Apparently, some journalists have expressed surprise that Donald Trump is attacking, insulting, and denigrating journalists at the White House Correspondents Association dinner tonight.
Which pretty much proves that those journalists have been so desperate to normalize Donald Trump they refused to recognize what and who he is.
Which explains a lot about American politics this last decade. Quite a lot indeed.
Just because you've talked to someone directly and they seem nice does not mean they aren't a scammer. Scam farms give their "workers" (slaves and victims) personas, stories, and scripts to follow and there is a whole scam system called pig butchering, where a scammer spends time building trust and a relationship with their target to exploit them for more and more money over time. "I talked to them for days/weeks and they were so genuine between the requests for more money, they can't be a scammer," is not a vetting process.
I really think we should've all learned this already from how many popular bloggers were exposed for faking their situations after years of collecting donations and building friendships, only to just completely vanish with the money they were given. Social media has made pig butchering extremely easy because scammers don't even need to build a fake romantic relationship anymore, they just need to become "friends" with their victims and take advantage of their compassion and desire to help (and their unwillingness to question what they're being told).
Pig butchering scams also involve escalating requests, that's why they're called what they are. The scammer is "fattening" you up and preparing you for slaughter by easing you into not only trusting them as an individual but also not questioning them when they ask for money. It's a frog boiling method.
I haven't eaten for a week, can you give me $20 to buy groceries? My mom is very sick, can you send me $50 for medicine? I'm going to get evicted tomorrow, can you give me $300 right now so that I'm not homeless? My daughter is sick, can you send me $1000 for her surgery? You can't afford it? But I NEED it, ask your friends for the money, ask your family for the money, my daughter is going to die and it'll be your fault if you don't send me that money today, I thought you were my friend, I thought you cared about me, how could you abandon me like this?
Btw a quick question but is it odd that in the entirety of America's 250 years of history, only one US President resigned from office?
Like, yeah, plenty were assassinated (Lincoln, JFK) or died in office but it a bit amuses me to learn that Richard Nixon is the only guy so far to have resigned
Not sure if it's the similar case for other elective heads of state which have similar significant powers
Most presidents chose to face the political battles with the other party head-on rather than resign, but Nixon knew for sure if it came to an impeachment trial he'd be convicted and more than likely become the first president formally removed from office (imagine that these days lmao), and he didn't want that embarrassment.
Abdul El-Sayed is seeking to deliver the Democratic Party’s progressive insurgency its biggest win yet in the Michigan Senate primary. But h
Other voters said Stevens, a White woman, has been an extremely active presence in their communities since being elected to Congress in the Democratic wave of 2018. More pointed to her role working on President Barack Obama’s task force that rescued the automotive industry — the economic driver of southeastern Michigan.
At the Soul Day Festival at Northwestern High School in Detroit, which Stevens attended on Saturday, it was the portion of her biography that voters were most familiar with — and an example of the achievements of a Democratic establishment that El-Sayed has cast as a failure.
“She was on the team that helped save our state when Obama was president. She was right there on the forefront,” said Kathie House Vinson, a retired college administrator who lives in Detroit.
“I think in my heart of hearts that (El-Sayed) is a good candidate,” she said, “but Haley has the track record, and I know what she’s done for me.”
...
But in conversations with prominent Black leaders from Michigan about the state’s Democratic Senate primary, a recurring complaint came up: El-Sayed’s support for “uncommitted” in 2024.
The pro-Palestinian protest movement was a critical factor in Michigan, with its large Arab immigrant community, as opponents of the war in Gaza voted “uncommitted” on Democratic presidential primary ballots to register their dissatisfaction with Biden’s steadfast support for Israel.
El-Sayed, a prominent Arab American then serving as director of the Wayne County Department of Health, publicly backed “uncommitted,” which garnered more than 100,000 votes in the state.
While Biden ultimately withdrew and the party attempted to rally around former Vice President Kamala Harris, Black leaders in Michigan who spoke to CNN in recent weeks remain convinced the effort did lasting damage to the Democratic presidential ticket’s chances that year.
“Many people believe that he was a part of that. And had Kamala Harris been elected, we would not be in the mess we’re in right now. Gaza would not be what Gaza is right now,” said Rev. Dr. Anthony Wendell of Fellowship Chapel, the president of the Detroit chapter of the NAACP and a Stevens supporter.
Though El-Sayed ultimately endorsed Harris, and encouraged his followers to vote for her, his critics argue it was too little, too late. As he runs for US Senate with an ongoing focus on US policy toward Israel, doubts also linger about El-Sayed’s priorities.
