in “advanced” democracies, like US, Canada, Australia, money very much reflects election outcomes. Sad statement for democracy…

still showing up to vote has meaning

sounds like very few share that opinion: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/21/dnc-gaza-protests-small-ineffective-kamala-harris/ which confirms my assumption that this particular protest is very far off target as it clearly is working against stated goals.

I’ll repeat: people should not die. This needs to be delivered to the present government structures capable of carrying out relevant decisions. Protesting in front of single party convention does nothing to achieve that goal and may work against achieving it. GOP quite effectively held up aid for Ukraine with Dems willing to change and that had enough Republicans willing to aid Ukraine, with Gaza situation is even worse: Republicans mostly opposed to aid of any sort while *some Dems are for it. Protesting/denouncing Democratic party does not help the cause one little bit. Name calling will shut off prospects of compromise. This is escalation for the sake of escalation at this point.

nice to see that there are conservatives capable of critical thinking. I hope their efforts will move the needle at least some.

so they protest. Some dems don’t vote “in protest”. POTUS45 gets elected again… problem solved?

are they ready to put viable third party on a ballot? Right now labeling Democrats as War party says nothing. BOTH patties are War parties. Difference is Democrats somewhat care about what people say whereas Republicans care o ly about their agenda. Sending voters away from Democrats at this stage will not end war or help anyone. It is clear that Israel has enough influence over both major US parties and weapon shipments will continue. Politics is cruel: Democrats surely did the math and calculated how much will they lose on dropping Israel support from agenda. They also know Republicans will steamroll over protests and supply the same or larger amount of weaponry to Israel. So it’s a cynical math but just like Ukraine was earlier hostage to US politics Palestine now is at mercy of US election cycle and has to wait until after election when, if elected; Democrats can afford to piss of pro-Israeli groups. Republicans started that game, Dems are carrying it on. I’m also surprised that middle east cannot outspend Israel in US lobbying on behalf of Palestine. There are some of the richest countries in the world in that area. People should not die. Period. But politicians care about election cycles more. 🙁

right… lets erode Harris support, because her opponent is so much more sympathetic to Palestine’s tragedy. This now looks more like protests for the sake of protests rather then desire for change. In present political situation they need Harris to win first and then protest/coerse/plead/etc for policy changes. Calling her Killer Harris will only strengthen the opponent and all will be lost for Palestine. Protests need to target strictly current president and policies to deliniate the pressing needs and who can deliver on them

I agree with cause and effect argument. I’m dealing more with present situation as-is. You have (indirectly) confirmed that it’s in Hamas’ interest to keep conflict alive to exist as an entity. (Note: I did not disregard points on Israel being the oppressor)

that’s not what we’re hearing from Harris. She’ll be dancing on a tight rope, but she clearly signaled that Israel has crossed the line. Lets see what are the consequences.

he tries to walk in Zelensky’s footsteps but fails on so many fronts: while Ukraine was the victim of oppression, Israel state is the source of it, ICC issued warrant for Putin and… Netanyahu (it’s interesting how US chose to ignore court order).

Hamas and Israel state work towards the same goal - maintain instability for their personal gain. Anybody glorifying Hamas is either stupidd or naive, so are people glorifying Israely army. To be solved this conflict requires new powers to arise on both sides that are ready for dialog and tired of fighting and able to sidestep existing powrr structures (or demolish them).

like in definition of insanity: making the same mistake over and over expecting different outcomes? Yeah by that definition US left is insane.

fighting or not they have all lined up behind POTUS45 even if previously they criticized him etc. At the time when left is dilly-dallying and builds up “resistance centers”. Look, all the pro-Gazan declarations with conditional support for Biden is a waste of air as as soon as POTUS45 will grab his POTUS47 title it’s game over and they will have no recourse, and more likely than not public protests will get slowly outlawed. Look North of the border for examples of how it’s done (Alberta, Canada)… so no matter what they do nothing is going to change now the only differentiator is that Biden may listen whereas POTUS45 absolutely will not.

I would agree with the theory (as I’ve personally witnessed people registering for opposing party to wreck havoc there internally), BUT: I rarely came across hardcore gun-loving Democrat, watching NRA-related content.

two party system aside, in present environment encouraging people to read opponents program vs your own is a wrong move. In ideal world people should be informed about all platforms, but this is not how US works

sounds like, indeed bystanders been hit according to latest information. I still believe that POTUS45 would be OK sacrificing any number of people as long as it gets him power. No evidence of his involvement but entire story “smells”

left wing is so busy ripping itself apart while right has fully consolidated, good luck winning elections. This is practically handing POTUS45 his POTUS47 title. US left wing always picks wrong timing to settle internal scores which is why it’s always flatfooted and toothless.

interesting timing

conspiracy theorist in me sees several venues where it is Very beneficial to POTUS45 to stage this:

• finally come out as victim
• frame Biden/CIA/FBI as villains
• come out as “defiant” hero and rally support to the point where it’s a landslide win, where he would be able to go after anybody and anything he doesn’t like.

more wicked stuff comes to mind but I think above is sufficient . Fact that bullet grazed him and nobody around him in a tight setting is kind of strange, with his bravado on display with fist shaking. One can only dream for this election campaign video to be run on repe 24/7 on fox and other outlets, giving him more air time, and now that Biden asked everyone to read project2025 entire nation will be watching nothing but POTUS45. Still could be some morron that didn’t get his signature at the rally pulling out his Beretta…

Democrats keep doing it to themselves: they keep on giving POTUS45 platform. Elections should be about what you are, not the other guy, but we’re past that now, aren’t we?

yes. election time or funding CCP via extortion or identity theft. We’re being spied on by both sides, true, but there is no even a sign of checks and balances on CCP side. In the west we do uncover some “bad behaviour” and try to stop it.

it’s a game of influence and data collection. Even when you work at McDonalds they still can use you either as data point or leverage information gathered influence/coerce you to do things on their behalf. Look at their control level in China - your behaviour is constantly monitored and your life options get limited in life if your behaviour does not align with CPP expectations. Given that lots of stuff originates in China, would you like prices online be higher for you just because you’ve criticised CCP? Or, more invasively - some content disappearing from your device while bring substituted with some form of fake news etc? Randsomware is still a vector as well. Opportunities for benefiting CCP are endless once they own key device(s) in today’s economy: your smartphone, that is used for company logon, bank operations, personal information storage. Imagine dataset they can feed AI yo simulate you and sll the fraud they can perpetrate under your name. Or they can wipe you off internet, closing your accounts pretending to be you and intercepting all communications. India and China already been proven using coercive powers to silence dissent abroad. So, no, it’s not just specific industries. It’s collective Western citizens.