

If I am correct in my assessment, everyone opposing the safe passage of refugees into safe Israeli territory as the IDF eliminates Hamas is then anti-Semitic.

This is a dangerous time for Israeli politics and the Palestinian people. Everyone is angry, this is a tragedy, and it was completely avoidable. Israel must conduct itself in ways that minimize anger from the Palestinian people. Angry children today are likely to become radicalized in the future. Israel must protect its people, no reasonable person will deny this, but it must also protect every Palestinian civilian. It is the only path to peace.

Unfortunately, this is not happening. Not only that, but Hamas is bigger than just a military force in Gaza. Its money is protected in Qatar, Israel knew about the upcoming attack and did nothing, and Hamas has existed since the beginning to be a destabilizing force of the Palestinian Authority according to Jews who have served in the IDF.

There is a solution to the War in Gaza. It will not happen. The United States needs to realize this and pull the plug. Bombing apartments in Gaza is counter productive, and dangerous for Israel.

My other blog posts in this series:

Arab Israeli War 2023 edition

How the wars can end

When it comes to Ukraine, there are two solutions, either Ukraine wins or Russia wins. But the reality is Russia cannot win. Ukraine has military support from the West and despite having a significantly smaller population than Russia, Ukraine has successfully managed to prevent Russia from taking over their country. When NATO increases the amount of arms Ukraine receives so they can shatter Russian supply lines to their troops so the Russian troops start to starve Ukraine will be able to reclaim its territory. There is no realistic path to Russia being able to conquer Ukraine, and even if they did Ukraine will be a rebellious province until they win independence again.

On top of this, when Russia loses the war Putin will lose his life. Ukraine is going to win, it is inevitable. We might as well give them the support they need so the war can end sooner and fewer people lose their lives. Ukraine’s winning scenario, as has been made very clear by President Zelensky, is that Ukraine will get back all of its territory as it had in 2013. The Russian soldiers chose to stay in their country and refused to revolt against their dictator. They will pay with their lives. It’s only a matter of time.

 

Israel however is a very different situation. Regarding Ukraine, the objectives of Zelensky and his nation are identical. If Zelensky wins, Ukraine wins, and vice versa. When it comes to Israel I am going to demonstrate there is no way Israel can win while Likud wins as well. This puts Israel in the worst quagmire of its history.

The way Israel can win this war is by allowing refugees from Gaza into refugee camps outside of the strip. Elders and children, along with all working-age people who are not members of Hamas will be given shelter, food, and medical supplies in camps run by Israel in Israeli territory. The Israeli military can then go into Gaza, remove all weapons Hamas has been using to launch rockets into Israel, and then grant citizenship to the Palestinians and help them build a life in a unified state. I don’t think a two-state solution is going to happen. The problem with this is it will be the end of the Likud Party’s time in government. Netanyahu cannot choose this option and stay Prime Minister. But it is the solution for Israel. This is what makes the end of this war a complete quagmire.

If Israel stops bombarding Gaza and sends aid into Gaza without eliminating Hamas, Netanyahu loses power. This is not an option for him.

If Israel continues to bombard Gaza it doesn’t matter how many apartments, hospitals, and schools they blow up, Hamas leadership is safe in Doha. Hamas’ assets are diversified across the Middle East. Israel cannot win this war simply by blowing up every building in Gaza.

If Israel kills every person in Gaza, that is genocide, and their approval rating and image abroad will tank. This is a losing scenario and highly unethical.

What also must be kept into consideration is the longer Israel bombards Gaza, the more likely it is Iran will get involved with their ICBMs and start to pummel Israel with everything they have, starting with Tel Aviv. This would be a catastrophe, and cannot occur.

This is where this becomes a scenario with no path where the government of Israel can win. They cannot stop bombing, because they will lose the next election, and they cannot continue bombing because eventually there will be attacks from Iran against Israel, a war they cannot win.

