US US Politics General - Discussion of President Biden and other politicians

 

[Kuritan Deplorable]

Oof, I feel this. I’m doing deliveries for DoorDash to get some extra money, and I’m amazed at how many people will pay a premium for me to drive their order from the restaurant to their house that’s only a few blocks/minutes away. Like, just grab it yourselves! Learned helplessness, indeed.

I fucked up my ankle a few months back, around the same time that Uber pushed another desperate "we'll give you 45% off please come back" offer to me, so I ended up having shawarma delivered from literally a block and a half away, for like $15 all in. Better than hobbling my ass there myself, but I'd probably be burning with embarrassment if I even thought about doing that right now.

In either case, it's meant to improve the aesthetics of your jaw.

I always find this funny because the most vocal proponents of mewing and shit that I've seen are always either horribly out of shape, or have just the worst fucking personality. There's no amount of jaw aesthetics that'll overcome being shaped like Chris, nor will it overcome being unable to hold a conversation or even eye contact for more than five seconds. Its endlessly amusing to me how people will blame things that they for all intensive purposes cannot change, to avoid doing real things that require effort from them.

 

[clipartfan92]

Currently:
Biden says he doesn’t know whether Israel is holding up peace deal to influence 2024 US election
Associated Press (archive.ph)
By Colleen Long
2024-10-04 21:30:34GMT

Spoiler

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden had terse words for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday, and said he didn’t know whether the Israeli leader was holding up a Mideast peace deal in order to influence the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

“No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None. None. And I think Bibi should remember that,” he said, referring to the Israeli leader by his nickname. “And whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know, but I’m not counting on that.”

Biden, in a rare appearance in the White House press briefing room, was responding to comments made by one of his allies, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who told CNN this week that he was concerned Netanyahu had little interest in a peace deal in part because of U.S. politics.

“I don’t think you have to be a hopeless cynic to read some of Israel’s actions, some of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s actions, as connected to the American election,” Murphy said.

Biden and Netanyahu have long managed a complicated relationship, but they’re running out of space to maneuver as their views on the Gaza war diverge and their political futures hang in the balance.

For Biden, a diplomatic deal would help resolve a deep divide among Democrats over the war and shore up support for Vice President Kamala Harris, making one fewer global conflict for her to manage should she win next month. Netanyahu has his own political concerns closer to home: His far-right coalition would abandon him if he stopped the war, and he could lose power and have to face his own legal problems. And Israel has been decimating Hezbollah’s leadership, so there is little incentive to stop now.

Biden has long pushed for a diplomatic deal, and he and his aides have indicated several times over the past few months that such an agreement was close. But it never seems to materialize, and in some cases, Netanyahu has publicly resisted the prospect while U.S. and Israeli officials continue to talk in private about eking out a deal.

Just last week, the U.S., France and other allies jointly called for an immediate 21-day Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire, and expected Israel to welcome if not fully endorse the plan. Instead, Netanyahu publicly rejected it, telling leaders gathered for the U.N. General Assembly that Israel would “continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are met.”

Israel has pressed forward on two fronts, killing top Hezbollah leaders and pursuing a ground incursion into Lebanon and conducting strikes in Gaza that killed dozens, including children. And the nation has vowed to retaliate for Iran’s ballistic missile attack this week.

Oil prices rose 5% Thursday as concerns mounted that Israel would hit Iranian oil facilities as payback; a surge in gas prices so close to the election would be a blow to Harris, particularly after strong economic news Friday.

Biden said there had been no decision yet on what type of response there would be toward Iran, though “I think if I were in their shoes, I’d be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields.”

He pushed back against the idea that he was seeking a meeting with Netanyahu to discuss the response to Iran. He isn’t, he said.

“I’m assuming when they make a decision on how they’re going to respond, we will then have a discussion,” he said.

But Netanyahu has grown increasingly resistant to Biden’s public charm offensives and private pleading, prompting the president’s more assertive pushback. And Biden has in turn publicly held up delivery of heavy bombs to Israel and increasingly voiced concerns over an all-out war in the Middle East.

Despite their long acquaintanceship, the two are not close or particularly friendly. When Biden was visiting Israel as vice president under Barack Obama, he and other U.S. officials were taken aback by an Israeli government announcement of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, something the administration strongly opposed.

Nevertheless, Biden has remained consistent in his support for Israel’s defense and security. In the aftermath of the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, he hugged Netanyahu on the tarmac of the airport in Tel Aviv. Since then, with few exceptions, Biden has supported ongoing and enhanced U.S. arms transfers to Israel while at the same time cautioning the Israelis to be careful in their responses to avoid civilian casualties.

“The Israelis have every right to respond to the vicious attacks on them, not just from the Iranians, but from everyone from Hezbollah to Houthis,” Biden said Friday. “But the fact is that they have to be very much more careful about dealing with civilian casualties.”

Biden has also ordered the U.S. military to step up its profile in the region to protect Israel from attacks by Hamas, Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and Iran itself. In April, and again earlier this week, the U.S. was a leading player in shooting down missiles fired by Iran into Israel.

By contrast, Republican Donald Trump and Netanyahu have had a much more cordial relationship. Trump hosted Netanyahu in July. While president, Trump initiated policy changes that Netanyahu applauded, including recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, moving the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and rescinding a decades-old U.S. legal determination that Jewish settlements in the West Bank were inconsistent with international law.

From six months ago aka 'It's ok when we do it':
Chuck Schumer calls for new elections in Israel, criticizing Netanyahu's leadership
NBC News (archive.ph)
By Rebecca Shabad and Kate Santaliz
2024-03-14 16:18:33GMT

Spoiler

WASHINGTON — In the most significant criticism by a U.S. leader against the Israeli government since its war with Hamas began, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called for new elections in Israel to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S. ever, said in remarks on the Senate floor that “the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7.”

“The world has changed — radically — since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said in what was billed as a major address.

Netanyahu has “lost his way,” Schumer continued, “by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel" and by indicating he isn't interested in the formation of an independent Palestinian state, which has been a U.S. goal for decades. Schumer said Netanyahu has aligned himself with “far-right extremists” like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who he said are “pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”

“Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,” he said.

