Uh oh….also forgotten but being recalled is the fact that Melania apparently worked under her tourist visa (that did not allow her to work)…worked as an “actress” in girl on girl soft core porn and photo shoots and as a model at various times and at places like the Kit Kat club where she worked as a “model/date” for random rich men.
After meeting Trump there and dating him he bought her a “genius” eb-1 visa reserved for Pulitzer Prize winners, Oscar and Olympic winners as well as respected academic researchers and multinational executives….a visa she clearly did not in any way qualify for…nor should we forget that she apparently lied on her immigration papers claiming she had a degree when she only took 2 semesters of college, putting the status of her citizenship in question.

“ It’s your insistence that Jewish people, and the existence of Israel, have always fundamentally been invaders that I was objecting to as it is so intensely at odds with factual history.”
No…it is at odds with your position and is not what I said.
It is factual history that fighting age European Jews came armed and forcibly displaced the natives after being offered sanctuary for their most needy. It is not factual that I claimed it was ever thus. That is clearly not what I said, I said for 10+- years they were getting along as refugees, then started coming in HUGE numbers illegally and taking over.

Those are facts.

I also mentioned a native Jewish population that were not refugees or invaders. Some of them supported the invading Zionists, some didn’t. I’ve never heard of one who opposed them.

“ You gave a brief nod on not being a scholar of Palestinian history, but then proceed to just count all Jewish refugees as good as Zionist aggressors from day 1(or close enough), and the local Arab population as nothing but pure, kind caring victims of these invaders.”

Not even close to true, I said many stood behind the Zionists when they started coming en masse, and didn’t say but seemingly few to none of the native Jews opposed them. I also was clear that at the beginning the refugees acted like refugees, not invaders….I mistakenly gave them more time being grateful than you say they were, according to you Palestinians position is they began the invasion in the 20’s….and theirs is the opinion I care about. I never claimed ALL Arabs were welcoming, but the “nation” as a whole (despite being not self ruling at the time) welcomed a huge number of refugees considering their own population. Way more than elsewhere.

Edit: Britain, who facilitated this invasion, only took in 80000 European Jews in the decade before and during the war, and they were only given transit visas to stay temporarily until they found other accommodations. All of England took in fewer Jewish refugees in all pre war history than Palestine did….England took in 80000, most on temporary visas, Palestine took in 60000 permanently in 1935 alone, and 130000 in 33-36.
Pre-immigration Palestine had about 700000 people. In 1944 European Jews ignored the 1500 visa limit per year and came by the hundred of thousands per year after already completely overwhelming the native population.
Palestine was forcibly invaded by a foreign population exponentially bigger than the native population while Britain kept them too weak to oppose it physically.
That’s an invasion…not on day 1. 🤦‍♂️

“ without being able to writeoff Israel as invaders from day 1, nuance enters the calculus and suddenly the conflict is flooded with shades of grey ”

Again, I said day 3, not day 1, and went on to say that meant 10 years later. Get off your high horse and READ buddy.

I guess I’ll stop here. If you aren’t going to read what I wrote and insist on arguing red herrings you made up yourself, you can do that alone.

Nothing you’ve said changes or excuses the fact that masses of armed violent invaders came to take the land from the natives by force and were successful. The exact date this happened is not only y highly subjective, it’s completely besides the point.
Nothing you’ve said changes or excuses the inhuman treatment they’ve subjected the innocent native civilian population to for 70 years…but you’ve tried.
Nothing you’ve said changes or excuses the intentional targeting of trapped civilians by the military….serious war crimes Israel commits daily.
Nothing you’ve said even hints that you consider Palestinians worthy of consideration themselves, possibly not even human status, definitely not peaceful existence.

Bye

I’m against it, it’s a crime.
I believe in work visas, refugee status, and legal immigration. I believe in a system of charging employers who hire illegal immigrants to skirt taxes, wage laws, labor laws, etc. harshly enough to make it not worth the risk (like take the company/assets of repeat offenders, and using the money collected to fund the immigration and naturalization department and figure out how to supply labor without forcing people to be criminals to get a job.

Sadly those systems are broken.

Because those systems are completely broken and don’t serve the needs of either the immigrants nor the employees that need their labor, we have a massive illegal immigration problem because we have a massive labor shortage issue.

There is a parallel, but it’s not the same thing. We have (or had until recently) a strong well defended democracy, and an enormous population and landmass compared to 1917-48 occupied Palestine, and they had only a fledgling government when the Jewish war refugees they invited started inviting and facilitating a flood of illegal immigrants with a plan to take over the small country. Most of our illegal immigrants are here to make money to take home, I’m unaware of any efforts to return Texas (pre-breakup) to Mexican control like 40’s -50’s Israel.