Israel is not part of any military alliance. If Israel gets itself into a war with another state, there is no obligation for any other country to send troops to protect Israel. They will be on their own except for military aid. You cannot military aid your way out of a reign of hellfire of ICBMs raining down on your largest city.

Netanyahu is in a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. He needs to sacrifice his political career for the safety of his country. Based on history, we know he will not do the right thing for Israel. He never has. I don’t see a good path out of the current conflict for Israel before the next election. Only time will tell.

How to stop terrorist attacks

When looking at the 9/11 attackers, a few things seem pretty obvious to me in terms of ways we actually could have prevented the 9/11 attackers.

The first thing that needs to happen is they can’t have a safe haven anywhere in the world, and any countries that are safe for terrorists to host their training camps need to be heavily scrutinized. Stabilizing regions like Afghanistan is a matter of national security.

Reducing the reasons why someone would want to attack another country is a tried and true method to reduce terrorist attacks. Programs like the Peace Corps and USAID are effective anti-terrorist tools.

Saudi Arabia reissued passports to the terrorists before they came to the United States. Countries like Saudi Arabia which are known to harbor financiers of terrorism need to be heavily scrutinized and their citizens need extra scrutiny by the State Department before they are granted visas. Not just Saudi Arabia but all Gulf States.

When someone is reported to the police to be supporting terrorists, take them seriously.

Visa-free entry for democracies which we share criminal record data with is a reasonable policy that doesn’t endanger American lives. The ESTA would not have hampered any of the 9/11 highjackers. Visa-free entry for all European Union citizens and other allied democracies. ESTA does not prevent terrorism.

Countries with developing economies and very low rates of terrorism should not have large barriers to travel to the United States.

Visa refusal rate and overstay rate have little to do with countries that are the most likely to be the source of violent terrorist attacks. I am doubtful visas are an effective tool for reducing terrorist attacks.

Conflict breeds more conflict. Hatred breeds more hate. The path to world peace is through communication, trade, dialogue, and building friendships across nations.

References:
Foreign Aid as a Counterterrorism Tool: More Liberty, Less Terror?

Biden should not run

This is the current polling for Biden across the country as of today according to https://www.racetothewh.com/biden.

This is very very bad. He is on par with Trump in terms of net approval.

Yikes. Even after everything Trump did, Biden has done such a bad job getting his message out and working with Congress that he is slightly below Donald Trump in approval polls. He has failed to give his supporters anything to latch on to, and for the relatively small wins we saw in Build Back Better they were overshadowed by the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan (which happens to be when his approval dropped 15 points in 2 months), the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the failure of the United States to provide Ukraine sufficient support to repeal the fascist invaders, and now with the onslaught of Gaza which is just further alienating voters who he needs to win in order to win the presidency, particularly people of color, Biden is looking likely to lose the election next year.

Biden should just not run. I know there is only a month to go, but at this point, his defeat is all but certain except if there is an absolute miracle in his approval rating over the next year.

His polling is on par with where Donald Trump was at the end of 2019. He is less popular than Richard Nixon was in 1971. The only two presidents who compare to his polling numbers at this point in the first term are Trump and Carter. Every other president since Harry Truman has better polling numbers than Biden does now.

If we check betting pool odds Trump has been leading Biden since September.

Trump led a mob to attack the Capitol building. The Democrats should be beating him handily. The President should have been able to make a case so clear that he is better than that absolute traitor over the last year that it shouldn’t even be close. Biden has failed to do this very basic task.

This election should be a slam dunk for the Democrats, but under Biden, it is not.

Biden passed Build Back Better which included some good marginal wins. But on top of this abortion is now outlawed by the Supreme Court in many states. While this is not Biden’s fault, he will get the blame for it from voters. We abandoned Afghanistan to the terrorists, Biden is one of only two Presidents in history to ever truly lose a war, the other is Nixon. He has failed to defend Ukraine. He has supplied Israel with as many weapons as possible which are being used to kill civilians in Gaza. His losses far outweigh his wins.