“The question is now: Are you going to be more concerned about the West Bank than the West Side of Detroit?” Anthony asked.
Wow, it turns out that showing up and working for communities makes them like you. And it turns out that shafting them and running against AIPAC instead of on those issues doesn't win people over.
Once again Black democrats may save the party from itself.
You'd think that having made almost zero progress on your goal of freeing Palestine and instead achieving new and still rising, highs of antisemitism across the globe would make the "I'm antizionist not antisemitic" crowd rethink their approach of activism for Palestine. But alas, that hasn't happened because not all, but a substantial amount of the aforementioned crowd of people actually have harming jews as their real goal.
Palestine is not in the least bit freed freed but Jews are living in fear and have been cast out of a huge number of social contexts and synagogues are spending more money than they can afford on increased security and Jewish restaurants are being forced out of business and seeing bricks thrown through windows.
Prosecutors are investigating attempted murder after a 65-year-old was kicked in the head and seriously wounded in an alleged Islamist, anti
German prosecutors are investigating an alleged attempted murder with a suspected anti-Israel motive after a 65-year-old man wearing an Israeli flag pin was severely beaten in southern Germany, authorities said.
The attack occurred overnight Monday in Höchberg, a market town near Würzburg in Bavaria.
According to local police, the victim, a member of the Germany-Israel Friendship Association, was standing beside a young Syrian man at a traffic light when the suspect noticed the Israeli flag pin on his clothing and asked about it, initiating a conversation about the Middle East.
Before the victim could respond, the suspect allegedly punched him in the face.
Police said the victim attempted to flee, but the attacker chased him, knocked him to the ground and repeatedly kicked him in the head and upper body. The assault ended only after police arrived at the scene.
The victim, whose nationality and religion have not been publicly confirmed, suffered a fractured vertebra and remained hospitalized in intensive care.
The suspect was arrested and remains in custody. According to local prosecutors, the same man had been detained the previous evening at a market in Höchberg after allegedly harassing passersby.
Prosecutors said they are investigating the case as an attempted murder with indications of anti-Israeli violence motivated by Islamist ideology.
The attack comes amid heightened concern over rising antisemitic incidents in Germany since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war following Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. German authorities have reported a sharp increase in antisemitic crimes, many linked to the conflict in the Middle East.
Volker Beck, president of the Germany-Israel Friendship Association, condemned the attack and argued that increasingly hostile rhetoric toward Israel has contributed to an atmosphere in which such violence occurs.
"Enough is enough," Beck said. "Anyone who demonizes Israel through accusations of genocide and apartheid creates the climate for attacks like this. No one in Germany fears for their personal safety when displaying Palestinian symbols, but anyone wearing an Israeli symbol is no longer safe in public."
Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said the assault reflected a broader rise in antisemitic violence.
"This brutal outbreak of violence did not happen in a vacuum," Schuster said. "All relevant statistics document a record increase in antisemitic incidents, in most cases connected to Israel. The normalization of this hatred paves the way for violent acts like this latest attack."
Martin Heilig, mayor of Würzburg, whose district includes Höchberg, described the assault as an attack on Germany's democratic values.
"When a citizen is attacked simply for wearing an Israeli pin, it is an unacceptable attack on the foundations of our democratic values," Heilig said. "For our city, this is a clear and unequivocal case of antisemitism, hatred and violence that has no place in Würzburg or our district."
Israel's Embassy in Germany also condemned the attack in a post on X. "How many Palestinian flags do you see on an average day in any city? Dozens. You can display them openly everywhere. And that despite the fact that all the antisemites, despots, and terror sympathizers of the world gather behind it," the embassy wrote.
"But a single, tiny Israeli flag puts one in mortal danger. In the year 2026. In Germany. The perpetrators are not interested in any kind of peace. It's not about Palestine, let alone about Palestinians. For the perpetrators, it's about hate. It was an attack on all three: Germany, Israel, and our democratic society."
i feel like "man massively cuts foreign aid spending, resulting in hundreds of thousands fewer lives saved, is he a mass murderer?" is kind of an interesting thought experiment. but its really really bad it happened in real life. in real life its just very simply one of the worst things you could do in your life
Honestly the amount of people I've talked to who formed an opinion on the geopolitics of the middle east who were suprised to learn that hezbollah is not the elected government of Lebanon, and the elected government is seperate and hates hezbollah is shocking.
If you do not know that basic fact, you should be shutting the fuck up!
Gotta be up there in the "politics enjoyer" zeitgeist with the people who think Iran and Afghanistan are Arab nations or that dude who thought Ukraine blowing up wildberries warehouses were blowing up "blueberry factories".