IMO, Israel is like if 2/3 of Texas became “Tex-Mex” by force, a new country where only those of Mexican descent have rights, a vote, can own property, etc. and white Texans are forced to live in NW Texas under guard struggling to find food and water with Tex-Mex constantly squeezing them into smaller and smaller areas.
Strangely enough, you will note that those same flag waiving anti immigrant (not just anti illegal immigrant mind you) far right wingers are staunch supporters of Jewish Israel….almost like they don’t know history….wait…

I do….and I can list reasons why I think what I think, unlike yourself who is embarrassed to admit you never actually think yourself and all your arguments come from disgraced and debunked liars who’s jobs are to lie, almost exclusively when it comes to any political topic.

The ship only turns so fast. It needed SO much correction on SO many issues because the last demander in chief refused to steer the nation anywhere but into a reef for the last entire year of his term….the last 3 months totally intentionally while he drilled holes in the keel and cut holes in the sails.

The nation certainly needed serious and immediate correction. Glad to hear you admit it, even accidentally.
You’re complaining about more spending!? You must be joking! Compared to spendthrift Trump, he’s a fucking miser. Every major project he’s put forward has been paid for in the bill, not so with the last administration that thought they couldn’t overspend because they can print more money….the biggest deficit and fastest debt rise (both by dollar and percentage) EVER by a mile. And put us in a recession with high inflation, negative GDP, outrageous unemployment, and near a million dead for the privilege. Joe invested in American infrastructure. Complaining about spending will not be tolerated from you after supporting Trump. Not for a second, you unbelievable hypocrite.

He did many things, leading to a healthy economy and amazing jobs numbers and rising wages among other improvements. All work against inflation.

But you like to say he’s done nothing, so how’s 4 examples on the Afghanistan disaster alone work for you?
He negotiated 6 more months to be gone.
He evacuated any and all Americans that wanted out, including those that waited until the last day.
He set up and staffed new systems (granted too little and late) to assist Afghans that worked for us in getting at least refugee status if not visas. This should have been step 1 in February 2020….likely a big surprise to find nothing started or planned when Joe took office.
He pulled out billions worth of functioning, still owned by America weaponry (what you love to whine about is the weapons in Afghani’s hands, and decommissioned often scuttled vehicles we abandoned….yes, a waste) that before he took office were being left in country.
Simply put, he made a plan and implemented it, can’t say the same for his predecessor. It wasn’t perfect, but it was something….which is a massive improvement.

He’s a mile above the low bar set by your idol, who spent nearly a full 1/3 of his presidency off playing golf (after promising not to play at all), and >1/2 of every day on personal executive time eating junk food and watching TV (but only ever taking softball questions from far right outlets, refusing any non right wing reporters a question much less interview). The remaining 1/6 was largely filled with rage tweeting and executive toilet time (pooping or shredding, you choose).

Your position is old, dementia ridden, no leadership, no question taking, slow, incapable of speaking or thinking, doesn’t know who or where he is Joe kicked fat lazy dumb Don’s ass without even holding rallies, did it in his pjs without breaking a sweat or raising his voice. Odd you love to constantly degrade the guy who’s by every measure head and shoulders above your messiah and proved it by a historic landslide. Seems you wouldn’t want to keep putting Trump down as a massive total loser to such a sad, weak, incompetent opponent, but you gotta be you.

Are you afraid they would abduct and dissect you?


Let me explain the stupidity.
Right wingers want to reopen all businesses especially resturaunts, virus or not, asap
Low wage businesses like restaurants can't reopen because low wage workers aren't returning. Thousands of immigrants that 4 years ago would have been granted refugee status would LOVE to serve you for minimum wage or less and pay taxes, but work visas and refugee status have all but disappeared under Trump and Biden hasn't fixed that yet.

The right's position as I understand it, get us back to work fast, but for fucks sake don't give visas to brown skinned low wage workers to get it done. True story!!

Side note- The southern border states were once Mexico, so we are the alien invaders here, not Mexicans.

Thank sweet zombie Jebus you were wrong on all counts with your predictions.

I'm usually the biggest cynic in the room, so I couldn't exactly deny your theory, but I am incredibly glad civil adults did get the reigns of the country back, and that America did end up deciding black lives do matter, at least a little bit when our noses are rubbed in our murderous racism.

How's the visa fight going? Does getting vaccinated make a difference? Good luck over there....I've never had any desire to visit France, but I'm a weirdo. My perfect vacation is a secluded house on a secluded warm beach in the middle of nowhere and seeing only family all week....I'm not into culture or large groups of people. Give me unspoiled unpopulated nature instead please. Last January we did exactly that outside Mahajual, S Mexico. It was heaven for me except when we went to town.

Sorry Newt, but this'll just be added to the pile of "who cares?"

This is the country that watches its children get machine-gunned in their schools and just shrugs. This is the country that poisoned its own population with opioids and just shrugged. This is the country that allowed corporations to take over the entire power structure of the nation and just shrugged. No one cares. No. One. Cares.

You cannot overcome the wall of indifference and entitlement no matter how many impassioned pleas or elegant speeches you make.

Your heart's in the right place, but this is Bob Knight's country now and you will never get it back. And the people who're like Bob Knight? Yeah, they really don't give a shit about dead niggers.

As soon as I get my work visa for France finalized, I am out of here.

