• MooseBoys@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Accurate except for the “instead” part. Road maintenance comes from local taxes, whereas military aid comes from federal taxes.

    • uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      8 months ago

      Sorry about all the broken veterans with TBIs. We could have invested in better healthcare infrastructure, TBI treatment research even better armor and helmets for our troopers dealing routinely with IEDs. But instead we got experimental tanks with active camo, a shitty plane which we’re phasing out and aid to Israel to perpetuate their ancient religious genocide program.

      It’s just that US soldiers are poor and expendible and people with money tell us who and what is important.

    • Ottomateeverything@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Well if you really want to get technical about it… No programs or spending are really funded by taxes anyway, the government just says “OK” and the numbers in the bank accounts of the companies implementing said program go up. Taxes funding things is just a myth. Taxes just delete money. So technically, nothing is funded by taxes and taxes are just a money void.

      Edit: People seem to be down voting because they think this is tinfoil hat BS or something. It’s not. Look up modern monetary theory. Governments with fiat currency don’t need to collect money to pay for things. They just invent and issue more currency. See this video: https://youtu.be/75udjh6hkOs?si=dVpp9V5f96kLDV4-&t=1628

      • affiliate@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        the wikipedia page says:

        MMT is controversial, and is actively debated with dialogues about its theoretical integrity, the implications of the policy recommendations of its proponents, and the extent to which it is actually divergent from orthodox macroeconomics. MMT is opposed to the mainstream understanding of macroeconomic theory and has been criticized heavily by many mainstream economists.

        i don’t think your comment properly highlights how controversial MMT is. i’m not an economist, but i don’t think it’s fair to use language like “taxes funding things is a myth” and “technically nothing is funded by taxes and taxes are just a money void”, when those claims rely on such a controversial theory.

        • someacnt@sopuli.xyz
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          8 months ago

          It’s not worth your time to refute one giving youtube link as a backing reference.

        • Ottomateeverything@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Yes this is all true, MMT is a theory. It’s in the name. Yes, it’s controversial.

          But those points have nothing to do with the validity of the statements I made, including the ones you quote. It’s a very broad economic theory covering how things should be done etc etc.

          My point is not founded on MMT, I referred to it as a “look this stuff up by starting here”. That’s why it’s only mentioned in the edit. The mere fact that this is an even remotely acceptable implies the statements I made is valid - otherwise MMT would fall apart at its seams.

          Taxes funding things is indeed a myth, and they’re essentially a money void. Go read up on those specifics if you want to get into it. The video I linked has a literal explanation of this like 30 seconds later. When congress approves programs, they just allocate new funds to it, and move on. There’s no digging up taxes to point towards it.

          You could begin making an argument it has implications for the validity and reliability of the sovereign currency, but it has no real relationship to taxes. That’s just not how modern economics work anymore.

        • masquenox@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          has been criticized heavily by many mainstream economists.

          In other words… it upsets the rich people that got us into this mess.

      • stevehobbes@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I mean this is a cute clever thing that sounds smart that isn’t.

        The government pays for things. The government funds that through monetary policy that includes printing money, as well as raising money via taxes. Whether the government deletes a dollar you give them and prints another dollar vs transferring the dollar you gave them into their spending budget is super irrelevant.

        It’s functionally the same and either way, your tax dollar, whether “deleted” and replaced or transferred is still your proportional allocation of funding.

        This is real “I am very smart” vibes.

        • Ottomateeverything@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Same could be said about your post. It’s very “haha I have a gotcha” vibes.

          Yes the government deletes money. And they also create money. That doesn’t mean they do or have to do the same amount of each. They can and do create more than they delete. They’re not funding programs and then making sure they delete the same amount in your taxes. That’s not how modern economics work.

          • stevehobbes@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Of course not. But none of that changes the fact that your taxes, in part, pay for what the government spends money on.

            For state taxes, where the states don’t control monetary policy, it’s even less true. But it’s not really true for the federal government either.

            Everyone who is paid in USD or pays in USD, in addition to people who pay taxes, pay for whatever we spend money on in one way or another.

            It’s not a gotcha. Nothing was got. It’s just an absurd thing on the face of it. That while technically correct (in the sense that dollars are fungible) your dollars given in taxes will make up a percentage of total dollars spent this year by the federal government, and thus, you are paying for whatever they are doing. Along with other people.