Schumer argued that Israel must make “course corrections” in its strategy against Hamas and make a better effort to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza. They “do not deserve to suffer for the sins of Hamas, and Israel as a moral obligation to do better,” he said. “The United States has an obligation to do better.”

More than 1,200 people died in Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, and an estimated 30,000 people in Gaza have died, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

“Five months into this conflict, it is clear that Israelis need to take stock of the situation and ask, must we change course?" he said. "At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel."

Schumer, who was wearing a yellow ribbon pin on the Senate floor to honor hostages being held in Gaza, is a longtime staunch defender of Israel and its right to exist. He spoke about the plight of his Jewish ancestors in Europe and the "grave threats" Israel faces as it's "surrounded by vicious enemies."

Schumer expressed support for a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, as President Joe Biden has been pushing for, saying it “would allow for the return of hostages and humanitarian relief of suffering Palestinians.” He said he’s against a permanent cease-fire because it would only allow Hamas to “regroup and launch further attacks on Israeli civilians.”

“There can never be a two-state solution if Hamas has any significant power,” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., denounced Schumer for his remarks, saying on the Senate floor afterward that it is "grotesque and hypocritical for Americans who hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of a democratically elected leader of Israel."

House Republican leaders echoed McConnell at a news conference at their members' annual retreat Thursday in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, where the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., Michael Herzog, was set to speak to lawmakers.

"This is not only highly inappropriate, it’s just plain wrong for an American leader to play such a divisive role in Israeli politics while our closest ally in the region is in an existential battle for its very survival," said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said the election the U.S. should be caring about is its own in November, not Israel's. Schumer, he said, "owes an apology to the people of Israel."

Herzog appeared to criticize Schumer on X later Thursday.

The Biden administration has faced intensifying calls to help facilitate a cease-fire and increase aid to Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.

In his State of the Union address last week, Biden said he had directed the U.S. military to lead an "emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast." He said it would be able to receive large ships that carry food, water, medicine and temporary shelters. Biden also recently authorized the U.S. to begin air-dropping humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Families of Americans still being held among the 130 hostages in Gaza attended the address. Some have expressed concerns to Schumer's office that Netanyahu has not made the release of their loved ones a priority over the last five months, a source familiar with the matter said.

As he runs for re-election, Biden has faced anger from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, whose members have wanted him to put more pressure on Netanyahu, who has served as Israel's prime minister continuously since December 2022 after the government led by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid lost its majority. Netanyahu had also led the government multiple times before, including from March 2009 to June 2021.

On Thursday morning, the Biden administration said it was sanctioning three extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank and two outposts in the territory. In early February, Biden also issued an executive order that targeted Jewish settlers in the West Bank who engaged in violence against Palestinians living in the region.

In response to Schumer, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday that the White House knows he feels strongly about the issue. Kirby said the administration is focused on ensuring Israel has the weapons it needs to defend itself "while doing everything that they can to avoid civilian casualties."

"We’re still focused — laser-focused — on trying to get a temporary cease-fire in place so we can get the hostages out and get more aid" into Gaza, he added.

Biden backs Schumer after senator calls for new elections in Israel
Associated Press (archive.ph)
By Chris Megerian
2024-03-15 20:42:40GMT

Spoiler

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden expressed support Friday for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer after the senator called for new elections in Israel, the latest sign that the U.S. relationship with its closest Middle East ally is careening toward fracture over the war in Gaza.

Schumer, a Jewish Democrat from New York, sent tremors through both countries this week when he said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost his way” and warned that “Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah” as the Palestinian death toll continues to grow.

“He made a good speech,” Biden said in the Oval Office during a meeting with Ireland’s prime minister. “I think he expressed serious concerns shared not only by him but by many Americans.”

The Democratic president did not repeat Schumer’s appeal for Israel to hold elections, a step that would likely end Netanyahu’s tenure because of mounting discontent with his leadership. But Biden’s comments reflect his own frustration with an Israeli prime minister who has hindered efforts to expand humanitarian assistance in Gaza and opposed the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

The latest point of friction has been Israel’s goal of pursuing Hamas into Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where 1.4 million displaced Palestinians have fled to avoid fighting in the north. Netanyahu’s office said Friday that it approved a military operation that would involve evacuating civilians, but U.S. officials are concerned about the potential for a new wave of bloodshed.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking from Vienna, said, “We have to see a clear and implementable plan” to safeguard innocent people from an Israeli incursion.

“We have not seen such a plan,” he said.

However, Blinken said tough conversations between Israeli and American leaders do not mean the alliance is fraying.

“That’s actually the strength of the relationship, to be able to speak clearly, candidly and directly,” he said.

It’s possible that an attack on Rafah could be avoided. Negotiations over a cease-fire and the release of hostages are underway in Qatar, where Netanyahu agreed to send a delegation to continue talks.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. would not have its own team at the negotiations but will remain engaged in the process.

He also said it’s “up to the Israeli people to decide” whether there should be elections. Asked about why Biden praised Schumer’s speech, Kirby said the president appreciated the senator’s “passion.”

Biden’s rhetoric on the war has evolved since the conflict began on Oct. 7, when Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis in a surprise attack. The president immediately embraced Netanyahu and Israel while also warning against being “consumed” by rage.

Since then, Israel has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza. And while Biden continues to back Israel’s right to defend itself, he’s increased his criticisms of Netanyahu.

After his State of the Union speech earlier this month, Biden said that he needed to have a “come to Jesus” conversation with Netanyahu. He also accused Netanyahu of “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” with his leadership of the war.

Biden is trying to navigate between a Republican Party with an “Israel right or wrong” mindset and a deeply divided Democratic Party, said Aaron David Miller, who has advised administrations from both parties on the Middle East.

He described the U.S. approach to Israel as “passive aggressive,” with escalating rhetoric but no concrete steps like withholding military assistance.

“I haven’t seen it,” Miller said. “And we’re six months into the war.”

Americans have increasingly soured on Israel’s military operation in Gaza, according to surveys from The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. In January, 50% of U.S. adults said the military response from Israel in the Gaza Strip had gone too far, up from 40% in November. It’s a sentiment even more common among Democrats, with about 6 in 10 saying the same thing in both surveys.