As a bartender, I cannot comment politically on what patrons discuss politically. I work in a restaurant that pulls talented people from all around the world (work visa, student whatevers, etc). It has been so difficult for us to share the american culture with everything that is going on these days. Immigration laws have become more strict. The way news media portrays the government is disgusting. Yet, we have a long list of people that want to come here and learn. Where I work we want people to be better, be fair, honest, and work towards a positive contribution.

*sigh*

This video is spot on.

Lol. A few Uncle Ruckus clones with their confederate flags aren't the black community, @bobknight33. The creator admits his opinions are extremely unpopular with non whites and non far right wingers....but he makes money off selling them to white far rights.

Trump hates most of America and most Americans, just as most despise him. Why doesn't HE just leave?
He can go home to Putin with his illegal immigrant wife (she violated her no work visa by doing soft core pornography for money) and her anchor baby. It's his best bet to avoid prison....flee to a country that won't extradite.

So much fail.

Unlikely. I'm no lawyer, but minimal investigation showed.....
First they would have to prove damages, then overcome privilege (both absolute and qualified) then prove it wasn't just 1 a statement made in good faith, 2 opinion, 3 mere vulgar abuse, 4 a fair comment on a matter of public interest.
Since Trump has executive absolute privilege, a history of spouting nonsense no one believes, and a history of believing any crazy thing, he's certainly shielded from defamation laws.

Also, except for the "go, then come back" part, everything he said was proper. His administration is the most corrupt, crime infested government we've ever seen, and we need them to show us how to fix it.

But Melania doesn't seem happy, she can leave...in fact, as a person who worked illegally under her visa , then overstayed it by creating an anchor baby, she should be deported and Bannon needs to go in the cage.

Perhaps you are ignorant of the fact that the vast majority cross where walls already exist. To answer your question, nearly all of them would still try. Do you really think a fence is deterrence when the alternative is go home and see your family raped to death before you're decapitated? Would you just say "oops, sorry, didn't mean to trigger you....let me just take my daughter back to the narcos for a life of sex slavery and just die then, so sorry."?

A better immigration policy that makes it easier to get a work visa or asylum at ports of entry instead of making illegal entry easier, simpler, cheaper, and faster would discourage people from taking the easier, but illegal path. We are moving the other direction, which is why illegal immigration is on the rise under Trump after falling steadily for decades.

This doesn't cost America except for fighting it, they make us money with cheap labor, taxation without representation or access to government assistance, and by lowering the per capita crime rates by being far less criminal on average than Americans. You want to deport a group that's well above average in criminality, that would be Republican politicians and or Trump associates...no one will miss a single one.

A $50 billion wall (Trump's never built anything that wasn't at least 100% over budget) that can be evaded with a ladder, shovel, car, truck, saw, torch, boat, plane, and in many many places, absolutely nothing (it's no longer a single solid wall from coast to gulf, it's now a fence in a few more places for your $50 billion.) is not just vastly more expensive, it's also uselessly wasting that money for almost zero return, the few places it might help will just see the migrant paths move a few miles over.

If we had a 40+ ft high, 20 ft deep, 4+ft thick reinforced concrete wall coast to coast that was somehow ladder proof, it still wouldn't stop most illegal immigration or drug trafficking, because the vast majority of both come through ports of entry. The wall is a useless solution to a non existent problem that's been solving itself for decades....side note: what do you think it was like in the good old days when America was "great"? Contrary to Chump's claims, operation wetback (that he wants to reimplement) was a failure....
https://www.cato.org/blog/enforcement-didnt-end-unlawful-immigration-1950s-more-visas-did

I've actually been looking, seriously, for work in Paris. There's a shit-ton of hoops to jump through beyond getting a sponsor. I really wish I had a Master's degree, because France has a special visa for people with high-demand skills who have a Master's or above.

I'm not sure what getting into Denmark would be like.

K'naan is a *quality artist.

He is also a Somali Canadian who immigrated from Lebanon to the US on visa, then the US to Canada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%27naan

Here's the simplest and seemingly most correct explanation I've seen.

https://twitter.com/MBoffin/status/996562598815416321

Basically, the two sounds are overlaid with each other. If you have good hearing in high ranges, your mind will filter out one or the other, with a pretty strong bias to hear the higher pitched "Yanny". If your hearing is not so good, you're left only with the "Laurel" bit.

AsapScience is just totally wrong in their conclusion that the "Original" recording says "Laurel". Every bit of Laurel can be removed without altering the Yanny part and visa versa. They don't intersect.

If you don't live beyond your means (I know, easier said than done), you don't have to worry about high interest. I never use my credit cards for anything I can't pay off that month, so I've never paid interest and my cards are no fee cards. I just get free airline miles for paying my bills. VISA must hate me.
For gift cards, only buy them for stores you KNOW the people shop at anyway...not Red Lobster. Sometimes you can get a $25 gift card for $20, that's a great deal all around if they use them.

It's a little sad to me that Bill brings up all these issues, but offers no real solutions.