• ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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        1 month ago

        Years ago I attended a friend’s sister’s wedding who was marrying the son of a defense contractor from Houston in Vegas. This motherfucker rented out multiple conference rooms at Paris for the ceremony and reception, open bar and meal for hundreds of people, rented two-story penthouse suites at MGM for the wedding party and flew all the family out to be there. He had to have blown hundreds of thousands on this ceremony that was over in half a day. That’s where a majority of our taxes go, to rich parasites like this. Think of every problem that the federal government just throws money at and you’ll find people like this. This is why we pay so much yet little ever gets accomplished. We’re all too busy squabbling with each other while they fleece us.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    It was always a literal boondoggle.

    It existed to give the illusion if doing something to help, it was the equivalent to burning the aid money slowly while starving children watched.

    Fuck Biden for doing shit like this and then insisting if he’s not president it has to be trump.

        • Deceptichum@quokk.au
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          1 month ago

          It’s okay, I have it on good authority that after Trump loses the next election that all the dem voters will say that the threat is gone now and will push for the drastic changes needed to stop situations where the choice is between a senile old right wing capital and a senile old far-right wing capitalist.

          Or at least that’s what they’ve all been promising, that after this one last Trump time that everyone can finally be critical and demand better. Surely there won’t be another far-right threat to force all leftists to vote for a right winger, and we all know centrists will never vote left, it’s only the left that must change direction.

  • kaffiene@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I always said that the aid pier was entirely performative, but that’s even more pathetic than I was expecting

  • jet@hackertalks.com
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    1 month ago

    What gets me every time they talk about this pier… The ships in the photos are amphibians landing ships designed with ramps and flat bottoms so they can unload on the beach without a pier. The pier is totally unnecessary in this scenario

        • roboto@feddit.org
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          1 month ago

          To rescue the 4 hostages in return for almost 300 dead Palestinians and magnitudes more of wounded people.

            • jet@hackertalks.com
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              1 month ago

              I don’t think it’s credible to say that The pier was built for the Israeli rescue operations.

              In fact, without the pier they still would have executed the operation. Pier was convenient, but not necessary

              • Emmy@lemmy.nz
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                1 month ago

                In fact, without the pier they still would have executed the operation. Pier was convenient, but not necessary

                There’s absolutely no way they’d have allowed it’s construction of it wasn’t necessary for them. We can tell because it’s already being dismantled

    • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      The amphibious ships are small and can’t carry a lot. The proposed idea made a lot of sense in that it would allow larger ships to be used so less trips and less fuel per ton of aid, but the political will was just never there to keep it running or make sure it was planned thoroughly enough.

      Absolutely shameful, but on the plus side military logistics students just got another case study.

    • zaphod@sopuli.xyz
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      1 month ago

      Yeah, but then you’re on a beach, so you need vehicles that can drive on a beach, possibly in wet sand, possibly still half in the water. Unless you’re actually doing amphibious assault in enemy territory building a pier is a good idea as it makes unloading vehicles/cargo much easier and broadens the type of boats you can use for transport.

      • jet@hackertalks.com
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        1 month ago

        100% agreed. If they had been serious about this whole we’re going to bring supplies in from the sea. Day 1 through 30 should have been amphibious vehicles. Day 30 through 60 should have been pier-based vehicles, and 60 plus should be showing massive high throughput. With UN peacekeepers at some point to prevent bombing of the aid caravans.

    • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Those are the little boats that take things from the pier to the shore. The boats that take things over the ocean to the pier are not landing vessels. They are large ships and only have a cargo ramp, which requires a pier to unload. I looked at hundreds of pictures before writing this and didn’t see one large ship with beach landing capabilities. The largest landing ship I saw was the USAV Matamoros, Runnymede-class ship with a capacity of 20 stacked containers, with no ability to load them onto trucks. It needs a pier to load trucks. Could maybe carry eight trucks already loaded, which is nothing. It operates regionally, not transoceanic.

    • b161@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 month ago

      “Rescue mission”? You mean that one where they disguised US / Israeli military as humanitarian aid to get into a refugee camp to slaughter 274 innocent people?

      • MTK@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I get your point but it is disingenuous to ignore the fact that it was a rescue mission.

  • Wanderer@lemm.ee
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    1 month ago

    What don’t the Palestinians simply die so all the Israelis can build nice homes on the beach already? So selfish.

  • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    The pier did not deliver aid equal to a single day of land aid. Most of the aid was left to rot because israel did not allow it in. Israel also kept bombing the warehouse with the aid.

    The pier was used to disguise an israeli military operatation as an aid truck and colonize the land. Israel has since built a giant military base near the pier they claim would be used for aid.

      • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        The UN workers distributing the aid brought in from the pier were bombed by israel. And also the warehouse used to store said aid was bombed by israel.

        Though At the start of the Genocide IDF casualties were at least 20% friendly fire so your statement is also correct. They just fire at anything that moves.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 month ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    A US military pier, built two months ago as a way to bring sea-borne humanitarian aid into Gaza, is to be permanently dismantled within a few days, according to a new report.

    The Associated Press (AP) reported that the pier, which has had to be moved repeatedly to avoid bad weather, would be reconnected to the Gaza coastline on Wednesday but would operate for just the next few days before being disassembled by the US army and navy.

    The pier scheme, first unveiled by Joe Biden in his State of the Union address in March, was always intended to be a temporary measure to complement the meagre amount of aid being allowed across land crossings by Israel, but US officials told Reuters in June it would last until August or September.

    The eastern Mediterranean off the Gaza coast had been choppier in the summer months than had been expected with stormy weather making it necessary to move the pier in and out of position repeatedly.

    Apart from a day’s operations to clear the backlog of humanitarian assistance on the beach, the WFP has continued to suspend its convoys pending a full security review.

    Over its two months in operation, about 8,800 metric tons of aid has been unloaded off the pier, about 500 truckloads, equivalent to a single day of deliveries before the war began.


    The original article contains 495 words, the summary contains 225 words. Saved 55%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

      • FarraigePlaisteach@piefed.social
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        1 month ago

        Why is any of this necessary? Israeli state would like Palestinians to not exist. US state couldn’t be tied more closely. Nothing about the various exploits there are what were being asked to believe, IMO.

        • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          That’s weird, you say they want Palestinians to not exist but Israel is letting in tons of food and medicine every day, more and more, building desalinization plants, and sending millions and millions of phone calls and texts to warn and evacuate people, and have not killed 99.2% of the Palestinian population.

            • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              I can’t believe what, thee verifiable facts I’ve pointed our which fly in the face of your emotional theories?

              A fundraising solicitation is not a credible source of informatipn. Your second point is a half truth and basically an urban legend that’s been repeated about 1,000 times. The IDF has at no point guaranteed anyone’s safety or deemed any place 100% safe. They give general instructions to avoid areas where bombing will be heavy, such as where a several miles of tunnel needs to be blown up, and the overriding instruction is always “don’t hang out near Hamas members or tunnels.” 0.8% of Palestinians just couldn’t quit the terrorists though, and of course some actual innocents get caught up in the chaos. Maybe don’t elect terrorists to be in charge because they do shit like start wars they can’t possibly win based on ideological insanity.

              • FarraigePlaisteach@piefed.social
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                1 month ago

                Wrong again, in so many ways. As I’m sure you know well, the Israeli military designates humanitarian areas or “safe zones” for civilians. But you’re not arguing in good faith at all so I’ll leave you there.

                • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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                  1 month ago

                  No, at no point does the IDF underwrite the safety of these areas. You have misunderstood what you heard and read. They say these areas are more safe, but with the overriding warning not to go near Hamas members or tunnels.