Reckoning with shifts in Israeli and American politics has been challenging for Biden. A self-described Zionist, Biden’s political career began several decades ago when Israel was led by liberal leaders and the country enjoyed broad bipartisan support in its battle for survival against its Arab neighbors.

Since then, the failure of peace talks with Palestinians and the growing power of conservative Israeli politicians has led to a growing tension.

Biden’s praise for Schumer could upset Netanyahu, who has already chafed at what he sees as American meddling in Israeli politics.

“One would expect Sen. Schumer to respect Israel’s elected government and not undermine it,” said a statement from Likud, Netanyahu’s political party. “This is always true, and even more so in wartime.”

Netanyahu has a long history of defying U.S. presidents, particularly Democratic ones. He fought President Barack Obama’s push for a nuclear deal with Iran, and he accepted a Republican invitation to address Congress to demonstrate his opposition. Before that, he clashed with President Bill Clinton over efforts to create an independent state for Palestinians, who have lived for decades under Israeli military occupation.

Democratic anger over Israel’s siege of Gaza has focused on Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister who leads a right-wing coalition that includes ultranationalist politicians. He also faces corruption charges in a long-delayed trial and declining popularity over his failure to prevent Hamas’ attack or secure the return of all Israeli hostages being held in Gaza.

Public opinion surveys suggest that, if elections were held now, Netanyahu would likely lose to Benny Gantz, a former military leader who is a centrist member of Israel’s war cabinet.

“Netanyahu has an interest in buying time,” said Gideon Rahat, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute and professor of political science at Hebrew University. “That’s always his interest, not to have elections, to stay in power.”

Rahat also said a different Israeli leader might approach the war differently, causing less strain with Washington.

“Another government would pursue not only a military but also a diplomatic and foreign affairs solution, one involving the PA,” a reference to the Palestinian Authority that operates in the West Bank, Rahat said. “Another government would give more aid to Gaza and would run the war with a better distinction between Hamas and the Palestinians.”

However, replacing Netanyahu would not necessarily end the war or stop the rightward shift that has been underway in Israel for years.

Jewish Israelis believe by a slim majority that their leaders’ judgment should be prioritized over coordinating with the U.S., according to a January poll from the Israel Democracy Institute. In addition, the Israeli Defense Forces receive wide support for their performance in Gaza.

Gantz also criticized Schumer’s remarks, although not as harshly as Likud did. He wrote on social media that the senator is “a friend of Israel” who “erred in his remarks.”

“Israel is a robust democracy, and only its citizens will decide its future and leadership,” Gantz said. “Any external interference on the matter is counter-productive and unacceptable.”

Back to current news:
Biden says small business disaster loan program will soon run out of money
NPR (archive.ph)
By Tamara Keith
2024-10-04 23:26:20GMT

Spoiler

President Biden crosses himself after Buck Paulk of Shiloh Pecan Farm, in Ray City, Ga., leads a prayer on Oct. 3, 2024. Mandel Ngan/AFP

President Biden sent a formal letter to Congress late Friday night saying that a key loans program for helping disaster victims will run out of money within weeks at a time when Americans hit by Hurricane Helene need the relief.

The Small Business Administration disaster loans program helps renters and homeowners repair properties and helps businesses cover basic operation expenses. But the agency needs about $1.6 billion to keep running for the year, an administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information.

Congress is on recess until Nov. 12. But Biden said the program would run out of funds before then.

“I warned the Congress of this potential shortfall even before Hurricane Helene landed on America’s shores,” Biden said in his letter, saying the White House had asked for more funding for the SBA “multiple times over the past several months” including during the recent negotiations over a stop-gap funding bill.

“The Congress must act to restore this funding,” said Biden, who traveled to four states this week to survey damage.


Former President Donald Trump talks with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp after speaking at a temporary relief shelter in Evans, Ga., an area impacted by Hurricane Helene. Evan Vucci/AP

The hurricane response has become an election issue
Hurricane Helene ravaged a huge swath of North Carolina and big parts of Georgia, two critical states for the upcoming federal election.

The federal response to the disaster has become an issue in the campaign. The administration is going to great lengths to demonstrate it was both prepared for the storm and has pulled out the stops to help people hurt by it.

Biden said the response has been “robust and well-coordinated” and said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has enough resources for now, though it will need more money by the end of the year, when Congress gets back. How much more is still to be determined, he said.


Vice President Harris visits Augusta, Ga., after Hurricane Helene on Oct. 2.
Carolyn Kaster/AP

Vice President Harris went to Georgia earlier this week to reassure victims and talk to community leaders, and tomorrow she heads to North Carolina to see the damage there.

Former President Donald Trump has also been to Georgia and North Carolina this week. On Friday night in Fayetteville, N.C., he said: “This is Katrina,” alluding to the deadly 2005 hurricane response botched by the government. “They are doing the worst job on a hurricane that any administration has ever done.”

Trump has repeatedly made false claims about the disaster response, including that FEMA is running out of money because it has spent it on migrants, and that Biden had not been in touch with the Republican governor of Georgia.

OH NO! People are using FOIA requests!
Exclusive: Conservative think tank targeting NASA employees' communications about Musk, Trump
Reuters (archive.ph)
By Marisa Taylor
2024-10-04 20:06:25GMT

Spoiler

WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - An influential conservative think tank has asked the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to disclose what employees are discussing internally about billionaire Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump, according to federal records reviewed by Reuters.

The effort, involving scores of Freedom of Information requests filed by the Heritage Foundation, is part of that organization's ongoing push to help Trump weed out uncooperative civil servants if he is reelected to the White House in November, one of its executives told Reuters.

It is also meant to determine, in the conservative group's view, whether agencies like NASA are thwarting progress for private companies like SpaceX, Musk's rocket and satellite venture. In an interview, Mike Howell, director of the Heritage Foundation's investigative unit, argued that NASA and other regulators obstruct innovation because they are distracted by cultural and identity politics.

"Instead of cool things in space," Howell said, NASA is "doing all this woke stuff on the ground."