An important part of being a politician is you need to provide as many reasons for people to vote for you and make as few decisions that anger your base as you can. Biden has routinely done the opposite. Biden has routinely given voters reasons to not like him, with an unhealthy and delusional obsession with compromise with people who want our country to fail, along with losing wars, while also his wins have been so marginal and gradual that there is no big win that is making people’s lives better that he can point to which undermines his failures in Ukraine, Israel, and Afghanistan. He has given everyone something to hate. This is a terrible way to run a country, but a great way to lose elections.

Trump should be buried by anyone the Democrats nominate. Biden has very little charisma and many of his policies are out of touch with what the majority of his voters want. We are seeing this in the polls now.

There are plenty of Senators and Governors who would be able to easily beat Donald Trump.

Biden should not run for reelection.

References:

https://www.racetothewh.com/biden

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating

Why I have a website

The reason I have a personal website which I own is pretty straightforward.

I can use any HTML tag I want
I can upload images of any size, and share those images uncompressed with my readers. You have a better experience here than on Medium, Reddit, or Facebook.
I have full control.
If I write something a company doesn’t like, no one can take it down.
It gives me the freedom to do anything I want.
Since I am using a VPS I can make subdomains and run multiple programs on my server.
It is a fantastic learning experience.
Everyone should make a personal website.

You keep more ad revenue than on a website someone else knows.

My code is cleaner than if I were to use some whizzy wig bloatware like Wix. If I want to change something later, it is much easier with WordPress than any other blogging software I have ever used.

Now what you need to do to start, is do the following steps:

  1. Buy a domain name. It’s not very expensive, but it is the first thing you need to do. While you can make a website with a subdomain of something like wordpress.com it is better to own your domain. I bought mine on Dreamhost.com and I absolutely love their service.
  2. Start with a shared hosting plan, Dreamhost has good prices and good service. It is affordable and easy. It will automatically spin up your server for you, you don’t need to know a lot.
  3. Eventually, you will find your server feels sluggish because you are using a shared hosting plan. You will want to upgrade and that means you will want to move over to a Virtual Private Server. I use Ionswitch which gives me amazing service at very good prices for the industry. Now you have full control over what you do and can do basically anything you want.
  4. If your website’s traffic becomes too heavy for your VPS you can move to having your server on a rack which gives you even more control. I have not gotten to this step yet.

that’s how to start your own website in my opinion, and this is why I choose to write my things here instead of on another service.

Pull All Aid from Israel

I have a bachelor’s degree in political economy, which included multiple classes on foreign relations.

Israel knew of Hamas’ attack a year before it happened. Netanyahu ignored the information in a manner very similar to how the Bush administration granted visas to the 9/11 attackers. The response has been disproportionate, has focused on non-military targets, and has created a million refugees. These are war crimes on par with the brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Israel has had countless opportunities to avoid this terrifying situation. Israel set up Hamas originally and continues to tacitly support them in the background according to numerous high-ranking Israeli sources.

Israel has created a refugee crisis of historic proportions in Gaza, massacring children, bombing apartment buildings and hospitals, and other war crimes on par with what their ally Russia is committing in Ukraine.

After this latest report in the New York Times, it is obvious that the United States is assisting Israel in committing War Crimes which were defined in the aftermath of the Holocaust, and that the extremist Likud government does not share any values with the American government, least of all the Democratic Party.

I find it disturbing that the United States government is so hesitant to give Ukraine the aid they call for to repel the fascist Russian invaders from their land, as they rape and murder innocent civilians across Ukraine, but when Israel directly ignores reports from their intelligence agency about an incoming attack from Hamas and then respond by striking non-military targets the United States gives them everything they want, even as they violate treaties which the United States drafted and is a party to. This needs to be reversed.

Slava Ukraine.

References
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-attack-intelligence.html

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/netanyahu-israel-gaza-hamas-1.7010

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/07/30/how-israel-helped-create-hamas/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123275572295011847