        • Ottomateeverything@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Not at all. Look up MMT. Modern monetary theory and economics are well beyond “spend taxes to fund programs”. Governments that issue debts in their own made up currency don’t need to “spend” money, they just give money to the programs they support.

          • lud@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            So money goes in and gets deleted, and then they create money and they give it away?

            When I think of it, I do the same thing every time I buy something.

            The money in my bank account doesn’t get transferred, the bank just deletes it on their servers and then they create money and give it to the store.

            • Ottomateeverything@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Yes, they both create and delete money. That doesn’t mean that the two processes need to be equal or balanced.

              Your purchases do, or someone is owed their portion of the transaction. That’s not the case when the government is writing bonds or appropriating funding to programs. They can create money freely, regardless of the tax they collect. Taxes serve a different purpose.

              • lud@lemm.ee
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                8 months ago

                That would increase inflation drastically, which is something governments absolutely don’t want.

                They want inflation to be around 1-2%. Less is no good, because rich idiots would just hoard money instead of investing it. More is also no good because saved money would just disappear quickly.

                • Ottomateeverything@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  Tell that to Japan. One of the highest spenders. Still stuck in perpetual de flation for over 20 years at this point.

                  It’s not that simple.

            • Not_Alec_Baldwin@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              As far as I understand that’s the definition of fungibility, right? Every dollar is interchangeable and identical?

              So there’s no functional difference between deleting $1 and creating $1 except semantics, compared to moving $1, as long as the total value doesn’t change.

              The government just deleting money and printing money to pay for whatever it wants suggests that those things aren’t equal, which would be the problem if it were true.

              • stevehobbes@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                That’s what causes inflation. When you print more than you delete, at a rate faster than total economic growth.

          • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
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            8 months ago

            You are aware of the fact that central banks are usually independant institutions and whenever the government meddles with them, that countries currency gets fucked by the market?

            Also in todays interconnected financial and real economy there is only so much control any government canexert iver its currency, because the currencies values is significantly determined by the exchange from imported and exported goods.

            • Ottomateeverything@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              While both points are true, that still doesn’t change whether taxes fund these programs.

              Sure there are other complexities like “how much is too much? Can we just keep doing it forever?” but those questions have more to do with the labor force of said country and their exports, and almost nothing to do with their tax rates.

              • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
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                8 months ago

                The central banks control the amount of money based on the tasks they were given for their operation. That does not relate directly to the way the government is spending or taking money.

                It is simply not the governments taxes and spending that is making or deleting money. It is the system of how the private banks can borrow or deposit money at the central bank with a certain interest rate,that is making or deleting money.

                And youll have noticed that it is not the central bank granting loans to the government but bonds being sold on the market for the government to take debt.

          • RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            MMT is techbros just trying to say, “don’t look behind the microvaluation curtain, it doesn’t matter.” But in the amounts that they’re trading on, it absolutely does matter.

  • Rolder@reddthat.com
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    8 months ago

    It’d be way more effective if the road pictured wasn’t absolutely perfect and pothole free

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    8 months ago

    Please, not fixing potholes have been around longer than the current Palestinian/Israeli and also a completely stupid reduction of the complexity of this whole fucked up situation.

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      8 months ago

      not fixing potholes have been around longer

      They haven’t been fixing potholes since 1949? Those potholes must be huge.

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        8 months ago

        Yup, longer than the US has been sending aid to Israel, which actually started in the 1970s. Sorry for introducing facts into your ragefest.

    • GardeningSadhu@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Yeah, but the money that should be fixing potholes, and paying teachers, and providing healthcare has been going to war for as long as the USA has been around.

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    We send $5,000,000,000 in outright charity to Israel, not including what our legislators are about to fork over as soon as they get their stock portfolios situated in the best ways to profit from it.

    That’s $100,000,000 per state that could be used to fix potholes or help Americans in other ways, but we’re silly geese who 100% support neglecting our own people in favor of war, so we’re getting what we voted for.

    • crackajack@reddthat.com
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      8 months ago

      Exactly. Israel already received tremendous amount of money way before the conflict. And yet, US Congress voted to allow more military aid package to Israel. The money could have gone to those who need them more, both to domestic and to Ukraine who are still fighting the Russians.

      • masquenox@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Israel already received tremendous amount of money way before the conflict.

        The conflict has been ongoing since 1949.

    • rchive@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      US sends money to Palestine, too. So does much of Europe.