Specialists in government administration said the requests are a partisan attempt to identify civil servants who oppose Trump's stated plan to appoint the business mogul, and frequent critic of regulatory bureaucracy, as a government efficiency czar. In that position, they added, Musk could help the former president reintroduce a plan from his first term to replace federal employees deemed ideologically contrary to his administration.

"This is clearly part of the Heritage Foundation's endeavor to find people who are critical of Trump and Musk and put them on an undesirables list," said Kel McClanahan, a Washington lawyer and specialist on federal employment. "To install loyalists, they have to figure out who to get rid of."

There's no indication that Musk or the Trump campaign have a hand in the Heritage Foundation's quest for NASA records.

Cheryl Warner, a NASA spokesperson, confirmed in an email that the agency had received an "unprecedented amount" of open record requests from the Heritage Foundation, including about 150 requests in a two-day period.

The agency, she said, responds to all such requests "on a first come, first serve basis."

"Our team has been working hard to be responsive as quickly as possible, as required by regulation," Warner added.

Musk did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for Trump's campaign did not respond to Reuters' questions about the information requests, but said that only the former president and his advisers, "NOT any other organization," represent his proposals for a second term.

'MISTREATING' MUSK
Since Sept. 3, according to records reviewed by Reuters, the Heritage Foundation has filed at least 192 open records requests with NASA. The filings include requests for employee communications that reference either of the two men or Musk companies, including carmaker Tesla (TSLA.O), and SpaceX, a business that has earned more than $11.8 billion in contract work with the space agency.

Howell said he was unsure how many responses NASA has supplied in response to the filings. The requests, he added, are part of a broader campaign of more than 65,000 requests by the Heritage Foundation in recent years seeking internal discussions about Trump and issues of import to the group. On Wednesday, ProPublica reported about that effort.

The Heritage Foundation, based in Washington, has cheered Musk's high-profile business activities, including his 2022 acquisition of X, the social media site then known as Twitter. Howell said the foundation has also filed information requests with federal law enforcement agencies to determine if they are "mistreating" Musk. "We want to make sure that the weaponized government is not being pointed at him," he said.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.
The Heritage Foundation has had close ties with the former president since at least 2016, when it advised Trump's transition team ahead of his move into the White House.

More recently, it has gained attention as the source of "Project 2025," an initiative seen by political insiders as a playbook for a conservative overhaul of the federal government during a second Trump term. Trump has sought to distance his campaign from the project, although he still touts some of its proposals.

As part of Project 2025, the foundation compiled a roster of thousands of conservatives Trump could put in to federal positions by reviving an executive order, known as "Schedule F," he introduced near the end of his presidency. The order, later rescinded by President Joe Biden, would have stripped many civil servants of longstanding job protections.

The records reviewed by Reuters show that "Heritage Foundation," "Schedule F" and "Project 2025" are also among the terms included in the NASA communications requests.

Musk has endorsed Trump and is financing a political action committee supporting Republican causes. The tycoon has grown increasingly critical of federal bureaucracy, especially the agencies that regulate SpaceX and his other businesses. On Wednesday, Reuters reported that Musk has been financing another conservative political group since at least 2022.

In recent months, Trump has repeatedly said he will appoint Musk to head a government efficiency commission. Last month on X, Musk wrote: "I look forward to serving America if the opportunity arises."

The federal government is the country's largest employer, with more than 2 million civilian employees, according to the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.

Reporting by Marisa Taylor in Washington; Editing by Paulo Prada and Matthew Lewis

 

[I Hate The Disabled]

None of modern christianity's things are original. It is all super cringe off shoots. How many songs can you make about "I love Jesus" before it gets old? Like there is 100% a ton of stuff you could make that revolves around religion without it being dogshit.

Natalie Bergman of Wild Belle came out with what one would call a Christian Rock album called Mercy. She'd done colabs with Beck.

 

[clipartfan92]

On the subject of emails...

Former NIH official accused of making emails 'disappear' pleads Fifth to COVID subcommittee
FOX News (archive.ph)
By Timothy H.J. Nerozzi and Ched Pegram
2024-10-04 16:01:20GMT

Spoiler

Former National Institutes of Health employee Margaret Moore, accused by Republicans of helping others shield emails from the public, invoked her Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination at a deposition before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Friday.

Moore, a former FOIA public liaison for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), also declined to answer questions from Fox News in the hallway before the committee meeting.

The committee on Monday issued a subpoena for Moore to appear.

"Instead of using NIH’s FOIA office to provide the transparency and accountability that the American people deserve, it appears that ‘FOIA Lady’ Margaret Moore assisted efforts to evade federal recordkeeping laws," said Rep. Brad Wenstrup from Ohio, chairman of the subcommittee.

He added, "Her alleged scheme to help NIH officials delete COVID-19 records and use their personal emails to avoid FOIA is appalling and deserves a thorough investigation."

Moore's legal team has defended her right to abstain from testifying, claiming that the former NIH employee has been willing to aid the investigation via alternative means.

"Ms. Moore has cooperated with the Select Subcommittee through counsel to find an alternative to her sitting for an interview, including expediting her own FOIA request for her own documents, which she provided to the Select Subcommittee voluntarily," her legal team wrote.

Moore worked for NIAID for over three decades and at one point served as a special assistant to Dr. Anthony Fauci.

She is accused of teaching "tricks" to other members of NIAID to hide records and evade FOIA requests.

"I learned from our foia lady here how to make emails disappear after I am foia’d but before the search starts," Fauci senior advisor Dr. David Morens wrote in an email sent from his personal Gmail account in Feb. 2021. "Plus I deleted most of those earlier emails after sending them to gmail."

The materials sought by the COVID subcommittee would provide insight into the NIH's relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, commonly believed to have been the origin of the coronavirus in 2019.

Other emails obtained from May 2021 show the NIH general counsel warning the FOIA office "not release anything having to do with EcoHealth Alliance/WIV," with "WIV" referring to the Wuhan Institute.

Special Report: Emails show early US concerns over Gaza offensive, risk of Israeli war crimes
Reuters (archive.ph)
By Humeyra Pamuk
2024-10-04 19:35:10GMT

Spoiler

WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - As Israel pounded northern Gaza with air strikes last October and ordered the evacuation of more than a million Palestinians from the area, a senior Pentagon official delivered a blunt warning to the White House.

The mass evacuation would be a humanitarian disaster and could violate international law, leading to war crime charges against Israel, Dana Stroul, then the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, wrote in an Oct. 13 email to senior aides to President Joe Biden. Stroul was relaying an assessment by the International Committee of the Red Cross that had left her “chilled to the bone,” she wrote.

As the Gaza war nears its first anniversary and the Middle East teeters on the brink of a wider war, Stroul’s email and other previously unreported communications show the Biden administration’s struggle to balance internal concerns over rising deaths in Gaza with its public support for Jerusalem following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people.

Reuters reviewed three sets of email exchanges between senior U.S. administration officials, dated Oct. 11 to 14, just days into the crisis. The fighting has led to more than 40,000 deaths in Gaza and spurred U.S. protests led by Arab-Americans and Muslim activists.

The emails, which haven’t been reported before, reveal alarm early on in the State Department and Pentagon that a rising death toll in Gaza could violate international law and jeopardize U.S. ties in the Arab world. The messages also show internal pressure in the Biden administration to shift its messaging from showing solidarity with Israel to including sympathy for Palestinians and the need to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza.

A ceasefire deal remains elusive, despite months of U.S.-brokered negotiations. Much of Gaza is now a wasteland. And the risk of a regional war with Iran looms after Israel’s attacks on military targets in Lebanon and last week’s assassination of Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Top Biden administration officials say they believe White House pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in those early days made a difference, preventing an even worse disaster. In private talks, the White House asked Israel to delay its ground offensive to give more time for aid groups to prepare help for displaced people and to give Israel more time to strike a deal with Hamas, administration officials told reporters in background briefings at the time.

But Washington was slow to address the suffering of Palestinians, said three senior U.S. officials involved in the decision-making process. And while the ground invasion was ultimately delayed by about 10 days, the three officials attributed the pause more to operational preparations by the Israeli military than U.S. pressure.

After publication of this story, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said the emails show that "unfolding humanitarian disaster in Gaza was painfully clear from the earliest days of the war, with key experts warning that international standards were being violated" and that "valid concerns" were overridden by the White House.

In response to questions about the emails, the White House said, "The U.S. has been leading international efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza” and “this is and will continue to be a top priority.” It added that before U.S. “engagement, there was no food, water, or medicine getting into Gaza.”

Both Israeli and Hamas leaders are being investigated for alleged war crimes in the wake of the Hamas attacks. In June, a U.N. commission concluded there was credible evidence that Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups committed war crimes including torture and taking hostages. The commission also found evidence of Israeli war crimes from the country’s use of massive explosives in Gaza in the first months of the war.

The Biden administration and Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign remain caught between two powerful constituencies – pro-Israel Democrats and younger, pro-Palestinian progressives. Harris’ Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, says he would “settle” the war “fast” if he wins November’s presidential election, without detailing how. But foreign policy analysts say the election is unlikely to alter U.S. policy toward Israel significantly, given both parties’ long support for the country.

The emails reviewed by Reuters show a scramble inside the Biden administration to warn the White House of the impending crisis – and the White House’s initial resistance to a ceasefire in the early, chaotic days of war. The three sets of email exchanges began on Oct. 11, during Israel’s fifth day of air strikes after the Hamas incursion.

“LOSING CREDIBILITY”
Early on, concerns grew inside the administration about America’s image with its Arab allies.

After Israeli airstrikes hit Gaza’s hospitals, schools and mosques, the U.S. State Department’s top public diplomacy official, Bill Russo, told senior State officials that Washington was “losing credibility among Arabic-speaking audiences” by not directly addressing the humanitarian crisis, according to an Oct. 11 email. Gaza’s health authorities reported that day a death toll of about 1,200.

As Israel defended the strikes, saying Hamas was using civilian buildings for military purposes, Russo wrote that U.S. diplomats in the Middle East were monitoring Arab media reports that accused Israel of waging a “genocide” and Washington of complicity in war crimes.

“The U.S.’s lack of response on the humanitarian conditions for Palestinians is not only ineffective and counterproductive, but we are also being accused of being complicit to potential war crimes by remaining silent on Israel’s actions against civilians,” Russo wrote.

At the time, emergency workers were struggling to save people buried under rubble from Israel airstrikes and the world’s sympathies were beginning to shift from murdered Israelis to besieged Palestinian civilians.

Addressing State Department leaders, Russo urged quick action to shift the administration’s public stance of unqualified support for Israel and its military operation in Gaza. “If this course is not quickly reversed by not only messaging, but action, it risks damaging our stance in the region for years to come,” he wrote. Russo resigned in March, citing personal reasons. He declined to comment.

The State Department’s top Middle East diplomat, Barbara Leaf, forwarded Russo’s email to White House officials including Brett McGurk, Biden’s top adviser for Middle East affairs. She warned that the relationship with Washington’s “otherwise would-be stalwart” Arab partners was at risk due to the kinds of concerns raised by Russo.

McGurk replied that if the question was whether the administration should call for a ceasefire, the answer was “No.” He added, however, that Washington was “100 pct” in favor of supporting humanitarian corridors and protecting civilians.

McGurk and Leaf declined to comment for this story.

Following Russo’s email, the public U.S. stance remained largely unchanged for the next two days, a review of public comments shows. U.S. officials continued to emphasize Israel’s right to defend itself and plans to provide Jerusalem with military aid.

“PUMP THE BREAKS”
On Oct. 13, two days after Russo’s email, Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets over northern Gaza, warning one million residents to leave their homes. Netanyahu gave residents 24 hours to flee as Israeli troops backed by tanks began a ground assault inside the Hamas-run territory of 2.3 million people. He vowed to annihilate Hamas for its attack.

The evacuation order alarmed aid agencies and the United Nations. By then, Israel’s air strikes had razed entire districts. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva issued a statement, saying Israel's order was "not compatible with international humanitarian law" because it would cut off food, water and other basic needs in Gaza. Privately, in a phone conversation that day with Stroul, ICRC Middle East director Fabrizio Carboni was more pointed, the emails show.