  • FoundTheVegan@kbin.social
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    8 months ago

    All children in Gaza are terriosts! Or potential terriosts! Isreal NEEDS to bomb ambulances, hospitals and water wells because that is where all the terriosts are! ya see?Any amount of infrastructure supports terriosism! Bombing is a nessecity!

    It’s outright ghoulish.

      • rubicon@lemmy.ca
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        8 months ago

        How can you shoot women and children?!?!

        Easy, you just don’t lead them as much

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      8 months ago

      Well, it‘s actually true that Hamas uses civil infrastructure and civilians as shields, you can’t deny that. Of course that doesn‘t mean that Israel can just bomb everything.

      • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
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        8 months ago

        in an area where the population density is 5,300 people/km2 “human shields” is a quite weak argument. It is practically impossible to seperate civillian and military infrastructure in such densely populated areas.

        For comparision the Netherlands has about 500 people/km2 and it is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe.

        • quatschkopf34@feddit.de
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          8 months ago

          There is a difference between the close proximity of military and civilian infrastructure because of a high population density and actively choosing hospitals as military bases.

          • Not_Alec_Baldwin@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Another great way of not getting your civilians targeted is to wear identifying uniforms.

            It’s almost like Hamas doesn’t want to prevent civilian casualties.

          • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
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            8 months ago

            You are right. Hamas is not acting responsible leave alone lawful in where they put military installations. But that is used by Israel to just bomb anything they feel like bombing, and for that it is a weak arguement. Especially since we have nothing but Israels pinky promise that there were military targets in whatever they bombed.

            Given how Israel extensively attacked civillian and ambulance convoys fleeing on the routes designated by Israel to flee to the south, as demanded by Israel, i cannot help the feeling that they are just shooting at random to instill more fear and destruction.

            For that again i find it weird, how Israel was entirely unprepared for the terror attacks of Hamas on the 7. October but immediately claimed to know exactly where Hamas is having what installations in Gaza. I remember how the Russian preparations for the Ukraine invasion have been discussed for months and the question remaining was, whether Putin is that insane or not. Now with Hamas that question was moot, so how the fuck did Israel both know exactly where all of Hamas is, but didnt notice any preparations for the attacks?

            I cannot shake the feeling that Israel has much less knowledge about Hamas positions than they claim.

            • Malfeasant@lemm.ee
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              8 months ago

              Or, that they do know what’s going on, but let the attack happen because Israeli civilians are nearly as expendable as Palestinian civilians, at least to the people who profit from the war machine…

              • rchive@lemm.ee
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                8 months ago

                Israel does appear to value its civilians a lot more than Hamas. There have been prisoner swaps where Hamas will hold out swapping one Israeli until Israel agrees to literally hundreds of Palestinians.

      • masquenox@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        it‘s actually true that Hamas uses civil infrastructure and civilians as shields

        Riiight… there’s a Hamas “terrorist” hiding behind every Palestinian child… and if you can’t see them, it just proves how sneaky they are, amirite?

  • arc@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    Love the false equivalence. Your city taxes can’t fix the potholes because your federal taxes pay for a military.

    • hark@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Those federal taxes cannot be allocated to state funds which cannot then be allocated to city funds to maintain roads?

      • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        No because they must be spent to kill Palestinian children. Get your Merican priorities straight.

    • fender_symphonic584@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      You’re not wrong, but original point could still be right, depending in the road. There are many federal highways and interstates, where this equivalence makes sense. However most other roads are state, county or city owned.

        • mingistech@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Mobile billboards go where people are. I saw a Pro-Life billboard on a similar truck, where it was parked was not linked to the content on the sign.

      • voxel@sopuli.xyz
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        8 months ago

        and the interstate highways aren’t that bad in terms of shape tho?

  • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    The u.s destroyed half my country, killed tons of my people, bought up the wreckage and now owns us. But none of you gave a shit, cause the news didn’t tell you to care

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      8 months ago

      True and also because people today lack empathy for what the real horrors of war actually put people through. I do give a shit -but it’s like tossing a turd into the ocean of hate and thinking it will somehow sparkle. I hate war and the horrible inhumanity of war, but when I say that people accuse of me being on a “high horse of moral superiority.” If it’s superior to dislike war - I’m all too happy to agree with them.

    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      This is 100% how it works for most of the people here in America.