"ICRC is not ready to say this in public, but is raising private alarm that Israel is close to committing war crimes," Stroul said in her Oct. 13 email, describing the conversation. Her email was addressed to senior White House officials including McGurk, along with senior State and Pentagon officials. “Their main line is that it is impossible for one million civilians to move this fast,” Stroul wrote. One U.S. official on the email chain said it would be impossible to carry out such an evacuation without creating a “humanitarian catastrophe.”

Asked about Carboni’s phone call with Stroul, the ICRC said it “constantly works with parties to armed conflicts and those who have influence with them to increase the respect for the laws of war in order to prevent civilian suffering in conflict. We consider such conversations to be strictly confidential.”

Publicly, the White House was expressing measured support for Israel’s plans. A White House spokesperson told reporters that such a huge evacuation was a "tall order" but that Washington would not second-guess Israel. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said U.S. military aid would continue flowing to Israel.

Privately, some senior U.S. officials were concerned there was no safe way out of densely populated Gaza, several senior U.S. officials told Reuters. Israel had imposed a blockade. Its southern neighbor, Egypt, would not open its borders as part of its long-standing policy to prevent a mass resettlement of Palestinians. Some Palestinians who fled northern Gaza were killed when Israel bombed cars and trucks.

In an email replying to Stroul, McGurk said Washington might be able to persuade Israel to extend the deadline for Palestinians to evacuate beyond 24 hours, saying the administration “can buy some time.” But the Red Cross, the UN and aid agencies should work with Egypt and Israel to prepare for the evacuation, he wrote.

McGurk, a long-time Iraq expert, likened the situation to the U.S.-led military operation against Islamic State militants in Mosul from 2016 to 2017, an assault that left the Iraqi city in ruins. He said the military and humanitarian strategy in the Mosul assault had been planned hand in hand. Two officials on the email chain replied that it would be impossible to put in place the necessary infrastructure with so little time. One reminded McGurk that the Mosul operation was the result of much longer planning. Humanitarian groups had months to set up and provide support for displaced civilians.

“Our assessment is that there’s simply no way to have this scale of a displacement without creating a humanitarian catastrophe,” Paula Tufro, a senior White House official in charge of humanitarian response, wrote in the email. It would take “months” to get structures in place to provide “basic services” to more than a million people. She asked that the White House tell Israel to slow its offensive.

“We need GOI (Government of Israel) to pump the brakes in pushing people south,” Tufro wrote.

Andrew Miller, then the deputy assistant secretary at the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, urged his colleagues to act fast.

“If we’re inclined to weigh in with the Israelis to dissuade them from seeking mass evacuations, we will have to do it soon, at a high level and at multiple touch points,” Miller wrote. He resigned in June, citing family reasons.

Biden’s public comments on Gaza had largely given Netanyahu a free hand against Hamas. At the time, Biden faced only scattered protests from the left wing of the Democratic Party over his support for Israel's counterattack. Israel's likening of the Hamas assault to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington resonated widely in the U.S.

The administration’s public stance began to change on Oct. 13. At a news conference in Doha, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the first time publicly recognized the “suffering of Palestinian families in Gaza.” Washington was in constant talks with the Israelis and aid groups to help civilians in Gaza, he said.

The next day, Oct. 14, Biden’s rhetoric shifted. He said in a speech that he was urgently prioritizing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and directed his team to help surge relief into the war zone. It is unclear if the emails by Russo and others influenced the statements from Blinken and Biden.

Although Israel began sending infantry into Gaza on Oct. 13, a large-scale ground invasion didn’t begin until Oct. 27. Sources familiar with the matter said at the time that Washington advised Israel to hold off, mainly to give time for diplomacy to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

From the early days of the conflict, the U.S. stressed that Israel has a right to defend itself but that how it does so matters, a State Department spokesperson said in response to questions for this story. “Israel has a moral imperative to mitigate the harm of its operations to civilians, something we have emphasized both publicly and privately,” the spokesperson said.

Stroul and Tuffro declined to comment. In a statement, Miller said the administration was “concerned about the humanitarian implications of a mass evacuation.” He added that “Israeli military plans were very inchoate at that stage and we were trying to develop a better understanding” of Israel’s “strategy and objectives.”

WEAPONS EXPEDITED
As U.S. officials assessed the humanitarian crisis, Israel pressed Washington for more arms.

On Oct. 14, a senior Israeli Embassy official in Washington urged the State Department to accelerate shipment of 20,000 automatic rifles for the Israeli National Police, according to the emails.

Israeli senior defense advisor Ori Katzav apologized in an Oct. 14 email to his State Department counterpart for disturbing her on the weekend but said the rifle shipment was “very urgent” and needed U.S. approval. Christine Minarich – an official at the State Department division that approves arms sales, the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls – told Katzav the rifles would not be approved in the next 24 to 48 hours. Such large weapons shipments can take time, requiring State Department approval and notification to Congress.

Katzav and the Israeli Embassy declined to comment.

Jessica Lewis, then the assistant U.S. secretary for political and military affairs, forwarded Minarich’s email and Israel’s request for the rifles to the State Department’s Democracy, Labor and Human Rights (DRL) bureau. DRL reviews potential U.S. weapon sales to ensure they aren’t sent to militaries involved in rights abuses.

Lewis asked the bureau to expedite its review and “urgently” explain any opposition to specific arms packages for Israel, according to the emails. Lewis resigned in July.

Christopher Le Mon, deputy assistant secretary at DRL, recommended denying more than a dozen arms packages, including grenade launchers, gun parts, rifles and spare rifle parts. In a reply to Lewis, he cited concerns about the “conduct” of specific Israeli National Police units, including the elite Yamam border patrol unit.

Le Mon wrote that there were “numerous reports” of Yamam’s involvement in “gross violations of human rights.” DRL raised objections against 16 separate arms packages for Israel, according to the email and a source familiar with the matter. Nearly all the shipments went ahead despite the bureau’s objections, the source said. Yamam’s missions eventually included a June 8 rescue of four Israeli hostages that Gaza health officials say killed more than 200 Palestinians.

Minarich, Le Mon, Lewis and the Israeli Embassy declined to comment.

Washington has sent to Israel large numbers of munitions since the Gaza war began, according to several U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter, including thousands of precision-guided missiles and 2,000-pound bombs that can devastate densely populated areas and have been used to collapse tunnels and bunkers.

Some rights groups blame the use of those weapons for civilian deaths. Amnesty International cited at least three incidents from Oct. 10 to January 2024 involving U.S.-supplied weapons that it said killed civilians, including women and children, in “serious violations” of international humanitarian law. In July,it warned of U.S. complicity in what it said was Israel’s unlawful use of U.S. weapons to commit war crimes – an accusation the U.S. has rejected.

A State Department report in May said Israel may be violating international law using U.S. weapons, but said it could not say so definitively due to the chaos of war and challenges in collecting data.

An Israeli Embassy spokesperson rejected accusations that Israel has targeted civilians. “Israel is a democracy that adheres to international law,” the spokesperson said.

(This story has been refiled to remove garble in paragraph on missile shipments)

Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington and Emma Farge in Geneva. Editing by Jason Szep

 

[World Famous Quasi Payer]

Biden says he doesn’t know whether Israel is holding up peace deal to influence 2024 US election

It's a smart play on the part of Israelis if that's what they are doing. The democrats are the party of anti-Israel. Punish them for those beliefs. Of course this is a double edged sword. When Trump wins in a landslide, any pro-israel portion of the DNC will be purged. It'll be politically unacceptable to not do so if the DNC ever wants to regain the far-leftist and islamic vote in this nation, and thus power.

 

[CEO of Gay]

The situation in NC is really infuriating. I wonder if people have actually died due to FEMA shutting down rescue efforts.

Likely, yes

Somebody should've filmed it.

Part of me would love to to watch this, but I kind of hope not. Feds protect their own. If a FEMA rep were beaten for interfering with rescue efforts, it would be a lot harder to press charges if there were no evidence.

The Founding Fathers did not advocate for kids to fly solo, you silly duck. As I said: there are gradations. There is no reason to risk your life to defend a used car dealership. If you are going to do something like this, you bring friends and never try to be a hero.

I am not talking about the principle of the matter, I am talking about the facts.

Then I encourage you to watch the trial again. Rittenhouse was there with buddies, and later got separated when the police pushed their line forward.

I think you're applying a little too much external hindsight to the events of that night. Remember, Rittenhouse had a day job as a lifeguard in Kenosha. Recall that there was pictures in the news of him helping clean up graffiti from the previous night's riots. The kid was clearly civic-minded, something to be commended, particularly in our current era. That he and his friends agreed to stand guard over a car dealership in his backyard should surprise nobody.

View attachment 6488108

Hey bitch, why haven't you voted for the appropriations bill to start building our own space lasers? Do you seriously not think that Israel will not keep all her space lasers to herself once the offense on Lebanon really gets going?

Honestly the best "Christian rock song" I ever heard was this.

I wish more people appreciated just how fucking metal the Old Testament was.

I'd go a step further and dismantle the Department of Homeland Security, it was a fake and gay creation we got after 9/11, and its only purpose it to harass citizens and see how many ways it can violate the Constitution. People sometimes forget or don't even realize just how much bullshit was force fed to the American populace using 9/11 as the excuse, and even worse is that a lot of these laws were sitting around collecting dust for decades, with Congress just waiting for the right disaster to allow them to put it all into action.

Then let us hope that Trump doesn't just take the White House, but that the down-ticket races give the GOP the Senate, and strengthen their hold on the House. Don't forget, the Department of Homeland security was a creation of Congress in paranoid reaction to 9/11. Trump can't just disband them; Congress has to do that.

 

[AnitaSarsleezian]

View attachment 6487827

Here's hoping

About 25 years ago I saw a meter maid giving a ticket to a car in front of a pizzeria. The owner came out and told the meter maid that it was his car and he'd move it. The meter maid ignored him so the dude went back into the pizzeria and came out with one of those giant, round metal trays that they cook the pizza pies on and went apeshit and beat the fuck out of the meter maid with it. That was one of the most satisfying things I've seen. This tweet? God, I wish I was there - I'd say this would be even 100x more satisfying than watching the meter maid get wrecked with a pizza pan.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention.

The money FEMA gives you initially on something like this?

Always read the fine print.

90% of the time, you have to repay it or they sic the IRS on you to seize all your possessions.

Back when Sandy hit us in NYC, I had all the bullshit propaganda from FEMA who came and did nothing. They handed out all the forms to fill out. I shit you not - I can't find it because I no longer have the forms - but on the forms to fill out to request FEMA aid, it actually said in the fine print that if you take FEMA aid, that you agree not to boycott Israel or Israeli made goods.

Call me naïve and asleep but for me, that was the very first thing that made me sit up and say, "Wait, what the fuck does Israel have to do with me getting government emergency funds?" After that moment I was never the same again.

this is one of my biggest hurdles with Christianity. None of modern christianity's things are original. It is all super cringe off shoots.

I never played in any Church bands or anything like that until about a year ago when a singer for a church that I work with in different bands basically begged me to become their keyboard player because the one they had, had moved away. Anyway I'm not overly familiar with the church band repertoire but the thing I complain about the most is the unoriginality in the titles. I tell them I have no idea what song they're asking for. Every fucking title..."God is great"..."No one greater than our God"..."Our God is the greatest God"...."How great is our God?" For fuck's sake, someone come up with a different title so I have some clue how to tell the songs apart.

It's such a weird world for me. I grew up in an old style, medieval type Gothic church with a pipe organ and a patina'd copper roof with a spire, and some priest waving a smoking incense ball back and forth chanting "Lamb of God take away the sins of the world...". It was such an old style church that they had priests walking around during service with long sticks to poke you with when you dozed off.

This whole church band thing with watered down pop songs and all the musicians...I don't know...I'm still getting used to it. It's doesn't really gel with me.

Did you know that mainstream cable networks (led by CBS) banded together to kill off all of their shows set in Rural America that taught traditional values, despite their immense popularity, and replaced them with "diverse, urban" shows?