      It’s why they’re rooting for another hundred billion of our tax dollars to be sent to other country’s wars even though they’re living with a 30-50% cost of living increase under Biden, who has no intention of sending us our own money in the form of aid.

    • Stantana@lemmy.sambands.net
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      8 months ago

      Sorry to hear you did not get the option to become a vassal state and a US military base like so many others. It did give us a few good years at the cost of corrupting our societies and souls.

      Big daddy if you’re watching I’m only joking, I love you with all my heart and bow at your magnificence!

  • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    What does this abstraction contribute to the discourse? Does it rile up support for fixing potholes? Does it rile up support for Palestine?

    My feeling is it obfuscates the issues and makes progress seem impossible.

    • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      It draws attention to the fact that we are paying money to shoot missiles at innocent Palestinian children.

      • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Ok, but is this the first time? For as long as I’ve been alive there has been pot holes and discontent in the middle east. So if anyone was wondering, yes, I know america has a failing infrastructure and is waging war across the world. In fact, I believe this is common knowledge.

  • tygerprints@kbin.social
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    8 months ago

    Ain’t that the truth. Not to mention the Israeli children gutted and beheaded by Hamas back on Oct 7th. Our tax dollars didn’t pay for that, but they sure are going toward ensuring more kids and regular civilians are turned into worm food for some nonsensical war over a strip of land neither side really wants to be stuck with.

    • bassomitron@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      nonsensical war over a strip of land

      I’ve struggled to understand why civilians on either side have wanted to continue residing in that specific zone after decades of clashes/violence. I know it’s not as simple as just uprooting your family to move elsewhere, but as a parent I know I’d rather any other option than living in constant fear of unbridled violence erupting at any moment in a highly volatile area.

      • chaogomu@kbin.social
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        8 months ago

        Well, a part of it is that the people of Gaza are not allowed to leave.

        There are only a handful of crossings out of Gaza and Israel controls all but one. The Egyptian crossing leads out into a desolate desert with no services.

        Want to hop on a boat and flee that way? Israel will torpedo you. Want to walk up to the wall to see the boundary of your prison? Israel will machine gun you down, no questions asked, no warnings given.

        A large portion of the population of Gaza started out as refugees, forced out of their homes and off of their land so that Zionist settlers could have it.

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          8 months ago

          I’ve heard that they aren’t allowed to leave, but the strip of land we’re talking about isn’t all that small either. I know that Israel has confined Palestines to that area for decades which is not just oppression, it’s akin to running a death camp. I believe there’s enough room in that region for Palestinians to live comfortably beside the Jewish people - so why not concede this land to them? And stop forcing people to remain there if the wish to leave.

        • OniiFam@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          8 months ago

          “Desolate desert with no services”

          https://maps.app.goo.gl/pDLLbum67D5HKVsg6 ???

          Also Egypt doesn’t allow Gazans to use it because when they used to, it caused issues with terrorism. There is a reason that, despite how much the stable Arab states rage and scream about the situation, none of the arab states want to take Gazans

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        8 months ago

        An Israeli I know was given benefits from the government to settle near that area. Luckily he went to his in laws house the second the war started. But the government paying people to live there might have something to do with it

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    8 months ago

    Financially the US is gaining from it all, like she is from the Ukraine war. The point is good, but Israel buying weapons systems from the US means less potholes.

    • BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca
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      8 months ago

      They aren’t being bought. It’s being freely given. All profits go to weapons manufacturers.

      • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Using “freely given” and “profits” in the same sentence should’ve set alarms as to how the issue might be more complex than just who buys what from who.

        You are wrong and a simple research into the subject reveals how.

        • bassomitron@lemmy.world
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          The bread and butter of the US Military Industrial Complex is selling weapons/platforms/systems to other governments. Yes, US contractors can’t just directly sell weapons/etc to other countries (without express permission/case by case basis).

          What the person you replied to said is accurate: The US is giving these weapons to Ukraine “for free” (i.e. nothing is ever truly free, Ukraine will end up paying for it one way or another if they come out victorious in the end). However, the DoD is still paying the defense contractors who manufacturer these weapons (unless it’s ammunition and certain types of munitions, which the DoD actually makes themselves).

          Regardless, I agree that it is a bit complex, but not that complex. The US Military Industrial Complex is well documented and proven, not sure why you’re acting like the US being the world’s largest arms dealer isn’t what it is.