Some say that the first real attack on masculinity happened when TV stations decided to do away with westerns.

Why do you think Zachary Levi said that his career is over now that he's come out in support of Trump? (Bill Murray may have just screwed himself out of the next Ghostbusters now too. Although then again I think he might be a part-owner of the franchise plus Ivan Reitman was a Republican although he's dead now but his son Jason is a libertarian, however I don't know whether he votes that way or Republican.) Why do you think Kurt Russell and Chris Pratt refuse to talk about politics? Do I even need to mention Gina Carano?

Man, I don't need anyone else as long as I have no-fucks-given Randy Quaid in my corner.

 

[0713]

About 25 years ago I saw a meter maid giving a ticket to a car in front of a pizzeria. The owner came out and told the meter maid that it was his car and he'd move it. The meter maid ignored him so the dude went back into the pizzeria and came out with one of those giant, round metal trays that they cook the pizza pies on and went apeshit and beat the fuck out of the meter maid with it. That was one of the most satisfying things I've seen. This tweet? God, I wish I was there - I'd say this would be even 100x more satisfying than watching the meter maid get wrecked with a pizza pan.

Shit, I'm half and half about that story. One one had, it's a government authority figure, so I'm pleased that they got what they deserve. One the other, it's a woman. I don't think men should beat a woman, unless it's self defense. It's like kicking a dog. It's like, pick someone your own size, bro, are you a pussy?
*tips fedora*

It was such an old style church that they had priests walking around during service with long sticks to poke you with when you dozed off.

Now you're just fucking with us.

Man, I don't need anyone else as long as I have no-fucks-given Randy Quaid in my corner.

We also still have Mel Gibson, Eric Clapton and a few others. David Draiman is pretty based, too; I remember when he was tweeting about GamerGate lol.

 

[I Hate The Disabled]

Shit, I'm half and half about that story. One one had, it's a government authority figure, so I'm pleased that they got what they deserve. One the other, it's a woman. I don't think men should beat a woman, unless it's self defense. It's like kicking a dog. It's like, pick someone your own size, bro, are you a pussy?
*tips fedora*

Equal rights, equal fights.

 

[0713]

Equal rights, equal fights.

I'm not going to use the retarded Left ideology to excuse nigger behavior.

 

[clipartfan92]

I don't think men should beat a woman, unless it's self defense.

Good thing that it doesn't matter if it was a woman, because it was a government employee, therefore not a human at all.

 

[Necrosan]

I am skeptical if the DHS has ever stopped one single terrorist or criminal.

Listen here, the glowniggers are too busy trafficking children to stop actual terrorists, aight? (X)

Spoiler: Video

I hope that one day I get to see these agencies get [REDACTED]. There are more videos on the Muckraker's X account but it was too much for me. Especially when these people pretend like they don't know what they are doing.

 

[Nameless One]

Natalie Bergman of Wild Belle came out with what one would call a Christian Rock album called Mercy. She'd done colabs with Beck.

Good melody and instrumental although it's Christian Goth. Reminds me of the BULLY ost lol.

A playlist various quality but it beats the shit I hear on christian stations on the radio.

 

[FedPostalService]

If I was in the zombie apocalypse, I would side with fundamentalist American hicks over a European (or European-wannabe) any day of the week. I have way more in common with them and they are far more decisive.

Late and gay but I’d like to stickup for Norf FC types during the zombie apocalypse as Big Baz types are a great melee/tank build.

 

[BobbyBriggs69420]

I'm loltheist. Parents weren't quite that but not religious, close to atheist, sorta thought of themselves as hippies too somewhat even though a little too young. (Tv man told them that was cool and righteous) Whoever said gen x was sold on "subversion is cool" got it 100%. No way id even think about something with "Jesus" in the name or a cross on it but weirdly something went wrong with me and Ive always since young liked the idea of the death penalty, slashing welfare, baton-beatings for environmentalists and such because I wanted to be subversive against parents and teachers lol, on the road to being a poster here.

Nowadays, Tyler Childers owns and his most Jesusy song I think is one of the most awesome things ever recorded, never would have been given a chance.

Seriously start your day with this one even if loltheist yourself:

https://youtu.be/WqrxHOKhOBE?si=m-XY_WqMQsSSX5NR

 

[HOMO FOR LIFE RETURNS]

 

[The Ugly One]

where does one find good christian art?

Church. The music director at my church writes excellent organ preludes and brass quartets. Our stained glass windows are some of the best in the state. It has to be a church that doesn't see itself as an entertainment center.

If you're gonna shittalk Christian Rock, you could at least look at me when you shoot a bullet through my head.

I added corny Christian 80s metal to my gym playlist for a laugh. Then I started to unironically like it. I think I Ben Garrisoned it by accident.

I think this is probably the biggest hurdle Christian media has currently, but its' more to do with the 20th centuries idea of what Christian art has to be.

It's more the 20th century's idea of what art has to be. There's a Catholic church near me that has an incredible painted ceiling. It went up in the last twenty years. That doesn't count as "art," though, because it wasn't produced by a heroin addict so a Jew could sell it at an auction as a tax dodge. Same with new music. My church publishes lots of new music every year, but since it isn't for providing the sound track to drunk twentysomethings looking for somebody to sleep with, it's not "art."

 

[Gondolindrim]

They're trying really hard to pin the ongoing FEMA disaster on Trump, but all the facts point to the Biden admin moving the funds without telling anyone.

 

[Bakarina]

They're trying really hard to pin the ongoing FEMA disaster on Trump, but all the facts point to the Biden admin moving the funds without telling anyone.

Trump hasn't been in office for nearly 4 years, how is it his fault (genuinely want to know how they're trying to spin it in that direction).

 

[Nate Scully 025]

They're trying really hard to pin the ongoing FEMA disaster on Trump, but all the facts point to the Biden admin moving the funds without telling anyone.

Are they even trying that hard? The spin I’ve seen seems to be that it either isn’t happening/isn’t as bad as ‘the chuds’ are making it seem, or shutting the fuck up and hoping people don’t notice. I’ve not really noticed any real contingent blaming Trump.