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              8 months ago

              I literally have colleagues working the Ukraine program within the Army. But whatever, I’m sure the people actively working all of those packages have no idea what the fuck they’re talking about.

              Anyway, I responded politely and you responded like a complete asshat, so I’ll no longer continue this conversation. Maybe grow up and act like an adult rather than pretend to be some sort of expert with zero sources to back up any of your claims (I didn’t ask for any, but I see in other comments here when others pressed for them, you instead responded with equal rudeness and incompetence).

        • BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca
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          8 months ago

          jfc i was hoping you weren’t gonna choose to be an idiotic pedant but here we are.

          the us government signs incredibly expensive contracts with weapons manufacturers. aka “buys weapons.” then gives those weapons to its allies. https://www.vox.com/world/2022/12/16/23507640/dc-party-invite-military-contractors-money-ukraine-russia-war-us

          wtf do you think these votes in the senate about giving military aid mean? the idea that paying defense contractors to replenish our arsenal is somehow funding local infrastructure is utterly deranged.

          edit, to be clear, im not saying that supplying our allies is wrong (well, at this point it might be wrong in israel’s case. certainly not in ukraine’s though). I’m just saying that your earlier statement about the wars making money for the US is wrong. Some US companies are making money, but only because it’s being spent by the US government. Not a positive for the rest of us.

            • BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca
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              8 months ago

              Good lord you’re infuriatingly stupid. That isn’t at all the subject of the article I linked, and you didn’t even read my comment!? “The game of define words” is a game YOU played, not me, moron, by conflating 2 sentences about “freely given” and “profits” without thinking for even a fraction of a second about WHO the weapons are being given to, and WHO is making the profits!

              Enough with the “do your own research” bullshit. Either explain yourself or fuck off.

              • SaakoPaahtaa@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                I have explained myself. I don’t see a reason to hold your hand and explain things that are beyond your comprehension to you, when I can just ask you to research before having an opinion on a subject you know nothing of. Personally I think you have all the rights in the world to be as wrong as you want, but I will of course call you out on it. Being misinformed unfortunately seems to be fashionable and it’s either that or plain laziness to research into it that makes you wrong.

            • jarfil@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              I literally work in the business and know a thing or two on how these aid contracts are written.

              I only know about the “ink printer” or “Gillette” aspect of the aid contracts. How does the money get back to fixing potholes? You mean through taxes on the consumables?

              • BlemboTheThird@lemmy.ca
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                8 months ago

                He’s a liar who has no idea what he’s talking about. “Do your own research” style moron. I’m sure his dad works at Nintendo.

      • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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        8 months ago

        Not that I’m pro one side or the other, but what should be done when hamas tells civilians to stay, and then hides behind them? That leaves hamas alive to stage another attack on… civilians.

        Like, I get that there should have been a better solution than what was done after ww2, but we can’t go back in time and the Israelis aren’t leaving.

        So… what? Hamas doesn’t seem to care that their avilians die, and actively use them as shielding so they can kill more Israelis. It’s fucked.

        • Krono@lemmy.today
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          8 months ago

          This “human shield” propaganda is so biased. By Israel’s extremely broad definition, every Palestinian is a human shield.

          If you were to apply this sick “human shield” logic to both sides, most of the innocent civilians killed by Hamas on Oct 7th would be acceptable military targets.

          The IDF has military infrastructure near schools, malls, and hospitals. Why are they hiding behind human shields?

          • jarfil@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            If you were to apply this sick “human shield” logic to both sides, most of the innocent civilians killed by Hamas on Oct 7th

            There were no military hiding among the party goers, or among the people living in their homes. The military personnel killed, was stationed at separate military installations that Hamas also targeted.

            • Krono@lemmy.today
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              8 months ago

              Not sure where you would get such a silly idea.

              I support the side that is being unjustly attacked and besieged by a much stronger military power. I stand with Ukraine and Palestine.

          • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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            8 months ago

            I’m not talking about all Palestinians. I’m talking about the ones who are talked into staying where they are by hamas despite a warning ahead of time from Israel (and b4 you come in with “24 hours isn’t enough time,” I agree with you, but it’s something. It’s an attempt. The ravers were given zero warning, on purpose.)

            Those Palestinians are, literally, being used as human shields, and trying to brush that off as deceptive propaganda is ignoring the evilness of hamas.

            Being near something is different from hiding behind them. Hamas is IN civilian schools, sitting with the students, and IN the malls, standing among the shoppers, and IN the hospitals, betting on the fact that when Palestinians die, more people will back their agenda. They want them to die because it garners sympathy.

            • Krono@lemmy.today
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              8 months ago

              I’m just asking you to apply the same logic to both sides.

              Members of the IDF also go inside schools, malls, and hospitals. In fact, since there is mandatory military service in Israel, it’s easy to say that the IDF are everywhere. In my opinion, this does not justify Hamas rockets targeting Israel, but the same logic is used to justify the massive Israeli bombardment on civilian infrastructure.

              Suggesting that Hamas wants it’s own civilians to die is just sick IDF propaganda to justify war crimes. I think civilians stayed in north Gaza because they did not want to abandon their homes, not because “hamas talked them into staying” lol

              The IDF has launched, by it’s own admission, over 8000 rockets into Gaza. Are we to believe all 8000 were launched at legitimate Hamas targets? To justify such an act we need serious evidence, “The IDF said it was all Hamas” is not good enough.

              All of this is hauntingly similar to the US “war on terror”. At a certain point, we labeled all military-aged males as “enemy combatants”, therefore it was acceptable to kill them all. Israel is following the US lead: kill them all, then label them as Hamas to justify the mass slaughter.

        • sfgifz@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Israel has conscription. Pretty much all of its adults have been in the military. We should be allowed to expand on your rationale to claim that most of the Israeli deaths weren’t civilians because they have been in the IDF.

          It’s shit logic, but so is yours.

      • Thrashy@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        This is what I don’t understand is so hard for people. It’s not like Israel has always been there, in that spot in in the Middle East, and that Palestinians teleported into Gaza and the West Bank unannounced one day. Gazans are basically refugees shoved in a tiny plot of territory carved out of what used to be their homeland, walled in, and brutally repressed for almost sixty years now. This doesn’t excuse Hamas targeting innocents, but it goes a very long way towards explaining why Gaza might be home to a hardline anti-Israeli guerilla organization that sees the lives of their own people as cheap and those of their enemies as valueless. That’s kinda the dynamic that the Israelis forced onto them, and now they’re all up in arms that Hamas is acting accordingly.

        Don’t get me wrong, Hamas are still bad guys in this particular episode. But that sure as shit doesn’t make Israel the good guys. There are only villains and victims here.

      • jarfil@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        In a place with the living conditions of Gaza, one has to wonder who is stupid or evil enough to have so many children.

    • Redrum714@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      If I’m going to fund at least one side it sure isn’t going to be the terrorists

        • TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id
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          8 months ago

          No, we can condemn both sides without calling it all terrorism. That’s just plain stupid. Terrorism is a specific tactic and just because you don’t like what a conventional military is doing doesn’t make it terrorism. It’s worthwhile to maintain our definitions.

          • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de
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            8 months ago

            the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims

            Open season on hospitals, refugee camps and journalists seems it’s fits.

            • TechDiver@kbin.social
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              8 months ago

              That specific ambulance was taken from the people of Gaza by hamas. Not only did hamas use it for transporting their terrorists they also robbed the people of gaza of said ambulance

              • Blapoo@lemmy.ml
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                8 months ago

                If a killer hides in your house, is it right for the whole house to be bombed? Or are you now a terrorist by virtue of proximity?

                • Hello_there@kbin.social
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                  8 months ago

                  If there’s a criminal hiding in a crowd, how many people can a cop shoot through to make sure the criminal doesnt get away?

          • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de
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            8 months ago

            Do you not think the innocent Palestinians are terrified?

            Justify the killing of innocent people by saying they killed one man makes you no better than the terrorists that started this latest conflict.

            Before you inevitably bring up that well Hamas are the ruling power, therefore the people must support them. Remember that the vast majority of people weren’t even alive when Hamas took power, and even then it was a narrow win.

            I find you abhorrent for trying to defend any kind of terrorism, even if you believe in the cause. No life is worth more than any other, you sick fucks.

            • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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              8 months ago

              The issue is that hamas purposely is using their civilians to shield themselves. Isreal can only do so much to try and hit only hamas members, but war isn’t that clean, no matter how much we wish it was. Yup, lots of evil all around, and there are some sick fucks in the IDF. But they’re not using their own civilians and shields. Like, forcing them to stay in place so they’re assured to die.